Chaumont Historic District

Chaumont's historic district covers the western part of the village's Main Street and a short stretch of Washington Street in the town of Lyme, Jefferson County. It contains 23 residences, a commercial building, a Masonic hall and a church, plus carriage barns and carriage blocks. Contributing buildings date from about 1835 to 1931. The earliest are modest cottages of the mid-1830s, followed by Greek Revival houses and the 1845 Presbyterian church, later rebuilt in Gothic style in 1885. The arrival of the railroad in 1852 brought prosperity and more ambitious houses, including a rare Downingesque Gothic brick house and an Italianate palazzo-style house of 1861-2. Local Chaumont limestone appears in foundations, walks and carriage blocks, and the Copley Office Building of 1872 is limestone ashlar. Despite some porch, window and siding changes, the buildings largely retain their integrity. The district was listed for its architecture, which reflects the village's development through the nineteenth century.