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Revision as of 14:37, 31 October 2010

It has been suggested that this article be merged into Marion, Connecticut. (Discuss) Proposed since August 2010.

Marion Historic District
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. Historic district
Lester Beecher House
Location	Along Marion Ave. and the Meriden-Waterbury Turnpike, Cheshire (New Haven County) and Southington (Hartford County), Connecticut
Architect	Multiple
Architectural style	Greek Revival, Italianate, Federal
NRHP reference No.	88001423
Added to NRHP	December 21, 1988

The Marion Historic District is a historic district in the Marion section of Southington in Hartford County and in the town of Cheshire in New Haven County, Connecticut. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988. Architectural styles in the district include Greek Revival, Italianate and Federal.

It includes the Levi B. Frost House (also known as Asa Barnes Tavern) and the Federal style Barnes-Frost House, which are separately listed on the National Register.

Rochambeau visit

Marion is the site of an encampment by the French general, Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau and his troops during the American Revolutionary War. In June 1781, the French troops under Rochambeau's command left Farmington and marched 13 miles to their eighth camp through Connecticut, near Asa Barnes's Tavern in the Marion section of Southington. They camped there for four days. Rochambeau and his officers took shelter in the tavern, and the troops set up camp on a hill on the other side of the road. The area of the encampment has since become known as French Hill, and a marker on the east side of Marion Avenue commemorates the French campsite. According to Rev. Timlow's Sketches of Southington (1875), "Landlord Barnes gave a ball at his tavern, at which a large number of the young women of the vicinity were

present; and they esteemed it something of an honor to have had a 'cotillion' with the polite foreigner." The celebrations—infused with spirits provided by Landlord Barnes—spanned the four nights they were in Southington. Rochambeau revisited Barnes's Tavern again on the return march on October 27, 1782. According to Timlow's Ecclesiastical and Other Sketches of Southington, Conn., coins, buttons and other things were picked up in the vicinity many years after the two encampments. The Barnes Tavern is now a private residence very near the camp site at 1089 Marion Avenue.

Significant properties

The house at 1166 Marion Avenue (is this the Lester Beecher House?) has been termed a Queen Anne style house for its irregular massing and 3 story tower.

See also

• March Route of Rochambeau's army
• List of historic sites preserved along Rochambeau's route

References

1. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2009-03-13.
2. Two of the fifty-seven listed properties are located just across the town line in Cheshire
3. L.C. Kopec, Southington, (Arcadia, 2007)
4. F.S. Marcy Crofut, Guide to the history and the historic sites of Connecticut, (Yale University Press, 1937)
5. H.R. Timlow, Ecclesiastical and Other Sketches of Southington, Conn, (1875)
6. Janice L. Elliott, David F. Ransom, and John Herzan (January 26, 1988). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: Marion Historic District" (PDF). National Park Service.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) and Accompanying 19 photos, from 1987 (see photo captions page2 19-20 of text document)

• Articles to be merged from August 2010
• Cheshire, Connecticut
• Southington, Connecticut
• Federal architecture in Connecticut
• Greek Revival architecture in Connecticut
• Italianate architecture in Connecticut
• Historic districts in Hartford County, Connecticut