Water cascades over Horseshoe Falls, a reminder of Shannock’s mill history. The area, settled on curving, scenic roads by the Pawcatuck River, is a National Register Historic District.

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The Providence Journal / Steve Szydlowski

It’s not likely that many people ever wander by mistake into Shannock, a pastoral neighborhood in Charlestown and Richmond. For outsiders, it’s not easy to find this former mill village — a National Register Historic District settled on curving, hilly, scenic roads by the Pawcatuck River.

According to Geoffrey A. Marchant, that’s the way local people here like it. Marchant is director of the Community Development Consortium, a nonprofit group that has worked to overhaul and expand the village’s water system.

The distinctive heart of Shannock village is Horseshoe Falls. But everywhere are signs of the history of the area. On Railroad Street, home to the former Knowles Mill, a marker is at the site of a 1636 battle between the Narragansetts and Pequots over fishing rights. Built in 1835, the Knowles Mill operated as a grist, textile and woolen mill for more than 100 years. In 1837, a railroad line from Stonington, Conn., to Providence was completed through Shannock. Remains of another Shannock mill, the Clark Mill can be seen behind houses along Shannock Village Road.

The Clark family was among the first white settlers in the area, and at one time owned most of Shannock village, including both mills, according to Marchant.

Much of the housing in Shannock was rental property built for mill workers, owned by a series of investors, and in the years after the mills closed the village fell into decay. In the early 1990s, after many properties were auctioned and sold to individual owners, Shannock started to turn around, as the new owners fixed up their houses, Marchant said.

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The consortium is still waiting to learn whether grants will be forthcoming for an environmental cleanup of the Knowles Mill site so it can be reused as a public park, according to Marchant. The mill, which was also known as the Carmichael Mill, was razed in 2006, but that same year, an assessment found various contaminants on the one-acre site.

Though it was once a center of industry, Shannock is now almost entirely residential in character.

There were only four houses listed for sale in Shannock last week, with a price range of $144,900 to $659,000. At the low end was a five-room ranch at 152 Old Shannock Rd. in Charlestown; the listing information says the 1969, two-bedroom, one-bath house is bank-owned and will be sold “in current condition.” There will be “no repairs, warranties, disclosures or inspections provided by seller,” the listing said, and proof of funds or a prequalification letter must accompany all offers.

At 17 West Shannock Rd., Richmond, a 1987 ranch is on the market at $249,900. The listing information says the seller is “very motivated” and that offers are subject to bank approval. The six-room ranch has three bedrooms, one bath and air conditioning.

A 1997 Colonial, at 153 Old Shannock Rd., in Charlestown, is offered at $269,900; it has two bedrooms, one bath, and 1,000 square feet of space. And at the high end, in the Shannock Hills development in Charlestown, is a new 10-room Colonial offered at 659,000.

POPULATION:

7,859 (Charlestown); 7,222 (Richmond)

MEDIAN HOUSE PRICE:

$400,000 (Charlestown); $276,625 (Richmond)

PUBLIC SCHOOLS:

Chariho Middle School

Chariho High School

INTERESTING FACT: According to the Richmond Historical Society, the name Shannock likely came from an Indian word for squirrel, mishanneke.

cdunn@projo.com