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 4
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" The solitude which reigns here, and which is only interrupted by groups of idlers who stand listlessly at the street corners, the general dilapidation of the houses, the wretched look of the shops, which offer for sale nothing but bunches of matches and baskets of apples, or other articles of little value, the grass growing in the square opposite the Court House, the muddy and ill-paved streets, the rags at the windows or which cover either hid- eous women " (the citizen Brissot sighed in vain to enter that charmed circle which had welcomed the members of the old noblesse), " lean children, or pale, wan The Old Mill men, with deep eyes and sinister looks, making the observer very uncomfortable, all proclaim misery, the reign of bad faith, and the influence of a bad government." Not without some reason, this dismal chronicler believes paper money to be the principal cause of all this misery which he beholds.
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For almost half a century the town remained in this state of ex- treme prostration. The feeble symptoms of reviving life which it manifested in the early part of this century, quickly vanished when the War of 1812 began. From 1815 to 1828 not a house was built within its limits. Not until 1830 did its renaissance commence. In that year boarding-house keepers began to find their resources taxed to furnish accommodations for the summer visitors. From Providence, from the Southern States, and from Cuba came the first of the return- ing tide of pilgrims to this island Mecca. Ten years later the hotels could no longer contain the swelling throngs. About that time some man of genius conceived the idea of building for himself a habitation which might protect him from the mild inclemencies of the summer months. It did not cost much to live in Newport in those days. Land was cheap, and a very respectable dwelling could be erected at . a comparatively slight cost. So, without a thought of the immense de-
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velopment it would afterwards attain, the system which is the marked feature of this great watering-place was begun. According to the guide-book of last year, more than two hundred and fifty persons owned " summer cottages " in the city. For the last thirty years the annual sales of real estate have averaged more than half a million dollars. In all that time the value of land has been steadily increas- ing. There have been no "real estate panics " in this " City by the Sea."
To the eye of the visitor, searching, like Dr. Syntax, for " the picturesque," Newport presents very many attractive features. Nat- urally and properly, on the first favorable day, the venturesome enthusiast turns his steps toward the Spouting Rock, just beyond the western end of Bailey's beach. Huge rocks surround on every side a great cavern. During the violent easterly storms that sometimes sweep along this coast, fierce seas rushing in from the open ocean fill this cavern with a boiling mass of water. The waves, following steadily in constant succession, force the imprisoned surges out through an opening in its roof, and fill the air with dense clouds of foam. Not far from Sachuest Beach is Purgatory (represented in the cut upon page 48). The story common to such places, - of the careless maiden who tested her lover's devotion by requiring him to leap across the chasm (it is from eight to fourteen feet wide), -is, of course, told concerning it. The guide-books also speak of satanic (?) foot-prints, plainly visible in the rough graywacke, and give vague traditions of the terrible fate that once befell a sinning Indian maiden in this romantic spot. Toward the Lime Rock Lighthouse, the eyes of all those who enter Newport from the Bay instinctively turn. It is the home of Ida Lewis, " the Grace Darling of America." In Touro Park stands the monument which commemorates Com. M. C. Perry, of the United States Navy, the officer who commanded the famous expedition to Japan. In the Island Cemetery, a plain, granite shaft marks the grave of Oliver Hazard Perry, the hero of Lake Erie ; he, also, was a son of Newport. On Bellevue Avenue, not far from the Ocean House, stands the Casino, the pioneer build- ing of its class in America. On Easton's Beach stands the cool and commodious structure, called " The Tent on the Beach." On Church Street stands the Rogers High School. For the erection of this building, William Sanford Rogers left in his will the sum of $100,000. To prolong the enumeration is needless. More than to mention the places of interest would be impossible. In the guide-
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books glowing descriptions of them can be read. To the guide- books, therefore, the reader is respectfully referred.
For the transportation of visitors, the facilities are ample and con- venient. The city may be reached by the Old Colony Line, of which J. H. Jordan, is the agent in Newport ; by the Newport and Wickford Line, Theodore Warren, agent; or by the Continental Steam- boat Line.
The leading ho- tels of Newport to- day, are the Ocean House, J. G. Weav- er & Sons, proprie- tors, with accom- "The Tent on the Beach " . modations for 300 guests ; Hotel Aquidneck, L. P. Attleton, pro- prietor, accommodating 150; Perry House, 100 guests, E. V. West- cott, proprietor ; United States Hotel, 100 guests, W. B. Hathaway, proprietor ; Cliff Cottage Hotel, 75 guests, M. S. Flagg, manager ; and Hall's Cliff House, 50 guests, William T. Hall.
Newport is not a manufacturing city. The two manufactories of special note are the Perry Mill and the Aquidneck Mill, both cotton factories.
Among the many enterprising business men of to-day, to whom the city is indebted for much of its reviving prosperity, may be mentioned : T. M. Seabury, John C. Seabury, Wm. C. Cozzens & Co., A. C. Titus, J. F. Marden, M. Cottrell, Bateman & Gardner, Julius Sayer, J. H. Crosby, Jr., Slocum & Black, Bull & Powell, Job T. Langley, J. B. Finch, Albert Hammett, H. D. Scott, J. D. Richardson, Swinburne & Peckham, R. S. & W. B. Franklin, Cas- well, Hazard & Co., H. E. Turner & Co., King & McLeod, Wm. Sherman, Caswell, Massey & Co., Walter Sherman, B. F. Downing, R. H. Taylor, W. H. Colton, W. S. N. Allan, J. S. Hazard & Co., Wm. Fludder & Co., G. P. Lawton, A. L. Burdick, W. C. Lang- ley, J. Alderson, C. S. Murray & Co., A. H. Hayward, A. Stewart & Co., H. M. Casttoff, W. T. Bowler, Hiram Murray, E. P. Swan, Gould & Son, Geo. A. Weaver, Langley & Bennett, J. M. R.
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Southwick, C. H. Burdick & Co., J. T. Burdick & Co., H. A. Heath & Co., E. C. Blain, D. C. Denham, D. L. Cummings, G. O. Herrmann, Geo. C. Barker & Son, J. C. Stoddard, T. Gladding & Son, Ira E. Wilson, W. K. Covell, Jr., Langley & Sharpe, Alfred Smith & Sons, F. B. Porter & Co., T. G. Ford, J. N. Howard & Co., C. P. Barber, Peckham & Manchester, Stafford Bryer, McAdam & Openshaw, C. Sherman & Co., R. S. Barker, E. P. Allan, A. C. Landers, Smith Bosworth & Co., J. HI. Hammett, Carry Brothers, G. B. Reynolds & Co., Pinniger & Manchester, Wm. Swinburne, Perry Brothers, Brown & Howard, C. E. Ham- mett, W. P. Clarke, E. W. Lawton, J. H. Cozzens & Son, A. Goffe, Wm. B. Sherman, and Taylor & Bennett.
" It is more difficult to find the end of this oration than the begin- ning," said the immortal Tully, almost two thousand years ago, when he was about to pronounce that splendid panegyric upon the eminent virtues and the extraordinary talents of Gneius Pompey, with which every classical student is so familiar. Again and again will the words of the Roman orator recur to the mind of him who attempts to describe the ancient glories of Newport, -to tell the fascinating story of its later days. Even before the task is fairly outlined the reluctant pen must be forced away from the enchanting theme, To do it justice would require not one book but many. As the eye of the philosopher scans the varied and peculiar phases of its social life, the flying hours glide by unheeded. The heart of the biog- rapher swells with delight as he thinks of the fame the city's sons have won by their achievements in literature, in science, and in art - of their matchless valor upon land and sea. The imaginative writer, be he novelist or poet, grows rapturous as he contemplates the pos- sibilities one only of its treasures - the Old Stone Mill - affords him. Already volumes have been written concerning this quaint structure, and volume upon volume must follow in the years to come. The brain of the soberest historian reels as he strives to pierce the mystery of its erection. We can never hope to know surely who its builders were - whether it is a relic of the old Vikings, a martello tower of the years between Guanahani and Plymouth Rock, or simply the " stone built wind mill" of Gov. Benedict Arnold. Why should we seek to know it? Better the old ruin as it is ; better than any certainty is the unique position it holds in American history.
CHAPTER III.
MIDDLETOWN -DEAN BERKELEY - ISAAC BARKER'S SERVICES DURING THE REV- OLUTION. PORTSMOUTH-THE SETTLEMENT AT POCASSET - THE CAPTURE OF PRESCOTT. LITTLE COMPTON -AWASHONKS, THE SQUAW SACHEM, AND CAPT. BENJAMIN CHURCH. TIVER- TON - WEETAMOE, QUEEN OF POCASSET - THE CAPTURE OF THE " PIGOT" GALLEY.
IDDLETOWN owes its existence to the feeling of jeal- ousy and opposition which is sure to arise, sooner or later, between those who dwell in the " compact part " of a town and those who live in "the woods." In Newport more than a century elapsed before the feel- ing became sufficiently strong to necessitate division. It was not until August, 1743, that the inhabitants of "the woods" secured the incorporation of the new town. Before that time the people of Middletown rightly claim for their own a share in the fame which fell to Newport. When Dean Berkeley came to re- side in the chief city of Rhode Island, it was in what is now the town of Middletown that he chose the spot upon which to build his house. Any sketch of our colonial days would be in- complete in which mention was not made of George, Bishop of Cloyne, and of his sojourn upon Aquidneck. It would be difficult to select a verse which has been more familiar to Americans (and more frequently misquoted) than the four lines in which, one hun- dred and fifty years ago, he foretold the destiny that awaited the Nation.
" Westward the course of empire takes it way; The four first acts already past, A fifth shall close the drama with the day; Time's noblest offspring is the last."
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George Berkeley was born at Kilerin, County Kilkenny, Ire- land, March 12, 1684. His father was Collector of Belfast. He came from a family noted for its loyalty to Charles I. Before he was twenty, young Berkeley had written a famous book. In 1707 he became a fellow of Trinity College, Dublin. His unusual talents secured for him the acquaintance of the famous men of his time ; his sweet and gentle disposition quickly won their friendship. With Swift and Steele he became specially intimate. Pope has left a striking testimonial of his friendship, in the line in which he ascribes
" To Berkeley every virtue under Heaven."
Bishop Atterbury said of him : " So much understanding, so much knowledge, so much innocence, and such humility, I did not think had been the portion of any but angels, until I saw this gentleman."
In 1713 Berkeley accompanied the Earl of Peterborough to Italy, as Chaplain and Secretary of the Legation. Two years later he paid his famous visit to Malebranche, the celebrated French philosopher. The two entered into a discussion on the theory of the non-existence of matter, and the arguments of the English scholar so excited his opponent that his frail system was not able to withstand the shock, and he died a few days afterward. In 1724 Berkeley was made Dean of Derry, with an income of £1, 100 per annum. The follow- ing year he published A Proposal for the better supplying of Churches in our Foreign Plantations, and for converting the Savage Americans to Christianity by a College to be erected upon the Sum- mer Islands, otherwise called the Isles of Bermuda. It was in de- lightful anticipation of the results about to follow the carrying out of his scheme, that he wrote the stanzas On the Prospect of Planting Arts and Sciences in America, from which the verse lately quoted is taken.
The possession of worldly wealth seems to have afforded the gentle enthusiast but little gratification. As soon as his proposal was published, he offered to resign his living and devote his life to the instruction of the "Savage Americans," for the sum of £100 a year. Writing of him at this time to one of his noble friends, Swift says : "His heart will break if his deanery be not taken from him and left to go to your lordship's disposal." In 1728 Berkeley's plan was laid before Parliament by Sir Robert Walpole, and but little difficulty was experienced in obtaining a preliminary grant of £20,000. Full of hope, the philosopher sailed at once for the New
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World. After a tedious passage of five months, he reached New- port, intending thence to sail for Bermuda after he should have re- covered from the debilitating effects of the long voyage. His wife, whom he had just married, accompanied him. Several gentlemen of note also came in the ship. One of these was the painter, John Smybert ; his presence for some years in Newport, and the paintings he left behind him, did much to stimulate the love of art in America, and to encour- age the young efforts of Copley, Trum- bull, Allston, and Malbone. This is the way a letter from Newport in the New England Weekly Journal (of Boston), notes the arrival : " Yester- -- day arrived here Dean Berkeley, of Londonderry, in a pretty large ship. Whitehall. He is a gentleman of middle stature, of an agreeable, pleasant and erect aspect. He was ushered into town with a great number of gentlemen, to whom he behaved himself after a very complaisant manner. 'T is said he purposes to tarry here with his family about three months."
One account says that it was not Dean Berkeley's intention to land at Newport, but that the captain of the ship, after searching in vain for the Summer Islands, was forced to turn the prow of his vessel northward, toward lands more accurately placed on his chart. He who on one of the calm, bright days of spring has seen the "Still vexed Bermoothes" rising just above the tossing billows that always encircle them, can easily realize how difficult it was for the earlier voyagers to descry the little group when the whole horizon was foaming with raging waves. It is related, moreover, that one of the Newport captains of half a century ago, who had sailed for Bermuda with an assorted cargo, came back after a voyage of some months with his hatches unopened, confidently affirming that the islands had sunk.
This account, however, is not the correct one. The dean's own letters show that Rhode Island was his intended destination. Hav- ing once tasted the sweets of Aquidneck life, he became so en- amored of the spot that he determined to fix his residence there. To his friend Smybert, who did not agree with him in his sanguine views respecting the coming importance of the town, he is reported
S
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to have said : " Truly, you have very little foresight, for in fifty years' time every foot of land in this place will be as valuable as in Cheapside." He was but a century out of the way in his reckon- ing. Very shortly afterward he purchased a farm of a hundred acres, some three miles distant from the town. Upon this yet stands the unpretentious mansion which he built. Whitchall was the name he gave it, the name of the best-loved residence of the king, for whom his ancestors had suffered so much. This house is placed not upon the summit of a hill, where one would naturally expect to find it, but in a valley. Its builder feared that the magnificent view the hill commands might lose its charm if seen too constantly. Not far away is Sachuest Beach. In a natural alcove, in the most elevated part of the hanging rocks which overlook this beach, Berkeley had his chair and writing-materials placed. There, without doubt, Alci- phron, the Minute Philosopher, was meditated and composed. " Anti- quated," the critics of to-day call the book ; and yet the sermon it preaches will never be out of date as long as the world lasts. The work is, of course, mainly argumentative, but it abounds in delight- ful paragraphs, descriptive of the scenery and customs of the country, like these which follow :
" The Library is a gallery on the ground floor, with an arched door at one end, opening into a walk of limes, where, as soon as we had drunk tea, we were tempted by fine weather to take a walk, which led us to a small mount of easy ascent, on the top whereof we found a seat under a spreading tree. Here we had a prospect, on one hand, of a narrow bay, or creek, of the sea, inclosed on either side by a coast beautified with rocks and woods, and green banks and farm houses. At the end of the bay was a small town, placed upon the slope of a hill, which from the advantage of its situation, made a considerable figure. Several fishing-boats and lighters glid- ing up and down on a surface as smooth and as bright as glass, en- livened the prospect. On the other hand, we looked down on green pastures, flocks and herds basking beneath in sunshine, while we in our superior situation, enjoyed the freshness of air and shade."
" We had hardly seated ourselves and looked about us, when we saw a fox run by the foot of our mount into an adjacent thicket. A few minutes after, we heard a confused noise of the opening of hounds, and winding of horns, and the roaring of country squires. While our attention was suspended by this event, a servant came running out of breath, and told Crito that his neighbor Ctessipus, a
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squire of note, was fallen from his horse, attempting to leap over a hedge, and brought into the hall, where he lay for dead. Upon which we all rose and walked hastily to the house, where we found Ctessipus just come to himself, in the midst of half a dozen sun-burnt squires in frocks, and short wigs, and jockey boots. Being asked how he did, he answered it was only a brokenrib. With some difficulty Crito per- suaded him to lie on a bed till the chirurgeon came. These fox-hunters having been up early at their sport, were eager for dinner, which was accordingly hastened. They passed the afternoon in a loud, rustic mirth, gave proof of their religion and loyalty by the healths they drank, talked of hounds, Happy Valley. and horses, and elections, and country fairs, till the chirurgeon, who had been employed about Ctessipus, desired he might be put into Crito's coach, and sent home, having refused to stay all night."
A very short residence in Newport was sufficient to convince Berkeley that his college should be established upon the main land rather than upon the Summer Islands. "The truth is, I should like it better than Bermuda," he wrote to a friend. But the money promised for his college never came, and after a residence of two and a half years in America he went back to his native country, confessing. when he went, that " no spot on earth has helped to form me so much as that beach." (Sachuest Beach, he meant, of course.) It may well be questioned whether any man ever did more in so short a time to form the society in which he lived. The genial, elevating influence of his presence in Rhode Island was felt for many years after the gracious bishop had passed away from earth. He was appointed to the See of Cloyne in 1734, and died, full of years and of honor, in 1753.
Middletown has always been simply an agricultural town ._ Very naturally, therefore, the historian searches in vain for striking events in its history. Isaac Barker's conduct during the Revolution well deserves notice. When the British took possession of the island he
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pretended to be a Tory, and remained on his farm. This was situ- ated on the east side of the island. His dwelling could plainly be seen from the Seaconnet shore. In this house a British colonel es- tablished his quarters. From this officer Barker was often able to learn the plans of the enemy. Between him and Lieutenant Chapin, of Colonel Sherburne's regiment of Rhode Island troops, a system of signals was arranged. It consisted of a peculiar arrangement of bars and stakes in a stone wall, and was easily visible to one using a spy-glass upon the main land. When any information of importance had been gained, a letter would be deposited by Barker in a certain crevice in a neighboring ledge of rocks. He would then arrange his signals, and the lieutenant would cross over at night and get the letter. For more than fourteen months, at the constant risk of his life, Barker continued to perform this service. The departure of the English troops at last released him from his perilous employment.
The population has not increased very largely during the 138 years of the town's existence. In 1748, 680 people were numbered within its limits. The last census showed it to contain 1, 139 in- habitants. The residents of the town are awakening at last to a sense of the possibilities within their grasp, and are stretching out their hands to secure a portion of the summer throng that fills each year the cottages of the mother-town. Broad avenues, sweeping along the shores, and winding over the hills that command a pros- pect over the ocean, are projected. On these hills some of the most beautiful villa-sites in America are yet unoccupied. In the years to come, stately residences will rise upon them. The avenues may one day be crowded with a concourse rivaling that which now rolls onward, in the bright days of summer, along magnificent Bellevue.
POCASSET, was the Indian name of tlie place where the first English settlement upon Aquidneck was established. Not until the Newport settlers had withdrawn from it was the name of Portsmouth given to the town. By the Indians, the opposite shore of the main- land and the narrow strait lying between was also called Pocasset. For the fee of the island, and for the grass upon the neighboring islands, forty fathoms of white peage were paid. Ten coats and twenty hoes were given to the resident Indians to vacate the lands, and five fathoms of wampum were paid to the local sachem.
Before leaving Providence this civil compact was drawn up and signed :
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PORTSMOUTH.
"7TH DAY OF THE FIRST MONTH (MARCH), 1638.
" We whose names are underwritten do hereby solemnly, in the presence of Jehovah, incorporate ourselves into a body politic ; and as he shall help, will submit our persons, lives and estates, unto our Lord Jesus Christ, The King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and to all those perfect and most absolute laws of his given us in his holy word of truth to be guided and judged thereby. Exod. xxiv., 3, 4 ; 2 Chron. xi., 3; 2 Kings, xi., 17."
Its signers were William Coddington, John Clarke, William Hutchinson, John Coggeshall, William Aspin- wall, Samuel Wilbore, John Porter, John Sanford, Ed- ward Hutchinson, Jr., Tho- mas Savage, William Dyre, William Freeborne, Philip Shearman, John Walker, The Glen, Richard Carder, William Baulstone, Edward Hutchinson, Sr., Henry Bull. Randall Holden's name is also affixed to the document, but the historian Arnold believes that Holden was not one of the proprietors, but simply one of the witnesses to the compact. The other witness was Roger Williams.
In his settlement at Providence, the great founder of the State made no provision whatever for religious worship. He welcomed gladly all persons who desired to cast in their lot with him, asking no questions whatever concerning their religious beliefs. Whether they were "Jews, Turks, Infidels or Heretics" mattered not to him. The Aquidneck settlers were not quite so liberal. But while they pro- posed to lay the foundation of a Christian State, they also meant that in that State every man should be allowed to worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience. The differences between the fol- lowers of Roger Williams and those of Coddington and Hutchinson were but slight, and yet they served to bring to the island a more desirable class of inhabitants than those who settled at Providence.
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PICTURESQUE RHODE ISLAND.
It was the higher education and the superior social standing of the peo- ple of the island of Rhode Island which secured for it the control- ing influence in the affairs of the State it enjoyed for so many years.
The building of the town of Portsmouth was begun March 24, 1638. Around the head of a cove on the northeastern part of the island, the first dwellings were erected. From this cove, an outlet deep enough for the passage of small vessels then extended to the bay. The people supposed that water sufficient to float the largest ships of the time might easily be found not far away. This deeper water could not be found, however, the action of the winds and waves gradually closed the outlet, and the first settlement was in time aban- doned. Not many years ago traces of some of the houses could with difficulty be perceived ; modern " improvement" has since swept them entirely away. The second hamlet received the name of New- town, a designation still retained by that part of the town.
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