{"nrhp_refnum":"92000951","name":"East Hawley Center Historic District","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"East Hawley, Plainfield, Buckland and Ashfield Rds.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Hawley","county":"Franklin County","state":"MA","lat":42.56347400000004,"lon":-72.87848114218744,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1992-07-24","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Agriculture","Transportation","Exploration/Settlement","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 23-acre rural crossroads hamlet in southeastern Hawley, Franklin County, Massachusetts, centered on the junction of Buckland, East Hawley and Plainfield Roads. It has 16 contributing resources built between about 1810 and 1930.","why_significant":"The district shows the rise and decline of East Hawley as the religious, commercial, transportation and institutional hub of a rural farming neighborhood. It became the leading stagecoach stop by 1850, and its church, parsonage, farmhouses, cemetery and charcoal kiln survive in an open agricultural landscape. The form also notes a high potential for historic-period archaeology.","narrative":"East Hawley Center is a small crossroads village on a flat plateau in the Berkshire Hills town of Hawley, Massachusetts. Roads radiate from a tree-shaded common toward Charlemont, Plainfield, Ashfield and Buckland. The district covers 23 acres and holds seven contributing buildings, a cemetery, a stone charcoal kiln and seven stone wall segments, mostly modest wood-frame structures dating from about 1810 to 1930. Luther Longley's farmhouse, built about 1810, is the oldest. The Longley family ran the tavern, store and post office, and by 1850 East Hawley was the leading stagecoach stop in town. A Greek Revival church and parsonage followed in the mid-1800s, along with a cemetery and blacksmith's house. William O. Bassett built an Italianate farmhouse in 1872 and a charcoal kiln in 1870. Open fields, stone walls and maple-lined roads preserve the rural setting, while newer camp buildings and a firehouse are counted as noncontributing.","period_of_significance":"ca. 1810-1930","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Early Republic: Federal; Mid 19th Century: Greek Revival; Late 19th and 20th Century Revivals: Italianate; no style","criteria":[],"status_note":"Mixed: the church is stabilized but unheated and lacks utilities, the Bassett House is being rehabilitated as a bed and breakfast, and the Barracks and a trailer are vacant and deteriorated.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:03.910585-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/97/7950/63795097/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/92000951.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/92000951/e386bc43b7-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/92000951/e386bc43b7-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 3.0","author":"John Phelan","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Congregational_Church,_East_Hawley_MA.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">John Phelan</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Congregational_Church,_East_Hawley_MA.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63795097","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Hawley_Center_Historic_District","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5328569"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/franklin-county/east-hawley-center-historic-district-92000951/"}