National Register Listing

Aspetuck Historic District

Roughly, Redding Rd. from jct. with Old Redding Rd. to Welles Hill Rd. and Old Redding Rd. N past Aspetuck R., Easton, CT

Aspetuck Historic District is significant because it embodies the distinctive architectural and cultural-landscape characteristics of a farming community from the late colonial and early national periods (Criterion C). The widely spaced distribution of houses, most accompanied by a barn and all with ample yards that once served as pasture, field, or garden recalls the appearance of an inland Connecticut farming community when agriculture was the basis of the local economy. The predominant type of building in the district -- the traditional center-chimney, gable-roofed dwelling -- is also characteristic of Connecticut farming communities of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The district also embodies the distinctive characteristics of Colonial Revival architecture, in which the more ornate buildings of the late 18th and early 19th centuries were reinterpreted as houses that were at once commemorative and commodious. The historic significance of the district (Criterion A) derives from its origins as an outlying community of the town of Fairfield, an outlying community that entered a long slow decline into the 19th century, only to become an affluent suburb of Bridgeport and then New York in the 20th century. Finally, the district gains significance because one of its buildings was the long-time home of Helen Keller, who lost her hearing and sight at an early age, and whose long struggle to overcome these handicaps has provided inspiration to millions.

Local significance of the district:
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1991.