The Round Hill Historic District encompasses the village center of Round Hill, a formerly rural (and now suburban) area in northwestern
Greenwich, Connecticut
Greenwich ( ) is a New England town, town in southwestern Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it had a population of 63,518. It is the largest town on Gold Coast (Connecticut), Connectic ...
. Centered on the junction of John Street and Round Hill Road, the district includes a church, cemetery, two houses, and a former district school, the latter dating to 1750. Established as a center for local farmers in the 18th century, it was transformed in the early 20th century into a center for suburban and summer estate residents. The district was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
in 1996.
Description and history
The Round Hill area began as a "backcountry" farming region of Greenwich, populated by English settlers who moved inland from its coastal areas, and by Dutch settlers from
New Amsterdam
New Amsterdam (, ) was a 17th-century Dutch Empire, Dutch settlement established at the southern tip of Manhattan Island that served as the seat of the colonial government in New Netherland. The initial trading ''Factory (trading post), fac ...
and the
Province of New York
The Province of New York was a British proprietary colony and later a royal colony on the northeast coast of North America from 1664 to 1783. It extended from Long Island on the Atlantic, up the Hudson River and Mohawk River valleys to ...
, both of which contested control of the area through the late 17th century. The oldest building at Round Hill is the Brown-Kenworthy House, built about 1728 and located next to the First Church of Round Hill. The church was a comparatively late addition to the village, its congregation dating only to the 1820s and the building to 1828; the adjacent cemetery was formally established in 1826. The oldest civic building in the village is a former district schoolhouse, built by 1750 and converted to residential use by incorporation into the house now standing just south of John Street on Round Hill Road.
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As the 19th century progressed, the area continued to be mainly agricultural, but by the early 20th century, expanding suburban development transformed the area, as farms were converted into country estates or subdivided for residential construction. The church was at first less important to many newcomers, but its closure in the early 1900s prompted a push for its preservation, and it soon reopened as a non-denominational community church. It and the other older buildings in the area were given Colonial Revival makeovers, in some instances stripping away Victorian alterations.
See also
*
National Register of Historic Places listings in Greenwich, Connecticut
References
{{National Register of Historic Places
Greenwich, Connecticut
Colonial architecture in Connecticut
Colonial Revival architecture in Connecticut
Historic districts in Fairfield County, Connecticut
National Register of Historic Places in Fairfield County, Connecticut
Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Connecticut