Located at the intersection of Halls Hill Road and Cook Hill Road, South Killingly is unique among Killingly village centers by the absence of an anchoring mill. South Killingly is the Town's best remaining example of the small villages that sprang up around the society meetinghouse in the 18th and early 19th centuries. This area was originally part of the Owaneco Purchase and was initially owned and settled by inhabitants of Plainfield in the second third of the 18th century. Small farms dominated the area with its largest settlement being a cluster of half a dozen buildings and houses located around the 1837 meetinghouse. The Separatist congregation was organized in 1746. Because of its location along the Providence to Hartford highway, the village included a tavern and village store. The viability of the settlement was eclipsed by the development of the mill villages and the coming of the railroad to the western side of the Town in 1839. Many significant buildings of the 18th and 19th centuries still survive in the area. The Congregational Church and the Highland Grange are two of the surviving buildings. The district school house that stood west of the Church was demolished in the late 1950's and the old tavern has been gone for years. Included in the history of South Killingly is also evidence that a number of local residents were involved in the abolitionist movement. Documents dating back to the 1830's list at least 19 individuals from South Killingly who attended an abolitionist convention in New London. Other documentation also shows that Almond Ames, a previous owner of the Spaulding House was secretary of the local anti-slavery society. Several other previous property owners of homes in the district are listed among those who were sympathetic and directly involved in the abolitionist movement that ultimately brought slavery to an end in the United States. [2]

Architecture, Social history

[1] Historic District information retrieved from the town website http://www.killingly.org/.
[2] South Killingly Historic District, Historic District Study Committee Report, 2005, SHPO Library, Hartford.
[3] Assessors information and Parcel IDs retrieved from the Historic District Report.
[4] GIS information retrieved from the website http://www.caigisonline.net/killinglyct/.

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