A Place Called YORKSHIP - The Streets of Yorkship Village

A few of the streets of Fairview are named with a straightforward utilitarianism--among them Yorkship Square, Octagon Road, and Common Road (which abuts a large grassy common to the west of the Square). But in keeping with the village's wartime origins and the New York Shipbuilding connection, most of the streets in Electus Litchfield's original design were named for famous naval vessels, creating many colorful addresses which resound with history and patriotic feeling.

Some of Yorkship Village's original roads, and the ships they commemorate:

Independence Road

The 191-foot 54-gun Independence, launched in 1814 at the Boston Navy Yard, was the US Navy's first ship-of-the-line. She served for nearly a hundred years, carrying the flag from Hawaii to the Mediterranean. Finally struck from the Navy list in 1913, Independence was grounded on the mud flats of Hunter's Point in San Francisco Bay on September 20, 1919, and burned to recover her metal fittings.

America Road

The America was one of three 74-gun ships-of-the-line commissioned by the Continental Congress in 1776. Shortages of timber and craftsmen delayed construction, and the design was altered to a 54-gun frigate. Finally completed in 1782, America was presented as a gift to King Louis XVI of France, to replace the French ship-of-the-line Magnifique (which had been wrecked earlier that year attempting to enter Boston harbor).

Merrimac Road - Monitor Road

The frigate Merrimac was burned to the waterline and sunk at Norfolk in 1961 by Union forces fleeing that city. Confederate engineers raised the hulk of Merrimac and rebuilt her as an ironclad ram, which was commissioned as CSN Virginia. In March 1862, she took part in an inconclusive duel with the Union's Monitor near Hampton Roads, the first ever battle between powered ironclad vessels.

Kearsarge Road

The 210-foot, 7-gun sloop Kearsarge was launched in 1861 by the Portsmouth Navy Yard. In her most noted action, she fought and destroyed the Confederate raider Alabama outside of the French port of Cherbourg, in a battle which lasted only an hour. Kearsarge was wrecked on Rocandor Reef on February 2, 1884.

Wasp Road

There have been several Navy ships named Wasp, but the most notable of the 19th century vessels was the fifth, a 22-gun sloop-of-war constructed in 1813. In May, 1814, Wasp embarked on a war cruise to the western approaches to the English Channel. In a span of four months, Wasp captured or destroyed the Neptune, the William, the armed brig Pallas, the Henrietta, the Orange Boven, the sloop-of-war Reindeer, and the 18-gun brig Avon, among others. But Wasp never returned from her cruise, vanishing--perhaps lost to a storm--sometime that November.

Essex Road

The first Essex, a 140-foot 36-gun frigate built in 1799, was a gift from the people of Salem and Essex County, MA to the United States. She was the first American man-of-war to round the Cape of Good Hope (1800), and during the War of 1812 captured or sank ten prizes in the Atlantic and more than a dozen in the Pacific. Trapped in the harbor at Valparaiso, Chile, by the British frigates Phoebe and Cherub, she fought a fierce and valiant 2-1/2 hour battle against superior firepower, but was forced to surrender by mounting casualties aboard (155 of her complement of 300 were killed).

Ironsides Road - Constitution Road

The oldest American naval vessel still in commission, the 38-gun frigate Constitution was one of six authorized by Congress in 1794. Her copper bolts and spikes were supplied by Paul Revere, and her timbers came from Maine to Georgia. She fought the Barbary Pirates as flagship of the Mediterranean Squadron, but earned her nickname "Old Ironsides" in two memorable victories over the 49-gun British frigate Guerriere and the 38-gun British frigate Java during the War of 1812.

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your Yorkship memories to Michael Kube-McDowell, Class of '68