It is a small community that grew up around an iron mining and refining operation during the late 19th century, the first industry in Sharon.

Its north and south boundaries are at the point where development, or at least houses from the period of significance, ends along the roads in those directions.

Non-contributing properties are mostly the more modern houses that have been built, some in the center of the district, and a state Department of Transportation sandpit.

Over time they built six houses for their workers, a barn, and the Carpenter Gothic office at the center of the district, today the Valley Tavern.

[2] A few years after SVI established its furnace, Asahel Hotchkiss began his malleable iron works behind his house at 53 Sharon Valley Road.

His son Andrew invented the exploding artillery shell, a weapon that proved useful to the Union Army in the American Civil War.

By the time the conflict began the Hotchkisses had moved to a new plant at the junction of Indian Lake Creek and Sharon Valley Road.