Aurora Village-Wells College Historic District

Aurora is a linear village along the eastern shore of Cayuga Lake, and this district covers both sides of Main Street from the old village at the north to the historic Wells College campus at the south. Oak Park and Ledyard cemeteries are included. Buildings range from the 1793 Patrick Tavern, the oldest in town, to the Federal-style Peter Fort and Riford houses, the Greek Revival Taylor house and a rare wood-frame Greek Revival storefront, the Thompson Block. Churches in Gothic Revival and Italianate design, a Masonic lodge of 1819 and a stone mill add variety. The campus features Gothic Revival, Italianate and English Collegiate buildings arranged along a curving drive above the lake. The district was listed because of its concentration of buildings tied to the village's early commercial importance and to Wells College's growth. Federal and Greek Revival examples are rare in the Finger Lakes region, and the village and college have long depended on one another. Adaptive reuse has left few intrusions.