Head of the River Historic District

Head of the River is a compact village district straddling Acushnet and New Bedford, Massachusetts, where a winding road crosses the Acushnet River just north of New Bedford Harbor. About 26 houses and stores line both banks, along with an old double-arch stone bridge later widened with steel and concrete. Most buildings are one-and-a-half to two-and-a-half stories, in two main waves: the late 1700s to mid-1800s, and the early 1900s. Early residents included a judge, a sea captain, a Revolutionary War veteran, a factory owner and a blacksmith. Federal houses such as the Hawes House share the area with Greek Revival homes, an Italianate-remodeled house, bungalows and early automobile-era buildings like a 1920s garage. Two small stores, one later a post office, are rare surviving early commercial buildings. The district was listed for the architectural range of its residential and commercial buildings and for the way they show village growth and change over time.