Front Street is one of Exeter's oldest roads, and is lined with a series of 18th and 19th-century civic, religious, and residential structures, many of which are well preserved.

John Wheelwright and his followers, who had been banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony to the south over religious differences.

[3] Front Street, now designated New Hampshire Route 111, developed as a major westbound road.

Between the academy and the civic center is where The Congregational Church in Exeter was built in 1798, along with a cluster of mainly early 19th-century residences.

West of the academy campus residential development continued with slightly wider spacing, becoming more rural after passing Gale Park, a triangular park at the junction of Front and Linden streets.