Bascom, Rev. Aaron House

A contributing property in the Chester Center Historic District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988. This small, remarkably intact meetinghouse village sits on an isolated hilltop near the geographic center of Chester, in the Berkshire foothills of western Massachusetts, on land set aside as the community's civic focus at its founding. Just five buildings survive—the Greek Revival First Congregational Church, the town's burying ground, its 18th-century schoolhouse, and two houses from the settlement and Federal periods—representing fine examples of New England Colonial, Federal, and Greek Revival architecture. Settled in the 1760s, the center declined after a turnpike bypassed it in 1800 and the railroad followed in 1842, shifting town life to the mill villages; because little was built afterward, it endures as a rare intact example of an early-19th-century upland village.

Bascom, Rev. Aaron House is a landmark in Chester, Hampden County. It is one of 3,654 landmarks documented in Hampden County, among 3,815 historic sites cataloged across the county on MassRoam.

The site sits at 42.2915, -72.9248 near Chester. The nearest cataloged historic site is Searles House (landmark), about under a tenth of a mile away. Others within a short drive include Boies, Dr. Anson House, Chester Center School House, and Chester First Congregational Church.

This record is drawn from public historical records. Use the map below for its exact position and turn-by-turn directions.