Rockingham Historic Preservation Commission Rockingham Historic Preservation Commission

Rockingham Historic Preservation Commission (RHPC)

Organized by Town Ordinance in 1993,  the Rockingham Historic Preservation Commission (RHPC) group is a certified local government (CLG) commission under the guidelines of the U.S. Department of the Interior. The goal of the Certified Local Government (CLG) Program is preservation through partnership. Local, State and Federal governments work together to help communities preserve and increase awareness of their unique cultural heritage.

The Rockingham Historic Preservation Commission’s (RHPC) certification enables Rockingham to receive grant funding and technical assistance from the Vermont Division of Historic Preservation and the National Park Service.

CLG Coordinator Walter Wallace administers the program, serves as staff for the RHPC and provides information and technical services to the community concerning historic preservation resources. The CLG responsibilities include attention to historic, Town-owned properties, including the Rockingham Meeting House, a National Historic Landmark. The CLG coordinator administers events that celebrate, enhance and promote the Town’s historic resources. Through these activities the RHPC seeks to engage and inform the public, integrate historic preservation into Town policies, provide informational and technical support to owners of historic properties, and promote preservation generally within the community. The Commission is engaged in two municipal projects:

Rockingham Meeting House Project 

Built in 1787 and declared a National Historic Landmark in 2000, the Rockingham Meeting House is recognized as the largest intact 18th public building remaining in Vermont still in its original material form and in active use. The last major preservation of the building was done in 1906 and 1907. Rockingham has been awarded two major National Park Service Historic Preservation Fund grants to help restore and conserve the Rockingham Meeting House, a National Historic Landmark. Together with a matching sum from the town, the

Save America’s Treasures grant provides $720,000 to restore the integrity of the foundation and windows.. The Semiquincentennial grant will support restoration ad conservation of interior plaster and woodwork, exterior woodwork, and repairs to the building’s massive timber frame.

Kchi Pôntegok: Revisiting the Historic Landscape of the Bellows Falls Petroglyphs

For the Indigenous Western Abenaki of the mid‐Connecticut River Valley (western Massachusetts, Vermont, and New Hampshire), petroglyph sites are sacred, regarded as the nexus of historical and modern social and spiritual realms. Kchi Pôntegok has particular importance to the Western Abenaki due to its location overlooking a turbulent set of falls, extensive Indigenous burying grounds and nearby habitation sites.

 National Register of Historic Places

The Historic districts of Parker Hill, Rockingham Village and the Village of Saxtons River as well as Bellows Falls Historic Downtown (The Square, Bridge, Westminster, Rockingham and Canal Streets), Williams St. Extension, Westminster Terrace, Neighborhood Historic (Hapgood, Burt, Atkinson, Henry, School, Church and Westminster), and George, Pine and Henry Streets are all part of the

This Designation is part of an official list of the Nation's historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Services, National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America's historic and archeological resources.

The public is invited to RHPC meetings, generally held on the first Wednesday of the month at 5:30 pm in the 3rd Floor Conference Room at Rockingham Town Hall with Zoom access. Find us on Facebook: 

Bellows Falls Downtown Historic District

Bellows Falls Island Multiple Resource Area

Bellows Falls Neighborhood Historic District (2001)

Bellows Falls Neighborhood Historic District (2007)

George - Pine - Henry Historic District

Parker Hill Historic District

Rockingham Village Historic District

Saxtons River Historic District

Miss Bellows Falls Diner Historic Site

Williams Street Extension Historic District

Westminster Terrace Historic District

The Certified Local Government (CLG) program and related projects are funded in part by the Vermont Division for Historic Preservation and the U.S. National Park Service.