{"nrhp_refnum":"91001373","name":"Ashfield Plain Historic District","other_names":["Ashfield Village Historic District"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Roughly, along Main and South Sts. and adjacent parts of Buckland and Norton Hill Rds.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Ashfield","county":"Franklin County","state":"MA","lat":42.52597000000006,"lon":-72.79195111731745,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1991-09-20","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry","Community Planning and Development","Commerce","Agriculture","Education","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 133-acre historic district forming the institutional, commercial and residential core of Ashfield, Massachusetts, in the Berkshire foothills of Franklin County, with about 125 contributing resources dating from ca. 1766 to 1939.","why_significant":"The district preserves Ashfield's village center, with a strong collection of Federal and Greek Revival buildings along Main Street, plus later Queen Anne, Colonial Revival and Neoclassical examples. It also reflects the town's civic, educational, commercial and agricultural history, including Sanderson Academy, the peppermint trade and the arrival of summer visitors in the late 19th century.","narrative":"Ashfield Plain Historic District covers the old village center of Ashfield, Massachusetts, a hill town in the Berkshire foothills at about 1,250 feet. Laid out mainly along Main Street, the 133-acre district holds roughly 125 contributing buildings, structures and objects dating from about 1766 to 1939. Most are wood-frame houses of one to two stories, and Federal and Greek Revival designs predominate. Notable landmarks include the Town Hall, built as a meetinghouse in 1812-1814 and closely modelled on an Asher Benjamin plate, and St. John's Episcopal Church of 1827 by local builder Jonathan Lilly. The marble Belding Memorial Library of 1914 is the only stone building. The village grew around taverns, stores, an academy and a stage-route hotel, and Sanderson Academy counted Mary Lyon among its early students. Local peppermint production was once a notable industry. Later summer residents added Queen Anne and Colonial Revival touches, and the district remains largely intact.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Jonathan Lilly (local builder); Fuller and Wheeler of Albany; Collins and Weir of New Jersey; Samuel M. Green of Springfield","architectural_style":"Federal, Greek Revival, Gothic Revival, Italianate, Queen Anne, Stick-Eastlake, Colonial Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":"Buildings are generally in good condition, with many original details surviving; most are still in use, some in new uses (the former Ashfield House hotel was remodelled in 1990 for affordable housing).","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:03.532994-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/91/7950/63795091/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/91001373.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/91001373/ef87604e92-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/91001373/ef87604e92-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"John Phelan","credit_html":"John Phelan, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Elmers_Store,_June_2012,_Ashfield_MA.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63795091","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashfield_Plain_Historic_District","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4804964"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/franklin-county/ashfield-plain-historic-district-91001373/"}