USA > Rhode Island > Picturesque Rhode Island : pen and pencil sketches of the scenery and history its cities, towns, and hamlets, and of men who have made them famous > Part 1
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REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01068 3750
E
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015
https://archive.org/details/picturesquerhode00munr_0
"DECIES REPETITA PLACEBIT."
PICTURESQUE
RHODE ISLAND.
PEN AND PENCIL SKETCHES
OF THE SCENERY AND HISTORY OF ITS CITIES, TOWNS AND HAM- LETS, AND OF MEN WHO HAVE MADE THEM FAMOUS.
DC 974.5.
BY
WILFRED H. MUNRO.
PROVIDENCE : J. A. & R. A. REID, PUBLISHERS. I88I.
COPYRIGHT. J. A. & R. A. REID, PROVIDENCE. ISSI.
PREFACE.
1729180
"DECIES REPETITA PLACEBIT."-Though ten times repeated, the story of the earlier and later days of the towns and cities of his native state will always be pleasing to every true-hearted American. PICTURESQUE RHODE ISLAND is not meant to be a history of the " State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations ; " the extended and comprehensive work of Mr. Samuel G. Arnold, and the admir- able little volume of Professor Greene, render further labors in the Rhode Island historical field unnecessary at the present time. Its object is to give in concise and simple form a picturesque account of the origin and growth of the several towns of the State, and to note the prominent features they now present to the eyes of those who look upon them. To accomplish this object both pen and pencil have been employed. Brief sketches of the careers of men whose lives have been unusually noteworthy have been given, and many particulars, which, though interesting in themselves, would possibly be crowded by stern necessity from the chapters of a purely historical work, have found a place in its pages.
As is almost always the case where a preface is written before all the pages that are to follow it have been placed in the hands of the
6
PICTURESQUE RHODE ISLAND.
printer, it has become necessary to make a few additions to the " fore- words " put forth some four months ago, in the preceding paragraph.
Before the first half of this book had been placed in type it had become plainly evident that if I adhered to the plan previously marked out it would be quite impossible to complete the work in time for its publication for the summer season. Unexpected events had made such an inroad upon my time that assistance became abso- lutely necessary. The pen of Mr. Robert Grieve, of Providence, was therefore placed at my disposal. To Mr. Grieve must be given most of the credit for the articles upon Pawtucket, North Providence and Lincoln, the two Smithfields, Johnston, Cranston, Scituate, Fos- ter, Coventry, Exeter, Hopkinton and Jamestown ; and for the notes upon the commerce and the manufactures of Providence and of War- wick. The sketches of Woonsocket, Burrillville, Glocester, East and West Greenwich, Westerly, Charlestown, Richmond and New Shoreham, and most of the historical portion of the article upon Providence are from the careful hand of Miss Ellen R. Luther, of Bristol.
BRISTOL, R. I., June 15, 1881.
WILFRED H. MUNRO.
A L Bodwell De !!
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
THE EARLY VOYAGERS ALONG THE COAST OF RHODE ISLAND - THE NORTHMEN - SEBASTIAN CABOT - VERRAZANI - BAR- THOLOMEW GOSNOLD AND HIS COLONY -ADRIAN BLOCK, THE DUTCHI NAVIGATOR - LATER VOYAGERS, PAGES 17-22
CHAPTER II.
NEWPORT - HOW THE TOWN CAME TO BE FOUNDED - ALONG THE WHARVES - PIRATES AND PRIVATEERS - THE JEWS - FAMOUS MEN AND PRINCELY MERCHIANTS OF THE OLDEN TIME -THE BRITISH OCCUPATION AND ITS RESULTS - THE VISIT OF THE FRENCH TROOPS -THE BELLES OF AQUIDNECK - AFTER THE WAR - THE WONDERFUL REVIVAL OF THE. "CITY BY THE SEA," PAGES 23-52
CHAPTER III.
MIDDLETOWN - DEAN BERKELEY - ISAAC BARKER'S SERVICES DURING THE REVOLUTION. PORTSMOUTH - THE SETTLE- MENT AT POCASSET - THE CAPTURE OF PRESCOTT. LITTLE COMPTON - AWASHONKS, THE SQUAW SACHEM, AND CAPT. BENJAMIN CHURCH. TIVERTON - WEETAMOE, QUEEN OF POCASSET -THE CAPTURE OF THE " PIGOT" GALLEY,
PAGES 53-76
8
PICTURESQUE RHODE ISLAND.
CHAPTER IV.
BRISTOL - THE VOYAGES OF THE NORTHMEN - PHILIP OF POKA- NOKET - THE PRIVATEER "YANKEE" - THE SLAVE-TRADE -COMMERCIAL PROSPERITY AND DECAY. WARREN - MAS- SASOIET, THE FRIEND OF THE WHITE MAN - SOME FAMOUS SHIPS. BARRINGTON - THE THREE RANKS OF INHABITANTS -CAPT. THOMAS WILLET, PAGES 77-103
CHAPTER V.
EAST PROVIDENCE-SILVER SPRING-OCEAN COTTAGE -SQUAN- TUM - A RHODE ISLAND CLAM-BAKE - TRISTAM BURGES. PAWTUCKET FALLS-THE FIRST SETTLERS - TIJE JENKSES -CAPT. PIERCE'S FIGHT - TIIE FALLS AT VARIOUS TIMES - SAM PATCH - SAMUEL SLATER AND TIJE DEVELOPMENT OF MANUFACTURES. NORTH PROVIDENCE. LINCOLN,
PAGES 104- 134
CHAPTER VI.
CUMBERLAND - WILLIAM BLACKSTONE - NINE MEN'S MISERY. WOONSOCKET - EDWARD HARRIS AND THE HARRIS INSTI- TUTE - MANUFACTURES - EDUCATION. SMITIIFIELD AND NORTH SMITHFIELD. BURRILLVILLE -JAMES BURRILL - TIIE FORGER'S CAVE, PAGES 135-157
CHAPTER VII.
GLOCESTER -THE TORY EXILES - THE DORR WAR. FOSTER - THEODORE FOSTER AND SOLOMON DROWNE. SCITUATE - COMMODORE HOPKINS - STEPHEN HOPKINS. JOHNSTON -
LOTTERIES. CRANSTON - THE SPRAGUES. PAWTUXET -
STATE INSTITUTIONS, PAGES 158-178
9
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER VIII.
PROVIDENCE - ROGER WILLIAMS AND "SOUL LIBERTY"-MAN- NERS AND CUSTOMS IN EARLY DAYS - OLD-TIME "CON- VENIENCES" FOR TRAVELING - ROGER WILLIAMS PARK -- CHURCHES AND EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS - DETAILS RE- SPECTING THE COMMERCE - THE RISE OF MANUFACTURES,
PAGES 179-226
CHAPTER IX.
WARWICK - SAMUEL GORTON - FAMOUS SHORE RESORTS - ROCKY POINT- OAKLAND BEACH -BUTTONWOODS - MANU- FACTURES - CAPTURE OF THE "GASPEE." COVENTRY - EARLY DAYS AND SETTLERS. EAST GREENWICH-JEMIMA WILKINSON. WEST GREENWICH - THEOPHILUS WHALLEY. - EXETER AND HOPKINTON, .
PAGES 227-255
CHAPTER X.
WESTERLY - THE NIANTIC INDIANS - THE FIRST WHITE SET- TLERS-THE GREAT AWAKENING -WESTERLY GRANITE - FOUR NOTED MEN. CHARLESTOWN-NINIGRET'S FORT- THE CORONATION OF QUEEN ESTHER. RICHMOND-THE FIGHT AT SHANNOCK MILLS, . PAGES 256-274
CHAPTER XI.
NORTH AND SOUTH KINGSTOWN -RICHARD SMITH -THE GREAT SWAMP FIGHT - LARGE ESTATES - ANCIENT NARRAGANSETT - SLAVE ELECTIONS - NARRAGANSETT PACERS - DR. McSPARRAN -THE "UNFORTUNATE HANNAH ROBINSON " - GILBERT CHARLES STUART. JAMESTOWN. BLOCK ISLAND. THE LEGEND OF THE "PALATINE," PAGES 275-30I
2
-
SCHOOL
The Rogers High School, Newport.
ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE.
The Rogers High School, New-
port, . IO
View of Newport from the Har-
bor, .
16
Gay Head Light,
18
Brenton's Reef Lightship,
19
Landing of Gosnold, 1602,
20
Fort Adams, Newport,
2I
The Beach at Newport,
22
Thames Street, Newport,
24
The Casino, Newport,
25
The Channing Memorial Church, Newport, 26
Spouting Rock, Newport,
27
Lime Rocks, Newport
28
The Drives, Newport,
29
The Jewish Cemetery, Newport,
30
The Old Coddington House,
Newport,
31
Ancient Days, Newport,
32
A Newport Cottage,
33
The Lorillard Cottage, Newport,
35
Bird's-eye View of Newport, ·
38
Redwood Library,
66
·
41
Trinity Church, 43 .
Perry Monument,
·
45
The Town Hall, Bristol,
86
Forty Steps, 46 · The Congregational Church, Bristol, . 87 ·
Land's End,
47
Purgatory,
66
. 48
The Old Mill,
66
50
PAGE
The Tent on the Beach, Newport, 53
Whitehall, Newport,
57
Happy Valley,
59
The Glen,
61
A Glimpse of Bristol Ferry,
63
Old Wind-mill,
65
Mount Hope,
69
Cold Spring Monument, Mount
Hope,
.
71
The Northmen's Rock, Mount
Hope Bay,
73
Residence
of A. O.
Bourn,
Bristol, .
76
The Oldest house in Bristol,
78
Residence of Wm. T. C. Ward-
well, Bristol,
80
Bristol from the Harbor, .
81
St. Michael's Church, Bristol, .
82
Chapel of St. Michael's Church,
Bristol, .
82
High Street, Bristol,
83
Residence of Mrs. R. D. Smith,
Bristol,
84
The Rogers Free Library, Bris-
tol,
85
The Methodist
Episcopal
Church, Bristol, .
88
12
PICTURESQUE RHODE ISLAND.
.
PAGE.
Residence of Gen. A. E. Burn-
side, Bristol, 89
The Baptist Church, Bristol,
.
90
Residence of S. P. Colt, Esq.,
Bristol,
91
The Methodist Episcopal Church, Warren, 92
Warren - From the Beacon, 93
A View of Main St., Warren, . 95
The Baptist Church,
97
Nayatt Point,
99
The Old Watson House, Bar- rington,
Silver Spring,
105
Squantum,
107
Hunt's Mills, East Providence,
109
Ocean Cottage,
IIO
Pawtucket Falls, 1881,
Universalist Church, Pawtucket, II2
Pawtucket Falls, 1789,
II3
Trinity Church, Pawtucket, .
.
II4
A View in Main Street, Paw- tucket, II5
Pawtucket from below Division
Street Bridge,
II6
Music Hall, Pawtucket, 117
The Congregational Church,
Pawtucket,
119
The River, from Exchange St.
Bridge, Pawtucket, . . 12I
The Pumping Station, Pawtucket, 123
First Baptist Church,
125
Old Slater Mill, Pawtucket,
127
Glimpse of Lonsdale, .
129
Butterfly Factory, Lincoln, . I31
Baptist Church, Central Falls, . 133
University Buildings, Prov.,
. 134
Valley of the Abbott's Run,
I37
The Blackstone at Woonsocket, 139
The Falls at Woonsocket, . I43
Main Street, Woonsocket, I45
Harris Block, Woonsocket,
146
High School, Woonsocket,
147
PAGE.
Woonsocket from the Fast, . . 149
View of Greenwich,
151
Village of Slatersville,
155
View of Pascoag,
157
Providence from Smith's Hill, . 162 Lake Moswansicut, Scituate, . 167 View on the Woonasquatucket, 171 On the Pawtuxet, 173
The State Prison,
175
Field's Point,
177
Providence from Prospect Ter- race, 178
Old City Building, Providence, . 180
The State House,
66
. 180
The New City Hall,
181
Soldiers' and Sailors' Monu- ment, Providence, 182
Crystal Lake, Providence,
183
Exchange Place, Providence,
184
Hoppin Homestead, "
185
U. S. Custom House, "
I86
Butler Exchange,
66
.
187
The Athenaeum,
66
188
New Court House,
66
. 189
The Arcade,
. 190
Infantry Armory,
. 19I
The High School, Providence, . 192
Brown & Sharpe Mfg. Co.'s Buildings, Providence, . . 193
66
Roger Williams Monument,
Providence,
· 194
Park Garden Pavilion, Provi-
dence,
194
Works of the Nicholson File
Co., Providence,
195
The Betsey Williams House, Providence, 196
The What Cheer Cottage, Provi-
dence,
.
196
R. I. Hospital, Providence,
197
The Butler Hospital, Providence, 198
The Friends' School,
198
Narragansett Hotel,
199
I3
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE. Westminster Street, Providence, 200
Hotel Dorrance, Providence,
. 20I
Low's Opera House,
. 202
The Cathedral,
. 205
Grace Church,
207
Union Congregational Church,
Providence,
2II
First Congregational Church,
Providence,
215
Beneficent Congreg'l Church,
Providence,
. 217
First Universalist Church, Provi-
dence,
219
First Baptist Church, Provi-
dence,
22I
Chestnut St. M.
E. Church,
Providence,
223
A View of Phenix, .
229
Rocky Point,
231
Restaurant, Rocky Point,
233
Flying Horses, Rocky Point,
233
Bathing
Scene,
Narragansett
Oakland Beach,
235
Pier,
. 290
Falls at Washington Village,
. 237
Narragansett Pier,
291
Indian Rock, Narragansett Pier, 292
Fort Dumplings,
293
Point Judith,
. 293
Block Island Light,
295
New Shoreham, Block Island, . 299
Beach Pond, Exeter,
. 251
PAGE.
Hope Valley, Hopkinton,
.
255
Broad Street, Westerly,
257
Westerly, .
263
Congregational Church, West- erly, 265
Seventh-Day Baptist
Church,
Westerly,
271
Dixon House, Westerly,
. 273
Watch Hill Light,
273
Indian Burying-ground, Charles- town, . 274
The Court House at Kingston, 277 Congregational Church, Peace- dale, 279
A Bit of Wickford,
281
Swamp Fort, South Kingstown, 285
Hazard's Castle, Narragansett
Pier,
.
287
Hazard's
Gate,
Narragansett
Pier,
289
East Greenwich from the Water, 241
Academy, East Greenwich, . . 243
Street View in East Greenwich, 245 Episcopal Church, East Green-
wich,
.
249
MAPS.
MAP OF THE STATE OF RHODE ISLAND,
MAP OF THE CITY OF PROVIDENCE,
Between pages 144 and 145 MAP OF NARRAGANSETT BAY,
Between pages 272 and 273
Between pages 208 and 209 MAP OF THE CITY OF NEWPORT, Between pages 64 and 65
View of Newport, from the Harbor.
A L Bodwell De! .
CHAPTER I.
THE EARLY VOYAGERS ALONG THE COAST OF RHODE ISLAND -THE NORTHMEN - SEBASTIAN CABOT-VERRAZANI - BARTHOLOMEW GOSNOLD AND HIS COLONY -ADRIAN BLOCK, THE DUTCH NAVIGATOR - LATER VOYAGERS.
OCKED incessantly by the heaving billows of the Atlantic Ocean, at one time soothed by their gentle caresses, as the infant in its cradle is lulled to repose by the tender hand of its mother, at another tossed wildly about by the raging tempests when the demons of the storm hold high carnival upon the ocean ; in summer a pleasant refuge from the scorching breezes that sweep over the land ; in winter a dreadful prison, whose thick walls of oak are often cased with thicker walls of ice ; always, in summer breezes and winter storms, alike hailed with delight by the homeward-bound mariner, rides the Brenton's Reef Lightship.
Like the sea which it inhabits, the stout vessel upon whose seaworthiness the safety of so many lives de- pends, appears never to change. Just as it challenged the attention of the sailor when its home was first fixed near its dangerous reef, so it demands the notice of every one who sails through the entrance of Narragansett Bay to-day. As one wave sweeps onward and gives place to another while the ocean itself seems always the same, so lightship may have yielded to lightship, but the change has been un- noticed by the passing voyager. Almost unconsciously the mind of him who gazes upon it is carried backward to the earliest days of American history. As the sun goes down in the western sky and the evening shadows creep slowly over land and sea, visions of the ships that once sailed these waters come crowding before our eyes.
3
18
PICTURESQUE RHODE ISLAND.
Dimly seen through the shronding mists of almost nine centuries, the ships of the Northmen come speeding onward. Strong arms, that have gathered strength from life-long contests with the ice-floes of the Arctic Ocean, send the long keels leaping from billow to bil- low as the sight of the strange shores inspires the breast of each sturdy oarsman. Wild and savage is the appearance of those fair- haired sailors. More brightly even than their terrible weapons, gleam the fierce eyes under their shaggy brows. No longer the Vikings sang of " chanting mass with their lances ;" they were Christians when they landed upon the shores of New England, but the soften- ing influence of Christianity had hardly begun to make itself felt among them. Other ships from Iceland and Greenland succeed the pioneer vessel of Leif Ericson. One of these bears within its ice- scarred walls a mother and her infant son, the first child of Euro- pean descent born upon the shores of the American continent. Snorri Thorfinnson was the name of the boy. Thorvaldsen, the famous sculptor, claimed him as his ancestor.
As the last of the long keels from Greenland are drawn up upon the shores of " Vinland the Good," their crews are telling of the immense glaciers that are creeping down upon their northern homes, and wondering why no vessel for so many years has reached their ice-bound col- ony from the shores Gay Head Light. of their Norwegian fatherland. The darkness of midnight settles down upon the ocean as the sails of that hardy race sink below the horizon.
The bold hand of Sebastian Cabot, "The Great Seaman," of whom it has been said, " he gave England a continent - and no one knows his burial-place," thrusts it aside. In 1498, with two ships and 300 men, Cabot sailed from Bristol, England, to search for the northwest passage to China and Japan. From Labrador to Mary-
19
THE EARLY VOYAGERS.
BRENTON'S REEF
Brenton's Reef Lightship.
land he sailed along the coast, and then went back to England. He had opened a new world to English enterprise, and almost regal honors greeted his return.
Next, a ship from the pleasant shores of France comes sailing into view. The Italian Verrazani, is her commander ; he bears a commission from King Francis I. In the spring of 1524 Verrazani sailed along the coast from North Carolina to Newfoundland. To the whole country he gave the name of New France. Of his voy- age, an account, which is generally received as authentic, may be found in Hakluyt's Voyages. It contains the earliest full descrip- tion of the North American coast. For more than a fortnight the ship of Verrazani lay at anchor in the harbor of Newport, and every day the natives of the country, " the goodliest people " he had found in his voyage, repaired to see his ship. As we read his picturesque narrative their dusky forms seem to rise in bodily presence before us, so vividly and perfectly does he describe them.
20
PICTURESQUE RHODE ISLAND.
The bark of Bartholomew Gosnold follows in the wake of the French exploring ship. Friday, March 26, 1602, Captain Gosnold sailed from Falmouth, England. His vessel, the " Concord," carried thirty-two men, twenty of whom were intending to remain as settlers in the New World. Gosnold sighted land on Friday, May 14. The next day he anchored near a cape, in fifteen fathoms of water, and " took a great store of codfish." The name Cape Cod is due to that chance anchorage. Sailing by No Man's Land, then a " disinhab- ited island," and Gay Head, which he called "Dover Cliff," the Englishman landed upon the shores of Cuttyhunk. This island was also " altogether unpeopled and disinhabited." The name of Eliza- beth's Island was bestowed upon it. The colonists determined to make their abode and plantation upon a rocky islet in a pond of fresh water not far from the place where they had landed. The project was afterwards given up, but the fact remains that upon this island was founded the first English settlement in North America. In 1797 the " cellar of Gosnold's store-house" was easily found by a
VI RAXEID
Landing of Gosnold, 1602.
21
THE EARLY VOYAGERS.
Fort Adams, Newport.
company of antiquarians ; in 1848 another company " examined the locality, described with minute exactness in the journals of Gosnold's voyage, and the outlines of their works were then distinctly visible."
Adrian Block, the Dutch navigator, who first of all Europeans sailed through Hurlgate, succeeds Gosnold. Sailing into Narra- gansett Bay he " commemorated the fiery aspect of the place, caused by the red clay in some portions of its shores, by giving it the name of Roodt Eylandt, the Red Island. The names Rhode Island and Block Island still testify to his visit.
The shadowy sails thicken upon the ocean. With their faces lighted with the stern joy that danger always gave them, the men of Plymouth and of Boston urge their little shallops over the boiling surges. The ships of Rhode Island come next. The expanding commerce of the little colony stretches out over all seas. Into the harbors of Newport and Bristol and Providence sail vessels from the West Indies, from the Spanish Main, from the ports of Northern and Southern Europe. From a greater distance still come some of these little craft. They are engaged in a hideous traffic, though the world did not then regard it as such. The dark-skinned forms that lie list- lessly about their decks have been torn from the wilds of their native Africa to serve as slaves in the country that called itself free America.
22
· PICTURESQUE RHODE ISLAND.
Peaceful merchantmen give place to black war-ships, and the thun- ders of a naval battle reverberate over the waters as the French and English fleets of D'Estaing and Howe engage in a contest which is terminated by the irresistible force of outraged Nature. Primitive steamboats succeed the sailing-vessels. At first they pick their way cautiously from point to point, but gradually plow fearlessly on- ward through the opposing waves. Waking at last from the dreams of the past to the wonderful realities of the present, we behold within the horizon's rim the ocean studded with sails so numerous that the eyes grow wearied as we attempt to count them. Almost every day, during the warm months, more vessels than the coasts of America saw during the first two centuries after the discovery of Columbus, pass within sight of the Brenton's Reef Lightship.
The Beach at Newport.
CHAPTER II.
NEWPORT - HOW THE TOWN CAME TO BE FOUNDED -ALONG THE WHARVES- PIRATES AND PRIVATEERS -THE JEWS - FAMOUS MEN AND PRINCELY MERCHANTS OF THE OLDEN TIME - THE BRITISH OCCUPATION AND ITS RESULTS - THE VISIT OF TIIE FRENCHI TROOPS -THE BELLES OF AQUIDNECK -AFTER THE WAR-THE WONDERFUL REVIVAL OF THE "CITY BY THE SEA."
U
PON the shore of the beautiful island of Aquidneck, Nicholas Easton, William Brenton, and Thomas Haz- ard were standing one day in great perplexity. It was in the Year of Our Lord 1639. A few weeks before, they had chosen a site for the town they proposed to build. The great forest trees that shot upward from its hillsides had been felled, but a low, swampy ground, covered with a dense growth of underbrush, had been reached, which seemed to render additional labor futile. The tremendous waves rolling in upon Easton's Beach had shown them it was useless to hope for a safe anchor- age there. Reluctantly they had turned away, and had decided to place their dwellings upon the spot where the city of Newport now stands. Nature again appeared to defy their feeble powers. An Indian canoe approached the spot where the three men were stand- ing. One of the white men addressed its occupants and asked them " How much they would take to clear that swamp." After a short consultation one of the Indians replied, " If you will give me your coat, the pale-faces shall have the land made clear." The coat was given. The warrior cut from it its large brass buttons, and put them upon a string. Then he tied the coveted ornament around his neck, and went to summon his companions to assist him in fulfilling his
21
PICTURESQUE RHODE ISLAND.
agreement. The Indians shortly afterwards set fire to the under- brush, and thus, without any difficulty, disposed of one great obstacle that had hindered the work of the colonists. By the united efforts of the Indians and Englishmen the swamp was cleared of timber, filled in with gravel and sand, and made sufficiently firm for building lots.
The founders and first officers of the little settlement were : Wil- liam Coddington, Judge ; Nicholas Easton, John Coggeshall, William Brenton, John Clarke, Jeremy Clerke, Thomas Hazard, and Henry Bull, Elders ; William Dyre, Clerk. All these men had once been prominent citizens of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Having es- poused the weaker side in the famous Hutchinson controversy, they, with nine others, had been first disarmed and afterwards forced to leave Massachusetts by their triumphant opponents. After examin- ing various lands that had been offered them for settlement, they de- termined to make their new home in Delaware. With this end in view the colonists had sent their household goods by ship around Cape Cod, intending themselves to go overland and take the vessel at Providence. After they had reached Providence the representa- tions of Roger Williams and his influence with the Indian owners of the island in- duced them to change their plans, and to take up their abode upon Aquidneck. Ac- cordingly, on the 24th of March, 1638, they began a settlement at Pocasset, now called Ports- CLARK mouth. upon the northern end of the island. So rapidly did the colony increase, that in the follow- ing year it was . Thames Street, Newport.
25
NEWPORT.
The Casino, Newport.
decided to found the new town upon the southwestern part of the island, whose beginning has just been traced.
On the first day of May, 1639, they landed near the site of New- port ; on the 16th the town was laid out and named. Four acres were assigned for each house-lot, and six acres were granted to Mr. Coddington for an orchard. (This was the second orchard planted in the State. William Blackstone had planted the first in 1635.) The first street marked out was Thames Street. It was about a mile in length, and was laid out " according to the convenience of the shore," as the quaint phrase of the olden time puts it. Almost all of the dwelling-houses were placed upon the east side of the street. It was hardly supposed that buildings would ever be placed upon the west side, except in a few unusually favorable locations. No room was therefore left for the purpose. But in course of time the neces- sities of commerce called for the erection of stores and warehouses, the owners of the adjoining land encroached more and more upon the highway, and the narrow street which now so surprises the visi- tor, is the result.
4
26
PICTURESQUE RHODE ISLAND.
The Channing Memorial Church, Newport.
As the traveler lands to-day upon the wharves of New - port, it is ahnost im- possible for him to realize that he has reached the most famous summer re- sort upon the West- ern Continent. In- stead of the beauti- ful residences he had expected to see - those palatial structures, rich with all the treasures wealth and taste can gather together, which have made the Newport " Cot- tage" so famous throughout Amer- ica, - his eye rests only upon old and weather-worn build- ings, standing like
monuments to commemorate the spot where once a world-wide com -. merce found its home. He hardly needs to be told in his guide-book that Newport was once, with the exception of Boston, the most flourishing commercial town in America. Every old building seems to speak in pathetic accents of that dead past. It requires only a slight effort of the imagination to make these old wharves groan once more beneath the load of rich freight, and to crowd these old warehouses again, almost to bursting, with the varied merchandise from lands that lie far beyond the swelling seas. The eighteenth century was the period of Newport's commercial importance. Dur- ing the fifty years that preceded the American Revolution it reached the zenith of its maritime prosperity. When the Revolutionary War broke out its population was over 11,000. In the town were seven- teen manufactories of sperm oil and candles, five rope-walks, three
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