A landmark and instantly recognizable Tiverton farmhouse that saw more than 250 years of history fell to the bulldozer last week, a move that has stunned local preservationists who say the town should have given them an opportunity to step in and save it before it was too late.

The Abraham Brown House at 3118 Main Road, also known as the Lafayette House, dates to approximately 1760 and housed the French Marquis de Lafayette during the 1778 Battle of Rhode Island.

It started coming down at about 9 a.m. Wednesday and was completely gone by noon that day. As of 7 a.m. Monday, there was nothing left of the home but the cellar hole, though two small barns remain.

News of the demolition carried quickly through Tiverton Wednesday.

“I was in Middletown singing with the Tiverton Senior Chorus,” said Susan Anderson, a member of the Tiverton Historic Preservation Advisory Board and the outreach education coordinator for the Tiverton Historical Society.

“One of the members is the president of the historical society. She said, ‘I just got a text that the Lafayette House is down.’

“‘What do you mean it’s down?’,” Anderson replied. “‘It’s gone,’ she said.”

The large white farmhouse sat on 35.6 acres just north of the West Place Animal Sanctuary and is owned by David Rose of Kingston, RI.

Rose, who could not be reached for comment Monday morning, had been trying to sell the property for several years and in August applied for a demolition permit from the Tiverton building inspector’s office.  That permit was issued in late October.

In his application, Rose wrote ’No’ to a form question asking if the house was historic or was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Rhode Island Historic Preservation Register, or the Tiverton Register of Historic Places.

But “that’s not true,” Anderson said Monday — the home is listed on the state register and is also listed on a 300-building list of ‘Tiverton Historic Structures’ published with state preservationists in 1983.

Anderson said that given its historic nature, preservationists should have been given some warning that the building was under threat of demolition. But while preservationists had been ‘watching’ the property for some time, she said nobody knew.

Under Chapter 18, Article III of Tiverton Town Ordinances, the town is not required to contact preservationists when a home listed as historic is in danger of being demolished.

But that shouldn’t be the case, Anderson said. In June 2023, the advisory board proposed a change to the ordinance that would have required the town to notify the advisory board of any demolition permit within 15 days of its issuance.

Though the board recommended the new language be added to the ordinance, Anderson said it was apparently never reviewed by the town council and was never added.

“I don’t know what happened to it,” she said.

In the days since the demolition, Anderson said she has spoken to many residents and to a person, she said, they’re angry, sad and frustrated.

“It’s shaken up the whole town.”

One resident, who said he drives by the site twice every day, said the past week has been tough.

“It’s like a gut punch every time,” he said.

Though the home is gone, the land and small outbuildings still on the property are apparently still for sale. After the demolition, the ‘For Sale’ sign out front was replaced with a new one that removed reference to the farmhouse.