I saw in our sterile clime, in the evergreen forest, noble rivers and cataracts, a sublimity, a romantic grandeur, which accorded with my feelings and attached me to the country. Here I have spent my youth and the best part of my life. My physical labors have been severe as a land surveyor, having ranged the forest to a considerable extent and having also chased the mountain deer. We came here when the primi- tive forest shaded the earth, and when only here and there the sound of the woodsman's axe was heard. The roads were a little more than a line of marked trees, the dwellings bark covered shanties. The Indian and the wild animals were the lords of the land. Such we found Northern New York."

From a letter written to Eliphalet Brush
By Elisha Risdon, January 19, 1850

• 1. ROSWELL HOPKINS HOUSE (corner Rt. 11B and Rt. 72) Hopkins built this house in 1806 an it is the oldest house in Hopkinton. The front was originally used as a store and office. Part of the flour raided by the British during the War of 1812 was stored in a barn on this property. Hopkins was born in Amenia, New York on May 17, 1757. He was a veteran of the Revolutionary War and had been a prisoner of war for some time. Afterwards he settled in Vermont where he served as Secretary of State for fourteen years. He founded Hopkinton in 1801 when he purchased 6,780 acres of wilderness land for $1.50 per acre, a substantial price in those days. He then set about to persuade settlers to come in and make a new town. Hopkins was the town's patron and provider for many years, building mills and shops for his settlers an furnishing them with necessary cash and supplies. In an effort to aid his son Benjamin, he became involved in business difficulties which caused his financial ruin, and in 1820 his land was sold for debts. He died at Chazy, New York on September 5, 1829 from injuries received when he was thrown from his carriage.
• 2. HOPKINS' HOMESTEAD (large house in right-hand fork of Rt. 11B & Rt.. 72) the front (smaller section) and the barns were built in 1812 by Isaac R. Hopkins, Roswell Hopkins' son. The large addition to the rear was built at a later date by another Isaac R. Hopkins, Roswell's great- grandson.
• 3. LYD BROOK named after Roswell Hopkin's first wife, Lydia. Along its banks were located a various times sawmills, gristmills, a trip hammer shop, tanneries, a buttery, a clothier's works and an ashery.
• 4. ARTEMUS KENT HOUSE (4th house on right from corner) Kent came to Hopkinton from Dorest, Vermont in 1809. He was the first school-teacher in town and he also practiced law. His diaries were quoted in Carlton Sanford's "Early History of the Town of Hopkinton." Kent built this house in 1817. The wing on the east was added sometime after his death in 1877.
• 5. LAUGHLIN HOUSE (6th house on right from corner) built by Thaddeus Laughlin in 1814 and run as a hotel for many years. The front west room was used as a bar room. At one time there was an old fireplace with swinging crane, bake oven and boiler arch in this house. Laughlin and his father Henry McLaughlin came from Bristol, Vermont in 1804 and built a log hotel somewhere in the vicinity of the Village Green. Laughlin was appointed Hopkinton's first postmaster in 1808 and also served several years as Town Supervisor.
• 6. MURPHY'S INN (8th house on right from corner) prior to 1848 this building was at various times a wheelwright shop, cabinet shop, shoe shop, store and schoolhouse. It was made over into a hotel in 1848 and at the turn of the century was known as Murphy's Inn.
• 7. HOPKINTON VILLIAGE SCHOOL built in 1869 at a cost of $3,500. It was converted for use as a firehouse in the 1950's.
• 8. KING CHITTENDEN HOUSE once the home of Clark S. Chittenden's son King, a co-proprietor of Chittenden's Store and Town Supervisor of the years 1888 to 1894.
• 9. CLARK S. CHITTENDEN HOUSE once the home of Clark S. Chittenden, founder of Chittenden's Store. He was a great-grandson of Vermont's first Governor, Thomas Chittenden, and he served as Town Supervisor for seven years and was a member of the State Legislature.
• 10. CHITTENDEN'S STORE a landmark in Hopkinton since 1821. This building dates from 1927 and is the fourth store bearing the same name built in practically the same location. When Clark S. Chittenden arrived in Hopkinton from Benson, Vermont, he found the town in serious trouble. Roswell Hopkins was financially ruined, crops were bad and many settlers were near starvation. Chittenden established an ashery on Lyd Brook where he manufactured pearlash (used in the production of salaratus, then a staple in cooking.) This became the chief means of livelihood for the settlers as Chittenden would buy or trade staple goods for the ashes of hardwood trees.
• 11. VARICK CHITTENDEN HOUSE (behind Chittenden's store) built in 1872 as a wedding gift for his second wife, Laura Lawrence. Varick was a son of Clark S. Chittenden. From 1857 to 1874 Varick and his older brother King were co-proprietors of Chittenden's Store. Varick continued in business alone until 1892 when he passed the business on to his son Jay.
• 12. VILLAGE GREEN The land for the Green was 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 a public Green or Common and for no other use whatever." This deed also conveyed the land for the Town Hall and the Congregational Church.
• 13. TOWN HALL 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.
• 14. CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH founded in 1808 and originally called the Church of Christ in Hopkinton. The first church was built in 1828 and burned in 1891. The present church was erected in 1892 at a cost of $6,000. The names of some of Hopkinton's pioneers are inscribed on the beautiful stained glass windows.
• 15. CULVER HOUSE (left side of Village Green) the rear part of this house was built by Samuel Wilson in 1817. The front was added on by Zoraster Culver in 1838 or 39. Both Wilson and Culver kept store at this location.
• 16. SPRAGUE HOUSE Dr. Gideon Sprague came to town in 1811 and was the second physician to settle here. He acquired this lot in 1814 and either built of 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 that stood on this property.
• 17. GOODNOW HOUSE built between 1822 and 1834 by Bushnell Moore who also built the first tannery in Hopkinton. Nathaniel Good now learned the trade of tanner from Moore and in 1839 purchased the house and tannery. The original burying ground of the pioneers was located behind this house and the next house. The graves were moved to the Hopkinton-Fort Jackson Cemetery during the 1840's.
• 18. HOLY CROSS CHURCH founded in 1876 by Father Normando. The church was built in 1877 and 78 with materials and labor contributed entirely by the members of the congregation. It was under the care of priests from neighboring parishes until 1884 when the first resident priest came.
• 19. WARNER HOUSE (2nd house on left after leaving village) Aaron Warner was one of the pioneers of 1803. His first cabin was built to the rear and west of this house. When the road to Potsdam was laid out in 1806 Warner found he had no access to it. He then purchased a piece of land enabling him to reach the highway and built this house. It is one of the oldest in Hopkinton.
• 20. ASHBEL SQUIRE HOUSE (2nd house on right after leaving village) Squire was one of the first settlers in town and he built his first log cabin on this land in 1803. This house dates from about 1828.
• 21. SETH ABBOTT HOUSE (Corner Rt. 11B & Sheldon Rd.) Abbott came here in 1806 and he was a shoemaker. He built his first cabin on the east side of this lot, close to the brook. When his land was surveyed, he found his cabin was on his neighbor's land. He built this frame house at an early date.
• 22. CALEB WRIGHT HOUSE (corner Rt. 11B & Sheldon Rd.) Wright came to Hopkinton in 1804 from Weybridge, Vermont and built a log cabin on this site. After a while he built this house, but it was built across the street where the brick house now stands. It was moved to its present location in 1857 when George Wright, Caleb's son built the brick house.
• 23. GEORGE WRIGHT HOUSE Wright was born in Hopkinton in 1824. He was on of the foremost men in town and he built this brick house in 1857. The slate roof was imported from France and the finest materials were used throughout the house.
• 24. EASTMAN HOUSE - Samuel Eastman was born in Hopkinton, New Hampshire and took this land as early as 1804. His log house stood a little west and north of this house. He built the front part of this residence in 1815.
• 25. DURFEY SCHOOLHOUSE (Corner Rt. 11B & Green Rd.) also known as the Stone Schoolhouse was built in 1840 at a cost of $300. The land was purchased from William Eastman for $5.00. Sally Mosher taught here in the summer of 1840 and received a salary of $10.87.
• 26. DURFEY'S INN (an right across from the Green Rd.) Phineas Durfey was born in Ellington, Conneticut and came to Hopkinton in 1805. Shortly after he settled, the road to Potsdam was cut through and he opened an Inn. After a while he had three log cabins a little east of the present stone house. He built the stone house in 1828. For many years this operated as a stagecoach stop and hotel. In 1868 Durfey sold his holdings to Peter Eakins and the property has remained in the Eakins family.
• 27. SAMUEL ABBOTT HOUSE (2nd house on right past Durfey's Inn) Abbott was 14 years old in 1806 when he came to Hopkinton with his father Seth Abbott. He hunted fall and winter as a business. He built this house about 1825.
• 28. JOSEPH DURFEY HOUSE (1st farm on left after Green Rd.) Durfey was born in Ellington, Connecticut and came to Hopkinton in 1805. He was a brother of Phineas, the Innkeeper. His first log house was built of few rods west of the present house which was built around 1826.
• 29. JONAH SANFORD, JR. HOUSE (1st house on left after Green Rd.) This was the boyhood home of Carlton Sanford, author of "Early History of the Town of Hopkinton." All that remains is the front section of the house and this was built by Asa Moon about 1830. Jonah Sanford, Jr. bought this farm in 1853 and in addition to farming, he ran a potato starch factory on a brook just north of this property. The road here was once called the Sanford Road.
• 30. LEE EASTMAN HOUSE (2ND house on right after Green Rd.) -Eastman was 6 years old in 1804 when he came to Hopkinton with his father Samuel. He took up this land soon after he was twenty-one and built the sandstone house in 1832. The stone was brought from Fort Jackson.
• 31. HEMAN SHELDON HOUSE (2nd house on left after Green Rd.) Sheldon was born in Rupert, Vermont. He built his first cabin on this property in 1811. There was no road through here then and to reach the cabin one had to go down the Potsdam Road and then through the woods. Sheldon built this sandstone house in 1829.
• 32. CATHERINEVILLE a community of scattered farms about seven miles southwest of Hopkinton Village. It was largely self-supporting at one time, but the soil was not very productive and so descendants of the early settlers gradually moved away. All that remains are some ruins, a cemetery and one farmhouse. The earliest grave in the cemetery is dated 1857.
• 33. EZEKIAL JENNE HOUSE (3rd house on left) Jenne was born in Jay, New York. Together with his wife and nine children, he came to Hopkinton in 1830 by means of an ox-team. He built this house in 1848.
• 34. ASAHEL KENT HOUSE (Corner Rt. 72 and Middle Road) Kent was born in Dorset, Vermont and he was a brother of Artemus, the schoolteacher. He arrived in Hopkinton in 1814 by means of an ox-team and built this house in that same year.
• 35. TRUMAN POST HOUSE (1st house on left past Middle Road) Post was a grandson of Reuben Post, one of Hopkinton's early settlers. He built this house in 1889. Reuben Post's house of 1809 was next to this where the old barns now stand.
• 36. ELI ROBERTS HOUSE (1st house on right) Roberts was born of French Huguenot stock in Connecticut. The name was originally spelled Roburds. He came to Hopkinton in 1807 and built a sawmill on Lyd Brook. He built this house, the second oldest in Hopkinton in that same year. The house originally stood fifteen rods east and was drawn to its present location in 1851 by twenty yoke of oxen.
• 37. HOLY CROSS CEMETERY this is the Catholic Cemetery and the oldest grave here dates from 1877.
• 38. LAKE OZONIA in the early days this was called the "Big Pond." For many years it was known as Trout Lake. In the 1890's Frederick M. Heath founded a rest cure center at the lake and he began to call it Lake Ozonia. From the earliest days it has been a retreat for hunters and fishermen. Around the turn of the century it was the scene of considerable lumbering activity.
• 39. SCHOOLHOUSE (2nd building on right) built in 1932 to replace one that had burned earlier. This school was in operation until the middle of the 1950's.
• 40. BLANCHARD HOUSE (3rd house on right) built by Warren Blanchard in 1843. His grandfather Amasa and father Amasa Jr. settled in Hopkinton in 1803. It has been in the Benham family for many years now. The road here was originally called the Blanchard Road.
• 41. BRIDGE AT DAY'S MILLS lumbering was started here about 1853 by George Eggleston, Harvey and Russell Day and Henry Witters. Operations continued until about 1920 when, because of a lack of avail- able timber, the mills on both sides of the river were torn down. At one time this area was the site of sawmills, a shingle mill, clapboard mill, butter tub factory and potato starch factory.
• 42. HILLIARD'S SHOP (5th building on left) During the 1800's Hudson Hilliard operated a carriage and blacksmith shop in this building.
• 43. LUCAS HOUSE (on left at bottom of Hill) Some of the first lumber from Samuel Wilson's sawmill of 1817 was used to build this house for the mill foreman.
• 44. ST. REGIS RIVER This is the site of the old bridge which was replaced in 1968. Once there was an island in the river here with a dam reaching to the Hopkinton side where Samuel Wilson built a sawmill in 1817. Along the river at various times have been a carding mill, box factory, wheelwright shop, custom mill, distillery and electric light plant.
• 45. THARRETT HOUSE (1st house on left, heading west on Rt. 11B) George Eggleston who was involved in lumbering at Day's Mills during the latter part of the 1800's is thought to be the builder of this house.
• 46. JOEL GOODELL HOUSE (2nd house on right from bridge) Goodell and his brother Samuel were the first settlers to buy land from Roswell Hopkins and they came into Hopkinton with him in 1802. Goodell's first cabin was built on this land back down by the river where the first road was built. His son Joel built this brick house about 1870.
• 47. JASON BRUSH HOUSE (3rd house on left) The pioneer Eliphalet Brush first settled this land in 1804. His son Jason built this house and it dates from the 1870's.
• 48. DEACON JOHN SHELDON HOUSE (3rd house on right) Deacon John was a son of the pioneer Abraham Sheldon and this is the east part of the original Abraham Sheldon farm. The brick house dates from Civil War Days. The wooden section in the rear is from an earlier date.
• 49. JOSEPH A. BRUSH HOUSE (8th house on left) Brush was born in Hopkinton in 1816, son of the early settler Joseph Brush. He was an active man in town and church affairs and built this house in 1852.
• 50. HOPKINTON -- FORT JACKSON CEMETERY given to the town in 1817 by Roswell Hopkins "for the sole purpose of a burying ground and on the express condition that the inhabitants shall fence said ground and road whenever the same shall be necessary to be inclosed and to keep the fences in repair." It probably first came into use about 1820 although there are tombstones dating back to 1811. These early stones would be the graves moved here from the first pioneer burying ground. Over the years the cemetery has been enlarged, but the Hopkins' grant encompasses the oldest part of the cemetery.
• 50.A Fort Jackson is part of the Town of Hopkinton. It was originally called "The Ford" because many of the pioneers forded the St. Regis River at this point. Gradually people began to spell it "Fort" instead of "Ford." In 1824 the village was named Fort Jackson in honor of Andrew Jackson who was a great favorite at that time.
• 51. MURPHY HOUSE (On corner by new bridge) built about 1855 or 56. At one time there was a store on the first floor, a meat market in the basement, and on the second floor a cobbler's shop where boots and shoes were made. The old wooden wheel used in stretching the leather is still in place in the attic.
• 52. METHODIST CHURCH this building was built in 1899 at a cost of $2,200.00 to serve as the Universalist Church. It is now used by the Methodists, their society dating from 1839.
• 53. ROYAL LAWRENCE HOUSE (7th house on left from new bridge) Lawrence bought this farm in 1867 and the house is thought to be one of the older homes in Fort Jackson.
• 54. ST. REGIS RIVER along the banks of this river were once located a sawmill, gristmill, shingle mill, woolen mill, wheelwright shop, tub shop and starch factory. The stone foundations on the left just below the bridge are the remains of a starch factory built in 1852 by J. B. Weaver.
• 55. FT. JACKSON SCHOOLHOUSE - this house was at one time a schoolhouse. It originally stood on the next lot east and was moved to its present location in 1877 when the new schoolhouse was built there. The "new" schoolhouse burned down some time ago.
• 56. FREEWILL BAPTIST CHURCH this home was once the Baptist Church, organized in 1844. The building was erected in 1847.