Orange County

Robinson Tavern // c.1796

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This stately Federal style residence with prominent Palladian window on its facade, is located on the edge of the Town Green in the idyllic village of Strafford, Vermont. The residence was built around 1796 and owned by Daniel Robinson (1735-1820), a cabinet maker, who resided here with his son, Zadock. The father-son business partners also appear to have operated the building as a tavern, with its important location as a stop along the route between Boston and Montpellier. The second floor of the residence was a “long room” for meetings and a ballroom. The large former tavern is now a private residence and retains much of its original character.

Robinson’s Store & Royal Hatch House // c.1794 & c.1831

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Photo from real estate listing

It is not often that you will find a historic house added onto an older store, usually it is the other way around! Located on Brook Road in the charming village of Strafford, Vermont, Robinson’s store dates to the late 18th century was originally the old (left) wing of the current building. The store was purchased by merchant, Joel Hatch (1768-1804) in 1798, and managed until his death in 1804. His widow, Sally and her second husband managed the village store until Hatch’s son, Royal Hatch, came of age and could operate it himself. It is likely that Royal Hatch built the larger two-story Greek Revival addition as his residence above. The date is also likely to be 1831, the year of his marriage to Marian Chandler Hatch. The building has served as store, restaurant, and craft shop before rehabilitation by the owners back into a private residence. The building was lovingly preserved and is a significant addition to this charming Vermont town.

Strafford Municipal Building // 1883

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Designed and built by Senator Justin Morrill in 1883, this building in the village of Strafford, Vermont, was donated to the Town by Morrill in memory of his mentor and business partner, Jedidiah Harris. The gambrel-roofed building was given to the town to primarily serve as a public library, with a large collection of Harris’ personal collections. This structure remained a library until the Morrill Memorial Library building was completed in 1929. This building has remained in the ownership of the Town of Strafford and is currently used as the Town Office building providing space for the Town Clerk/Treasurer and Town Records. The white flushboarded building has Victorian detailing at the porch, but retains early characteristics of the Colonial Revival style with its gambrel roof and symmetry.

Morrill & Harris Memorial Library // 1929

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Located down the street from the village common in Strafford, Vermont, the town’s public library building has a history that began with a gift of gratitude. In 1883, Senator Justin Morrill designed and built a building for the town in memory of his mentor, Jedediah Harris, and donated it as a public library. Harris had been Morrill’s partner at the village store, and the library housed the collection created by Harris’s own bequest. The gambrel-roofed building would eventually be outgrown and the town’s library moved into the new Morrill & Harris Memorial Library building when it was completed in 1929. Funding for the building is said to have been set aside in the will of Louise Swan, Senator Morrill’s sister-in-law, for the acquisition of land and building of a library. Built in 1929, the small Classical Revival style library is three bays wide and two bays deep with a pedimented entrance and Doric columns. The building retains much of its original detailing and has been lovingly preserved by the small town for nearly 100 years.

United Church of Strafford // 1832

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After the public support of religion ended in Vermont in 1807, when before this tax dollars were used to support the Congregational Church in towns and villages all over the state, many congregations split and erected their own purpose-built houses of worship. The Congregaional Church of Strafford was once located in the Strafford Meetinghouse, a 1799 structure at the edge of the town green. In 1832, the churches left the building, with the Unitarians building a church in the South Strafford Village, and Congregationalists building this church that same year. The old Congregational Church blends Federal and Greek Revival styles both in the vernacular, but it retains much of its original features. The Free Will Baptists sold their church building in the lower village (South Strafford) and the Baptists joined the Congregationalists to form the United Church of Strafford in 1967, occupying this church building.

Universalist Church of Strafford // 1833

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The Universalist Society of Strafford, founded in 1798, is the second oldest in Vermont and fourth oldest in the nation. In the early years, Universalists met in Strafford’s Town House, sharing the building with other denominations. Eventually the Universalists, Baptists, and Congregationalists all built their own churches, with the Universalists building this handsome structure in 1833 in the South Strafford Village. Blending late Federal and Greek Revival styles, the white clapboarded church is sited on a small hill and is characterized by its belfry and large stained glass windows.

Dr. Pierce House – Hazelton’s Hotel // 1821 & 1858

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Located on the edge of the Town Common in Strafford, Vermont, this Federal period residence was “modernized” decades after its completion for a new use. The house was originally built in 1821 by Dr. Albigence Pierce (1789-1873) for his wife and seven children with a small office alongside where he worked as the town’s primary physician. Dr. Pierce maintained his residence and office here until his retirement, when he moved back to Royalton, where he was born. He sold the main building to Lucius Carpenter in 1857, who opened a tavern and public hall a year later. In 1858, he updated the house, adding an ell on the rear for parties, meetings, and dances, and altered the roofline, adding a third floor with gable, bracketed eaves, and replaced all the windows with sashes of the period. The only Federal period detailing that remains is the traditional entrance with blind fan above the entry and three-light sidelights flanking. In 1859, Henry Hazelton married Carpenter’s daughter Amanda, and he would purchase the property from his father-in-law in 1865, operating it as Hazelton’s Hotel and Hall. By the 20th century, the property was converted back to a private residence.

Harris Store // 1833

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In 1833, Jedediah H. Harris, who had run a general store in Strafford village since 1805, commissioned a local contractor to build a new brick and granite store. The brick store was added onto the early 19th century wood-frame building. Harris and his business partner, Justin Morrill, opened the store in 1834, selling provisions to locals and visitors to the small town. Morrill would later go on to construct a stunning Gothic Revival style home nearby and become a leading U.S. Senator. For more than one hundred years the store passed through a succession of owners, until C. William Berghorn Jr. closed it in 1951 to make it his residence. The Greek Revival style building has since been converted to the local post office branch with the early wood-frame wing housing a local coffee shop/cafe.

Justin Morrill Homestead // 1851

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Located in the village of Strafford, Vermont, the Justin Smith Morrill Homestead is one of Vermont’s most charming architectural landmarks. Built between 1848 and 1851, the house is a rare and exuberant example of Gothic Revival design, with steeply pitched gables, pointed-arch windows, and intricate decorative trim that give it the look of a storybook cottage. Justin S. Morrill (1810-1898) was a self-taught architectural enthusiast who drew inspiration from the popular pattern books of the day, and he is said to have designed much of the house himself. Morrill also planned the surrounding gardens, studying the romantic landscape movement with its formal yet picturesque plantings. He selected only those plants that would survive the wintry Vermont climate and annually monitored their success again the harsh elements. Justin Morrill was a regular storekeeper in the village who retired early, who went on to serve in Congress for more than four decades and is best remembered as the author of the Morrill Land-Grant Acts. Signed into law in 1862, the first act helped establish public colleges across the country and opened higher education to ordinary Americans, primarily focusing on agricultural and mechanical studies. While Senator Morrill spent much of his time in the nation’s capital, his Strafford home served as his respite during the summer months. Today the homestead is a National Historic Landmark and Vermont state historic site, where visitors can walk through rooms filled with the family’s belongings and see how the ambitions of a small-town statesman shaped both a home and a nation.

Barn

Judge Cobb House // c.1807

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Located at the edge of the Town Common in Strafford, Vermont, this handsome Federal style residence dates to the early 19th century and has ties to a prominent local family. The house was built around 1807 and originally owned by a Benjamin Wood and by 1823, the property was owned by Daniel Cobb. Judge Daniel Cobb (1787-1868) served as the town’s Chief lawyer, Assistant Judge of Orange County Court, the town’s first postmaster, and as an elected representative to the state legislature. After his death, the property was inherited by Daniel’s son, Nathan Cobb (1827-1906), who was largely housebound from an injury while a student at Norwich University. Nathan Cobb became Strafford’s town clerk in 1863 and would hold that position for 43 years. He would also serve as the town treasurer, tax collector, school superintendent, and librarian. He housed the town’s library in the home for a number of decades and was also a justice of the peace and ran a printmaking business. Dr. Gardner Cobb, whose mother died shortly after his birth, was Nathan’s only child. He became a pediatrician and owned the house until his death in 1967. For 150 years, the house has been known as the Cobb House and is notable for its pressed metal roof.

Strafford Meetinghouse // 1799

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Perched atop a hill at the edge of the town common in Strafford, Vermont, the Strafford Meetinghouse exemplifies the traditional New England meetinghouse. The town of Strafford was settled in 1768 by settlers from Connecticut under a charter issued by the Governor of New York. Today, it may be best-known as the hometown of Noah Kahan. The meetinghouse was the first structure to be built in the present village and was constructed in a central position within the township on the turnpike between Montpelier and Boston. Built in 1799 by local carpenters, the structure served as a site for town meetings and house of worship for various congregations in the community. At the time of the disestablishment of the churches in Vermont in the early 19th century, many meetinghouses like in Strafford, passed to the possession of churches, however, both of the leading church groups in the town decided to build their own churches. As a result, the old Strafford Meetinghouse remained the property of the Town to accommodate local civic meetings. The exterior of the building is largely unchanged besides the addition of the tower and belfry on the primary facade in 1832. The building remains one of the finest and best-preserved examples of a 18th century meetinghouse in New England, and with its bucolic setting, it often serves as a backdrop and feature in photoshoots and New England travel publications.

Peabody Library // 1867

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Located in the Post Mills Village of Thetford, Vermont, the Peabody Library is one of the cutest library buildings ever! The library was a gift to the community of Post Mills by George Peabody, one of the first great American philanthropists. Peabody spent some time in Post Mills as a teenager, where his maternal grandfather lived. Peabody’s grant of $5,000 paid for purchase of the land, construction of the building, and acquisition of 1,100 volumes. He also donated funds for other libraries including the Peabody Institute Library in Danvers. The library exhibits a unique blend of characteristics from both the Greek Revival and Italianate Revival styles, being an outstanding representative of the mid nineteenth-century transition in architectural fashion. Oh to see inside this little library!

Hezekiah Porter House // 1822

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Hezekiah Porter (1783-1851) built this house in 1822 for him and his family, right in Thetford Center, Vermont. Porter was born in 1783 in Hebron, Connecticut, where he presumably learned the clothier trade, before moving to Thetford in 1806. Porter later operated a brickyard, serving as contractor to the Thetford Center Methodist Church, Town Hall and several other brick homes in town dating from the 1820s and 1830s. Porter lived on this large property with his wife and ten children until his death. The property was later occupied by Hezekiah’s son, Amos P. Porter. In 1888, Amos farmed about 200 acres and had 7 cows, 50 Merino sheep and 18 Jersey cattle!

Thetford Center Methodist Church // 1838

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An outstanding example of the Gothic Revival style churches in Vermont, this brick, three bay, gable front church was constructed in 1838 in Thetford Center Vermont. The Gothic Revival style is expressed here primarily in the pointed louvered insets above the windows (including the pointed louvers in the steeple) and the finials at the steeple. The church building was constructed using brick made in the local brickyard owned by Hezekiah Porter. Designed to seat 250 people, it was constructed for the cost of a mere $1,400. Behind the church is the Evergreen Rest Cemetery, administered by a Cemetery Association, in which are many of the early residents of Thetford and members of the congregation and its founders.

Hosford Stone House // c.1835

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Josiah Hosford of Thetford, Vermont built this stone house for his family in about 1835. Hosford was a stone mason who built a series of stone houses in town, using stone quarried in nearby Lyme, New Hampshire. Josiah Hosford (1802-1883), was the grandson of Aaron Hosford, one of the earliest settlers in the North Thetford area. The distinguished family contributed resided and contributed to the town’s vibrant history, as ministers, teachers, artists, farmers, and tradespeople. A fire at the home in the early 1900s gutted the interior, and the owner at the time, a carpenter, reconstructed the interiors, shingled the side gables, and added on the porches.