Dighton Wharves Historic District

Four houses along Pleasant Street in Dighton, Massachusetts, and three dry-laid stone wharves reaching into the Taunton River make up this small waterfront district. The houses began as simple Georgian dwellings between about 1750 and 1800 and were later enlarged and restyled, three in Greek Revival and one in Italianate form. The wharves date from about 1760 to 1775 and once served ships bringing West Indian and European goods to a busy port, with chandleries and a carpenter shop on their surfaces. One wharf was the scene of the 1765 "Molasses Affair," when local men seized the cargo of the impounded sloop Polly. The house at 2298 Pleasant Street housed the customs office from 1809 until 1834, when Fall River took over the role. The district also holds nineteenth-century barns, stone walls and a marker for the Muddy Cove Bridge and ferry landing. Twenty-two of its twenty-three resources contribute to its character.