{"nrhp_refnum":"03000920","name":"Whately Center Historic District","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"155-215 Chestnut Plain Rd. and 330-348 Haydenville Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Whately","county":"Franklin County","state":"MA","lat":42.43901900000006,"lon":-72.63141790476007,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2003-09-11","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Agriculture","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A rural town-center historic district in Whately, Franklin County, Massachusetts, made up of a linear street village along Chestnut Plain Road and part of Haydenville Road, with buildings from the late 18th century to the present.","why_significant":"The district preserves a wide, open New England town center on a ridge above the Mill River Valley, with many Federal-period houses and institutional buildings. It retains colonial-era features such as the 10-rod road, the 1771 cemetery and town pound, and documents the town's farming, commercial and civic development from the 1700s onward.","narrative":"Whately Center is a linear village strung along Chestnut Plain Road and a section of Haydenville Road, on a ridge above the Mill River Valley in Franklin County, Massachusetts. Widely spaced buildings sit far back from the road behind common land, with fields behind many houses, giving the village an open, pastoral character. Federal-period houses dominate, typically two and a half stories with side-gabled roofs, central brick chimneys and five-by-two-bay plans, though later Greek Revival, Italianate and Colonial Revival changes appear. Colonial-era survivors include the wide road layout, the cemetery begun around 1771 with slate stones carved with cherubs, the 1771 town pound, and possibly an early section of the Morton House. The district also contains town institutions, churches, farm outbuildings and tobacco barns. It is significant as a well-preserved rural town center that reflects farming, trade and civic life from the Georgian period through the twentieth century, with 80 contributing resources.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Georgian, Federal, Greek Revival, Gothic Revival, Italian Villa, Queen Anne, Colonial Revival, Bungalow/Craftsman","criteria":[],"status_note":"Buildings are described as mostly well preserved; the district retains residential, civic, religious and agricultural uses, and some houses are now rental units.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:04.908084-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/62/7950/63795062/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/03000920.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/03000920/7a0195b656-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/03000920/7a0195b656-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"ToddC4176 (talk)","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Whately_Town_Hall.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">ToddC4176 (talk)</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Whately_Town_Hall.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63795062","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whately_Center_Historic_District","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7991695"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/franklin-county/whately-center-historic-district-03000920/"}