The town of Franklin, as well as much of the surrounding area, is one of the sections of the state that abounds with stone buildings—commercial blocks, houses, cottages, and barns. Most of these date from the 1860s and early 1870s. Two examples within Franklin include the schoolhouse (1872) at the west end of town, and the former “Old Inn” (1867) at the south end. The two-story school building has a hexagonal tower with a small onion dome that is situated on the ridge of its front gable end. The “Old Inn” is a one-and-a-half-story building; its most unusual feature is the suggestion in stone of pediments over the principal windows. Both of these buildings would loosely fall into the Greek Revival mode.
Southeast of Franklin is a stone dollhouselike Gothic cottage (take the gravel road at the southeast corner of the town, .4 miles; the house lies north of the road). This is the 1873 Charles Cabainer house. A balanced arrangement of a central entrance with paired double-hung windows comprises the front elevation of the cottage. Above the entrance door is a small, steeply pitched gable with a single tall pointed-arched window. Over the entrance is a horizontal stone lintel supported by small stone brackets. Carved within this is the owner's name and the date.
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