Imagine the clatter of horse-drawn carriages along these streets in the 1800s, neighbors calling greetings across neatly trimmed hedges, and the tempting scent of fresh bread drifting from the Fourth Street Market Grocery during the Roaring Twenties. If you had been here in 1896, you might have heard students’ chatter spilling from Benton School, or caught Sunday tunes floating from St. John’s A.M.E. Church next door. Over at West End Grocery and Meat Market, folks stocked up on everything from ham hocks to a little friendly gossip.
If these houses look extra dignified, that’s because they share the spotlight with standouts like the Dr. Ludwell Powell House and the Waye Monument Company. There’s mystery, too: imagine the stories behind every window, each porch swing, each echo of distant laughter. And just to keep things official, in 2014, the district got its rightful place on the National Register of Historic Places-because a neighborhood this special deserves a bit of fame and a lot of extra care.
