USA > Rhode Island > Washington County > North Kingstown > Facts and fancies concerning North Kingstown, Rhode Island > Part 9
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But the historical interest in Swamptown City centers in the Goose Nest spring. In olden times this was said to be a favorite resort of witches, and it is reported that they held high carnival on the adjoining hillsides. In this vicinity one poor man was always followed about in the night by a ball of fire, until he happily conceived the idea of wearing a horseshoe in his hat, when the persecution ceased. This spring, by the way, is the head fountain of Lafayette pond, and the waters reach the pond after a long, irregular wending of three miles. The spring was first called Penelope spring, but its latter-day name was given it by a party of surveyors. It has the peculiar habit of drying up in the winter and spring, but never in the summer. At the time the surveyors were there, the spring had been dry for some time, and they were surprised one day to see an old goose come forth from the cavern with a fine brood of goslings. She had stolen her nest and hatched her young in the dried up spring, and the very day she came off the waters gushed forth in profusion. From this the spring was called Goose Nest spring, and it retains its name to this day.
Pork Hill is also known by the more classical name of Oak Hill. It was formerly a manufacturing village with quite a large mill, but no business has been carried on there for some time. The little village has a fine situation overlooking Wickford, Belleville, Hamilton and Narragansett bay. It has been propsed to make the pond the source of water supply for Wickford.
The Swamptown Lighthouse is a tall dwelling house erected on the top of a high hill in the center of the district, and it is visible for miles
. around.
Hell Hollow is a lonely depression in the road just southwest of the
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village of Lafayette, where the spooks and witches were said once upon a time to hold moonlight dances.
The greatest modern Swamptown romance is the story of the gold craze. The excitement existed about seven or eight years ago, and the old residents at last thought the desert would be reclaimed. According to the old miller, he was the first one to create the agitation. A neighboring farmer was talking at the mill one day in reference to his farm, and said he wished to sell it, but was afraid he could not get its value. Mr. Rose suggested that he find some gold on it and thus create an excitement. It is not known whether this idea originated action, but very soon the whole town was aroused by the news of the discovery of gold, and great crowds flocked to the "diggings" every day. The first mine was opened near the place where the negro boy was seen with no head. It consisted of a per- pendicular shaft of about 50 feet depth and the dirt and stones were all carefully dumped in the cart path where they could be examined. But it was claimed that prospectors from California by means of "gold rods" had found gold in all the surrounding hills, and very soon the price of real estate took a wonderful jump upward. The first digging, however, proved unsatisfactory, and a second mine was started in the brow of a hill just overlooking the Kettle Holes. This proved to be quite an excavation. A little way below the smelting office was set up, but the only sign of such a structure now is the remaining pile of fire brick flanked by a long piece of stove pipe. For the purpose of deceiving the natives, large quantities of brass filings were scattered among the heaps of dirt and it is rumored that one of the bucolic Swamptowners sat on a heap of dirt all day picking up these pieces of brass, and it is also said that he has them securely stored away in his house today. But the quantity of real gold which was obtained from the smelting office has never been really ascertained. It may be approxi- mated from the fact that the farm was never sold. The building is in ruins, and the excavations are deserted. The noise of the grist mill, the "peep" of the frog and the lowing of the cattle are the only things that disturb the natural quietness.
Just a little way in from Allenton road and only a short distance south of Indian corner is the old house that was formerly the residence of "Old Elder Northup." This good divine died in 1839. He was a peculiar man, even for his times, but was nevertheless zealous in his efforts to establish the Baptist belief. He founded the three leading Baptist churches in the town. It is related that on one occasion a certain young man brought to the Elder a written publication of his intended marriage to a young lady of the neighborhood. The Elder took the paper, and after reading it care- fully, said to the young man: "Why, she's good enough for me," and im- mediately began his suit with the result that in a short time he and the young lady were married. A favorite act of his was to impress his hearers with the fact that "John, the forerunner of Christ, was not John the Church- man, was not John the Methodist, but he was John the Baptist." The force with which he struck his fist upon the desk at the conclusion of this argu- ment was calculated to thoroughly instill Baptist doctrine.
There are many other poitns of interest in Swamptown, but these mentioned above are the most characteristic. There are also other legends, one of which tells how a cow was lost in one of the Kettle Holes and was
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seen two days later off Beaver Tail making her way to shore. Another tells of the freaks of Satan himself in a cranberry bog. But to see the country is more interesting than to read of it. Some years ago the town expended some $7000 on a road through this section, but the annual appropriation of $30 allotted it since has not served to keep it in condition. Modern life is evident along this road, but in the interior are fit social, mental and physi- .cal conditions to write a treatise "In Darkest Swamptown."
ANECDOTES OF CHARLES HENRY ROSE Born November 7, 1826; Died May 2, 1901
C HARLES Henry Rose, Proprietor of Kettle Hole Grist Mill, was a great story teller and would entertain his customers while waiting for corn to be ground. He once related an incident of his visit to a cousin in Boston. The cousin told invited guests that when he visited Cousin Charles in Rhode Island, he fed him johnny cakes enough to stone a well. Charles immediately responded that while visiting his cousin in Boston, he had been fed baked beans enough to fill it with.
Tradition says that Charles Henry Rose carried his mother to the Methodist church in Wickford in an old farm wagon drawn by a white bull with a clothes line for reins.
SLAVERY IN NORTH KINGSTOWN GRACE LENORA FLETCHER
ALL along the belt of land on the west side of Narragansett Bay, the country was generally productive and was divided into large planta- tions owned by wealthy proprietors who lived on and cultivated the land with the help of slaves. A man must be wealthy to own slaves, for from the nature of the climate, the expense of supporting them was much greater than in the Southern States; and then, too, public opinion was generally opposed to slavery and would not sanction overwork or ill treatment.
The abolition of slavery was gradual; as early as 1774, the importation of slaves was prohibited and every slave brought into the Colony was declared free. Some joined the Newtown Rangers and thereby gained their freedom. Large numbers of them joined the Revolutionary forces, and they fought valiently. After 1784, all children of slaves were born free. In 1780, there were in North Kingstown, seventy-eight slaves. These aliens who were brought here against their will were well cared for in most cases and in many of the family burial grounds, there was reserved a corner for the slaves. Elder McSparran took great interest in the slave children and brought them into his home, the Glebe, on Sunday afternoons to teach them the Bible.
Many of the wills of this time gave instruction to the executors to free .all their slaves.
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ELDER NORTHUP AND THE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH IN ALLENTON
NELLIE CAMPBELL HAMILTON
T 'HE First Baptist Church in Allenton was founded by Elder William Northup, who was born July 23, 1760 at the home of his grandfather on the shore of Narragansett Bay, midway between South Ferry and Plum Beach. His father, Gideon Northup, who was a ferryman, owned the house that his grandfather lived in.
Elder Northup in his earlier days not only received the care of kind parents but the almost constant attention spiritually of an old slave of his grandfather. This old colored man would take his little charge by the hand on Sundays to some lonely place in the neighborhood to hear some preacher expound the scriptures.
At the age of fifteen, when the Revolutionary War broke out, he enlisted as a soldier and became a drummer boy. He soon after became a drum major and received a military commission. He was in the service of his country about three years and was engaged in several battles on land and sea and closed his military career as a prize master. Just previous to leaving the service, while on the yard arm of the ship, reefing a top sail during a gale, William Northup became a new creature. This conversion changed his whole life. He at once gave up his commission and returned home to preach the gospel.
The First Baptist church in North Kingstown was organized Novem- ber 12, 1782. A little band of people gathered at the house of Rouse Northup and voted themselves a church of Christ. At this meeting, on request of twelve brethren and twenty sisters, William Northup was unani- mously called to be pastor of the church. The ordaining sermon was preached at the home of Joshua Allen.
At a meeting of the church September 30, 1782, it was voted that Elder Northup raise money to build a meeting house. The money was raised and the church built; previously meetings had been held at dwelling houses in different parts of North Kingstown and adjoining towns. In 1799 the church needed proper hymn books so Elder Northup wrote and pub- lished a book of Divine Hymns. This work passed through its hinth edition.
In 1822 two branches were set off from this church; one, in a petition of bretheren residing in Wickford and another by seventy members residing in the north of the town to be called the Quidnessett Union church.
During the fifty-nine years service of Elder Northup, he was even more than pastor, he was the Church. He never received a salary. He had a membership of over four hundred people. The last time he addressed the congregation, a few months before he died, he was carried in an easy chair into the church by some of the members. When his last benediction was given every eye was a fountain.
On the 31st day of June, 1839, in the eightieth year of his age, Elder Northup closed a long and eventful life. He is buried in Elmgrove Ceme- tery, Allenton, not far from the church he founded.
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PORTRAITS-LOST AND FOUND
JOHN W. DAWSON
F ROM time to time portraits by early American painters are being brought to light, due no doubt to our renewed interest in early Ameri- cana. In some cases, when the portrait is of a member of the family and has been handed down from generation to generation, the sitter is known, but the artist's name has not been recorded. Many of our early artists failed to sign their paintings, and since some of them painted too much alike, portraits have often been attributed to the wrong painter.
Not long ago I examined a portrait of Elder Northup which hangs in the Baptist church at Allenton, Rhode Island. Upon first seeing it I was impressed with its appearance and thought it might be a fine example of Henry Inman's work. The painting of the eyes and the handling of the color gave one the impression it was the technique of Inman at his best. But I was not satisfied. Several days later while studying the portraits in the Rhode Island Historical Society, I noticed a portrait similar in color and technique to that of the Elder Northup portrait. I was told this portrait was painted by J. S. Lincoln (1811-1888). Looking over a list of this artist's work I found Elder Northup of North Kingstown recorded. This experience proves that study and consideration are necessary before attri- buting a portrait to a particular artist.
Gilbert Stuart said his portraits were signed all over, meaning that his technique was so peculiarly his own that there was no mistaking his work. He also said it was impossible for even a good artist to make an exact copy of any work, as he had too much personality and imagination to follow the picture being copied. This is pronounced in his own replicas of his Washington portraits. No two are alike, yet one can see at once they are Stuart's works. His Washington portraits, especially the more familiar Athenaeum type, have no doubt been copied more than any other portrait ever painted.
When an artist has a technique similar to that of Stuart, it becomes more difficult to determine just who did paint the portrait. Many points must be considered, among them the following: a free easy style or the opposite, brush strokes, the drawing, true or off color, the type of canvass, the kind of stretcher, and even the tacks used.
Not many years ago while my father Arthur Dawson and I were ex- amining the portraits at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Va., a portrait hanging high upon the wall of the chapel claimed our attention. We were told it was a copy and had little value. Upon careful examination, however, my father decided it was an excellent example of Stuart's work painted upon a wooden panel. After some difficulty we were able with the aid of old records to trace the portrait as having been given by a Dr. Mercer. Thus another Stuart portrait that had been lost for many years was found.
Washington's headquarters at Morristown, New Jersey, was presented many years ago with a portrait of Washington. There was dispute as to whether it was genuine Stuart or merely a good copy. A short time ago I was authorized to restore it, since it had become discolored and was.
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badly cracked. Upon close examination I found that Washington had been painted over the portrait of a lady. In certain lights a distinct outline of the face and body of the lady could be seen. Removing the canvass from the old stretcher, I found on the lower margin the name of Mrs. King. Then began some interesting research. In Mason's Life of Gilbert Stuart, I learned that Stuart had painted Mrs. King, but no trace of the portrait had been found. However, John Trumbull had painted Mrs. Rufus King and I found his likeness of her strikingly like that of the picture under the Washington portrait. More research as to dates revealed the fact that Mrs. King had died while Stuart was painting her portrait. Rather than waste a good canvas, Stuart lightly erased her portrait, turned the canvas upside down, and painted the Washington over it. The restored Washington, a genuine Stuart, now hangs in Washington's Headquarter's museum. Once again a lost Stuart has been found and at the same time the lost portrait of Mrs. Rufus King, by Stuart, has been explained.
The portrait of Aaron Burr hanging upon the wall of the New Jersey Historical Society had been for years recorded as "artist unknown". Some called it a copy by John Vanderlyn of the Burr hanging at Princeton Uni- versity. After cleaning and studying the portrait, I decided it was no doubt painted by Gilbert Stuart. Then followed some research work to prove my point. I learned that John Vanderlyn, while in the studio of Gilbert Stuart, had made a copy of Stuart's Burr which he much admired. After studying the portrait at Princeton, it became clear that the Aaaron Burr owned by Princeton University was painted by John Vanderlyn and the Burr at the New Jersey Historical Society was the work of Gilbert Stuart. We were fortunate indeed to bring to light another Stuart that had been lost, but is now recorded in the latest books on Stuart's works.
Three known genuine Stuart's of Washington are hanging in public buildings in Rhode Island. One of them, a full length "tea-pot" type, hangs over the mantel in the ball room at the state capitol in Providence. The second, a full length portrait, is in the old state house in Newport, and the third, the Anthenaeum type, is owned by the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence.
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RAMBLEWOOD-A DREAM THAT CAME TRUE
EDGAR L. NOCK
LL my life I have wanted a home with plenty of space, hills, dales and ponds. I wondered if such a place as I dreamed of could really exist, but one day while motoring along South County's roads we saw a "for sale" sign in a jungle of trees and weeds about one mile from Wickford. Soon we purchased the property of twenty acres, named it Ramblewood (a fitting, descriptive name), and commenced work.
At the end of three years a fine driveway extended from the Post Road to Narraganset Bay; roads and many paths meandered about the gardens;
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thousands of tons of virgin peat had been spread over the property; hills and valleys had been cleared of poor shrubs and poor trees; a swamp had been changed into a lovely pond partly surrounded by flowering dogwood, mountain ash, cedars, oaks, laurel and rhododendrons; thousands of tons of rocks were dug up and used as borders of roads, beds, lawns, and rock gardens; and gardens had been laid out and were nicely started.
Progress continued throughout the years. Over the great rocks along paths and gardens are now sprawling many types of euonymus and coton- easters. Thousands of rare and beautiful plants and bushes and evergreens have been brought here from many parts of the world.
The rare opiogon variegata, the shortea galacifolia, and the beautiful galax grow luxuriantly; the bruckenthalia scents the gardens with its spicy fragrance; hybrid rhododendrons and tender azaleas thrive in Ramblewood without winter protection: there are fine Japanese cherries, beautiful tree- shaped wisterias and hybrid lilacs; iris and lillies of many colors from many states and countries blossom profusely; some of the many Japanese cut-leaf maples grafted on standards droop in the water-gardens; and informal gardens of rare plants are seen in most unexpected places.
On one side of a wide expanse of lawn, with broad-leaf evergreens for a background, stand two marble statues on either side of a marble bench. One is the Goddess of Mercy, Kwen Yen, and the other is a sacred Dog on which sits a Budda with a scroll. These figures were sacked from palaces in China during the Boxer War, stored at Bournmouth, England and, after the war, found their way to auction rooms. Upon being shipped to America, we were fortunate enough to buy them and later placed them here in their beautiful setting.
We have installed an irrigation system with several miles of under- ground pipe controlled by electric turbines, which provides plenty of water for the proper care of plants during dry spells.
Near one edge of the pond is Depression Castle (so named because it was started during the depression), built of thousands of field stones dug from the estate. It is octagonal in shape with castellated top and is sur- rounded with octagonal shaped series of arches supported by slender columns.
Ramblewood is not without historic interest. It was originally part of Cocumcussoc farm and has had but three owners, including ourselves, since its purchase from the Indians. We are the first to cultivate this historic land since the Indians lived here and, while digging have found many arrow heads.
Throughout the spring, summer and autumn months our gardens are a blaze of glory from one end to the other. Winter months, too, have their beauty; the green of evergreen trees, the gray of rocks, the brown-gray of trec trunks, and sometimes, the white of snow all stand out against the lovely blue or green or gray of the ever-changing Narragansett Bay.
After fourteen years, we feel that Ramblewood is indeed our dream that came true.
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STORES AND SHOPS In Old Wickford
ABBIE PECKHAM GARDNER
W HEN around the year 1707, Lodowick Updike had the plot of land now known as Wickford, then called Updike's Newtown, surveyed and laid out in building lots, the first settlers built their homes on the shores of Narraganset Bay. It followed that the stores and commercial activities of the settlement were located on the water front of the village.
Wickford was made the port of entry for this section at an early date, which accounts for the large number of vessels, both native and foreign. which came into the harbor at frequent intervals-vessels which engaged in West Indian trade and those which plied between local ports. These vessels were, for the most part, owned by local residents. Farmers from outlying district, brought in their products to be taken to West Indian ports and exchanged for those of tropical countries. Large quantities of Jamaica rum and molasses were brought into the port at an early datt.
There were the local packets. The "Resolution," said to have been built on West Main street and commanded by Captain David S. Baker, which carried great quantities of lumber and posts, besides large amounts of farm products and enormous quantities of huckleberries, cranberries and chest- nuts, in their season, to Newport.
Another freighter was the John Curtain, commanded by Captain Vincent Gardner, which made regular trips between Wickford and Provi- dence. We hear the names of Nanny Polly, Evangeline, Abigail, Elam Villa, Eliza Hamilton and other trading vessels.
So much trading was carried on in the early days, that it was freely pre- dicted Wickford would rival the port of Providence in commercial activity.
So called Main street, of early times, began at the foot of what is now known as Pleasant street, took in Bay street, extended up Washington through Gold, and out to the main thoroughfare or "Grand Highway." Just beyond the foot of Pleasant street on what is known as Cornelius Island, was a very active industry known as the menhaden fish works. Large quantities of fish were taken to the plant from which oil was ex- tracted and the remnants of fish were used as fertilizer. The remains of the cement building which was used as a cook house for employees is still standing on the island.
This industry was abandoned on complaint of the inhabitants of Wick- ford who, when the wind blew in a certain direction, deemed the works a nuisance. So bitter was the feeling against the industry, among the towns- people, that one of the office holders appeared before the town council and declared the stench from th plant was so strong that it stopped his clock.
On the east side of Pleasant street was an acid works where great numbers of white birch trees were taken and placed in a kiln from which acid was extracted. The latter was taken away by the late Captain Thomas Holloway in his schooner, Fashion, to the Fall River print works. The charcoal which remained was shipped in other boats to neighboring ports. . The location at the foot of Pleasant street has long been used as a plant for the oyster industry. The first development of this industry was started
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by John O. Lewis, the late Stephen Farnham and George Hunt who, after continuing a few years, sold it to John Pettis who ran the business until his- death and was succeeded by his daughter until the latter's death. Soon. afterward two firms took over the business-the Beacon Oyster company, · consisting of Captains Irving Reynolds and Rollin Mason, and the Wickford oyster company, composed of parties from New Haven. These two com- panies did a thriving business until the hurricane of 1938 when the oyster beds were much damaged and were afterward taken over by the Federal government for defense purposes.
In the early days, the south side of what is now Washington street, was owned by Babriel Bernon, and there were wharves and warehouses on the waterfront in which considerable trading was carried on.
Gilbert Updike probably erected the first building in the village to be used solely for a store. He traded from 1805 to 1825; his store was after- ward owned and known as the Sherman house and was kept by Nathaniel Sherman, father of Judge Sherman. It was the house on Fowler street bought and occupied by Henry T. Chadsey in 1830, and now used by Mrs. Luth for a tea room.
REYNOLD'S DOCK,
at the foot of Main Street, Wickford, as it appeared before the hurricane of September 21, 1938.
It is said that in the early settlement of the village, practically all the houses on the street devoted a portion of their homes to the sale of groceries and rum. There were two distilleries in the town; one, on Distillery Hill on Phillips street, and the other near the Bridge street bridge. Liquor sold for three cents per glass and it is little wonder that drinking was so uni- versal a custom. I have seen an account book of one of the stores in 1803 and about three-quarters of the items sold were of rum, gin and brandy. One item I noted was sale of a casket to be paid for in fish.
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