Norwell Village Area Historic District

Norwell Village is a rural-feeling settlement on a gently rolling hill about a mile from the North River, with the town common at its center. A small civic and commercial district surrounds the common, and Main, Central, West, River and Dover Streets extend outward with mostly residential buildings. The 34 properties include Georgian and Federal farmhouses, the 1830 First Parish Church designed by William Sparrell, the 1874 Italianate James Library, Greek Revival cottages, a Queen Anne house, and Colonial Revival brick buildings such as the 1936 Cushing Memorial Town Hall. Settlement began in the 1640s as South Scituate, and shipbuilding later drove growth, followed by shoe factories. The district was listed for its role as the town's commercial and civic center, its architecture spanning some 250 years, and its potential to yield archaeological information about early settlement, industry and prehistoric use of the North River area.