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Dormers on Second
Street circa 1937 |
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Dormers on Second
Street circa 2000 |
Restoration Begins After Period of Decline
But every cloud has its silver lining. Waterford's stagnation
as a commercial center meant it was not worth demolishing the old
to make way for new development. The old town and its surrounding
farms were able to slumber undisturbed, like Rip Van Winkle, for
many years.
Many of the buildings in the village appear as they do today because
of those decades of neglect, when few residents could afford to
modernize or replace their homes. World War I and the Great Depression
led to further decline. In 1937 a Historic American Buildings Survey*
of Waterford found a village dominated by deteriorated and dilapidated
houses.
By then, however, new life had begun to stir. There was a trickle
of people from the Washington area who appreciated Waterford's
picturesque buildings and rural setting. Some built new houses
along Second Street as vacation homes; others renovated older structures
throughout the town. Waterford's roads were finally paved in 1936.
A number of families around this time—the Chamberlins, McDaniels
and Stablers, to name just a few—went to great lengths to
preserve Waterford's buildings, traditions, and rural setting.
To complement their renovation of derelict structures in the village,
these individuals established the Waterford Foundation in 1943.
Their aim was to " . . . revive and stimulate a community
interest in recreating the town of Waterford as it existed in previous
times with its varying crafts and activities." Skilled artisans
and craftspeople had plied their trades in Waterford for two hundred
years; that tradition continued with the first exhibition of arts
and crafts in October 1944.
*The Historic American Buildings Survey
(HABS) began in 1933, following a proposal by Charles E. Peterson,
of the National Park Service, to put one thousand architects rendered
unemployed as a result of the Depression to work for ten weeks
documenting what he called "America's antique buildings." Peterson's
proposal quickly won approval from the Department of the Interior
and the work commenced in December 1933. Operating under various
administrative authorities for the first two years, HABS became
a permanent program of the National Park Service in July 1934,
and was formally authorized by Congress as part of the Historic
Sites Act of 1935. The black and white photos of buildings in this
history section are a product of the HABS survey. These and other
photos are available for viewing on the web site of the Library
of Congress.
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Civil
War
