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 12
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Smithfield is watered by the Woonasquatucket River, which flows through the town in a circuitous course. The country is diversified by hill and dale, and in many places the river flows between high, steep banks. From these elevations views of the river and the sur- rounding country may be had, which, while they are not grand, are still picturesque and pleasing.
The water-power of the Woonasquatucket was first made avail- able early in the century to run saw and grist mills ; soon after, when the cotton manufacture had begun to spread, small cotton-factories sprang up along its banks. During the summer seasons great incon- venience was caused to these factories, and they were often obliged to stop, by reason of the scarcity of water. There was always an abundance in the spring, but the factories could only use a limited quantity, and the remainder, for their use at least, was entirely lost. The idea occurred to some wide-awake manufacturer that if this sur- plus water could be stored up. it would supply the deficiency in the summer. Accordingly, the Slack reservoir, covering 153 acres, near the village of Greenville, was built in 1823. A corporation was
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SMITHFIELD AND NORTH SMITHFIELD.
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A View of Greenville.
formed in 1824, and was chartered by the General Assembly under the name of the Woonasquatucket River Company, to carry on the work of building reservoirs for the storage of the surplus water. This was the first corporation chartered for this object in Rhode Island, and it was also the pioneer in this work. Among the mem- bers of this corporation were Zachariah Allen, Philip Allen, Samuel G. Arnold, Thomas Thompson, and Samuel Nightingale. The Sprague lower reservoir, of seventy acres, was built in 1827; the Sprague upper reservoir, of twenty-five acres, in 1836; and the Waterman reservoir, of 318 acres, in 1838. These reservoirs were formed by damming up the head waters of the river in low, marshy localities, and the ponds thus formed have all the irregularity of outline that characterizes natural ponds. In the summer, by means of sluice-gates, the water can be let down as it is needed. The cost of this work, which always included the price of the land overflowed by the reservoir, was assessed on the owners of the water-privileges along the river, in a ratable proportion to the head of water and the number of feet of fall they had. A fifth reservoir was projected a number of years ago, but has not been as yet completed. The
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PICTURESQUE RHODE ISLAND.
entire area covered by the four reservoirs is about 565 acres, and the average depth of water about ninety-two feet.
The most important village in the town is Georgiaville, at which place are the cotton-factories of the Smithfield Manufacturing Company. Other small factories are those at Allenville, Stillwater, Greenville, Knight's Mills, Granite Mills, and Winsor Mills. In all these places the tenement-houses and the land in their vicinity are mostly owned by the proprietors of the factories.
The Providence and Springfield Railroad runs through the centre of the town, along the banks of the river, and has been instrumental in developing the territory. In the north part of the town there is a station at the village of Smithfield, which serves as a centre for a large farming district. Smithfield ranks third among the towns in the State in the extent and importance of its milk business ; a con- siderable amount of farming is also carried on.
The churches in the town are as follows: a Baptist church at Greenville, a Freewill Baptist church at Georgiaville, at Allendale a free church which has no settled minister, but in which any Protestant clergyman is allowed to hold services ; the Central Union Church, at the extreme northern part of the State, a short distance north of the Providence and Douglas turnpike, which is on the same footing as the Allendale church : and two Roman Catholic churches, St. Philip's and St. Michael's.
North Smithfield is the northwestern portion of the original terri- tory of Smithfield. It is situated directly north of the town which retains the parent name. When it was incorporated, March 8, 1871, the name Slater was given to it, but sixteen days afterward its present name was bestowed upon it. Its history is comprised in that of Smithfield. The population of the town in 1875 was 2,797; in 1880, 3,088.
The only stream of importance is the south branch of the Black- stone River, which flows through the northern part of the town. On this stream is the village of Slatersville, at which place Almy, Brown and Slater erected a cotton-factory in 1806. Two other mills were subsequently built here, and the three factories have at various times been enlarged or rebuilt, as occasion demanded. John Slater was associated with Samuel in these mills, and eventually these two bought out the other owners. The factories and village remain in the possession of the Slater family. The village has good educa- tional advantages, and a fine library. Forestdale, about two miles
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BURRILLVILLE.
below Slatersville, has two cotton-factories, and at Waterford is the mill of the Union Worsted Company, which is partly in Massa- chusetts.
The Providence and Springfield Railroad runs across the south- west corner of the town, and has a station at Primrose, which is the railroad centre for a farming district. The country is in general undulating, and from the hills many fine landscape views may be had. In some parts the land is rocky, and quantities of coarse gran- ite are quarried.
BURRILLVILLE .- All Rhode Island revolves around Providence. To the native of the soil Providence is " the city " without qualifica- tion or reserve. Indeed, some one, in a fit of ill-temper born of political disappointment, has gone so far as to bring railing accusa- tion against the State by saying that Providence is Rhode Island. However this may or may not be politically, it was for generations half of the State, extending to the borders of Massachusetts. A great extent of territory, when it contains but few or no inhabitants, is easily controlled by the centre of government. When Roger Williams commenced this colony, whose first settlement was at the head of Narragansett Bay, he sent out commissioners to consider the matter of organizing three towns at the north. They, convinced that no one would ever wish to settle in this uninviting wilderness, made report to that effect. Common experience has proved that it is quite impossible to answer for the actions of others, especially for those of generations yet unborn. Settlers did go out into this wil- derness, and hew down trees, and build houses, and increase and multiply, until, in 1730, the colony of Providence had become so unwieldy, and the management of its affairs so burdensome, that it was found necessary to erect the three new towns which a hundred years before existed in the imagination only of Roger Williams.
These were the towns of Smithfield, Glocester, and Scituate. In time, the population of Glocester increased to such an extent, and the dwellers in the northern part found it so inconvenient to go to Che- pachet to town-meeting, that the town was divided by an east and west line into two. In this way, in the year 1806, Burrillville began its corporate existence. Its location is that of the most northwestern town of the State, bordering upon Connecticut and Massachusetts. It covers an area of some sixty miles, its surface diversified by craggy hills and smiling vales, by quiet lakes and sparkling rills, and dotted
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PICTURESQUE RHODE ISLAND.
by trim and thriving villages, and old-fashioned and not always trim farm-houses clinging to the rough and rocky soil; and over all, the solemn forests keep perpetual watch.
The town received its name from the Hon. James Burrill, at that time attorney-general of the State of Rhode Island. Mr. Burrill was a native of Providence, having been born there in 1772. He was graduated at Brown University in 1788, and immediately com- menced the study of law. So rapid was his acquirement of the neces- sary knowledge, that before he reached his majority he was admitted to the bar. While still a young man, he stood at the head of his pro- fession in the State. For seventeen years he held the office of attorney-general of Rhode Island. He was speaker of the House of Representatives from 1814 to 1816. In the latter year he was appointed chief justice of the Supreme Court, and in the following year the General Assembly elected him to the Senate of the United States. Here he served faithfully the interests of the State until his death, which occurred on Christmas day in the year 1820. As a token of his appreciation of the honor done to him, he presented the new town with a set of record-books.
Burrillville, like most places, has its traditions. Wild tales of Indian warfare, of desolate hearth-stones, of blackened ruins of once happy homes, may still be heard,-stories of the giant strength of far back ancestors-of a huge skeleton unearthed (this, however, in quite modern times), of spells and incantations, of haunted houses and ghostly miners.
In early days the town was rich in animal life, a fact which has been perpetuated in the nomenclature of many of its hills and waters, which names, if not always romantic, are certainly suggestive. Eagle Peak tells of the time when that kingly bird had his haunts there ; Buck Hill, of the deer which bounded through the forests ; Wolf Hill, of those fierce creatures whose howl strikes terror into the stoutest heart; Herring Pond, of the delicious fish which once haunted its waters ; Pascoag, of the snakes which made, and still make, their fastness of the rocky ledge of that name.
Away up in the northwestern part of the town, at the foot of the range of hills which crosses that part of the State, lies Wallum Lake, a charming sheet of water, with long, deep coves, where fish love to resort, shadowed by grand, centuries-old trees, and boasting of a beach, hard and white, and so safe that the most timid bather need feel no alarm. This lake is the source of a river of some impor-
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BURRILLVILLE.
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The Village of Slatersville.
tance, the Clear, which " winds about, and in and out," through busy villages and lonely roads, until, together with the Chepachet, it loses its identity in the Branch, which finally pours its accumulated waters into the Blackstone.
The most extensive forest in this State is a part of this town - a forest covering 6,000 acres of land, and full of the charm of bird and leaf and flower, of towering trunk and spreading branch. A clear- ing upon the summit, near the Connecticut line, gives a wide view of the surrounding country.
In the Buck Hill Woods, on the edge of Round Pond, is a cave, which, although not remarkable in itself, derives interest from the fact that it was at one time the hiding-place of a gang of counter- feiters who plied their nefarious trade here. Arrests were made, and a suit commenced, but for some unexplained reason proceedings lagged, and the lame goddess became so exceedingly lame that she never fairly overtook the offenders.
A singular cave, sometimes called "Cooper's Den," sometimes " Forger's Cave," is one of the curiosities of the town. It is situ- ated on the road leading from Glendale to the old Stephen Cooper house. At the entrance of the wood is a craggy ledge of rock, the highest in the town. Half-way up the steep cliff is a narrow open-
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PICTURESQUE RHODE ISLAND.
ing, through which one can crawl. It is the entrance to an irregular room, thirty feet by eight, and twelve feet high. It is an cerie place, with its torn and convulsed rocks, looking as if they might fall at any moment, and stirring up the imagination to picture all kinds of frightful forms in their startling outlines.
Burrillville is not as rich in history as many of the older towns of the State. Among the early honorable names of the town are those of John Smith, the first pioneer, and Edward Salsbury, who served in the French War and helped build Fort Stanwix. But the best part of its history is to be read in its thriving villages, clustering around its solid and sometimes imposing mills, and in the record of those men who have attested by their energy and means that " Peace hath her victories no less than war." The most important industry is the manufacture of woolen cloths. Several mills which were built for other purposes have been torn down, and new ones have been erected for this branch of manufactures. The Glendale Mill was originally a saw and grist-mill. After the property passed into the hands of Mr. Anthony Steere, he built a cotton-mill on the site, which shortly after burned down. Before it was completely rebuilt it was bought by Mr. Lyman Copeland, who converted it into a woolen-mill. The Clear River Woolen Mills began their career as iron-mills. The Harrisville, Mapleville, Oakland, and Fisk, Sayles & Co.'s mills, are all woolen-mills. Spindles and machinery are also made in the town. Without its mills, Burrillville would be still comparatively a desert place. Its soil is thin and poor, much of its surface is stony. There are large extents of marsh which could be made available only by a severe course of draining. The farmers generally do not keep pace with the times, but cling to the old-fashioned implements of their forefathers. With such unfavorable prospects for agricul- tural prosperity, and with a good supply of water, naturally the inhabitants turned their attention to manufactures. The first mill was built on the Tar Kiln River in 1810, by Solomon Smith, for a Mr. Thurber, of Providence. The machinery was of the simplest, but very durable, and as it was run many years, it probably did its work satisfactorily. This was the beginning of that great manufac- turing interest which has since spread over the length and breadth of the town.
The dwellers in Burrillville take pride in the fact that the first Freewill Baptist Church in the State was organized within their limits. It is in the village of Pascoag. There is an Episcopal
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BURRILLVILLE.
church in Harrisville, which was built in 1857, under the auspices of the Rev. Dr. Eames, afterwards of the diocese of New Hampshire, and who died a few years since on the passage to Bermuda, whither he was going for his health. Besides these, there are the Methodist Episcopal Church at Laurel Hill, which dates from 1847, the Berean Baptist Church, organized as lately as 1874, the Society of Friends, which held meetings as early as 1783, and the Roman Catholic Church of St. Patrick, at Harrisville, instituted about the year 1856.
The Manton Library, at Pascoag, is an institution of the town that well deserves mention.
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A View of Pascoag.
CHAPTER VII.
GLOCESTER - THE TORY EXILES-THE DORR WAR. FOSTER -THEODORE FOSTER AND SOLOMON DROWNE. SCITUATE -COMMODORE HOPKINS - STEPIIEN HOPKINS. JOHNSTON -LOTTERIES. CRANSTON -THIE SPRAGUES. PAWTUXET -STATE INSTITUTIONS.
HE town of GLOCESTER constitutes a part of that terri- tory of which Roger Williams' commissioners thought ........ with such scorn, when, in the early days of these settlements, he sent them up the Woonasquatucket to examine the country and report upon the advisability of constructing three new towns north of Providence. The impression that the region was a howling wil- derness, and the soil worthless for cultivation pre- vailed for a long time. But at length a few daring spirits, feeling themselves crowded, perhaps, in the fast growing colony of Providence (like the western man when a neighbor settled within twenty miles of him), ventured into this unknown and hitherto despised region, and actually began a set- tlement in 1706. Among them was a Frenchman named Abram Tourtelotte, who made for himself a home about a mile south of Acote's Hill. He was the grandson of Gabriel Bernon, in honor of whom the Bernon Mill at Woonsocket was named. The forests were found to yield excellent timber, the virgin soil proved abundantly pro- ductive, and water was plentiful. Owing either to the ignorance of the primitive settlers, or to their practice of a false economy, or both, the soil was soon exhausted by constant cropping without renewing ; the inhabitants consequently turned their attention to manufactures.
There are numerous ponds within the limits of the town, three of which, Ponegansett, Smith and Sayles', and Woonasquatucket, are
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GLOCESTER.
known as reservoirs. The largest natural body of water is Keech's Pond, near Smith and Sayles' reservoir. The most important stream is the Chepachet, a tributary of the Blackstone, upon which is situ- ated the village of Chepachet, the business centre of the town.
It is interesting to note how long the idea prevailed that Gloces- ter was far from being a desirable residence. In the early days of the Revolution it was thought necessary to exile from their home in Newport, certain loyalists whose presence was naturally obnoxious to the patriots of that town. The Colonial Assembly therefore passed an act in June, 1776, banishing Thomas Vernon, Richard Beale, John Nichols, and Nicholas Lechmere to the town of Glo- cester. The act states that these gentlemen, " having been examined before the Assembly, refused to subscribe to the Test ordered by the Assembly to be tendered to suspected persons, and that while they continued in the principles avowed by them before the Assembly, they were justly deemed unfriendly to the United Colonies."
The long journey from Newport to Glocester - for it was long in those days - consumed one day and part of another. The exiles left Newport at four o'clock in the afternoon of June 20, 1776, in the boat of one William Green, and arrived in East Greenwich at seven in the evening. The sheriff of Newport County and his deputy who accom- panied them, together with the prisoners, spent the night at the house of Mr. Arnold. The next morning, with much difficulty, a negro obtained for their transfer to the wilds of Glocester, "an old crazy chaise with a very bad horse & two led horses quite as indifferent." In this way they arrived at Glocester at night, much fatigued, having ridden through a "very Rocky Country." That night they lodged at a public house, whose host was a man " very moderate in his senti- ments," from which we infer that his patriotism was not rampant. The next day, having refused to give their parole, the liberty of the town was denied them, and they were placed at the house of Mr. Stephen Keetche to await further orders.
Life here passed quietly enough, after the gayety of Newport. The party, sustained by the consciousness that they were suffering for the sake of a principle, were disposed to make the best of their fate. The farm upon which they were, consisted of five hundred acres, only one hundred of which were under cultivation. The fam- ily were friendly, and Mr. Vernon, upon whose diary we depend for a knowledge of this curious passage of Glocester history, seems to have been a cheerful man, with a keen sense of humor. Daily life
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PICTURESQUE RHODE ISLAND.
commenced at four o'clock in the morning, and ended early at night, ten o'clock being regarded as a rather dissipated hour. The various dishes for breakfast, dinner, and tea are chronicled day by day by Mr. Vernon, with the minuteness of one whose time hangs heavy on his hands. The taking down of a vane is an event, a quiet game of whist an excitement. Frequent messages to Providence, the result of which was rum, lemons, and sugar, over which, when mixed in due proportion, they " remembered their Newport friends," consti- tute a part of this diary. One item reads oddly in these days, when one feels himself in a benighted region unless he has access to two or three daily papers. "Sunday, Aug. 11. Our Landlord this A. M. early sent his youngest son (as he always does on Sunday), about a mile for the Providence newspaper, and the whole forenoon is generally spent in perusing it, and this afternoon in hearing Mr. Johnson read it, such is the fondness of people for news." Mr. Ver- non states that the inhabitants of the town belonged to the religious sect called the New Light Baptists, and says that they had " preach- ers and Exhortors innumberable." Notwithstanding which, and that they made great pretensions to religion, they were not a church-going people. During the month of August, Mr. Keetche took steps to lay his account for the board of his prisoners before the State Legis- lature, which was quite unjust, as most of the food which they had eaten at his table had been sent them by Newport friends, and had been shared with the family. Whether these Tories had during their sojourn rendered themselves actively obnoxious, or whether the increasing earnestness of the patriots as the war progressed pro- duced the same effect, there is no means of knowing. But it is a fact that by September, the people of Glocester would no longer receive them into their homes, and the governor of the State could give no farther directions for their bestowal. So, without any very elaborate ceremony, they took leave of the place of their captivity, and started, some for Providence, and the rest, Vernon being one of these, for Newport. The latter party took the Scituate road, and arrived, tired, hungry, and drenched, at East Greenwich at nine in the evening. After a while, the whole party were bestowed in safe places, and their banishment ended.
Shay's Rebellion, which was brought about partly by suffering caused by heavy taxes, and partly by the selfishness and folly of a party calling themselves "Reformation men," who would neither fight nor pay taxes had its origin here. The disaffection towards
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GLOCESTER.
State authority spread into Massachusetts, whither the rebellion betook itself bodily, and flourished until finally suppressed by the State troops. The dissatisfaction with political duties and privileges only slumbered, however, and two generations later broke out in that remarkable event of Rhode Island history, the Dorr War. This " tempest in a teapot," which shook the State well-nigh from her foundations, culminated in Chepachet, the most important village of the town of Glocester.
From its earliest history, Rhode Island, although nominally a democracy, had placed certain healthful restrictions upon the right of suffrage. That one which limited the right of suffrage to the owner of a freehold worth, at least, $134, was held in especial abhor- rence by those who possessed no such freehold. The right of the oldest son of such a freeholder to vote was also regarded with great disfavor. Statistics added their share to the general dissatisfaction. Of the seventy-two representatives chosen in 1840, thirty-eight were elected by towns having an aggregate population of 29,020 and less than 3,000 voters, and the remaining thirty-four by towns whose population numbered 79,804, and whose voters were nearly 6,000. Providence, which had greatly outgrown her former rival, Newport, sent to the Council of the State but four representatives, while New- port sent six. The irritation and bitterness engendered by this state of affairs had been increasing and gaining strength for years. Appeals to the General Assembly for a change in the constitution to meet the difficulty had produced no result, and at length an appeal was made directly to the people. Meetings were held during the last part of 1840 and the first part of 1841. Political leaders on the side of free suffrage left no means untried for inflaming the public mind, and so well did they succeed, that on the 5th of July, 1841, a mass-meeting was held in Providence, and the State Committee was . instructed to call a convention for the formation of a constitution which should represent their views. This convention, composed of delegates duly elected, met on the 4th of October, framed a consti- tution, and promulgated it as the " People's Constitution." Under this instrument, those of the people whose will it expressed elected Thomas Wilson Dorr, of Providence, governor, April 18, 1842. At the same time the "Law and Order" party, with the old and tried constitution of the State at their back, elected Samuel Ward King governor. As soon as the new government attempted to test its power by performing executive functions, it found itself confronted
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A View of Providence, from Smith's Hill.
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FOSTER.
by the old, and that either a collision or a peaceable abdication must follow. But the " Dorrites" were honest in the belief that they should accomplish the thing which they desired, and, inflamed by the eloquence of their leaders, they were incapable of perceiving that they were not taking the right and effectual way of doing it. They therefore girded themselves for a conflict. On the 3d of May Governor Dorr made an attempt to displace Governor King, which failed. On the eighteenth his party made an abortive attempt to capture the Arsenal. The insurgents then began to retreat north- ward until, on the 25th of June, they had concentrated and made a stand at Chepachet. Here the valiant troops remained, displaying the greatest bravery, so long as no enemy was in sight. But as soon as the State troops, augmented by volunteers from the various towns of the State appeared, they became suddenly impressed with the majesty of the law, and rather than defy it by actual bloodshed turned and fled in dismay. Three days after, the insurrection was a thing of the past, and the insurgents had metaphorically beaten their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks. Dorr himself was taken, tried and sentenced to be imprisoned for life. The rigor of his sentence was soon abated, and in 1847, by an act of general amnesty, he was set free, and in 1851 was restored to his rights as a citizen.
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