South Lee Historic District

South Lee is a linear mill village on the north bank of the Housatonic River in southwest Lee, with Beartown Mountain rising behind it. Houses, churches, stores, a school and a post office line Pleasant Street, while the Hurlbut paper mill sits across the river. The district includes five Federal-period brick buildings, among them the 1794 Merrell Tavern, later a tavern with a two-story Greek Revival porch and now a bed and breakfast. Mill owners' houses of the 1820s stand close to modest workers' cottages. Other notable buildings are an Italianate store, a Swiss Chalet-style carriage house, and two small churches. The brick Hurlbut mill was built in 1872 and rebuilt after a fire in 1883. Building was concentrated in the Federal and Greek Revival periods, tied to the tavern and the growth of the paper company, with more construction in the late 19th century. The district was listed for its architectural quality and its good state of preservation.