Carpenter House
Why it's listed
Built in 1789, according to a date inscribed in a chimney brick, this clapboard house at 89 Carpenter Street in Rehoboth was originally a two-family dwelling with bake ovens on each floor. It is considered one of the town's finest and best-preserved transitional Georgian-Federal houses. The front doorway, with its pediment, pilasters and eight-panel door, is relatively high-style Georgian, while the west parlor and upstairs rooms carry Federal details such as fluted chair rails, rope molding and a guilloche frieze. It may have replaced a house from about the 1750s. Thomas Carpenter III, a wealthy Revolutionary War colonel, surveyor and town meeting moderator, is said to have built it, and Carpenter family members owned it until about 1895. The house was divided between two sons in the 1830s and later served as the center of a dairy farmstead. Its intact character and its link between two architectural styles support its listing under criterion C.
Significance in brief: The nomination calls it one of Rehoboth's finest and best-preserved examples of transitional Georgian-Federal architecture. It combines high-style Georgian features with post-Revolutionary Federal details and has a five-room center-entrance plan. It is also tied to the Carpenter family, early settlers of north central Rehoboth.
Machine-generated summary. This summary was generated by a language model from the official nomination document and has not been reviewed line by line by an editor. It may contain errors. Check the source document before relying on any detail. Source: nomination document (PDF) · National Archives catalog entry. NRHP reference 83000642, listed June 6, 1983. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence high).
Key facts
| Address | 89 Carpenter St., Rehoboth |
|---|---|
| County | Bristol County |
| Listed | June 6, 1983 |
| Reference number | 83000642 |
| Resource type | Building |
| Architect / builder | Possibly Thomas Carpenter III |
| Architectural style | Georgian/Federal |
| Criteria |
|
| Areas of significance | Architecture |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Present use is residence; the form describes a current careful restoration. |
| Acreage | 2.4 |
| Coordinates | 41.85473, -71.25415 (NPS GIS) |
What listing means for this property
National Register listing is honorary for a privately owned home: it does not by itself restrict what an owner may do with their own money, and it does not require public access. Restrictions come from local landmark or historic-district ordinances, which are separate (how they differ).
Owner-occupied houses are not eligible for the 20% federal rehabilitation tax credit, which applies to income-producing buildings, but many states offer credits for homeowners. Listing also opens the door to preservation easements and to buying a plaque. Start with what listing means for homeowners, renovating a listed house and selling one.
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; confirm with your State Historic Preservation Office or a qualified adviser.
Sources and further reading
- National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places database (snapshot May 2026), reference 83000642.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q5045716
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.