Poquetanuck, Connecticut

Poquetanuck is a village in the town of Preston, Connecticut, located near the banks of a bay known as Poquetanuck Cove that opens to the Thames River. The village includes the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP)-listed Poquetanuck Village Historic District.

Poquetanuck Village Historic District
Captain William Grant House, Built c. 1754
Poquetanuck, Connecticut is located in Connecticut
Poquetanuck, Connecticut
Poquetanuck, Connecticut is located in the United States
Poquetanuck, Connecticut
LocationRoughly, along Main St. between CT 117 and Middle Rd. and along School House and Cider Mill Rd., Preston, Connecticut
Coordinates41°29′14″N 72°2′31″W
Architectural styleColonial, Mid 19th Century Revival, Late Victorian
NRHP reference No.96000912[1]
Added to NRHPAugust 22, 1996

History

Historically, Poquetanuck was one of three distinct settlements in the town of Preston, the others being Preston City and Long Society. The village of Poquetanuck was the site of shipbuilding activity.[2]

The historic district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on August 22, 1996. It includes representations of Colonial, Mid 19th Century Revival, and Late Victorian architectural styles. At the time of the 1996 listing, there were 39 contributing buildings, two other contributing structures, and one contributing site in the district.[1] In its National Register nomination, the district was described as "a well-preserved, cohesive, and densely built concentration of primarily 18th-century and early 19th-century village residences....[It has] the identity of location, feeling, and association of a center of colonial and early 19th-century daily life."[3]: 13 

One contributing property in the historic district is a home built in 1754 by sea captain William Gonzales Grant which currently houses a bed and breakfast inn.[4]

Route 2A, a two-lane undivided highway, passes through Poquetanuck. Increased traffic volumes on this road, attributed to the nearby Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun casinos, are considered to be a threat to the historic character of the village.[5][6]

St. James Church, built 1896

A 234-acre (95 ha) tract with about one mile of shore frontage on Poquetanuck Cove belongs to The Nature Conservancy, which maintains it as Poquetanuck Cove Preserve.[7][8]

See also

References
  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
  2. About Preston Archived 2009-10-07 at the Wayback Machine, Town of Preston website, accessed September 9, 2009
  3. Youngken, Richard C. (February 15, 1995). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: Poquetanuck Historic District". National Park Service. and Accompanying 13 photos
  4. Captain Grant's, 1754, in Haunted Connecticut: Ghosts and Strange Phenomena of the Constitution State, by Cheri Revai and Heather Adel Wiggins, Stackpole Books, 2006. ISBN 0-8117-3296-7, ISBN 978-0-8117-3296-3
  5. Spectrum Gaming Group, Gambling in Connecticut: Analyzing the Economic and Social Impacts, June 22, 2009
  6. The Most Important Threatened Historic Places: A Status Report, Connecticut Trust For Historic Preservation website, accessed October 28, 2009
  7. Poquetanuck Cove Preserve, The Nature Conservancy website, accessed October 8, 2009
  8. Carolyn Battista, Nature Preserved By the Gifts Of 2 Women, The New York Times, Sunday, June 19, 1988
  • preston-ct.org, Heritage landscape and resource planning report andrecommendations.
  • captaingrants.com, Bed and breakfast inn including several properties in the historic district
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