There are several houses built in the 1800s, but most houses in the neighborhood are newer. This home is on Spring Grove Road. Journal photos / Mary Murphy

It’s easy to miss Spring Grove, a heavily wooded neighborhood off Route 44 in Glocester, about a mile east of Chepachet. But most town residents know that narrow, curving Spring Grove Road leads to the Town Beach at the pond at the DiFonzi Recreation Area.

Although Spring Grove, like most of Glocester, is rural and residential in character, this spot was once home to one of the town’s earliest industries, a cotton mill, Spring Grove Worsted, operated by Smith Mowry Mills in the mid-1800s, according to Town Historian Edna Kent. In its heyday the mill had 25 broad-looms and 12 narrow looms, she said.

There are several houses built in the 1800s that are still standing, but most houses in the neighborhood are newer, and the styles range from small cottages and log cabins to bigger contemporaries. Terrace Drive, which is off Spring Grove, climbs up a steep hill, giving the street the feel of a mountain hideaway.

“It’s a cliff,” said Cathy Plante, who has lived at 62 Terrace Drive for more than 20 years.

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Plante, who has three sons, said her house is set to be sold this month; her family plans to buy a larger, foreclosed house with a bigger yard in another section of town. Plante said Terrace Drive is still “quiet and peaceful,” but it has become a bit too crowded for her taste. Five or six houses have been built there since she moved in.

Only two houses were listed for sale in Spring Grove last week, both priced at $379,900. The first is new construction, a ranch at 6 Glenn Drive with 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and 1,400 square feet of living space. The listing information said the house has a granite and stainless steel kitchen and the master bedroom has a private granite bathroom.

The second house is a log cabin at 30 Birch St., on a two-acre parcel with a “legal manmade pond with trout,” a three-car garage and two farmers porches, according to the listed information.

A 52-acre parcel on Spring Grove Road, zoned for residential and agricultural use, is for sale with an asking price of $329,900.

POPULATION:

(Glocester, 2000) 9,948

MEDIAN HOUSE PRICE:

(Glocester, 2007) $269,750

INTERESTING FACT:

Glocester’s often-zany Ancients & Horribles Parade has been held every Fourth of July since 1926.

cdunn@projo.com