village
A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...
s in the town of
Freetown
Freetown () is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Sierra Leone. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean and is located in the Western Area of the country. Freetown is Sierra Leone's major urban, economic, financial, cultural, e ...
Massachusetts
Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...
, United States. An original part of the town, Assonet was settled in 1659 along with the city of Fall River, then a part of Freetown. It rests on the banks of the Assonet River. As of the 2000
census
A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...
, the village had a total population of 4,084; up from 3,614 in 1990. As of the 2014 census, the village had a total estimated population of 9,093.
History
Assonet was first settled in 1659, shortly after the completion of Ye Freemen's Purchase. It was part of the
Plymouth Colony
Plymouth Colony (sometimes spelled Plimouth) was the first permanent English colony in New England from 1620 and the third permanent English colony in America, after Newfoundland and the Jamestown Colony. It was settled by the passengers on t ...
until the 1691 merger with the
Massachusetts Bay Colony
The Massachusetts Bay Colony (1628–1691), more formally the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, was an English settlement on the east coast of North America around Massachusetts Bay, one of the several colonies later reorganized as the Province of M ...
.
The word comes from the local
Wampanoag
The Wampanoag, also rendered Wôpanâak, are a Native Americans in the United States, Native American people of the Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, Northeastern Woodlands currently based in southeastern Massachusetts and forme ...
Indians, who had a settlement in the area, and has two meanings: "place of rocks" and "song of praise". Those meanings are traditional, but the former can be segmented as ''(h)assun-et'' where'' hassun'' or ''assin'' is a word used by southern New England Algonquian to mean ''stone''. The ''-et'' is a locative suffix, to give the meaning "at the place of the stone".
The entire region was sold to the English in 1659 by the
Wampanoag
The Wampanoag, also rendered Wôpanâak, are a Native Americans in the United States, Native American people of the Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, Northeastern Woodlands currently based in southeastern Massachusetts and forme ...
s, but, due to the Algonquian mobile way of life and the splitting and recombining of social units, the Nipmucs may have been subject to or at the time part of the Wampanoags.
The English settlement remained for many years as a small fishing and farming village, growing to be
Freetown
Freetown () is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Sierra Leone. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean and is located in the Western Area of the country. Freetown is Sierra Leone's major urban, economic, financial, cultural, e ...
's more industrious side by the end of the 18th century. By the end of the 19th century, Assonet had begun to slowly return to its origins, having less and less industry in town. At the beginning of the 21st century, the village has once again begun to expand rapidly.
17th century
Assonet was settled on April 2, 1659, but a string of wars between English settlers and the local Wampanoag Indians, including
King Philip's War
King Philip's War (sometimes called the First Indian War, Metacom's War, Metacomet's War, Pometacomet's Rebellion, or Metacom's Rebellion) was an armed conflict in 1675–1678 between a group of indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodland ...
, prevented much permanent settlement until later. History shows the area existed as a
proprietary
{{Short pages monitor
From the early 19th century until 1950,
Freetown
Freetown () is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Sierra Leone. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean and is located in the Western Area of the country. Freetown is Sierra Leone's major urban, economic, financial, cultural, e ...
was serviced by several neighborhood grammar schools, at least three of which existed in Assonet.
South School
South School, 1869–1950, currently exists at the corner of Copicut Road and South Main Street. It was a three-room schoolhouse used initially for grades 1–8, and later for grades 3–6 and "special class". Grades 3–4 were in one room on the east side and grades 5–6 in one room on the west side of the building. There was one teacher for each room of two grades. Ethel O'Brien was the grades 5–6 teacher in the mid-1940s. There were no bathrooms and the outhouse (since razed) was located at the Northwest corner. A grassy play area was adjacent the grades 3–4 side of the building and Red Rover was played in the street at recess time. Before being abandoned, it spent time as an
American Legion
The American Legion, commonly known as the Legion, is an Voluntary association, organization of United States, U.S. war veterans headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. It comprises U.S. state, state, Territories of the United States, U.S. terr ...
hall. It is currently unoccupied, but remains in the possession of the American Legion.
Structure
It is a one-story, ground-level building with three rooms. There is no discernible cellar. The building is constructed of brick, and is covered in white clapboards. Most of the windows have been removed or boarded over, so an analysis cannot be provided. There were windows on the East and West walls that are no longer visible (2012).
Village School
Village School, closed in 1950, currently exists on Taunton Hill between the Town Hall and North Church, being the elder of those two buildings by 94 and 15 years, respectively. It began as a lawyer's office in 1794, then became a string of schools. Originally, the minister of North Church served as the schoolmaster. In the 1850s it was a private school, the Assonet Academy. It was purchased by the town circa 1903 and used as a grammar school until 1950 for grades 1-8, and later grades 1 and 2. In the 1940s, grades 1-2 were on the left (South) side and grades 7-8 on the right (North) side of the building. Heat was provided by a pot-bellied wood-burning stove in each room. Mrs. Cudworth was the grades 1-2 teacher and both grades were in the same room; two grades, one teacher. In the 1980s and 1990s, the structure was used for public meetings of municipal committees. Throughout its history, it served as a meeting place for local
Boy
A boy is a young male human. The term is commonly used for a child or an adolescent. When a male human reaches adulthood, he is usually described as a man.
Definition, etymology, and use
According to the ''Merriam-Webster Dictionary'', a boy ...
troops
A troop is a military sub-subunit, originally a small formation of cavalry, subordinate to a Squadron (cavalry), squadron. In many armies a troop is the equivalent element to the infantry section (military unit), section or platoon. Exception ...
. Currently, the Town Hall uses it for storage.
Structure
It is a two-story building, with two rooms on the upper (primary) floor. The lower floor is a two-room cellar, and partially underground. The foundation is brick, and the building itself is wood. The exterior is white clapboards, and the front staircase has a portico and both wooden and iron railings. A cupola adorns the center of the roof, and the windows are six-over-one. The interior of the building is divided in the center, with the wall travelling parallel to School Street between the two front doors. Each room has chalkboards (blackboards) running along the walls, and hanging fixtures from the ceiling provide artificial light when necessary. The building has no plumbing and a woodstove provides heat, with a central brick chimney. An outhouse, now razed, was located at the left rear of the building.
Facing the building from Taunton Hill, the righthand room is painted in bright colors, and was formerly used for meetings of the Girl Scouts and the town's Cultural Council. The lefthand room is panelled in faux stained wood, and was used by the Boy Scouts.
A revitalization effort seeks funds to help restore the ailing structure, which suffers from the effects of weather, rot, deterioration, and a lack of maintenance funds.Village School House Restoration /ref>
Forge School
The latest in a string of schools known as the Forge School closed in 1940. It functioned irregularly from c.1920 - 1940 and housed grades 7 and 8. The schoolhouse was later converted to a dwelling house, which burned in 2002. It has since been rebuilt, now with dormers. From 1857 to 1862, the Forge School existed in an outbuilding known as the "corn crib" on the property of Daniel Macomber on Forge Road, which was once the site of the oldest dwelling in town, dating back to the 17th century.
Massachusetts
Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...
Massasoit
Massasoit Sachem ( ) or Ousamequin (1661)"Native People" (page), "Massasoit (Ousamequin) Sachem" (section),''MayflowerFamilies.com'', web pag was the sachem or leader of the Wampanoag confederacy. ''Massasoit'' means ''Great Sachem''. Although ...
. Maple, elm, oak, pine, and birch trees are common throughout. Numerous streams and brooks flow through the village, as does the Assonet River.
Bodies of water include Assonet Bay and Mill Pond. Bryant's Neck, also calle Assonet Bay Shores is a large peninsula situated between Shephard's Cove and Assonet proper on Assonet Bay. This area is also well known for its
salt marsh
A salt marsh, saltmarsh or salting, also known as a coastal salt marsh or a tidal marsh, is a coastal ecosystem in the upper coastal intertidal zone between land and open saltwater or brackish water that is regularly flooded by the tides. I ...
es. The area around Mill Pond is frequented for its
herring
Herring are various species of forage fish, belonging to the Order (biology), order Clupeiformes.
Herring often move in large Shoaling and schooling, schools around fishing banks and near the coast, found particularly in shallow, temperate wate ...
File:Assonet Village in MA.jpg, Col. Thomas Gilbert House
File:Ebenezer Peirce birthplace.jpg, Ebenezer Peirce Estate ( razed 1938)
See also
*
National Register of Historic Places listings in Bristol County, Massachusetts
List of Registered Historic Places in Bristol County, Massachusetts:
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Cities and towns listed separately
Due to their large number of listings, some community listings are in separate articles, listed in this table.
Other citie ...