Whately Center Historic District

Whately Center is a linear village strung along Chestnut Plain Road and a section of Haydenville Road, on a ridge above the Mill River Valley in Franklin County, Massachusetts. Widely spaced buildings sit far back from the road behind common land, with fields behind many houses, giving the village an open, pastoral character. Federal-period houses dominate, typically two and a half stories with side-gabled roofs, central brick chimneys and five-by-two-bay plans, though later Greek Revival, Italianate and Colonial Revival changes appear. Colonial-era survivors include the wide road layout, the cemetery begun around 1771 with slate stones carved with cherubs, the 1771 town pound, and possibly an early section of the Morton House. The district also contains town institutions, churches, farm outbuildings and tobacco barns. It is significant as a well-preserved rural town center that reflects farming, trade and civic life from the Georgian period through the twentieth century, with 80 contributing resources.