{"nrhp_refnum":"92001717","name":"Five Corners Historic District","other_names":["South Center"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Jct. of Cold Spring, Green River, New Ashford, Hancock and Sloan Rds. and surrounding area","address_restricted":false,"city":"Williamstown","county":"Berkshire County","state":"MA","lat":42.66042550000006,"lon":-73.24223847822512,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1993-01-07","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 58-acre rural crossroads district, also called South Center, in the south part of Williamstown, Berkshire County, Massachusetts, centered on a five-road intersection. It has 30 contributing resources dating from about 1765 to 1939.","why_significant":"The district shows how a small, self-sufficient village center grew around a tavern, store, school, church, mill and cemetery, then stayed agricultural after the railroad bypassed it. Its buildings are mostly Federal and National Folk style vernacular examples. The surrounding farmland and river valleys remain part of the setting.","narrative":"Five Corners Historic District, also known as South Center, is a 58-acre crossroads community in southern Williamstown, Massachusetts. Five roads meet at its center, and farmland, river valleys and foothills surround it. The district has 30 contributing buildings, structures, objects and sites. They include the Samuel Clark House of about 1765, the Federal-style Ambrose Hall and Ebenezer Foster houses, and the brick Dr. Alanson Porter House of 1813, the only masonry building. Sloan Tavern, begun about 1770 and enlarged with Greek Revival details after 1833, is now a store. The Second Congregational Church of 1874-1875 combines Gothic Revival and Eastlake trim. The 1768-era Southlawn Cemetery, a 1939 dairy barn and silos, and the South Center School round out the group. The settlement grew around a tavern, store, school and burying ground, and later added a meetinghouse, a woolen mill and a cheese factory. It remained agricultural after railroads bypassed it.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Mr. Cummings of Troy, New York (Second Congregational Church design); Henry B. Curtis (church contractor); Benjamin Mills (Mills School for Boys buildings)","architectural_style":"Georgian, Federal, Greek Revival, Gothic, Italianate, Eastlake, Colonial Revival, National Folk Style","criteria":[],"status_note":"Nearly all properties are still in residential use. The Sloan Tavern operates as a store, the South Center School continues as a nursery school, and the church and cemetery remain in use.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:03.988723-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/30/7943/63794330/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/92001717.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/92001717/c3a5f22738-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/92001717/c3a5f22738-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 3.0","author":"John Phelan","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Store_at_Five_Corners,_South_Williamstown_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:The_Store_at_Five_Corners,_South_Williamstown_MA.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63794330","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Corners_Historic_District","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5455876"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/berkshire-county/five-corners-historic-district-92001717/"}