USA > Rhode Island > Washington County > Lafayette, Rhode Island; a few phases of its history from the ice age to the atomic > Part 17
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13 years old, and the young lad, by the force of cir- cumstances, engaged in rigorous occupations, for his age, to help in keeping up the farm.
Just before he was 17 years old, he enlisted in the 3d Rhode Island Heavy Artillery of the Civil War, where he served one year. He was then transferred to the First U. S. Artillery, with which unit he served out his 3-year term of enlistment. He re-enlisted in the roth Massachusetts "Sleepless Battery," and was finally mustered out on July 10, 1865, after 4 years of continuous service. He was in many of the most severe engagements of the War, was wounded twice, was captured once, and was promoted to Corporal while with the U. S. Battery.
All this notable war record was achieved before he was 21, but it left him with a lasting affection for his comrades-in-arms, which manifested itself in many, many ways all through the rest of his life. At the same time, he displayed those virtues of an unselfish nature that endeared him to thousands in all ranks of life, in Village and Town and State.
Following the war, he returned to his native town where he clerked in a store for a time, and then opened a store of his own at Wickford Junction, in a building on the south side of the Ten Rod Road, just west of the railroad crossing. The building and site were ab- sorbed by the construction of the present underpass. He had married Elizabeth Patience Gardiner, of Exe- ter, and they lived for a while in the "Tan Vat" house, in back of the present Copper Kettle Inn. Later, he acquired the land at Huling's Corners (now known as Cranston's Corners), and built the large house now standing there. This was his home for many years.
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He was active in the Advent Christian Church of Lafayette (then occupying the old "Hornbeam"), and was a forceful speaker at prayer meetings and revival services.
In 1878, he opened a store at Collation Corners, which was a typical country store and trading post for a wide extent of neighboring territory. It became a landmark for many years. But the enterprising spirit of the proprietor led him into many other activities. Sensing the need of a local undertaker in the growing community, he familiarized himself with that profes- sion, becoming even more widely known thereby. He covered many miles of country roads, by night as well as by day, in all weathers and seasons, answering calls for his services. Many a household could recall in later years his consoling presence and kindly officiations when the Grim Reaper struck. His wife, Patience, also attended many a sorrowing family at such times, with her sympathizing help and words of comfort.
The farm at Huling's Corners was operated success- fully along with his other activities, and was evidence of his continued interest in the hard work of his boy- hood and early manhood.
His wide acquaintance and popularity naturally led him into the political field, where he achieved the suc- cess of several elections as a Representative and Senator in the General Assembly, from North Kingstown. In this capacity, he served for 13 years and was a Senator at the time of his death.
His interest in his comrades-in-arms never waned. He was a charter member of C. C. Baker Post No. 16, G. A. R., of Wickford, and was its first Commander, serving 10 terms. In the State G. A. R., he became
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equally prominent and was chosen Department Com- mander. As a member of the General Assembly, he was an enthusiastic and successful supporter of a bill for establishing a State Soldiers' Home, later located at Bristol, and was made a member of its Board of Man- agers, as well as a member of the State Board of Soldier's Relief. Until the Bristol Home was built, he provided a temporary home for needy Veterans by erecting a two-story building on his land at Huling's Corners.
An instance of his ever thoughtful generosity for his old comrades is told by a fellow-passenger on the accommodation train from Providence one night. The conductor, Jim Noble, came through the train, col- lecting tickets. Approaching George T., he remarked, "Senator, I passed a couple of old soldiers from Provi- dence to Kingston last night. They had neither tickets nor money, but both of them wore Grand Army but- tons. They told me to see George Cranston the next time he rode on my train, and he would settle for their fares."
"All right, Jim. You did a good deed," said the Senator, pulling out his wallet and extracting a bill. "Take the fares out of that, and thank you." After- wards, the conductor told the Senator's fellow passen- ger that this was not the first time that needy comrades traveling on his train had been fare-financed by the big-hearted Senator.
It was a sad blow to the community when the death of this brave and kindly character was announced one October morning in 1894. He had passed away sud- denly at his home the previous midnight. Of a robust physique and at the age of 50, it was hardly believable
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that his end had come. But he had been a sufferer from attacks of rheumatism, possibly induced by exposure to unfavorable weather in his long night trips to dis- tant and distressed households. A sudden shift of one of these attacks, which had kept him to his bed for a few days, affected the heart and brought the fatal result.
Funeral services were held at the Advent Christian Church at Lafayette, on Sunday, October 28, 1894, and burial followed at Elm Grove Cemetery at Allen- ton. It was the most sadly imposing occasion of its kind ever witnessed in the Village and Town. A special train of nine cars arrived from Providence at I I A.M., bringing nearly every prominent official from the northern part of the State. There were State and city officials, members of the General Assembly, judges, clergymen, hundreds of Grand Army men and Sons of Veterans, with a special car of 100 veterans from the Soldiers' Home at Bristol. A chartered steamer brought a large delegation from Newport and that part of the State, to Wickford, while from miles around in Kent and Washington Counties, came throngs of sincere friends and associates to pay last honors to the man they had known so long and ad- mired so affectionately.
A line was formed at Wickford Junction, on the arrival of the special train, with Tower Post (Paw- tucket) Veteran Fife and Drum Corps at the head. In a solemn, impressive march, the various delegations and personages moved up the Ten Rod Road to the home of the deceased at Huling's Corners. With the removal of the casket from the house, a funeral cortege was formed for the procession to the church. The bearers,
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whom the Senator had selected when his illness became more pronounced, were mostly prominent members of the G. A. R. and one or two high State officials.
Meantime, thousands of men, women and children had assembled at the church, awaiting the arrival of the cortege. Since the church could accommodate only a few hundred, a military detail had been stationed on the outside, to provide for the admission of the various organizations and officials, for whom the church space was scarcely sufficient. With the arrival of the funeral procession, which had slowly marched to the measured beat of muffled drums, the casket was taken into the church and the members of the line solemnly followed. Floral offerings were banked in every available space in the church, many of them massive in design and countless others in number.
Elder E. R. Wood, an old-time friend and neighbor, led the services, with the church pastor, Elder C. T. Pike, Rev. H. B. Cady of Newport, Department Chap- lain, and Rev. J. J. Woolley of Pawtucket, also officiating. Following the service, more than 2000 persons passed by the open casket, many with bowed heads and weeping eyes that bespoke their sorrowful tribute to a great and good friend and benefactor.
A special train of 13 cars conveyed hundreds of passengers to the Belleville station of the Wickford Branch Railroad, where they joined the funeral cor- tege on its solemn way from the church to Elm Grove Cemetery. There the old soldiers formed a hollow square about the grave, while the impressive burial ritual of the Grand Army was recited, and "Taps" was sounded just as the sun was sinking behind the distant hills to the west.
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George T. and Elizabeth Patience (Gardiner) Cranston had 5 children. Two of them died in infancy. A daughter, Minnie, died at the age of eight. Another daughter, Lottie, married Byron Greene, and for some years lived at the home at Huling's Corners. She was active in church and other community work until her health failed.
A son, George Cyrus Cranston, born in 1877, was associated in business with his father at the time of the latter's death. Upon reaching his majority, he as- sumed full responsibility, developed the large under- taking business, and engaged in other lines. He served the Town as Overseer of the Poor for some years, and was elected Representative in the General Assembly at the age of 25, serving a number of terms in that capacity. He married Margaret L. Blanchard of Adams, Mass., and they had 5 children: Margaret L., now a supervisory nurse in Roger Williams General Hospital in Providence, and George Cyrus, Jr., now living in Wickford where he continues the family business of undertaker, with two other sons, Gilbert and Paul. The fifth child died when a small boy.
George Cyrus, Sr., died in 1914. His widow, Mar- garet, carried on the undertaking business successfully until the sons were old enough to take over. George Cyrus, Jr., has been prominent in Town affairs, serving several terms as Tax Collector. He has also served as Town Moderator.
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29.
Those Who Fought for Us
THE EARLY SETTLERS, who fought for their ex- istence in struggles for food and shelter, also had a deadly threat for their existence from the fatal arrow or tomahawk or torch of the savage. Fortune seemed to save the sparse colonists in the Lafayette region, when Cocumcussoc, Warwick, and even Providence felt the devastating blow of Indian warfare. Of neces- sity, the white men were trained in the use of firearms and other means of defense at their "training days," and when open warfare with the natives threatened, were, in a measure, prepared to meet it. With the climax of the Great Swamp Fight and the subsequent death of King Philip, this long-lasting menace was ended.
Yet it is the lesson of all history that the progress of mankind has at some time, in nearly every genera- tion, involved a resort to arms. So it was with the many generations who dwelt here. No sooner had the pio- neers of this locality become settled on their newly- bought lands, when the Colony used the proceeds from the sale of these lands to help in meeting its share of expense in Queen Anne's War. And men, too, had to be levied for such expeditions as those against Port Royal and other Canadian points. Privateering had its rich attractions and, under Colony sanction, vessels were fitted out and manned at many Rhode Island ports.
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Then followed a War with Spain, and the French and Indian Wars in which the Colony contributed its quota of men and ships and arms. One noted figure in the latter struggles was Captain Daniel Fones, a wily and successful naval commander, of local origin.
Came the American Revolution. The Memorial Day custom of placing a flag at the grave of each honored soldier dead has been so extended as to include flags at the graves of Revolutionary soldiers in almost for- gotten local graveyards. This reminds one of the ex- tent to which the levy and enlisting reached, even into the remotest household.
Again, the War of 1812, after another generation, took its toll of our young manhood, to be followed, in another generation, by the Mexican War in 1848.
Almost another generation, and then the great Civil War of 1861-1865, with its heaviest draft, up to that time, of men and sacrifice. Its blight was on nearly every household in the State.
Another generation, and the Spanish-American War of 1898 was upon us, with its lighter toll in levy of men and sacrifice, but it was war while it lasted.
For the levies of World Wars I and II, one has only to read the long list of names on the memorial tablets at Wickford, to realize the drain upon North Kings- town's youth. The sacrifice of life and the sorrow of those conflicts are too fresh in mind to require recital. The woes and privations of the conflicts and the after- math of these great holocausts are still with us as we grope for peace.
It is true that the Colony or the Federation of Col- onies or the Nation won victories in all these struggles, but this was at a constantly increasing cost in precious
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lives. The Village, the Town, the State, and the Na- tion, up to the present day, have emerged eventually from the War Tempests into the clearer, peaceful skies where progress has gone forward in arts, sciences, manufactures and social advances. But to the living and the dead, of those who fought for this attainment, and by their death, or wounds, or sacrifices, have paid the price for this victorious accomplishment, our grati- tude should be imperishable. 1
30. Keeping Step with the March of Time
WHEN HORSE-BACK riding gave way to wheeled vehicles, the gig, the chaise, and the buggy came into use for pleasure and business travel. These were used largely by private owners however. As carriage styles changed and improved in the later 1800's, it remained for the Arnold Brothers and John O. Kettell, at their livery stable in the Vale of Pero, to make available for public use the popular buggy, the carry-all, and the surrey "with the fringed top." And George A. Rose of Lafayette did masterful jobs of carriage painting and striping to keep up with the styles of the day.
The horsemen, led by Oliver Steadman, had their sulkies which were the first vehicles to be equipped with hard-rubber tires. But the later adoption of pneu-
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matic rubber tires for the sulkies never reached to other horse-drawn vehicles. However, many of the pleasure carriages exchanged their iron tires for the hard-rubber ones.
The high-wheeled bicycle appeared in Lafayette in the '80's, but the owners and riders were few. John Ash was one of them. When the "safety," with its pneumatic tires, appeared in the '90's, it became popu- lar in the village at once, although the rough roads of the country districts offered a considerable chal- lenge. But its coming no doubt was a big factor in the agitation for and the accomplishment of better roads.
Then came the automobile. Levador Browning says he was the first man in Lafayette, and the third in the Town, to own and drive a car. It was a Ford runabout. His wife, Mary, also drove it, and was the first woman driver hereabouts. This was in 1907. Roger Rodman was one of the early owners and operators, as was his sister, Gertrude. She was one of the first women to obtain a State license to operate an automobile. This was in 1910. Angus MacLeod and Seth Presbrey, the latter engineer on the steamer "General," were joint owners of a "Stanley steamer" about this time and navigated the rutty roads with the persistence and courage of pioneers.
Candles were the colonial means of artificial lighting. At first, these were home-made by dipping in tallow or bayberry-wax. Then came the spermaceti, factory- made in Providence and Newport, from whale oil. The early stores of this region carried ample stocks of the latter. Candlesticks of japanned tin, with a handle,
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were used for portable lighting, while wall-sconces, such as were formerly seen in the Beriah Manor and like houses, were fitted with candles for room-lighting. Lamps with wicks that "tailed" into a reservoir of whale or other oil, followed, but the development of oil wells about the time of the Civil War resulted in the kerosene lamp. The local stores stocked kerosene in 50-gallon wooden barrels painted blue, from which household oil-cans were filled. Often a small potato was stuck on the spout of the can to prevent spilling of the contents.
Electric arc lights were the marvel of the '80's. Robert Rodman installed them in his new mill at La- fayette, with current supplied from his own generating plant, since no central power station had lines in this section of the State. When the incandescent lamp was perfected by Edison, Mr. Rodman changed over to the new lamp. When power lines at last reached Wick- ford, the Village Improvement Society of Lafayette was instrumental in securing an extension of the lines to Lafayette and the establishment of a street-lighting system in that village. Electric lighting of private homes was adopted rapidly after current became avail- able. Rodman Hall, built in 1884, had an acetylene gas plant for lighting, at first, since electric current had not then come to town.
The late Col. Robert F. Rodman, who, as a boy, visited the Philadelphia Centennial with his grand- father, in 1876, told his schoolmates of seeing a new contrivance which had a box at each end of a long wire, which stretched across a big piece of the Exposi-
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tion grounds. When a person talked into the box at one end of the wire, another person at the box at the other end could hear the talking voice come over the wire. It was six years later when the first telephone message was transmitted from the new exchange at Wickford to Providence. Extension of telephone wires from Wickford was slow in coming, but the office of the Lafayette mill had an early connection when the lines were strung. Stores and shops became subscribers, one by one, and Lafayette was early in its talking touch with the outside world.
All original settlers' houses were built near a spring or fresh-water brook so as to have a water supply. The springs can still be seen at the Beriah Manor and at the ruins of the Alexander Huling house, while Abigail Phenix's "dipping pool" in the near-by Shewa- tuck brook can be noted at the site of her former house. As tools and materials became available, wells were dug, and water was hoisted in a bucket attached to a long pole that in turn, was "loose-jointed" to a "well-sweep." The old Peter Phillips house that stood on the site of Paul Hendrick's new home at the corner of the Ten Rod and Swamptown Roads, had one of these "sweeps." Then came the box-shaped well curb, roughly built of boards, with a wooden windlass shaft for the bucket rope or chain, and operated by a crank handle of wood or iron. Sometimes there were twin buckets on opposite ends of the rope or chain. Next came the Bates well-curb, on the same principle but more ornate, and many of these were installed in the community, some of which are still in use. In the shal-
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lower wells, hand pumps were installed, while in some cases where the elevation was sufficient, water was piped from a spring or brook into houses and barns. The first water mains were laid in the village in the late 70's, when Robert Rodman piped water from a tank in one of the towers of the new mill, to many of his family's houses. For a reserve supply of "soft" water for many houses, cisterns were built under- ground to take the drainage from roof eaves. Lead pipe connection and a hand pump in the house made this supply available at all seasons. Some of the cis- terns had a brick filter-pile built in the bottom to assure clean water. When power lines were built, electric pumps were installed in many wells, and so-called artesian wells were drilled to much lower depths than that of the dug wells, thereby assuring a bigger and more reliable supply.
Modern days brought the Town water works sys- tem, specifically designed for Wickford, but Lafayette residents, with characteristic enterprise, besought the extension of the mains to that village (full com- pletion of the extension was interrupted by the War), and the village now enjoys a pure and plentiful water supply for household uses and for the fire hydrants which have been installed.
Wood was a natural fuel in the thickly-forested region of the first settlers, when huge fireplaces were the kitchen cooking places. That's one reason why chimneys of the ancient houses were so big. In the larger houses, smaller fireplaces served to heat other
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parts of the house, in a sort of "more or less" manner. Hence the antique "warming-pans" so much sought for now. Ben Franklin invented a cast-iron, open-hearth heater in 1744, and a cast-iron box stove appeared 10 years later. The latter was the forerunner of the modern kitchen range. In the 1800's, cylindrical sheet- iron stoves appeared, and a hot-air furnace was made in Worcester, Mass., in 1835. All these used wood as fuel, for coal had not come into general use as its price was high in comparison. By the 1870's, Lafayette residents were using kitchen stoves, and "parlor heaters," and houses were built with chimneys that had holes for stove pipes. At that time hard coal was being brought to Wickford, but most local dwellings had their woodhouses and wood-piles. Cord-wood was bought from farmers (later at the local store), and many a cord was sawed and split by lantern-light, by thrifty fathers who had spent the day at work in the mill. One handy factor in this conversion of cord- wood was the person of Caleb Ball, a resident of Exeter. For years he trudged the 5 miles from his Exeter farm to Lafayette, and the 5 miles back, spend- ing the part of the day between in sawing and splitting wood.
By the 80's, Lafayette was in a coal-burning era, with the latest nickel-trimmed kitchen ranges, parlor stoves with decorative tops, and here and there a one- pipe hot-air furnace. Following the trend of the times, came steam-heating for houses, with radiators and boilers, to be succeeded, as the new custom permitted, by oil burners which, in stove form, had already usurped the function of the kitchen range in the sum- mer months. Finally came the installation of electric
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stoves as the necessary power current was provided. And "bottled gas" completed the modernization of cooking.
The "truly rural" summer scene of a housewife bending over a wooden wash-tub and vigorously ma- nipulating a wash-board, in the shade of a door-yard apple tree, was no rarity in Lafayette's early days. The hot kitchen, with its steaming wash boiler, and home-made soap, was the bane of housewives at such times, so they "took to the air." All this is changed now, with an electric washing machine in the cool cellar or fireless kitchen, or with laundry wagons call- ing each week. Besides, Lafayette started its own com- munity laundry, in its ever anxious endeavor to "keep up with the times."
Old-time wells and "dirt-floor" cellars were the primitive refrigerators for the summer season. Milk and cream were often hung far down in the well, while butter, fresh meat &c. were carefully covered and set in the cellar. Somebody thought of building an ice-house on his early farm. The idea spread and this served to furnish a goodly chunk of ice for a tub or other container, while the ice-house itself served as a cooling-off place for larger consignments. The coming of "house ice-chests" created a demand for ice, and as Lafayette had to have all that was new and good and within reason, enterprising men built larger ice-houses on neighboring ponds, and estab- lished summer delivery routes for the increasing num-
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ber of "ice-chest" customers. Finally came the electric refrigerator and a census of Lafayette homes today would reveal a "keeping up with the times" in this re- gard.
So much for the utilities of Lafayette's life. But it had its diversions, many of which have been related elsewhere herein. Music-boxes led to the "organette," a small portable instrument, played by turning a crank or winding a spring. Then came the phonograph with wax-cylinder records at first, and later the flat disc records. Then the radio, at first the crystal sets, then the battery style, then the marvelous "plug-in" set of today, climaxing into a television set or two as a further sign of up-to-the-minute progress.
Magic-lantern exhibitions in church and hall af- forded entertaining and instructive diversion for many folks, with their views of places the attendants never expected to see or know about. Home stereoscopes, with their double views, could be found in many households. These served as a forerunner of the "movies" which have a large Lafayette clientele of "fans."
Lafayette passed through the key-winding watch period into the stem-winding era, as gracefully as from "hunting-cases" to "open-face" watches. And if there was any one class of experts for which the village was noted, it was the watch connoisseurs. Some mill
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workers set up watch-repairing and adjusting, for evening employment. Everything from an Ingersoll "dollar watch" to a Waltham regulator was carried by the men, with showy chains and charms. But all these have given way to the wrist-watch, now toted by men and women alike.
Club skates, on sale at the local store, were cutting the ice on the mill pond or on the Old Bog, almost as soon as they were cutting "figure 8's" on the lakes at Roger Williams Park. The bright-colored wooden frame skates, with the heel screw, have gone to the museums.
Cameras came to town in the late 1800's and the old family albums of those days have many prints of Lafayette scenes in the "Gay 90's" and later. Some of these have been preserved on souvenir post-cards which the enterprising amateurs marketed among the citizens who wished to reminisce, pictorially, with friends and relatives who had been or dwelt here in days gone by.
These few instances will give some idea of the quiet, unostentatious, and unpublicized manner in which Lafayette has "kept up with the times."
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3I. Contemplation
WORK WAS A BUSINESS in Lafayette. The mar- vellous building and owning of homes out of the modest wages of the days of yore were a testimonial to the thrift of the men and women who had the quiet ambition to live comfortably amid the fruits of their own toil and sacrifice. They took a zestful pleasure in creating a freedom of spirit, and in enjoying the plain wealth of contentment that defied the threats of want. They substantially cooperated with the local owners of industry in helping to build a happy village, ever keeping in tune with the progress of the times.
And yet, with all this industrial activity and sub- urban delight, a sort of municipal modesty prevailed. It refrained from publicity and the consequent her- alding abroad of the many advantages of this thriv- ing and peaceful community. Small wonder it is that when the name of the village was mentioned in more remote towns and cities of the State, the inevitable questions were asked, "Where is Lafayette?" and "How do you get there?"
As a few scattered automobiles grew into swarms and roads were improved, there was more or less "filtering out" of adventurous Lafayettians into the hitherto distant parts of the State. These pioneers spread widely the many attractions of the community in which they had been sort of hemmed in previously.
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This created a desire of many outlanders to visit Lafayette, to call on long-unseen relatives and friends, and to view some of the natural beauty and man-made features of the place. It has resulted in the in-coming of many "outsiders" who have remained to establish businesses and homes. But the State Board of Public Roads which had issued a whole crop of road-maps and built miles of modern roads all around the locality, failed to name Lafayette on any of the yearly maps or to "arrow" it on any sign-board at cross-roads or junctions.
In this dilemma of almost complete traffic-map-and- sign eclipse, a daring denizen of the village, along in the 1930's, assailed the State Board of Public Roads with the following:
"Apparently, there is a State-wide ignorance of Lafayette, its whereabouts, its natural charms, its neat and well-kept houses, its mills, its stores and shops and garages and filling-stations, its two miles of homes and business-lined main street, its hundreds of sober, industrious, and God-fearing inhabitants, its churches and schools, its busy postoffice, its history of more than 100 years, its side-streets and roads leading to a fertile and scenic hinterland, with farms and forests, shimmering ponds and gurgling brooks, its hundreds of automobiles and trucks that help to furnish, in taxes, the bread and butter for the employees of your Motor Vehicle Division, &c. &c. &c.
"And yet, please note this, and yet, the name 'Lafayette' doesn't appear on your State Road map, neither is there a single sign-board on the adjoining highways, which indicates the location, or the direc- tion, of this thriving and happy village.
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CONTEMPLATION
"Can you do something about it?"
The response to this derring-do approach to State officialdom was almost immediate. Here it is:
"We enjoyed your letter of August 29th and overly regret that we did not receive it early this spring for it is certain that the result would have been the placing of 'Lafayette' on this year's map. On the principle that it is 'better late than never,' we have instructed our cartographer to make sure that it appears on our next map.
"We have referred the matter of signs to our Traffic Control Engineer for his consideration."
Result-The name "Lafayette" appeared on the State Road map for 1940, for the first time, and "arrow" signboards, with the name, distance, and di- rection appeared profusely at cross-roads and junc- tions near-by and in every direction, north, south, east and west.
Thus was Lafayette "put on the map" and on the signboards. .
Still, the ghost of the modest village reticence that prevailed so many years, rears his unseemly head oc- casionally, and emits the hoary old questions, "Where is Lafayette?" and "How do you get there?" It is hoped that this booklet will contribute to the per- manent entombment of this eerie old duffer and his equally weird questions. When he does appear on growingly rare occasions, the just pride of the villagers is almost sufficient to retort, "Where is Providence?" and "How do you get there?"
L'Envoi
For unfamiliar readers who innocently may wish to know the exact location of "LAFAYETTE, RHODE ISLAND," the information is volunteered that its center is situated at 41 degrees, 34 minutes, North Latitude, and 71 degrees, 29 minutes, West Longitude.
It fringes the Ten Rod Road (Victory Highway), on both sides, for more than 2 miles, between the South County Trail at Huling's (Cranston's) Cor- ners, and the Tower Hill Road at Collation Corners. It bulges out into side streets and roads at various intervals where its growth has absorbed what once were fields and forests.
It is 20 miles south from Providence, over either the Post Road or the South County Trail; 2 miles west of Wickford, on the Ten Rod Road (Victory High- way); 3 miles southwest of Quonset Point Naval Sta- tion, over the Tower Hill and Ten Rod Roads; 12 miles northwest from Newport, via ferry, Jamestown Bridge and Shore Road to Wickford; 10 miles north of Narragansett Pier, over the Tower Hill and Ten Rod Roads; and 170 miles northeast from New York, via the Merritt Parkway, the Shore Road to Wake- field, then the Tower Hill and Ten Rod Roads, or, alternatively, the Shore Road to New London, then the Nooseneck Hill and Ten Rod Roads.
The present multiplicity of "LAFAYETTE" arrows on the sign-boards, as these routes approach the village, makes access easy and pleasurable. It is hoped
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a visit to this South County hamlet, now nestling in the dell of the placid Shewatuck, and now beribbon- ing the gently-rolling hills to the east and to the west, will prove equally as pleasurable when Nature's face smiles again with its breeze-rippled foliage and the gladsome profusion of its feathery ferns and frolic- some flowers.
Acknowledgments
To the late John P. B. Peirce, Town Clerk of North Kingstown, Miss Mary V. Duffy, Deputy Town Clerk, and Harold L. Corey, present Town Clerk, for their patient assistance in the search of old records.
To Miss Grace M. Sherwood, State Librarian, and Miss Mary T. Quinn, Assistant in Charge of Archives, for the location of Colonial data and their kindly satis- faction of numerous inquiries.
To William G. Roelker, Director, and Clifford P. Monahan, Librarian, of the Rhode Island Historical Society, for their making available the historical treas- ures of that institution.
To Warren Jacobs, Secretary of the Railway and Locomotive Historical Society at the Baker Library, Harvard Business School, Boston, for extensive data on the early history of the Stonington Railroad.
To Justus P. Thorndike, former Passenger Agent of the New York, Providence and Boston Railroad (the New York, New Haven and Hartford, successor), for modern railroad operating data, and to his wife, Mabel G. Thorndike, genealogist, for information in her field.
To Ivory W. Littlefield, President Title Guarantee Company of Rhode Island, for information on the flowage of the "Old Bog," and the owners of the land involved.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
To Miss Jeannette Black, of the John Carter Brown Library, for data on the early history of the Ten Rod Road.
To Mrs. Hazel Tisdale, of Lafayette, for information on the early history of Swamptown, and the present descendants of the old-time families.
To the late Mr. Stephen Lawton, of Lafayette, for data of the early land, houses, and families of the Lafayette region, from his store of genealogical lore. To Mr. Herbert Slocum, of Lafayette, for his mem- ories and experiences as a general storekeeper in the village.
To Edward C. Hayes, Administrator of the State Divi- sion of Fish and Game, for data on the Goose Nest Spring Hatchery.
To the Director of the National Archives, Washing- ton, D. C., for information on the establishment of a post-office at Lafayette, and for a list of the early postmasters.
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