Located about 5 miles (8 km) north of the town's center, the district includes a small cluster of buildings along New Hampshire Route 12A (River Road) that is a remnant portion of a larger agricultural village.

Its economy was based on lumber (supported by a mill on the Little Sugar River) and farming.

The village was once considered a much larger, dispersed settlement, but construction of New Hampshire Route 11 in the 1960s separated some of the more remote parts of the village from its nucleus, which was bypassed by that construction.

Notable buildings include the 1841 Greek Revival Methodist Church, the Union Hall/Grange Hall built in 1888, and the Farwell School, a stone building erected in 1889.

The district also includes ruinous mill remnants on the Little Sugar River.