Newtown-North Division Homes for Rent

When a fire burnt down most of Salisbury in 1860, owners of the Poplar Hill Plantation subdivided their land, building the town’s first new neighborhood: Newtown-North Division. Over the next few decades, bankers, lumber tycoons and politicians purchased these Victorian-era mansions. Today, the plantation’s Federal-style house is a museum, and several of the neighborhood’s original properties still stand, cementing it as Salisbury’s first-ever historic district. “People are obsessed with these houses. It’s almost like a cult,” says Talane Hastings, a Realtor with Coldwell Banker Realty, who has sold several homes in the area. “Owners have put so much effort into preserving them.” With these historic homes comes a close-knit community. “Everybody knows everybody because most of us have lived here for several decades,” says Lisa Gingrich, the president of the Newtown Neighborhood Association. “I walk with my dogs around the neighborhood, and sometimes it takes me 45 minutes to go four blocks because I'm stopping and talking to everyone.” Locals can also walk to century-old churches and Salisbury’s downtown, where seafood restaurants and cozy bars fill Italianate-style storefronts.