King Philip Avenue, where the Kickemuit River meets Mount Hope Bay.

Named for the slender part of the Kickemuit River that meets Mount Hope Bay, the Narrows in Bristol is a residential neighborhood in transition.

Many of the old summer cottages on the small lots along the streets closest to the water have been torn down, renovated or expanded in recent years, though few are as large as houses and lots on the newer developments on the streets closer to busy Metacom Avenue.

An 1870 map of Bristol shows much of the waterfront land in the Narrows was owned by members of the Coggeshall family, according to Ray Battcher of the Bristol Historical and Preservation Society.

One of the roads in the Narrows is called Coggeshall Avenue, and the road closest to the water, King Philip Avenue, is named for the legendary Wampanoag Indian leader.

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Today, the streets near the shoreline are home to a tightly knit cluster of houses on rising land, giving many houses at least partial water views.

It was the water that drew Diana Hudon and her family to the neighborhood. Hudon, who is from Warren, said they moved into their new house on Division Street last summer, in the middle of the season. Hudon said she bought 9 and 11 Division St., two neighboring lots with older summer cottages; both houses were torn down to make way for new construction. “I lucked into it, and I jumped on it,” she said.

A lot has been sold to a friend who is now building a new house next door.

“Everybody wants waterview,” Hudon said, looking out onto the Bay from her front porch. “Even in the winter, it’s nice to look out on the water,” she said.

Across the street from Hudon’s property, at the intersection of Coggeshall Avenue and Division Street, is a lot that is uncharacteristically large for the neighhorhood, and part of the land is bordered by an old stone wall with pillars in the center that might once have framed a gate entryway. But the house, although it does not appear to be new construction, is not centered behind this entrance, and is instead situated on a corner of the property. Might this be the site of an old Coggeshall family homestead that is no longer standing? Hudson said she is not sure, but the house on the property today has been there since her mother used to visit the Narrows in the 1950s.

Today, Hudon is looking forward to a summer with her children on the same beach her mother visited as a child.

There were only three properties in the Narrows listed for sale last week: The price range started at $299,900, for a 1910 cottage at 2 Dyer St. with three bedrooms, one bathroom, and 1,479 square feet of living space. A raised ranch built in 1967, with four bedrooms, two bathrooms and 2,052 square feet of space, is listed at $358,000; and a five-bedroom, three-bath, 3,216-square-foot Colonial built in 1948 is on the market at $479,000.

POPULATION:

(Bristol, 2000) 22,469

MEDIAN HOUSE PRICE:

(Bristol, 2007) $341,000

PUBLIC SCHOOLS:

Kickemuit Middle School

Mt. Hope High School

INTERESTING FACT:

Metacom, also known as King Philip, the Wampanoag Indian leader who led the fight against white settlers during King Philip’s War (1675-76), had his headquarters in Bristol, and was killed there.

cdunn@projo.com