Titicut Painters — South Bridgewater, on the Taunton River

According to the Massachusetts Historical Commission's 1981 survey of Bridgewater, Titicut was the site of a major Contact-period native settlement whose people were probably affiliated with the Pokanokets (Wampanoags). It was part of a major regional population center in western Middleborough and southern Bridgewater. The primary north–south native path ran from the Titicut ford on the Taunton River to Bridgewater, along what became South and Main Streets.

Colonial residents in the southwestern part of today's town formed the Titicut Parish in 1743 and worshipped at the Titicut church in North Middleborough. Some settlement followed near the Great Woods graveyard on Titicut Street in the mid-to-late 1700s. Two iron furnaces operated at Titicut at least through the Revolution, and in the Federal period houses clustered around Snow's Brook near Sturtevant Bridge. The 1981 survey urged National Register recognition for the Titicut Furnace site, which it described as undisturbed, and it recorded a c.1915 concrete bridge over the river as intact at that time.

Census data for Titicut Street show what the land is used for now. The Census geocoder puts the street in Tract 9802, the same tract as Bridgewater State Hospital and Old Colony Correctional Center on Administration Road. Of the tract's roughly 1,481 residents, about 1,421 live in group quarters, and it holds just 38 housing units, with a margin of error of ±36. So there are few private homes on this stretch, and the census can't describe them in any detail. Owners near Titicut fall back on Bridgewater-wide data, where 44.6% of homes predate 1980.

Few houses, each one its own case

With so little housing on the Titicut stretch, no neighborhood pattern holds. No public source we found dates the individual houses along this stretch. The age and siding of your own building decide how the job should be prepped and which products fit.

Close to the river

Titicut Street crosses the Taunton River, which was designated Wild and Scenic in 2009. On any house near water or wetland, let siding and trim dry fully after rain or heavy dew before painting. Bare wood that was painted damp tends to blister. Read more on exterior painting in Bridgewater.

Treat an old house as lead-painted

If your house was built before 1978, EPA's renovation rule covers paid work that disturbs its paint unless testing shows the surfaces are lead-free. Our lead-safe painting page explains the containment and cleanup involved.