Keeseville Historic District

Keeseville's historic district covers 76 acres on both banks of the Ausable River, which divides the village in two. A massive stone arch bridge of 1842 links the halves. The 142 structures, built between 1820 and 1936, include two-story frame, brick and stone homes, mills, shops, churches and civic buildings, with Main and Front Streets forming the commercial core. The district was recognized as a significant Adirondack center of nineteenth-century commerce and industry. Its buildings include the Ausable Horse Nail Company complex, once a major local employer, along with workers' cottages, stylish residences of manufacturers, and a steel suspension footbridge of 1888. Many designs in Classical, Gothic Revival and Italianate styles were the work of local housewrights Seneca and Isaac Perry, and many buildings use local river sandstone. Only eleven buildings are modern and non-contributing. Together they show the character of a water-powered mill community of the period 1820-1890.