An Antebellum village

"Quenched'' (oil on canvas), by Gay Freeborn, at the Patricia Ladd Carega Gallery, Center Sandwich, N.H.

Center Sandwich is  in the town of Sandwich. The village center and surrounding area are listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Center Sandwich Historic District. It's just north of the Granite State's Lake District.

Center Sandwich began as the site of a gristmill, erected in 1768 by Daniel Beede, followed  in 1780 by a sawmill, also on  on the banks of the Red Hill River. Roads were then built to the area, and the village and surrounding rural parts of town grew from about 900 people in 1790 to over 2,000 in 1820.

Most of the village's development  occurred in the decades before the Civil War, resulting in residential and civic buildings that are largely  Federal and Greek Revival in style. Because no railroads were built to serve the area, Center Sandwich declined in importance after the Civil War. Only a few changes occurred in the appearance of village in the 20th Century. The oldest surviving building in the village is the 1792 Baptist church, originally Federal in style, but later given Greek Revival features.

The town hall in Center Sandwich.