From The Connecticut River Valley in Southern Vermont and New Hampshire: Historical Sketches by Lyman S. Hayes, Tuttle Co., Marble City Press, Rutland, VT., 1929, page 309:
THE VILLAGE OF ROCKINGHAM AND ITS EARLY INDUSTRIES–THE OLD MEETING HOUSE
The village of Rockingham, situated near the geoographical center of this town, five miles northwest of Bellows Falls, has a wealth of historical lore of which many villages would be proud.
At, or near, the location of the village, the first three white settlers in the town, Moses Wright, Joel Bigelow and Simeon Knight, made their rude homes early in 1753. The charter of the town had been granted them by King George II of England the previous December. The exact location of these log cabins cannot now be pointed out, but the natural surroundings of the village of Rockingham are such as to lead students of history to believe it was there.
Certain it is, that when the settlers were numerous enough to organize the town government in 1761, the most populous place and the seat of government was located there. Until well into the 19th century, Rockingham was the principal village of the town; the first store, the first post-office, and the town meeting house were located there, the old building being erected by direct taxation upon all residents of the town. Town meetings were held there until 1869, when Bellows Falls having become the larger village, was decided upon by the voters for the holding of meetings, after two or three of the most stormy meetings ever held in town had discussed the question. The offices of both the clerk and treasurer were always kept in or near Rockingham village until during the '40s. They had been away from [310] there several years when the town meetings were changed to Bellows Falls. All church services of the town were held at Rockingham until 1809, when the "Old South Meeting House" was erected in Saxtons River village, but not until 1817 was a church built in Bellows Falls, the Episcopal church removing from Rockingham during that year. They had held services in the old meeting house until then.
In 1835, there were three taverns, two stores, two blacksmith shops, and an extensive tannery being operated in the village of Rockingham. The business there gradually decreased as Bellows Falls and Saxtons River villages grew, until at the present time one blacksmith's shop, a farmers' grange building, the old meeting house and seven or eight dwellings are all that remain of a once populous and lively village. A most disastrous fire occurred there April 14, 1908, wiping out the most of the business section, together with several dwellings, and none have been replaced.
The center of attraction to the locality at the present time is the old meeting house on a hill in the center of what was once the village. To this old edifice, during the last twenty years, more than ten thousand persons have made visitations, according to a register kept there by the town. It was built in 1787 by direct taxation, replacing a smaller one erected in 1773. After the town changed its town meetings to Bellows Falls the old building was allowed to become somewhat dilapidated, but was restored to its original condition by the town, and public subscriptions, in 1907. It is said by those who make early meeting house architecture a specialty to be the best illustration of the buildings of that [311] day remaining in New England as regards both exterior and interior. Gatherings in the nature of annual "pilgrimages" draw audiences once each year of from a thousand to fifteen hundred people, largely from a distance, to hear some of the ablest speakers of the day. These are held the first Sunday in August of each year.
The old burying-ground in the rear of the meetinghouse dates from 1782, and it has been used ever since that year. For nearly a full century it was the princiipal burying-ground of the town. The first burying-ground in the town was located on high ground at the intersection of the Williams and Connecticut rivers.
About 1835, an extensive factory was projected on Williams river, near the present railroad station of Rockingham. A dam was erected about twenty feet below the present location of the highway bridge, forming a large pond, covering several acres. The company failed to build the mill, and, after expending much capiital, the enterprise was abandoned. While the pond was there pleasure boats were used upon it, and it was made in many ways attractive for visitors. Not a trace of the dam, or of the projected manufacturing plant, is to be seen in that vicinity today. The entire locality in the vicinity of what was once this populous village, is one of extreme beauty of location, situated as it is near the mouth of Williams river, flowing into the Connecticut, giving vistas of hill, mountain and valley which would be hard to equal anywhere.