The Oswegatchie Historic District is a
historic district
A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal protection from c ...
in the town of
Waterford, Connecticut
Waterford is a town in New London County, Connecticut, United States. It is named after Waterford, Ireland. The population was 19,571 at the 2020 census. The town center is listed as a census-designated place (CDP) and had a population of 3,074 ...
, United States. The historic district is located on a peninsula on the east side of the tidal
Niantic River
The Niantic River is a mainly tidal river in eastern Connecticut. It is crossed by the Niantic River Bridge carrying Amtrak's Northeast Corridor. It separates the towns of East Lyme and Waterford. The river is long.U.S. Geological Survey. Nat ...
, and represents a cross-section of historic coastal land uses, from farming to a small colony of summer estates to year-round living. The district was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
in 2005.
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Description and history
The Oswegatchie area was first settled by English colonists as farmland, beginning in the late 17th century. In the mid-19th century John Manwaring, a local farmer, took on workers in nearby granite quarries as boarders. Manwaring continued to take summer boarders after the quarries closed in the 1870s, with his son expanding the business around the turn of the 20th century, building a hotel called the Oswegatchie House. The area received a boost when a trolley service was run down Oswegatchie Street from New London
New London may refer to:
Places United States
*New London, Alabama
*New London, Connecticut
*New London, Indiana
*New London, Iowa
*New London, Maryland
*New London, Minnesota
*New London, Missouri
*New London, New Hampshire, a New England town
** ...
, and several handsome summer estates were built on the best land at the southern end of the peninsula. Trolley service ended in the 1930s, and the Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
led to the downfall of the Oswegatchie House, which finally burned in 1935. After World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, demand for housing prompted development in the northern part of the peninsula with year-round housing.[
The historic district is essentially U-shaped, hugging the shoreline along the eastern bank of the Niantic River and the west and north sides of Keeny Cove. Its northwestern boundary is at East Drive, from which it runs south, around Sandy Point, and along Oswegatchie Road nearly to the head of Keeny Cove. Most of the district's buildings are residential structures, built either between 1900 and 1920, or in the 1940s and 1950s, representing the two major periods of development. The only non-residential building in the district is the Oswegatchie Church, built in 1929 to serve the summer residents.]
See also
*
References
{{National Register of Historic Places
American upper class
Colonial Revival architecture in Connecticut
Neoclassical architecture in Connecticut
Waterford, Connecticut
Historic districts in New London County, Connecticut
National Register of Historic Places in New London County, Connecticut
Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Connecticut