Historic Walking Trail Map Information

Click a link to learn more about each stop

  1. Norwich-Westerly Street Railway Company bought the first trolley in 1906. It travelled through now Trolley Lane past the Avery house and on behind the Congregational Church out to Rte. 2. Abandoned in 1921 with the advent of more automobiles.
  2. The Third Baptist Church. Erected in 1833 with typical New England Greek Revival architecture. Note the fully pedimented front gable roof. The adjacent parsonage c. 1830 is now a private home.
  3. New Town Hall c.1950. Site first housed a stable then an automobile garage. (Read plaque at front door)
  4. Old Town Hall c.1809. A general store before deeded to the town in 1904. Also used as a jail which was in the basement.
  5. The Holmes Block c. 1800. First housed a general store, then a fruit & baked goods store, coffin maker, Brown & Stone mercantile store and now the Shunock Brewery.
  6. The Marcia Thompson school house c.1814, moved to the site, and Sam Slocum’s blacksmith shop c.1817. He built the addition for his home in the Federal to Greek Revival style in 1819. The millwheel was built by Frank Limpert in the 20th century.
  7. Hillard General Store 60 Main St. c. 1816  Federal to Greek Revival style. Previously housed a store, Post Office, and law office.
  8. Facing the Assekonk Stream across from the Town Hall parking lot is the William Sisson house, the earliest surviving house in town center, built c. 1776. Sisson was a joiner, making furniture.
  9. Village Green created in 1976. Planted and maintained by the North Stonington Garden Club. The club received a sapling from The Charter Oak during the bicentennial in 1976 and planted it over the bridge to the rear of the Green.
  10. Present day Congregational Church organized in 1727 . This church was erected in 1828. High-style Greek Revival architecture. Stained glass windows are attributed to Tiffany. Next door was the parsonage c. 1852 Greek Revival house. Now a private residence.
  11. The Wheeler Library was built of Westerly granite in the Richardson Romanesque tradition by architect Francis Kimball in 1900. The Wheeler School and Library served for several decades as the community’s secondary school and public library; it now serves as the town’s public library.
  12. Wheeler Cemetery. The land was part of the Hewitt Farm and was first known as the Elias Hewitt Cemetery. The ancestors of many prominent town residents are buried here.
  13. Round the corner along-side of Rte. 2 to the Mystic Road Trail entering Hewitt Farm. Hike through the woods past Community Gardens to Hewitt Road. Turn right over the dam.
  14. This mill dam was used by the Gallup family to power the Washington Woolen Mill. Known also as the Gallup Mill, they wove cotton and wool into broadcloth.
  15. John Dean Gallup house. c. 1732 or 1750. Later owned by the Hewitt Family. Now a linchpin to the town-owned 103 acre Hewitt Farm.
  16. Pavilion: available for family picnics & parties
  17. Side hike on the .06-mile Bicentennial Trail (follow signs) up to Tipping Rock. In the Cemetery, the Tallest memorial stone identifies Rebecca Pabodie, great granddaughter of Mayflower’s John Alden. D.1883 at 80 years.
  18. Hike along Hewitt Road to the Wyassup Loop Trail (---) out to Wyassup Road.
  19. “By the side of the road is ‘Devil’s Foot Rock’. This large rock stands very close to the road. If one should climb to its top, there he would see, very distinctly, the imprint of a foot…Was it Legend? Or could some Satanic majesty have left his footprint. This may be true, and again it may not be. Who is there to dispute?”1
  20. The Grange & Fairgrounds. Incorporated in 1910, the Grange is a fraternal organization with its roots in rural & agricultural history. Cosponsored with the North Stonington Volunteer Fire Dept, the Grange Fair is the first yearly in Connecticut and has operated since 1965. The town’s Little League plays here.
  21. Parke Memorial, pond and dam. Created by Avalonia Land Conservancy in 2009 this 3.3-acre site preserves an original sluiceway and machinery used for power to an early woolen mill.
  22. Stephen Main House 1 Wyassup Rd. c.1781 Federal style. Currently the home of the North Stonington Historical Society.