Woodbridge Street Historic District

Woodbridge Street in South Hadley has been the main road to Amherst since colonial times, and this half-mile residential district preserves much of its early character. Twenty-eight structures line the street, including eight from the 18th century, among them the Second Parsonage of about 1742, the 1787 Deacon Josiah White House, the 1788 Sycamores and the Federal-style Stebbins/Condit House of about 1795. White clapboard, similar scale and generous setbacks give the street a unified look. Early families, notably the Whites and the Woodbridges, shaped the settlement, which remained agricultural through the 19th century. In the 1920s silk manufacturer Joseph A. Skinner bought much of the street, hired architect Allen H. Cox to restore several houses, and moved the Prescott Church and Schoolhouse from a town cleared for the Quabbin Reservoir, creating a small village green. These layers of settlement, architecture and preservation give the district its significance.