The Marion Village Historic District Study Committee recently sent a questionnaire to all property owners in the Marion Village area under consideration for inclusion in a local historic district. The purpose of the questionnaire was to assess owners’ interest in measures to protect the village’s historic architecture. The next step will be a public meeting in September to discuss the questionnaire results, explain how local historic districts operate, and gather additional resident feedback.
The Committee and our historic preservation consultant Eric Dray (a former Marion resident) have concluded that Marion Village is the most intact, historic village on the south coast. The consultant’s report, summarized below, has noted that the village retains a remarkably intact collection of over 100 buildings that contribute to Marion’s maritime history and evolution into a summer colony.
Marion was first settled in 1679 as Sippican, a district of Rochester, and was not incorporated as a separate town until 1852. The construction of the First Congregational Meeting House in 1799, now Marion General Store, helped make Sippican Village the center for spiritual and civic life. The great majority of buildings in the village are connected to Marion’s illustrious maritime development beginning in the late-18th century. With the rise of saltworks, shipyards and whaling, maritime activity increased dramatically into the mid-19th century, as did residential development in Marion Village.
In addition to the many historic houses built during this time, there are intact examples of buildings and structures associated with that maritime industrial activity, including a chandlery, sail loft, cooperage, and wharves.
Starting in the mid-19th century, maritime activity declined significantly, and was eventually replaced in the late-19th century by Marion Village’s emergence as an elite summer resort – ushering in Marion’s Gilded Age. The arrival of train service in 1854 helped facilitate this new seasonal economy. Summer visitors, including nationally known politicians, businessmen, artists and writers, were drawn to Sippican Village’s beauty and tranquility.
During this period, Marion Village saw the addition of high style, architect-designed summer cottages and recreation resources along the harbor front.
Around this time, local resident Elizabeth Taber left an outsize imprint on Marion Village, including gifting to the town her original Tabor Academy campus on Spring Street (now Marion Town House and Elizabeth Taber Library), the Marion Music Hall on Front Street, and the Congregational Chapel (now Penny Pinchers Exchange) on Main Street.
As documented in our consultant’s research, Marion Village remains a remarkably intact historic town center, including a compact collection of historic dwellings, along with a few churches, schools, commercial, institutional and recreational buildings. Historic resources date from the late-17th to early-20th centuries and include well preserved examples of Federal, Greek Revival, Italianate, Queen Anne, Shingle, and Colonial Revival styles. Taken together, these buildings represent the physical embodiment of Marion Village’s fascinating history.
“I knew it was a beautiful village when I was a kid in Marion, but I didn’t know the fascinating history, the stories represented by those buildings. Now, as a preservation consultant fortunate enough to work with the committee and research those buildings, I’m struck by how unique Marion Village is as a highly intact example of a 19th century maritime community and summer colony. Our hope is that, through our educational efforts, the owners in the village and the residents of Marion will also gain a deeper understanding of the village’s significance and recognize the value of enacting some form of protection.” Eric Dray, M.A., J.D.