North Avenue Rural Historic District

North Avenue Rural Historic District covers 345 acres in the hilltop farming town of Mendon, Massachusetts. Eight historic farms line the ridge and slope down toward the Muddy Brook, and nearly all keep the boundaries recorded in the mid-19th century. The district counts 62 contributing resources, among them farmhouses, barns, fields, woods, marshes and stone walls. The ridge was the site of Mendon's earliest homestead divisions, and the long, narrow lots running from the road to the brook still reflect that pattern. Houses range from 18th-century dwellings, such as the Seth Davenport house, through Federal and Greek Revival farmhouses to an Italianate house of the 1850s and early 20th-century homes. The Davenport family held much of the land through the 19th century. Surrounding areas have been heavily subdivided, which makes this stretch of preserved farmland unusual. It records how Mendon's settlement, buildings and agriculture developed from the late 1600s into the 20th century.