Westport Point Historic District

Westport Point Historic District covers roughly 86 acres at the southern tip of a peninsula where the East and West Branches of the Westport River meet. Stretching about a mile along Main Road, with two narrow side lanes, it holds 233 contributing resources, mostly modest wood-frame houses built between about 1770 and 1940. The southern end is largely Georgian and Federal, while the northern portion is mostly Greek Revival, with later Victorian houses and summer cottages filling in between. Local carpenter-architects built many of the houses as vernacular versions of high styles. The village grew from an 18th century fishing and whaling port into a modest summer resort after the Civil War. Houses sit close to the street, stone walls and fences line the road, and commercial fishing boats still work from the wharves. Few modern buildings intrude, and the district is recognized for its architecture and its record of maritime and resort history.