USA > Rhode Island > Washington County > Lafayette, Rhode Island; a few phases of its history from the ice age to the atomic > Part 16
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Off to the left was the Goose Nest Spring, the source of the Shewatuck brook. A Rathbun house was just above it, on a small hill. Just in back of the
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cider-press, was the house of the other Rathbun brother. Between these two houses was a driftway which passed through the fields to the road which led from the Slocum Dry Bridge to Robber's Corner, marking a Swamptown boundary.
Going back to the left fork at the old schoolhouse at Sunnyside, that branch passed by an open field which, in the spring, grew countless heads of "brake," used as greens, and gathered by many a thrifty house- wife of the day. In the summer, a baseball diamond was laid out on the level piece of ground, and the national game was played there by "choose-up" teams, on Sat- urday afternoons. Sunday playing would have been classed as irreligious.
Off to the right, about opposite the "brake" field, was a driftway leading to the railroad-side farm of Samuel Arnold, father of the then well-known "Jim Punk." This right of way was also another approach to the home of Thomas W. D. Rathbun, beyond the Arnold farm. It had gates at intervals to prevent the straying of cattle, and crossed the main line railroad through an underpass. Samuel, who was then an elderly man and somewhat crippled with rheumatism, used to have a horse hitched up in a democrat wagon, and have somebody from the house ride with him down to the Swamptown Road, to open and shut gates. Then he would drive on alone to Lafayette and Wickford for his weekly trading. The small boys of the village welcomed his appearance, for it meant that one of them would be chosen to ride home with "Sammy," open and shut the gates for him, receive 5 cents for the service, and then walk or run all the way back to La- fayette.
The next house along the Slocum branch of the
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Swamptown Road was just beyond the branch that led to Oak Hill. It was owned by Arnold Thomas, whose son, Robert B., a kindly, bearded giant of a man, ran a blacksmith shop across the road. Then came the farm of Simeon Gardiner who was track foreman on the Wickford Branch Railroad for years. A steep rocky hill loomed up ahead and, set in to the right, off the road a short distance, were the house and other build- ings of Deacon John Brown, leader of the local Seventh Day Adventists. His mother, Mary Greene, lived with Deacon John and his wife. She could re- member the death of George Washington, and other events in the early Republic. Deacon John was a de- scendant of Beriah Brown, the original settler.
At the top of the hill, Gilbert Arnold lived in what was known as the "Swamptown Lighthouse." From its commanding height, there was a splendid view of the countryside to the eastward, including Belleville, Allenton, Hamilton, Wickford, and Narragansett Bay. Thence on, a dusty stretch in summer led to the open country of the Great Plain, with numerous farms and the village of Slocum. Here the Swamptown Road joined the road coming up from Allenton. Down the latter, to the east, was Doughnut Hollow, a fertile farm with good modern buildings, the ancient home of the local Hendrick family. Farther along, the road made a sharp turn at Indian Corner, the scene of many legends. At a second turn, a road led off to the famous Kettle Hole.
Charles Henry Rose, a prominent character . of Swamptown, acquired the property at Kettle Hole in 1867. It had previously been the site of a small cotton mill. He had been a male nurse in the Civil War, was a
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farmer, a mill worker, but above all, a great student, although his early education was limited to the coun- try school. He was a close student of the Bible and took a prominent part in the religious discussions of his day, with both tongue and pen. He wrote poetry, composing a famous historical poem on the Rose family which had a wide circulation among the numer- ous descendants of that clan. He was brimful of legend and ancedote of the Swamptown region, and when he opened up the Kettle Hole property as a grist-mill for the grinding of johnnycake meal, he entertained his customers with choice history bits, and tales of the various families of the neighborhood. Later, he oper- ated the grist-mill at the Gilbert Stuart birthplace at the head of Narrow River, becoming, through his reading and research, an authority on the life and times of that great American artist.
Near-by the Kettle Hole was the farm of George Washington Northup. The Northup family was a large and influential one. The descendants have be- come scattered throughout the State and in many cases have been well known. The family had a number of preachers, teachers and merchants, as well as skilled tradesmen. George lived to be 90, and his wife, Mary (Gardiner) died at 98. One of his ancestors reached 102. George and Mary had eight children. A daughter, Mary Frances, married John Campbell. They were long-time Lafayette residents. A son, George Taylor, commonly known as "Tyler," remained on the home- stead farm. He was a quaint character, much given to good-natured philosophy. He was a religious man and often attended the services at the Lafayette church. The Northup farm was the source of many Indian
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relics. One of these was a stationary mortar for grind- ing corn. The Showattuck tribe probably reached into this territory from their near-by Goose Nest Spring village. In more modern times, great excitement oc- curred in the neighborhood over the reputed discovery of a gold mine on or near the Northup farm. The re- puted miniature "nuggets" proved to be "brass filings," with which an excavation had been "salted." It was hinted that somebody (not a Northup) took this means of "histing" the value of land near-by.
The Cranston family also had a farm in this vicinity, a part of which bordered on the Kettle Hole pond. George T. Cranston was born on this farm. He became famous in Town and State, and frequently referred to himself as a "Swamptown boy." His great-grandfather, a Revolutionary soldier, is buried at near-by Oak Hill.
Oak Hill, popularly known as "Pork Hill," was just north of Kettle Hole. A stream running down from western Swamptown, and making a sharp fall at the "Hill," was dammed early for a saw or grist mill. Later, a stone mill was built on the site, steps taken to insure a steady water supply for a wheel with proper power, and a plant was fitted and operated as a woolen mill. It was operating in the 70's and continued for some time after that. One of the later owners and operators was the late Governor William Gregory. Fire de- stroyed the structure finally and the walls were torn down. A cluster of houses took care of the mill op- eratives to some extent, but many employes lived in their adjacent homes on farms, or walked from more distant places. Azel Tefft, school teacher at Lafayette and other Town schools, had a small farm adjacent to the mill-pond, with a modern cottage house. Along
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the valley of the stream, were several farms to the westward, owned and occupied by Robertson Barker, William Himes, and others, including the so-called "Cream Farm." At the foot of the Hill, Benjamin Watson had a farm. Two roads led from the Hill, one to Belleville, and the other, a lonesome one, to the Swamptown Road and Lafayette.
A jump of 75 years brings an altogether different Swamptown and Swamptown Road. Somewhere in the late 80's or early 90's, the Town decided upon an im- provement of the Swamptown highway. Lafayette's growing needs required land that had a road frontage, for most of the Ten Rod's frontage in the village had been pretty well taken up, or at least the most de- sirable parts. Consequently, lots had been bought and houses built along that part of the Swamptown Road which was adjacent to the village. Work was vig- orously started under the supervision of "Jim Hub" Arnold, of Arnold Brothers, with John O. Kettell supervising it later. In the course of time, and with con- tinued appropriations, the whole face of the highway was changed. Dangerous curves were modified, and widening and grading took place all along the line. It was at first a dirt road, with some graveling and marl top. Afterward, a tar macadam was applied and the growing automobile traffic found pleasure in riding comfortably through territory which had been "tough going" for so many years. The road through to Slo- cum was first completed, and then some attention was given to the fork leading to the Goose Nest Spring. When the State established the Hatchery at the Spring, this latter fork was further improved.
The land on the west side of the Road, along the
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hill to the southwest of Lafayette, was Phillips prop- erty for quite a distance up. On the east side of the Road, the Thomas family held the land title. Benoni Rose, boss-finisher at the mill, was among the first to buy and build on the Phillips side. Others who pioneered on that side were David Phillips (father of Agnes Kettell and Prof. Walter L. Phillips), who was of the Connecticut Phillips line, Henry Pil- ling (who gave the good old English name of "Yon Hill" to the locality), George Horace Hall, sewing- machine agent and horseman, George Miller, watch- man at the mill, and others. Later purchases and changes in ownership and buildings brought Herbert Slocum, Oscar Sherman, George Thurston and others to the new development which was forming an attrac- tive part of the village. On the Thomas land, across the Road, only one house has been built. This is a 2-story dwelling erected by the Thomas heirs on the brow of the hill, and overlooking the whole central part of Lafayette.
The Hill, in general, has had a variety of names, such as Phillips Hill, Prospect Hill (in the Spanish form, Buena Vista), Yon Hill, Thomas Hill, Rose's Ridge, and Hall's Heights. More commonly now this local section of the Swamptown Road is known as High Street.
While the Thomas heirs did not dispose of their side of the Road in house-lots, they realized a substantial source of income from the property in another and unexpected way. This was the location and develop- ment of a hidden deposit of sand and gravel on the edge of their land, and near the shore of the Old Bog. It was a veritable mine.
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Gen. Luke Callan, a well-known building contrac- tor of Bristol, R. I., held contracts for some of the vast construction work at the Quonset Naval Air Sta- tion. In scouting about for the needed huge quantities of sand and gravel involved, and probably from a study of the geological features of the region, he located this spot as the moraine of an old glacier. Borings and samples showed the material to be of a quality and character required, and that the deposit was of an extent far beyond the needs of even the big Quonset job. Accordingly, he made a deal with the Thomas heirs for "mining" the deposit, on a cubic yard or similar basis, set up excavating and processing machinery, and in a short time converted what was almost waste land into a sizable and steady source of income to the owners. Thousands of truckloads of sand and gravel were conveyed to Quonset over the roads, for months and months of construction, and hundreds of men were employed on the project. Mountainous heaps of sand and gravel were accumu- lated over a wide area, with the plentiful water of the Old Bog available for "washing." It was a new industry for Lafayette, and had the effect of completely chang- ing the face of the landscape in what had been an almost deserted region.
The Thomas family dates back to the days of the early settlers, Col. George Thomas having been born in North Kingstown in 1681. A tract of land in the Town was deeded to him by his father in 1713. The Thomas descendants spread through various parts of North Kingstown and Exeter, and one Coggeshall Thomas appears as owner of considerable land in the present Lafayette vicinity in the early 1800's. He
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married a Phillips, and the joint holdings of these two families were extensive. He built the house on the east side of the Swamptown Road, next to the present La- fayette mill-pond, which is still standing. He is men- tioned as the owner of abutting land in the deed of the Lafayette mill property, from Albert Sanford to Rob- ert Rodman, in 1847, and as a like owner in the grant of flowage rights when the Old Bog was formed, by the building of the "Old Dam." His daughter married Sylvester Franklin who built the old Clark Huling house in East Lafayette. Another daughter, Betsy, lived alone in the old house by the mill-pond for a long time. Upon her death, the original Coggeshall Thomas holdings came into the possession of a nephew, George A. Thomas, schoolteacher and farmer, who had a farm on the Ten Rod just above the Exeter- North Kingstown line. He had several children who are the present Thomas heirs. Recently, the old house and a strip of land adjacent to the mill-pond on the south, were bought by the Rodman Manufacturing Company.
Charles Arnold, of Beechwood Farm up near the Exeter-North Kingstown line, took on the job of flag- man at Walker's Crossing on the main line of the railroad, along in the 80's. Looking about for a home nearer his 12-hour job, his eye lit on the old school- house site at the fork in the Swamptown Road, and he persuaded Tom Phillips to sell it. Then Charles sold Beechwood and proceeded to build a house on the old schoolhouse site. This was in 1884. Later, another house and other buildings were added and the location came to be known as "Sunnyside." After Charles died, his widow, Emma (Rose) and her brother Horace
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lived in one of the houses, and various tenants occupied the other. Fred Adams, who is prominent in the Ameri- can Indian Federation, is occupying one of the houses now, and has a wonderful collection of Indian relics. Charles Arnold had three or four children. A son is an electrician at Jamestown, R. I.
Beyond the main line of the railroad, on the road to the Goose Nest Spring, developments were a bit slower in coming. The ridge of high land, just beyond the tracks, was opened up in the 90's as a residential section. The locality came to be known as "The Klon- dike," a name said to have been bestowed by James Cook, one of the earliest builders. A few houses of the bungalow type were erected, George Thurston (son- in-law of Benoni Rose) and Everett Tourgee (long- time Express Agent and Station Master at Wickford Junction) being among the other pioneers.
Over beyond the ridge, where the Shewatuck flows through a low stretch which came to be known as "The Fenway," two houses have been built and are now owned by Hazel Tisdale. One of them brought a new industry for Lafayette . . . a laundry which was operated under different proprietors. The old log bridge over the Shewatuck has been replaced by a steel and cement one. From here on to the Pardon Arnold farm (for a time occupied by Mervin Hen- drick), and thence to the Goose Nest Spring, there has been little building. The old Rathbun homestead, near the cider-press, was occupied several years by Almon C. Huling, who had moved up from East La- fayette. Almon (commonly called "Al") was the son of Augustus (5th generation) and Hannah (Gardiner) Huling. He married Harriet F. Gardiner. She died in
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1873. For a second wife, he married Angenette Greene. She died in 1922. Almon died in 1924. By his first wife, he had three children, Oliver G., Harriet Belle, and Herbert. By his second wife, he had a son, Almon Jr. Harriet Belle married Lyman Morse and they con- tinued to live in the Rathbun house after the senior Almon's death, until Harriet Belle's decease. After that, Lyman Morse sold the house to Joseph Lane, an artist. The old house was burned in 1946 with the loss of some valuable paintings. A new structure on the old site was also burned. Meantime, Lyman Morse went to live with Almon Jr. at Lafayette.
The old Rathbun house at the Goose Nest Spring, including the spring and several acres of land, was bought by Harrington N. Gardiner in the late 70's. He lived there for several years after moving up from his Lafayette home which was sold to become a part of the new mill site. His wife was named Hannah, and was popularly known as "Hannah Harrington," to distinguish her from other Hannah Gardiners. This property is of both historic and present interest for these reasons:
I. It is the source of the Shewatuck brook.
2. The Showattuck Indians had a village at or near the Spring, according to Rider. Thomas W. D. Rathbun, who lived on a farm near-by, collected pailfuls of flint arrow-heads and stone imple- ments which he had turned up in plowing and other work on his neighboring land. Modern relic collectors have made rich finds on this same land.
3. It is the present site of the Goose Nest Spring Hatchery.
The land and buildings on the Spring site, as well as
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the Spring itself, were acquired by the State of Rhode Island under an Act of the General Assembly passed in 1921. The work of constructing a freshwater fish hatchery was begun soon thereafter.
There are more than 25 springs and their outlet- brooks on the property, but the "daddy" of them all in elevation and size, is the Goose Nest. All these springs are on the sides of hills, and drain into low- lands beneath, where they concentrate to form the Shewatuck. The purity of the water is attested by the number of small trout continually working their way up the stream, into the Goose Nest Spring. The temperature of the water in the Spring is 47 degrees Fahrenheit in August. And trout do love pure and cool water.
The most of the Hatchery construction work has been in the lowland just below the Goose Nest. Many additions and extensions have been made to the original plant, and a large section of wooded swampland has been cleared for this purpose. There is a hatchery building with a capacity of 2,000,000 trout eggs, 20 indoor nursery ponds, hatching troughs, a workroom, and an office. Six artesian wells have been driven in the area, which give a further supply of water from a depth of only 20 feet. These wells have a flow of 10 to 50 gallons a minute, and the water flows freely from a pipe 6 feet above the ground. Yet this drain in nowise affects the flow from the Goose Nest.
The rearing ponds and hatching troughs have been continuously increased, until the "take" of trout eggs and the rearing of fingerlings have been greatly ex- tended. Special ponds and other facilities have been provided for rearing bass and perch.
Thousands of automobilists from both in and out
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of the State come to visit this unusual industry during the summer season of each year.
The Hatchery is under the control of the State Division of Fish and Game. Edward C. Hayes, of Peace Dale, is Administrator of the Division.
Going back to the fork of the Swamptown Road at Sunnyside, the left branch of the highway that leads to Slocum, and which formerly started off through dense woods, shows clearings in many spots where houses have been built. The operations at the "Sand and Gravel Mine" have also cleared up a wide expanse on the east side of the Road, although discombobulat- ing the pristine sylvan beauty of the landscape to a certain degree. The Oak Hill Road branches off to the left, a little farther on, and is now a well-kept dirt road. The main highway continues on by the old Arnold Thomas place where the homestead house has been modernized. New houses appear in clearings, here and there, farther on. It is noticeable that forest fires have done much damage in this region in recent years. The Swamptown schoolhouse (converted into a dwelling) still stands and the old Simeon Gardiner house and farm, for many years occupied by John Almond, are familiar. Across the open fields to the east, appear other old farms and buildings, with a sprin- kling of newer houses.
The rise in the following hill gives a view of the house and buildings formerly occupied by Deacon John Brown. They are attractively well-kept by the present occupants. At the top of the hill there is that magnificent view looking eastward to the Bay. New houses dot the roadside on the long level stretch of good road out to the open Great Plain.
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Directly in front is the Greene Farm which Robert Rodman bought and developed into a model farm of his times, with buildings and equipment to correspond. It is now operated by Benjamin Brow who has further developed it as a dairy farm and potato ranch. In fact, as far as the eye can reach, to the south and west, the vast table-land of hundreds of acres has been con- verted by the Reynolds, Tarbox, Champlin, and other enterprising families into a broad sea of potato vines and blooms, in season, and huge harvests in the fall. This crop industry is in itself one of the remarkable production features of the State. It employs labor in the hundreds, makes use of the most modern planting, cultivation, and harvesting machinery, absorbs tons upon tons of fertilizers, and consumes thousands upon thousands of gallons of spraying materials. Verily, the region is an "Eden of Spuds."
Now we are at the southern boundary line of Swamptown . .. the Allenton Road. It's an old high- way, for Dr. McSparran of the 1700's, mentions his passing along it, on his way home from Warwick and Davis's mill (the present Davisville), after crossing the Great Plain. Turning east on the Allenton Road, the Doughnut Hollow farm is on the left. This is now the North Kingstown Town Farm and Asylum. It was purchased when the old Town Farm at Quonset was sold to the advancing development of the latter place. Indian Corner is just beyond, and here again the de- struction by recent forest fires is apparent. An oc- casional new house appears in this locality. After a sharp turn in the road at the Corner, a curving bend in the highway is faced by an old farm house which has been modernized. Just beyond is the road leading
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to the famous Kettle Hole and its famous former grist mill. The late Col. Robert F. Rodman was the recent owner of this property. He had converted it into a private summer pleasure spot, with liberal allowance of its use by small parties and social organizations.
Oak Hill, to the north of Kettle Hole, has taken on renewed life. The old stone mill has been torn down, but some of the old mill tenements have been replaced or repaired. The land to the north and west of the mill- pond is in cultivation, in part at least. Now and then a new house or other building appears, or the old farm houses have been remodeled. But the one great de- velopment is the establishment of an entirely new Water Supply Station for the Town. The supply is an abundant one, of the purest quality, and every modern feature of equipment and operation has been installed in the plant at the foot of the Hill. It is well worth a visit, for it is an added attraction to the many in- terested water consumers as well as to the general public. It is one more modern activity that is within the purview of our Lafayette.
The road east from Oak Hill is now a well-kept highway, and in the open season is a sort of pleasant causeway all the way to Belleville. To the north, the road to Lafayette is a pleasant drive, in season, through wood and field. But one should not fail to get the view from Oak Hill itself. It's one of the finest inland and upland vistas in the State.
Such is the Saga of Swamptown. Despite the re- gion's forbidding name, it remains of historical im- portance and interest, to Lafayette (into which it laps over), and to the Town of North Kingstown. Im- proved roads and the automobile have done much to
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bring it into touch, more closely, with the rest of the Town. Of old, its sturdy yeomanry, to quote Henry Ward Beecher, "committed burglary on nature to get a living out of its soil." Though schooled in adversity and hard work, they contributed in their humble ways to the success of church and community. Out of more than one Swamptown family have come qualities that have infiltrated through to public distinction, in the person of a descendant who has achieved prominence in the wider fields of professional and business life.
28. George T. Cranston 1 Soldier, Merchant - An Outstanding Figure in Village, Town and State
GEORGE T. CRANSTON'S name is among the most prominent in the modern business development of Lafayette. He was born on a North Kingstown farm, in the Kettle Hole region, in 1844. He was the son of Cyrus Cranston, grandson of Samuel, great- grandson of Thomas (a Revolutionary soldier), and great-great-grandson of Caleb. In the Cranston line, were two Colonial Governors of Rhode Island.
As a boy and a young man in his "teens," George was employed at farm work and in local mills. He had limited opportunities of attending the public schools of those days, for his father died when George was
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