96-98 South Main St

Construction on 96-98 South Main Street occurred between 1850 and the eighteen seventies. It's a two-story stone foundation building with clapboard and brick exterior walls. 96 South Main was a drugstore in 1897, but records indicate it was originally a wagon repair shop. The rough-hewn timber porch is a recent addition, but the building once had a full sidewalk canopy. 98 South Main is a rare survivor from the mid-eighteen hundreds.

Although later altered, buildings of this scale would have dominated South Main Street in the eighteen fifties and 60s until the building boom of the last third century, associated with the arrival of the railroads. So for this structural example, the scale and massing are more significant than style and architectural detail.