Summit, known as Perry’s Hollow in the 18th century, stood on a ridge between the Flat River and Moosup River watersheds, and its later name reflected a high point along the nearby railroad line. The village grew after the Providence, Hartford and Fishkill Railroad laid tracks there in 1856 and established a station, and it came to include a saw mill, grist mill, blacksmith shop, comb factory, church, library, several houses, a railroad depot and storehouse, and a general store. Although the railroad, depot, and storehouse are gone, many nearby historic buildings remain. Nixon Hall, built by Giles Nichols in 1888 as a public hall, housed meetings of groups including the Order of Patrons of Husbandry, the Summit Free Library Association, and Summit Grange No. 15; it later served as a library and now houses the Coventry Historical Society. The Summit General Store was built in 1885 by Giles Nichols, who also served for more than 20 years as station agent and postmaster. The Summit Baptist Church, built in 1865, played an important part in village social and religious life. The depot, built in the 1850s by the Hartford, Providence and Fishkill Railroad, functioned as a wooding-up station where engines took on water and wood. Though some industry existed, much of Summit was farmland, and farmers sent vegetables, grains, poultry, eggs, and milk by wagon to the depot for shipment by train to Providence. The former rail corridor now includes Trestle Trail, a 10 mile segment of the Washington Secondary Rail-Trail linking the Coventry Greenway with Connecticut’s Moosup Valley Trail and forming part of the East Coast Greenway Project, a long-distance shared-use trail system connecting 25 major eastern cities from Maine to Florida.