Town Of Hopkinton Historical Tour - Part 1

The first recorded settlers arrived in what is now Hopkinton, New York around 1802. The town was first organized in 1805 and is one of the original ten towns of St. Lawrence County. In February 1814 (during the War Of 1812), the British troops raided Hopkinton, seizing 300 barrels of flour which were stored for the U.S. Government in the barn of Col. Hopkins, for whom the town was later named. This tour of historic places in the town was written and printed by Mary Converse, Hopkinton Town Historian, and I followed the booklet to the sites and used her descriptions in my captions for the photos. Many of the buildings had been modernized, some were abandoned, but all had interesting historical notes:

The Hopkinton Village School. Now the fire station, the original part of this building was built in 1869 at a cost of $3500 and was used for grades one through six until 1952. In 1954 it was purchased  by the Hopkinton-Ft. Jackson Fire Department and Ladies' Auxiliary:

This house has long been an important part of the town. Dr. James Q. Flood had his office in the room off the kitchen with a separate entrance on the right back corner. In the same room, Marion Hopkins had her church meetings and parties. Edith Regan had the Post Office in this room from 1945 to 1946. Erwin Zahler had the Town Justice offices there for twenty years and his wife, Margaret, had the Town Clerk's offices there for four years. Margaret still lives in this house:

King S. Chittenden had this house built by the Brush brothers around 1865. Jason Brush was married to King's sister, Olivia. King and his brother, Varick, were co-owner's of Chittenden's Store after their father retired:

The Clark S. Chittenden home was built in 1840. He was the founder of Chittenden's Store, Town Supervisor for seven years and was a member of the State Legislature. The Chittenden family has been been in Hopkinton for 181 years but no longer lives in this house:


The former Chittenden's Store, mentioned several times above, has been an active business in Hopkinton since 1821. The current building was built in 1927 after the original store was destroyed by fire. The store was restored by Jerome Wilber who currently operates it as a hardware store:

Murphy's Inn, directly across the road from Chittenden's Store, was originally used for a wheelwright, cabinet and shoe shop, store and school house. Mr. Howe remodeled the building into a Hotel. Cornelius Murphy bought it and it was called Murphy's Inn for many years. It was a stage coach stop for the Port Kent to Hopkinton coach run. It is now a private residence:

This home was built by Thaddeus Laughlin in 1814 and operated as a hotel for many years. The front west (right side) room was used as a bar room. At one time there was a fireplace with a swinging crane, bake oven and boiler arch in this house. Thaddeus and his father, Henry Laughlin, came from Bristol, Vt. in 1804 and built a log hotel nearby. Thaddeus Laughlin was appointed Hopkinton's first Postmaster in 1808 and served for several years as Town Supervisor:

The Hopkinton Village Green is on land given to the town in 1808 by Roswell Hopkins. The deed reads that the land is "for the inhabitants of the town, to be used for public green and for no other use whatever." The Hopkinton Village Green is on the National Register of Historic Places:

The Hopkinton Town Hall was erected in 1870 at a cost of $4,093.12, replacing the Old Stone Schoolhouse, Hopkinton's first public building built on this same site in 1815. It was remodeled in 1958. The Hopkinton Town Hall is on the National Register of Historic Places:

The Congregational Church, founded in 1808, was originally called the Church of Christ of Hopkinton. The first church building was built in 1828 and burned in 1891. The present building was built in 1892 at a cost of $6000. The Congregational Church is on the National Register of Historic Places:

The Hopkinton Historical Group Museum. The back part of this house was built in 1817 by Samuel Wilson and now houses the Town Library. The front part of the house was built 1838-1839 by Zoraster Culver. Both Mr. Wilson and Mr. Culver kept stores at this location. The building was purchased in 1985 to be used as a museum:

The Sprague house. Dr. Sprague came to town in 1811 and was the second physician to settle here. He acquired this lot in 1814 and either built or moved into this house in that year. He remained in Hopkinton until his death in 1859. Some of the flour seized by the British in the raid of 1814 was stored in a barn which stood on this property:

The Goodnow house was built between 1822 and 1834 by Bushnell Moore, who also built the first tannery in Hopkinton, where Nathaniel Goodnow learned the trade of tannery. The original burying ground of the pioneers was located behind this house and the house next door. The graves were later moved to the present Hopkinton-Ft. Jackson Cemetery during the 1840s:

State Route 11B, From The County Line To Nicholville - Part 2

I was on Route 11B, approaching Nicholville, and snapping photos of local farms (see Part 1, yesterday). These friendly cattle watched me with interest as I snapped their photo:

This house was was so colorful that I wondered if it was a bed and breakfast. I saw no sign, though, so I decided it was not:

A big pile of rubble beside this barn. I guessed that it was being renovated:

A classic, small farm house with two chimneys and a front porch:

Hip-roofed barn and hip-roofed farm house, great for winters with lots of snow, like the one we just had:

This old barn was in great shape and had several new, modern windows:

I entered the little settlement of Nicholville, where the houses were closer together:

The homes here had a small town charm:

This old, brick home may have been a farm house once upon a time:

The Nicholville Volunteer Fire Department:

Nicholville has its own, small telephone company and I turned off the highway at one of their truck garages. This was the end of my driving tour, so I put my camera away and concentrated on finding my way home:

The Village Of Burke, New York - Part 2

I was taking a driving tour of the small village of Burke, New York, in Franklin County (see Part 1, yesterday). They had a New Holland tractor dealer:

I sure did enjoy photographing some of the picturesque farms:

This antique automobile sat out on someone's manicured lawn:

And there were lots of old barns in terrific shape:

A large and modern fire station:

Lots of homes with front porches and porch swings:

There were still some pumpkins decorating folks' front steps:

There were also modern barns and some very large farms:

A field of horses with what I supposed was Canada off on the northern horizon:

An old barn in excellent shape:

And another old barn, this one with several additions. But Burke was tiny and I'd pretty much seen all of it, so I put my camera away and continued on toward home:

The Village Of Burke, New York - Part 1

The man from whom I'd purchased the fantail pigeons called and asked if I'd like to have his last two pairs of birds, and I said that I would. So I drove to the little village of Burke to pick them up and decided to take a driving tour of Burke on the way home:

Burke is basically an intersection where two county roads cross. But there are a number of nice homes and a few small businesses. Mostly it is farm country:

I really liked this square log home. It reminded me of homes out west, especially in the Rockies:

There were plenty of horses:

There was a center of town, where the houses were much closer together than other places, but it was a small area:

There was one fine, old church:

And this, if I remember correctly what I was told, was an old fire station, used now only as a garage for a restored, antique fire engine:

Burke looked like a pleasant place to live and I guessed that most folks earned their livings in the comparatively "big city" of Malone:

Burke had a village market and gas station:

And Leo's Tavern:

This old colonial style home, up on a hill behind big Maple trees:

And a very tall water tower. But there was still more to see in the village of Burke. I'll post Part 2 tomorrow: