Its fortunes were revived in the 1930s as a tourist destination by Hugh Smiley, who founded Olde Egremont as a vehicle to preserve the village's mid-19th century streetscape.

[2] The historic district extends along Massachusetts Route 23 from its western junction with Massachusetts Route 41 in the west to its junction with the Sheffield-Egremont Road in the east, including a few buildings on adjacent roadways.

On a map produced in that year there were 55 buildings, of which 44 are still standing, with only five subsequent additions to the village.

In addition to the academy building, prominent buildings include the Egremont Village Inn (1780; moved 1801 to be closer to the turnpike), the 1832-33 Congregational church, whose horse sheds also survive nearby, the 1825 South Egremont Store, and the South Egremont Village School (1880), one of the last one-room schoolhouses in continuous operation in the United States.

[3] Of the district's historic industries, only the mill pond, dam and raceway survive at the western end of the village.