A cape on Bend Road.

In East Providence, Wannamoisett is a neighborhood within the neighborhood of Rumford, clustered around the country club established there in 1898.

Wannamoisett is one of the quietest and greenest spots in densely-populated East Providence, and has some of the city’s priciest real estate.

The history of the neighborhood is linked to Rumford’s first industry, Rumford Chemical Works, which was incorporated in 1853. The company’s chief executive, George F. Wilson, acquired about 1,200 acres in Rumford, including the 105 acres that now comprise the Wannamoisett Country Club. The company’s building at the corner of North Broadway and Greenwood Avenue still stands today.

Many of the houses in the Wannamoisett area were built in the 1930s and 1940s, on smaller lots of about 5,000 square feet, giving the neighborhood a cozy feel.

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But many of the houses, especially those facing the Wannamoisett Country Club on Hoyt Avenue, are quite large, thanks in part to more recent updates and expansions.

“They’ve really put East-Side money into those renovations,” said Kathryn Lee, who owns one of the neighborhood’s few multifamily properties.

Lee is selling her mother’s former home, a duplex at 234-236 Wilson Ave. Lee said the house is one of the oldest in the area, and was once the home of Rumford’s first schoolhouse. “I adore Rumford,” she said.

But Lee, who raises dogs, said she needs to sell the house to realize her dream of buying a property with at least 10 acres in a warmer climate, the Shenandoah Valley area of Virginia.

The current state of the real estate market is putting a crimp in her plans. Lee is now attempting a for-sale-by-owner transaction, to help compensate for the price cuts she has made along the way. She said she started out with an asking price around $440,000, and the current price is $369,900.

In Rumford as a whole, prices for single-family houses listed for sale last week started at $134,900. But in Wannamoisett, single-family prices started in the mid-200s — $249,500, for a house north of the country club, a remodeled 1900 Colonial at 197 Roger Williams Ave. A 1937 Colonial at 7 Wilson Ave. with 3 bedrooms, 1 full bath and one half bath, was listed at $275,900. The most expensive house listed for sale in Wannamoisett was a 4-bedroom ranch at 29 Bent Rd., priced at $549,000. The 5,542-square-foot house was built in 1954 and is “steps to the golf course,” according to the listing sheet.

And in a sign of the times, another large house near the country club, 48 Holbrook Ave., has been foreclosed, and had not yet been placed back on the market by the bank that owns it. Mastermind Realty Corp., of Cranston, has a sign on the front lawn. Lee said the house was on the market for some time, represented by at least two different agencies, before it was foreclosed. The property has an assessed value of $544,300.

POPULATION:

(East Providence, 2000) 48,688

MEDIAN HOUSE PRICE:

(East Providence, 2007) $233,000

PUBLIC SCHOOLS:

Myron J. Francis Elementary School

INTERESTING FACT:

Today Show co-host Meredith Vieira grew up in Rumford.

cdunn@projo.com