Grafton on the National Register of Historic Places
Grafton has 4 Historic Districts listed on the National Register of Historic Places - follow the links below to learn more about the history and significant architecture of our town. There are also several National Register listings for individual buildings, links will be added to that new page soon.
Grafton Village Historic District
The National Register describes the Grafton Village Historic District as “significant for its distinctive characteristics as one of the most well-preserved rural villages in Vermont”. The oldest known building in the Village dates to 1795, while the newest at the time of the study was 1957. While a “district” may have both contributing and non-contributing elements, in Grafton 88 of 94 buildings are contributing historically, while 82 of these 88 date to the 1870s or earlier.
The full National Register entry for Grafton Village is 493 pages long. There is a link at left to the National Archives for anyone who would like to see the document in its entirety. We have broken it up into smaller units so we could provide direct links here for quick access.
Houghtonville Historic District
The National register describes the Houghtonville Historic District as “significant for its distinctive characterisitics as a hamlet of well-preserved nineteenth century buildings in an evocative rural setting and for depicting a good example of the development of early agricutural and industrial riverside community in Vermont.”
The National Register entry for Houghtonville is a total of 77 pages long, including the statements, listings, maps, and photos, so we were able to provide a local link here to it in its entirety.
Mechanicsville Historic District
The National Register describes Mechanicsville as “significant for its characteristics as a hamlet of well-preserved nineteenth-century residences in an intact setting. Ten of the twelvve primary resources contribute to its significance, and all of these . . . are over 150 years old. The historic district also claims the only visible remains of one of the numerous canals that once served Grafton’s industries.”
The National Register entry for Mechanicsville has been broken into several local links here due to its length. The link to the entire document in the National Archives will be posted as soon as it is available.
Middletown Rural Historic District
The National Register describes the Middletown Rural Historic District as “an excellent example of an early hill town settlement, with a sparsely-settled collection of Federal Georgian plan and Cape Cod farmhouses, a cemetery, a pound, the former village common, the foundation of an early school, and rural open space demarcated by old stone walls, . . . which represent the architecture and landscape of the late eighteenth and early nineteeth century period of Middletown, the time of its heyday”.
The National Register entry for Mechanicsville has been broken into several local links here due to its length. The link to the entire document in the National Archives will be posted as soon as it is available.