Rhode Island

Chepachet, RI

Located in the rural northwestern corner of Rhode Island, Chepachet is a historic village within the town of Glocester that developed as an important center of trade, transportation, and manufacturing. Its location along the Chepachet River provided waterpower for a series of early mills, while the roads passing through the village connected Providence with communities in Connecticut and Massachusetts. By the early nineteenth century, Chepachet had become a busy stopping place for stagecoaches and a commercial center for the surrounding farming region. Its stores, taverns, churches, workshops, and mills served residents who came to exchange agricultural products for manufactured and imported goods. Chepachet later became the setting for one of the most important political confrontations in Rhode Island history. During the Dorr Rebellion of 1842, Thomas Wilson Dorr and his supporters gathered at nearby Acote’s Hill in their effort to replace Rhode Island’s colonial charter and expand voting rights beyond property-owning men. Although the armed resistance quickly ended, the movement helped bring about a new state constitution with broader suffrage. Chepachet’s historic center still contains buildings associated with this period, along with churches, stores, taverns, and homes representing more than a century of village development. In 1971, it became the first entire village in Rhode Island placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Today, its preserved Main Street, small businesses, rural surroundings, and continuing traditions make Chepachet one of Rhode Island’s most distinctive historic communities.