BRVNHC Tours
The basic tours were created by the National Park Service for the John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor. They have been entered into Google Earth by Paul Hutchinson.
The initial placement of paths, polygons and placemarks was made based on the tour brochures, USGS topographic maps and Google Earth imagery. The positions are updated based on visits to the places.
Except as detailed below, the sources for all the informational text, tour sites, polygons and tour paths are the Walking & Driving Tours and Canoe Tours brochures from the NPS.
Information added by Paul Hutchinson is indicated in these ways:
Tour extensions colored cyan.
Text in square brackets.
These placemark icons:
| Other point of interest
| No Trespassing Sign (Red icon)

Tour Maps Legend
Key to Tour Map Symbols
| Tour site
| Parking
Point of interest from the tour brochure
(Sites that are not open to the public have a dark red icon instead of green)
| Other point of interest
| Hazard
| Portage or other mandatory canoe stop
| No Trespassing Sign (Red icon)

Canoe
The Blackstone River Valley General Information
Water in the Blackstone River drops 450 feet in its 46 mile journey from Worcester,MA to Pawtucket, RI, and eventually empties into the Narragansett Bay in Providence. It runs through urban areas, historic mill villages, past farmland and through forests, inviting paddlers to explore the physical remnants of its heritage including canal locks and mill structures. Dropping an average of ten feet per mile, it is interwoven with canal segments and flows over 18 dams. While noted for its industrial heritage, the river also offers many great recreational opportunities for flat water and quick water paddling.
The industrial history of the Blackstone Valley can be attributed to the power of the Blackstone River.While in most places the river is narrow and shallow, the power of its water flow should never be taken for granted. During times of heavy rain or major snow melt, the water level of the river will rise quickly, significantly increasing its speed and presenting new obstacles for paddlers. In high water, strainers or sweepers are common along the banks of the Blackstone and require the paddler's full attention. All levels of paddlers need to respect the power of the river and be aware that the water flow can fluctuate wildly over a short period of time, quickly creating challenging conditions. Please wear a Personal Flotation Device (PFD) at all times when paddling the Blackstone River. Paddlers should check the water level, weather, and river conditions prior to every trip. For more information on this see the "Contacts" section.
Flat water paddling is characterized as water with very little current and no major obstacles. Paddling on the many mill ponds created by the dams along the river and in the Blackstone Canal are good examples of flat water paddling. Quick water is characterized as either Class I or Class II based on the International Scale of River Difficulty. A Class I river has a current with a few riffles and small waves and paddlers run into few or no obstructions. A Class II river will have easy rapids with waves up to 3 feet high and wide clear channels. Some skills to safely maneuver your boat are required. Tours in the Water Trails Guide will be on portions of the river classified as either Class I or Class II. However, significant maneuvering is required through the flood plain of the Blackstone due to numerous horseshoe bends and Scurves that are prevalent throughout most of the Massachusetts section of the river. The river begins to get broader and flatter beginning in the South Uxbridge section of the river and through Rhode Island. This is a diverse yet intimate river full of surprises for paddlers. Enjoy discovering why the Blackstone River was once called "America's Hardest Working River."
Blackstone River Tours
The Water Trail Tours are divided into different paddling skill levels and provide information to river users to help plan their trip on the Blackstone River. Tour information will allow you to determine the skill level required, the approximate amount of time needed to complete the trip, location of dams and other obstacles requiring portages, the location of facilities, and some information about the various natural and historic features. References in the text of the tours to "river right" and "river left" refer to the paddler's orientation facing downriver.
Portages
Portages are listed at the beginning of each tour. Required portages, such as dams, rapids and canal/river loops are noted on the map and in the accompanying text. Be aware: there are currently no warnings of approaching dams, and they are not always obvious from upstream. There are currently 18 dams along the River and most tours involve a portage.
Be prepared for a "wet portage". Rubber soled shoes that can get wet are a must for any paddling trip on the Blackstone River. Getting in and out of your boat in water and mud is part of every trip.
Assume that all land bordering the river is private property. Therefore, please be courteous and show respect for these lands. Portage quickly; do not loiter. Help foster a spirit of cooperation between riverfront landowners and recreational paddlers.
Trip Times
Many variables influence the amount of time required to paddle a mile of river. Water conditions exert the greatest influence, while wind, weather and the paddler's approach – athletic or leisurely – will all have an influence on the travel time. Most paddlers can expect to paddle approximately three miles per hour on a typical late spring day with minimal wind. Additional time is needed for portaging.
Contacts:
For current water levels on the Blackstone River, go to the USGS website.
At the Northbridge, MA gauge, any reading above 5 feet should be considered high water. At the Woonsocket, RI gauge, any reading above 2500 cfs should be considered high water.
For more about paddling the Blackstone River:
John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor One Depot Square, Woonsocket, RI 02895, (401)762-0250
Blackstone River Coalition
Blackstone River and Canal Heritage State Park (508)278-7604
Great Canadian Canoe Co. (508)865-0010 or (800)98-CANOE
Wild Bird Gardens (508)234-0111
Rhode Island Canoe and Kayak Association
Blackstone Valley Tourism Council (401)724-2200
Sources: National Park Service Canoe Tours, John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor

Plummer's Landing to River Bend Farm
Level . . . . . . Intermediate
Start . . . . . . . Plummer's Landing, Northbridge, MA
End . . . . . . . . River Bend Farm, Uxbridge, MA
Description. Quickwater, with S-curves, Flatwater
Scenery. . . . Forested, Rural, Wetland, Canal
Portages . . . One portage at Hartford Avenue
From Route 146 North or South:
* Take the exit for Route 16. A brown & white highway sign marks the exit.
* Follow orange "visitor center" signs. From 146 North, turn RIGHT onto Rt. 16 East. From 146 South, turn LEFT onto Rt. 16 East.
* Continue to the traffic light in Uxbridge Center.
* Turn LEFT at light onto Main Street/Route 122 North.
* Continue approximately 2 miles to the traffic light at intersection with Church Street in Northbridge, MA.
* Turn RIGHT onto Church Street.
* Continue straight for about one mile to just before Quaker Street intersection.
* The parking area for the Blackstone River and Canal Heritage State Park is on the right just before the bridge.
For current water levels on the Blackstone River, go to the USGS website.
At the Northbridge, MA gauge, any reading above 5 feet should be considered high water. At the Woonsocket, RI gauge, any reading above 2500 cfs should be considered high water.
Source: National Park Service, Plummer's Landing to River Bend Farm Canoe Tour, small sheet, John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor

Tour Path

Canal

Towpath

Introduction
Meandering quickwater through the heart of the Blackstone River and Canal Heritage State Park.
Park in the Church Street parking area for the Blackstone River and Canal Heritage State Park and put in on river right just below the bridge. The area around the Church Street Bridge is called Plummer's Landing, named for a store and inn owner who catered to the canal trade along the Blackstone Canal. The bridge over the canal at Church Street is partially made of an old canal lock.
This section of the Blackstone River is in a considerable state of flux within its broad flood plain. The river is constantly eroding its banks and creating new channels. In some places, the river has breached the canal towpath embankment and it is possible to paddle within the canal for considerable distances.
At the Northbridge, MA gauge, any reading above 5 feet should be considered high water. At the Woonsocket, RI gauge, any reading above 2500 cfs should be considered high water.

Stay River Left
Less than a mile downriver there is a breach in the riverbank – stay river left to continue down the river.
This section of the river can require skillful paddling. With its many twists and turns, you must be able to maneuver around the strainers and through S-curves. The difficulty increases when the water is high.

Rice City Pond
Approximately two miles downriver is a section of flatwater through the Rice City Pond area. Much of the land abutting the pond, including a promontory on the left called "Lookout Rock" is owned and managed by the state and forms the nucleus of the Blackstone River and Canal Heritage State Park. Lookout Rock is a short, challenging hike from the riverbank and provides an excellent view of the Blackstone River Valley.

Lookout Rock
Also known as King Philip's Rock.

Stay
River
Right
Stay river right where the channel divides in this area. Immediately after the large stands of Phragmites australis (a tall thick-stemmed grass), take the right channel and look for a small backwater section that leads into a preserved canal-era artifact: the Goat Hill Lock (1827). You can paddle up the canal a short distance to explore the lock or continue down the canal.

Goat Hill Lock

Wildlife
Continuing on, paddlers can enjoy an abundance of wildlife and migrating birds within the pond.

Stay
River
Right
When approaching the Hartford Avenue stone arch bridge (1869), avoid the left side, under which is a 6 foot waterfall. Stay to the right and paddle under the bridge. Hartford Avenue is one of the oldest long distance highways in the state (c.1730).

6 foot waterfall

Portage
Carry your boat over the towpath and put back into the canal on the other side. Paddle the Blackstone Canal to River Bend Farm (on the right, just after you pass under the foot bridge).
As an alternative to the canal route, you can continue downriver by carrying your boat to below the spillway on your left and putting in on river right. If water is pouring over the spillway, this section of the river will be more difficult than in low water. You can get information on this section of the river in the Water Trail Tour for River Bend Farm.

Parking

River Bend Farm
Tours 1 & 2
Level . . . . . . Beginner – Blackstone Canal to Stanley Woolen Mill or Blackstone Canal to Rice City Pond and the Goat Hill Lock
Start / End. . River Bend Farm
Time . . . . . . . Approx. 1 hour
Description. Flatwater
Portages . . . One portage on Tour 2
Tour 3
Level . . . . . . Intermediate
Blackstone River to Canal Loop
Time . . . . . . . Approx. 2 hours
Description. Flatwater and quickwater with possible obstacles
Portages . . . Two portages, canal to river and river to canal
From Route 146 North or South:
* Take the exit for Route 16.
* From 146 North, turn RIGHT onto Rt. 16 East. From 146 South, turn LEFT onto Rt. 16 East.
* Continue to the traffic light in Uxbridge Center
* Turn LEFT at light onto Main Street/Route 122 North.
* Continue over a mile to the next traffic light at Hartford Ave.
* Turn RIGHT onto Hartford Avenue.
* Continue straight through 4-way stop intersection at Granite St.
* As you're coming down the next hill, take a sharp RIGHT turn onto Oak Street at the Medical Center.
* Continue less than 1/4 mile to River Bend Farm Visitor Center on your left.
For current water levels on the Blackstone River, go to the USGS website.
Source: National Park Service, River Bend Farm Canoe Tour, John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor

Tour 1 Path
Put-in is at the River Bend Farm Visitor Center in the Blackstone River & Canal Heritage State Park in Uxbridge, MA. The watered section of the canal can be paddled in either direction, south to the Stanley Woolen Mill (Tour 1) or north towards Rice City Pond (Tour 2).
If you choose to head south, it is a leisurely paddle in the Blackstone Canal down to the Stanley Woolen Mill and back. The canal towpath runs along the side of the canal.

Tour 2 Path
Put-in is at the River Bend Farm Visitor Center in the Blackstone River & Canal Heritage State Park in Uxbridge, MA. The watered section of the canal can be paddled in either direction, south to the Stanley Woolen Mill (Tour 1) or north towards Rice City Pond (Tour 2).
If you choose to proceed north, paddle up the canal a short distance, then portage north and proceed up the Blackstone Canal. Look for a small backwater section on your left that will lead to a preserved canal-era artifact: the Goat Hill Lock (1827). This is one of four remaining locks along the Blackstone River. From 1828 to 1848 a series of 48 canal locks helped boats ascend and descend the elevation changes between Worcester and Providence. Return by the same route.

Dams
Caution!

Tour 3 Path
For an intermediate tour, paddlers can head north up the canal from the Visitor Center, portage over to the River to paddle south and then portage back over to the Canal for a river/canal trail loop. This section of the Blackstone River can require more skillful paddling.With its many twists and turns, you must be able to maneuver around strainers and through S-curves. This section of the river can be difficult if the water is high. You can check at the spillway at Hartford Avenue (when you portage) – if the water is pouring over the spillway, the river is high and this section will be more difficult than in lower water. Paddle south in the River and look for the portage steps on river right to portage over to the canal at Stanley Woolen Mill (1853) and back up the canal to River Bend Farm.

Caution! Sharp Turns

Stanley Woolen Mill

River Bend Farm to Blackstone Gorge
Level . . . . . . Intermediate
Start . . . . . . . River Bend Farm Uxbridge, MA
End . . . . . . . . Blackstone Gorge, Blackstone, MA
Miles . . . . . . Approx. 9 miles
Description. Flatwater, Quickwater, Short section of Rapids
Scenery. . . . Forested, Rural, Canal Lock
Portages . . . One (optional) portage in Millville, MA
From Route 146 North or South:
* Take the exit for Route 16.
* From 146 North, turn RIGHT onto Rt. 16 East. From 146 South, turn LEFT onto Rt. 16 East.
* Continue to the traffic light in Uxbridge Center
* Turn LEFT at light onto Main Street/Route 122 North.
* Continue over a mile to the next traffic light at Hartford Ave.
* Turn RIGHT onto Hartford Avenue.
* Continue straight through 4-way stop intersection at Granite St.
* As you're coming down the next hill, take a sharp RIGHT turn onto Oak Street at the Medical Center.
* Continue less than 1/4 mile to River Bend Farm Visitor Center on your left.
To drop off a vehicle at the Blackstone Gorge
* Follow Route 122 south through Millville to Blackstone and look for the rust-collored signs on the right to the Blackstone Gorge.
* Turn right at County Street
Source: National Park Service, River Bend Farm to Blackstone Gorge Canoe Tour, small sheet, John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor

Canal Towpath

Introduction
The river twists and meanders past canal remnants through rural Uxbridge and the heart of Millville to the scenic Blackstone Gorge. Put-in is at the River Bend Visitor Center in the Blackstone River & Canal Heritage State Park in Uxbridge, MA. Paddle south down the canal and portage over to the River. Stanley Woolen Mill (1853) will be on river right.

Breached Dam Rapids
A few hundred feet down the river just past the Route 16 bridge are some rapids. Once through the rapids, the river will twist and turn for the next mile.

Trolley Bridge???
This trolley bridge over the Blackstone River was part of an elaborate electric railway system developed in the early 1900s to provide transportation around town and to many of the neighboring communities.

Mumford River
Two major tributaries join the Blackstone River within this segment. Approximately 1⁄4 mile downriver look for the confluence with the Mumford River on river right.

West River
A little further on the left is the confluence with the pristine West River. Take a minute to paddle up the West River and observe the striking line between the dark clear water of the West River and the water of the Blackstone. These tributaries of the Blackstone have maintained a better water quality that someday we will enjoy in the mainstem thanks to the efforts of several partners working to make the Blackstone fishable and swimmable.

Skull Rock Lock
After going under the Route 122 bridge look for several canal era artifacts on the river, including another set of locks (the Skull Rock Lock c.1826 area) and a section of the canal itself. Conditions are easy and scenic from here to the Town of Millville.
Skull Rock is located in South Uxbridge, MA at an attractive section of the Blackstone Canal connecting to Millville. The site contains stone canal walls and lock remnants west of Route 122 and the Blackstone River, as well as a bridge which was originally used for horse crossings and, therefore, has high interpretive value with opportunities for the Bikeway. The site has high cultural values of history, traditional land use, and scenic character.
Source: Natural Resources Inventory and Assessment, Listing of Valley Sites and Recommendations reports, February 1998, John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor
Skull Rock lock area includes portion of canal in pristine condition with gorgeous forest, stone locks, and foundation remnants of early grist mill.
Source: Heritage Landscape Inventory, Uxbridge Reconnaissance Report, June 2007, Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor, Quinebaug and Shetucket Rivers Valley National Heritage Corridor
The Skull Rock Area of the Blackstone Canal is comprised of a 0.5-mile segment of watered and dry canal trench and intact towpath berm in the vicinity of Old Millville Road in Uxbridge. The Area begins in the south at a bend in the Blackstone River off Old Millville Road where the Canal leaves the river and enters an engineered trench, and ends in the north near the crossing of Millville Road (Route 122).
The Skull Rock Area presents outstanding opportunities for interpretation of notable engineering features along the Canal such as the Skull Rock Lock and Skull Rock Bridge, as well as potential for restoration of the Skull Rock Lock. In addition, the watered segment of the Canal remaining in place at Skull Rock could be reopened to water flow for interpretive and recreational use.
Source: Blackstone Canal Preservation Study Executive Summary, Blackstone, Millville, Uxbridge, Northbridge, Grafton, Sutton, Millbury, and Worcester, Massachusetts, September 2005, Prepared for: Worcester Historical Museum, John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor Commission, Prepared by Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, Inc.

Blackstone River at River Road
Important access point for canoeists.
Source: Natural Resources Inventory and Assessment, Listing of Valley Sites and Recommendations reports, February 1998, John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor

Take Out
Either side of the island can be run in higher water, the left being more challenging Class II-III rapids and the right consisting of Class I-II rapids. It is advised that paddlers take out and scout the rapids which can vary in difficulty depending on the water levels. Paddlers can also portage around the rapids along the shore of the island. Portaging is best done by carrying along the left bank of the right channel and putting in at the end of the island below the rapids.
Put in on the upstream side of the Central Street bridge to paddle the rapids under the bridge. The river turns quickly to flatwater, caused by the dam at the takeout. Two interesting historic remnants can be seen from the river along this segment.

Portage Path

Class I-II Rapids

Class II-III Rapids

Mill Remnants
Just before the Central Street bridge in Millville is a 2+1/2 acre island that serves as a bridge support and divides the river. The island was the site of a succession of mills – a grist mill (1732), a sawmill (1753), and the first woolen mill (1814) in the Blackstone Valley, among others.

Mill Remnants
The remains of the Stone Mill (1825), which burned in 1874, is the most visible part of the factory complex which grew up on the west bank of the river.

Millville Lock
About 1/2 mile down from the rapids look carefully on river right for the Millville Lock (1828) at the end of Hope Street in Millville. For the best view of the lock, pull out on river right and walk the 10 yards from the river bank to the lock. This is the best preserved lock on the Blackstone Canal. This is one of four remaining locks along the Blackstone River. From 1828 to 1848 a series of 48 canal locks helped boats ascend and descend the elevation changes between Worcester and Providence.

Triad Bridge
Further on, the river passes under the Triad Bridge, where three railroad lines were to cross the river at the same point. The massive abutments for the never completed Grand Trunk Railway bridge tower above the river.

Stay River Right
Stay river right when the river divides above the Rolling Dam area. The river is flat and and wide for the remainder of this segment to the take out just above the Rolling Dam at the entrance to the Blackstone Gorge in Blackstone, MA. Take out is on river left just above the dam. Use caution when approaching the dam.

Rolling Dam

Overflow Parking

Blackstone Gorge to Millville Lock
Level . . . . . . Beginning
Start / End. . Blackstone Gorge / Blackstone, MA
River Miles . 3.5 miles round-trip
Description. Flatwater
Scenery. . . . Rural, Forested, Canal Lock
Portages . . . None
From Route 146 North:
* Take the Forestdale/Slatersville Rts. 5 & 102 exit.
* Turn RIGHT onto School Street and go a short distance to next stop.
* Turn RIGHT onto Great Road/146A.
From Route 146 South
* Take Forestdale/Slatersville/Routes 5 & 102 Exit.
* Turn LEFT onto Great Road/146A.
From Great Road/146A
* Go about 1/2 mile to traffic light.
* Turn LEFT at traffic light onto St. Paul Street.
* Continue about 1.5 miles and go under 2 railroad overpasses.
* Continue straight past Blackstone Town Offices on right to stop at traffic light intersection with Main Street.
* Turn LEFT onto Main Street.
* Continue about 1 mile to County Street on LEFT. (Rust Colored Corridor sign marks the turn for the Blackstone Gorge)
* Follow County Street several blocks to the parking area on the left just before the end of the street at the Rolling Dam Overlook area.
Source: National Park Service, Blackstone Gorge to Millville Lock Canoe Tour, John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor

Introduction
A glimpse of the Valley's transportation history.
Follow signs off of Route 122 in Blackstone to the Blackstone Gorge on County Street in Blackstone. The put-in is a short walk from the parking area to just above the Rolling Dam (1886). The Rolling Dam is large and backs up a lot of water into a millpond that was used to power the Blackstone Manufacturing Company (1904) and currently provides waterpower for hydroelectricity. The river is wide here and paddlers are more susceptible to dealing with wind as an element, pushing the canoe or making you work really hard to get to your destination. This trip is not advised in high water. Check the water level before planning this trip – if there is a lot of water spilling over Rolling Dam do not attempt to put-in and paddle up-river.

Rolling Dam
The Rolling Dam was built by Daniel Simmons in 1886 to power the B.M.C. mill. Simmons, a well known local engineer, also built the Saranac Dam at Market Square. Simmons worked for mill companies throughout New England, including the B.M.C.'s sister company, the Lonsdale Company, building dams, houses and other mill structures.

Triad Bridge
About one mile up river you pass under the "Triad Bridge" where three railroad lines were to cross at a point forming a three-tiered bridge.While the top most decking was never completed, two abutments tower above the river below.

Millville Lock
At about 1+1/2 miles (after the second P&W Railroad Bridge) look carefully on the left bank for the Millville Lock (1828) at the end of Hope Street. For the best view of the lock, pull out on river left and walk the 10 yards from the river bank to the lock. This is the best preserved lock on the Blackstone Canal.

Mill Remnants
You can continue to paddle up stream to Central Street in Millville, just below the rapids that flow on your right under the bridge. Just before the Central Street bridge is a 2 acre island that serves as a bridge support and divides the river. The island was the site of a succession of mills – a grist mill (1732), a sawmill (1753), and the first woolen mill (1814) in the Blackstone Valley, among others. The remains of the Stone Mill (1825), which burned in 1874, is the most visible part of the factory complex which grew up on the west bank of the river.

After exploring Millville, return to the Blackstone Gorge by paddling back downriver.

Rapids

Stay River Right
A short distance above the Rolling Dam stay river right. The left channel provides water to power the Tupperware hydro plant. The river is flat and wide back to the take-out just above Rolling Mill Dam at the entrance to the Blackstone Gorge at the end of County Street. Take out where you began on river left being cautious of the dam.

River Island Park to Manville Dam
Level . . . . . . Beginner
Start . . . . . . . River Island Park, Woonsocket, RI
End . . . . . . . . Manville Dam, Cumberland, RI
River Miles . 4.2 one way
Description. Flatwater, Class I-II rapids
Scenery. . . . Urban, Forested
Portages . . . None
* Take exit for Route 104 to Woonsocket. There are brown & white highway signs for the Museum of Work and Culture along 146 at this exit.
* Turn LEFT onto Route 104/Greenville Road, which turns into Providence Road as you enter Woonsocket.
* Go Straight through traffic light at intersection with Smithfield Road.
* Continue to the stop sign at the end of Providence Road.
* Turn RIGHT onto South Main Street.
* Continue straight through the first traffic light to the second light.
* Turn RIGHT at this light onto Bernon Street.
* Turn RIGHT into River Island Park before crossing bridge.
From River Island Park to Manville:
* Turn RIGHT out of lot onto Bernon Street
* Turn LEFT at first light to the end where there is a flashing light
* Turn RIGHT at flashing light onto Hamlet Street
* Follow Hamlet straight through one light to next traffic light
* At light, bear to the right (not the full right turn) to go on 126 South
* Go several miles on 126 to LEFT onto Railroad St, just before the large highway overpass.
* Continue to Light in Manville.
* Turn Left at light over bridge.
* Turn Left immediately over bridge into Manville Quarry
Source: National Park Service, River Island Park to Manville Dam Canoe Tour, small sheet, John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor

A trip past historic mills and wooded banks.
This is probably the most challenging of our beginner tours.
This segment travels through the heart of downtown Woonsocket in the first half, and then through forested city-owned land in the western part of the city. After putting in at River Island Park, go under the Bernon Street Bridge and you enter a section of the river lined with historic mills on both sides.

Thunder Mist Dam

Thunder Mist Hydro-Electric Plant

Market Square Extra Parking

River Island Park

Bernon Street Bridge

Pond/Narragansett Knitting Mill

Power Trench

Bernon Mills
On the right just after the bridge is the Bernon Mills complex. The oldest building in the complex, the 1827 stone mill in the center, is the earliest known example of slow-burning mill construction in America that used noncombustible walls, heavy timber posts and beams and double plank floors to resist burning if it caught fire.

Commission Offices

CAUTION! Rapids
Starting before the Court Street truss bridge (1895) is a stretch of about 1000 feet of Class I and II rapids, with plenty of rocks that require skillful maneuvering. The Blackstone River drops sharply through the City of Woonsocket and water levels play an important part in determining how to navigate this section of the river. The river moves quite swiftly through the first mile of this section of the river during high water. In high water, most of the ledges and the rocky river bottom is covered. Care is needed to avoid these obstacles. During low water, it is quite easy to get stuck on a rock or ledge. Read the river carefully to pick your way through this rock garden.

Providence & Worcester railroad bridge

Woonsocket Middle School

Mill River

Peters River

Hamlet Avenue Bridge

Fire Station
Once below the Fire Station high on river-left, the river gets lazy and takes its time getting to Manville. This is actually one of the sections of the river that is held back by a large dam creating a wide millpond effect.

Former Landfill
The next 3/4 mile section has been significantly altered over the years by the Army Corps of Engineers for flood control. After going under the Hamlet Avenue bridge, the river becomes broad and placid. The 2+1/2 mile stretch between Hamlet Avenue and Manville features mostly forested banks that are a strong contrast to the earlier urbanized part of this segment. A short distance below the bridge on river right you will see a long section of the riverbank that is the redevelopment of a former landfill into athletic fields and the Blackstone River Bikeway.

Water Treatment Plant
Another interruption of the natural setting is the large tanks of the Woonsocket drinking water treatment plant on the right bank about 2 miles down from the Hamlet Bridge.

Gravel Quarry

Wetland
Just before the Manville Dam (1868) is a large wetland on the left bank; it's a great place to spot waterfowl. Paddle into the wetland area and you will see the canoe ramp, just past the granite wall along the side the dam. The Manville Dam has an 18 foot drop, one of the highest on the river. This overlook area for Manville Dam is a good place for a picnic. It is being improved into Manville Landing –a small riverside park that will have docks and interpretive signs about the history of the area.

Manville Dam

Blackstone State Park to Pratt Dam
Start . . . . . . Ashton Dam / Lincoln
End . . . . . . . Lonsdale Village
River Miles Approx. 3 miles each way (6 mile loop)
Time . . . . . . 1 hour / 2 hour loop
Description Quickwater, Class I-II (in river); II Flatwater (in canal)
Scenery . . . Towns, mills, wetlands
Portages. . . One portage from River to Canal for loop; portage over Pratt Dam to continue downriver or take out
* Take the exit for Route 116 East (George Washington Highway).
* Continue to Traffic light.
* Turn RIGHT at Light onto Old River Road. Old River Road goes to the left immediately after making the turn at the light.
* Turn LEFT onto Cullen Hill Road.
* At the end of Cullen Hill Road, turn LEFT onto Lower River Road.
* Go SLOW this is a narrow road. Continue to the end and cross over the bridge on right.
Directions to Pratt Dam/Front Street, Lincoln
* Take exit for Breakneck Hill Road/Route 123. From 146 North, turn RIGHT onto 123. From 146 South, turn LEFT.
* Go East on 123, straight through intersections with Route 126.
* Turn LEFT into the Blackstone River Bikeway parking area marked with a blue RI DEM sign.
Source: National Park Service, Blackstone State Park to Pratt Dam Canoe Tour, small sheet, John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor

Blackstone River Bikeway

The heart of Rhode Island's Blackstone River State Park, with a choice between the river and canal or a river to canal trail "loop".
This section can be navigated either in the river or in the canal. Paddlers can also make this a water trail loop by paddling down the Blackstone River and back up the Blackstone Canal to the Kelly House Canal Museum.

Tour Path
To put-in the Blackstone River, carry up the road under the viaduct towards the dam where there is a portage trail to the right just past the pedestrian bridge or put-in just below the bikeway bridge behind the Blackstone River State Park's Kelly House Museum.
The river is relatively wide and smooth flowing with areas of quickwater through this section. Paddlers pass four mill villages – Ashton (1867), Berkeley (1871), Lonsdale Old Village (1834) and Lonsdale New Village (1860) that were built and owned by one company – the Lonsdale Company.

Ashton Dam

Portage

Bikeway Parking

Kelly House Transportation Museum
The Wilbur Kelly House Museum describes the evolution of transportation in the Blackstone River Valley, from primitive trails through the canal, the railroad and on to modern highways. This evolution in transportation was responsible for the spread of the American Industrial Revolution from the Slater Mill in Pawtucket, RI northwards throughout the Valley.

Ashton Mill

Ashton Meadow
Ashton Meadow in Lincoln, RI is one of a few remaining open meadows along the River. Located within the Blackstone River State Park, the Meadow is adjacent to the Kelly House, a historic resource owned, maintained and managed by the RI DEM. The site illustrates one of the traditional landscapes of the Valley – River, meadow, farmhouse, and floodplain forest – later transformed with the advent of mills and worker housing. A well-worn canal towpath, parallel to the River, passes along the site into the forest on either side of the House and Meadow.
Source: Natural Resources Inventory and Assessment, Recommendations, February 1998, John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor

Blackstone River State Park
Opened in January 2006 reflects the efforts and cooperation of several federal and state agencies and represents a true commitment to serve the public in a variety of ways. These agencies include the state departments of: Environmental Management, Transportation, State Police, Historical Preservation and the federal departments of: Federal Highway Administration and the John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor and the regional, Blackstone Valley Tourism Council.
Source: Web Site

Portage / Take out
Paddlers can portage around the Pratt Dam by taking out on River Right and walking up to the bikeway that runs along the top of the dam.
To continue downriver, turn to your left and carry your boat along the side of the bikeway downriver to the put-in at the steps that will be on your right.
To take out, turn right and follow the bikeway across the Pratt Dam to the Front Street Parking area for the Blackstone River Bikeway.
Return by the Blackstone Canal:
Take out on river right just above the Pratt Dam and portage over the dam on the bikeway to the Blackstone Canal. Cross the bikeway bridge and put in the Canal at the steps to head back up the Canal for a return trip to the Canal Museum.

CAUTION
Do not attempt to paddle through the stone arches of Pratt Dam. Paddling through the arches is not recommended for anyone.

Pratt Dam

Canal
Built between 1824 and 1828, the Blackstone Canal is a great place for beginning paddlers. If starting a trip here, carry up the road under the viaduct towards the dam, putting into the canal just past the pedestrian bridge.
After a long straight section, the canal widens and goes under the Martin Street bridge.
NOTE: Currently (2005-06), construction at the Martin Street Bridge does not allow paddlers access through the canal. Check on the status of the construction before planning your trip.
The Blackstone River Bikeway runs along the canal for most of its length - much of it was built along the original towpath. Take out at the steps to the right just before the pedestrian bridge near the Front Street parking area for the Blackstone River Bikeway or paddle back to the put-in.

Martin Street Bridge
NOTE: Currently (2005-06), construction at the Martin Street Bridge does not allow paddlers access through the canal. Check on the status of the construction before planning your trip.

Lonsdale
Mill

Lonsdale
Marsh
(Restored)

Lonsdale
Marsh
The 250+ acre Lonsdale Marshes is one of the largest wetland complexes in northern Rhode Island. Much of this area has been acquired by the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (RIDEM) because it maintains a diversity of wetland habitats, including emergent cattail marsh, which supports several state-listed rare nesting birds. Its size and quality also make the Lonsdale Marshes one of the most important migratory waterfowl areas in the Blackstone Valley. Its scenic qualities within a highly urbanized context also contribute to the site's high natural and cultural values. Its historic and traditional land use values are less significant, but the site possesses both local and regional significance.
Source: Natural Resources Inventory and Assessment, Recommendations, February 1998, John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor

Valley Falls to Pratt Dam Tour Area

Valley Falls to Pratt Dam
Level . . . . . . Beginner
Start / End. . Central Falls, RI
River Miles . Approx. 2 miles to Pratt Dam; 4miles roundtrip
Description. Flatwater
Scenery. . . . Marsh / Wetlands, Mills
Portages . . . None
From Route 295
* Take Exit 11 to Route 114.
* Follow Route 114 SOUTH to Valley Falls.
* Turn RIGHT onto Mill Street
* Turn RIGHT onto Broad Street.
* Just over the bridge take a RIGHT onto Madeira Avenue.
* Central Falls Landing is the first RIGHT turn.
From Route 95
* Take Exit 30 to East Street/Central Falls
* Follow signs along Roosevelt Avenue to Central Falls
* Turn RIGHT onto Charles Street.
* Turn RIGHT at Broad Street
* Proceed on Broad Street for approximately 1 mile
* Just before crossing over the bridge, turn LEFT onto Madeira Avenue.
Source: National Park Service, Valley Falls to Pratt Dam Canoe Tour, John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor

Explore Rhode Island's Largest Freshwater Marsh
Put-in at Central Falls Landing on Madeira Ave. off of Broad St. in Central Falls, RI. Paddlers can travel all the way up to Pratt Dam (approximately 2 miles) or explore several little coves of Lonsdale Marsh. Park at Central Falls Landing for put-in and take out.
In 1812 Isaac Wilkinson built the Valley Falls Turnpike from Pawtucket to Lonsdale to ship goods from the mill in Valley Falls to market. This was the earliest bridge to cross the Blackstone in the area and made Valley Falls an important transportation center.

Central Falls Landing

Heritage Park
Across the bridge in Cumberland is the Valley Falls Heritage Park, built amid the ruins of the Valley Falls Company Mill complex. For over one hundred years a massive mill operated here but was demolished in 1934. In 1991, the Town of Cumberland and the Heritage Corridor transformed the property into an historical park to tell the story of the Valley Falls Company.

Valley Falls Dam

Cadillac
Textile Mill
Just upriver from the Landing on river right is the Cadillac Textile Mill. This mill was in operation as a textile mill until 1985. Notice the saw-tooth design of the roof. They are fairly common in the Valley and are built oriented to the north. This provides a steady source of sunlight without glare, which is necessary for quality weaving.

Lonsdale Marsh
The Lonsdale Marsh is the largest fresh-water marsh in Rhode Island and was created by the flooding caused by the Valley Falls Dam. The marsh is an important stopping point for migrating birds on one of the great northeast flyways, and each spring several breeds of waterfowl use the marsh for their nesting grounds. You can paddle around the Marsh or head upriver.
The 250+ acre Lonsdale Marshes is one of the largest wetland complexes in northern Rhode Island. Much of this area has been acquired by the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (RIDEM) because it maintains a diversity of wetland habitats, including emergent cattail marsh, which supports several state-listed rare nesting birds. Its size and quality also make the Lonsdale Marshes one of the most important migratory waterfowl areas in the Blackstone Valley. Its scenic qualities within a highly urbanized context also contribute to the site's high natural and cultural values. Its historic and traditional land use values are less significant, but the site possesses both local and regional significance.
Source: Natural Resources Inventory and Assessment, Recommendations, February 1998, John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor

Bikeway Parking
The Lonsdale Drive-In sign locates access, just off of John Street.

Marsh
(Restored)
Once the Lonsdale Drive-In, a portion of the Lonsdale Marsh was recently restored through a partnership between state and federal agencies. The bikeway runs along the edge of the property, and the original Drive-In sign locates access, just off of John Street.

Mendon Road Bridge
If you continue paddling upriver you will pass under Mendon Rd. and eventually reach the Pratt Dam where the Blackstone River Bikeway crosses the River between Lincoln and Cumberland, RI.
Return to Central Falls Landing to explore more Valley Falls history.

Driving
Sources: National Park Service Walking & Driving Tours, John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor

Central Falls
To begin at the Mill District and from Route 95: Take the East Street/ Central Falls Exit (#30) and follow signs to Central Falls. You will enter the city on Roosevelt Avenue, at the northern end of the mill district.
From Slater Mill: Turn right onto Roosevelt Avenue. Proceed about 1/3 of a mile. Mill district begins at Central Falls Line.
Source: National Park Service, Central Falls Driving tour, June 1999, John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor

Tour Path
The story of the Blackstone Valley is best told through the mills and the people who came here to work in them. Nowhere is this more apparent than in Central Falls, which is the smallest and most densely populated city in the valley and was originally an industrial district of Smithfield and later a part of Lincoln. For almost two hundred years people have been coming from around the world to live and work in Central Falls. The succeeding waves of immigrants have gradually assimilated into the city, and each nationality has added to the vitality of Central Falls.
There were few immigrants during the early days of the industrial revolution. Most jobs were filled by local farm families who were tempted by the promise of a steady paycheck. The handful of immigrants who did come here in the early 1800s were usually skilled textile workers from England and Scotland, particularly weavers. The first wave of immigration began in the 1820s and 1830s when Irish laborers arrived. At first the Irish were not allowed to work in the mills, but instead were assigned construction jobs, such as digging the Blackstone Canal and building the railroads. By 1840, however, there were many Irish mill workers and the Irish community in Central Falls grew steadily for the rest of the century.
The next wave of immigration was brought about by several factors. Around the 1860s, the Blackstone Valley began to convert to steam power. Steam turbines could run larger mills and allowed for mills to be built away from the river, which was by then overcrowded.
At the same time, railroads provided the transportation needed for expansion. The spark for immigration, though, was the Civil War, which produced both a demand for textile products and a shortage of workers. To fill these vacancies, mill owners began to recruit French- Canadian workers from Quebec. Soon, the French- Canadians became the largest ethnic group in the region. This can be seen clearly in Central Falls where the population exploded from under 1500 in 1855 to 9,000 in 1870, and most of the new arrivals were from Quebec.
This vast influx of French-Canadians permanently changed the city and the entire region. Unlike earlier immigrants, the new arrivals did not speak English, and during the 1880s and 1890s French-speaking churches, newspapers, shops and schools were founded throughout the Blackstone Valley. The traditional French neighborhoods are in the northern part of Central Falls, around St. Matthew's and Notre Dame Catholic churches. The original Notre Dame church, built in 1875, was the first to be built by a French-Canadian parish in Rhode Island. In the 1920s, the pastor of Notre Dame, Reverend Joseph Beland, was a leader of the Sentinellist movement, which opposed the Irish Bishop of Providence whom they accused of trying to Anglicize French-Canadian youth by eliminating speaking French in parochial schools.
The boom years for the Central Falls textile mills lasted through the 1920s, and the population continued to grow reaching a stunning peak of 25,898 in 1930. New waves of immigrants kept coming to the city, and like the French and Irish before them, each settled their own neighborhood, establishing new churches and businesses. Polish immigrants began to arrive here around 1895 and "Polish Village" developed in the southeastern corner of the city. A major focal point of this neighborhood is St. Joseph's Church, built in 1919. Church festivals and other events, such as the celebration of General Pulaski's birthday, continue to keep the Polish community together, though many have now moved to neighboring towns.
In the early years of the 1900s, Syrian and Lebanese immigrants came to Central Falls. Many settled in the center of the city, particularly alongWashington Street where St. Ephraim's Church is located. The last immigrants to arrive during the boom years were the Portuguese, who came to the region beginning in 1917. The Portuguese neighborhood is centered in Valley Falls on both the Central Falls and Cumberland sides of the river. It continues to be a thriving community with several active clubs and popular festivals.
The depression and the decline of the textile industry slowed the immigration rates here to a trickle for many years. Gradually, though, the work force in the city grew older and by the 1970s the remaining mills faced a shortage of skilled textile weavers. Thus began the current wave of immigrants to Central Falls: the Hispanics. While many Spanish speaking nations are represented here, the majority come from four countries: Colombia, Puerto Rico, Guatemala and The Dominican Republic. Like those that preceded them, the Hispanic immigrants have come to Central Falls to find work and are leaving their mark upon the city. Today, about 40% of the population of Central Falls is Hispanic, and the strength of their community can be seen on the signs all over the city from churches to stores and restaurants all advertising in Spanish.
Like their predecessors, the Hispanic community faces some challenges in their new home. Where once the French-Canadians fought for speaking French in parochial schools, the debate today is over bilingual education in public schools. In the past twenty-five years, however, Hispanics have made many in-roads into the city and have become active members of Central Falls' melting pot community.
Though the population of Central Falls is declining, immigrants continue to make up a significant percentage of the city's residents, a trend that should continue as long as the mills here offer employment opportunities. We can only speculate from where the next wave of immigrants to Central Falls will come.
2.8 miles / 4.5 kilometers

1 Central Falls Mill District: Roosevelt Avenue
The six original mill privileges in the city were located along Roosevelt Avenue, just north of the Pawtucket line. Today, these mills remain active, a testament to the work ethic of the city. From south to north along Roosevelt Avenue are the Royal Weaving Mill (1897), the Pawtucket Hair Cloth Mill (1864), the Central Falls Woolen Mill (1870), the Pawtucket Thread Company (1825) and the Kennedy-Stafford Mill Complex (1825-1860's). Of particular interest here is the Hair Cloth Mill, located at the intersection with Cross Street, which is one of the finest examples of mill architecture in the region. Hair cloth was used to cover furniture as well as to make crinolines. Another highlight is the Pawtucket Thread Mill, a small rubble stone mill which is partially hidden inbetween the much larger brick Woolen Mill and Stafford Complex. The Cross Street Bridge offers a good view of the Central Falls Dam just to the north.
From Roosevelt Avenue turn left at light onto Charles Street. Proceed west four blocks, following one way signs, to the intersection with Broad Street. Turn left, Jenks Park and City Hall are one block down on the right.

2 Central Falls City Hall (1888)/ Jenks Park: Broad Street
This lovely Queen Anne style structure was built as the Lincoln High School in 1888. It became the Central Falls High School in 1895 and City Hall in 1927. It served as the corner stone of Central Falls' municipal center on Broad Street, along with the Fire Station (1889), the old Town Hall (1873), and the Police Station and Courthouse (1914). Adjacent to City Hall is Jenks Park, which was established in 1890 on four acres of land donated by Alvin Jenks. Besides serving as the "lungs" of the city, the park features several highlights, including the "iron umbrella" pavilions built by Fales and Jenks, a Central Falls Machine manufacturer. The centerpiece of the park though is the Cogswell Tower, which stands seventy feet high and has a clock face on each side. The tower is built upon Dexter's Ledge, the highest point in the city. You can see the entire city from the tower, as well as much of the valley from Providence to Woonsocket.
From City Hall continue south on Broad Street for 3 blocks. Turn right onto Cross Street into the South Central Falls Historic District. Turn right onto Evaleen Street and right again onto Central Street.

Adams Memorial Library

Lysander & Susan Flagg Museum

Benjamin F. Greene House

Central Street School

3 South Central Falls Historic District
Some of the finest and most interesting houses in the city are located in the South Central Falls Historic District, which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1991. Everything from Queen Anne mansions to triple-deckers can be seen here in the neighborhood that was home to both mill owners and mill workers. A detailed tour of the district, created by Historic Central Falls, is available at City Hall.
Turn right onto Dexter Street. Turn right onto Hunt Street then right onto High Street. Continue on High Street to Pierce Park which is on the left side.

4 Pierce's Fight Site And Riverwalk Park: High Street
A dramatic incident of the King Philip's War took place here on March 26, 1676. A force of about seventy English soldiers and twenty allied Indians under Captain Michael Pierce of Rehoboth were ambushed along the banks of the river by warriors of the Narragansett tribe. According to legend, nine of the white soldiers were captured and taken to what is now the Monastery in Cumberland, where they were tortured and killed. The site became known as the Nine Men's Misery. The trail along the river here is short, about 1/10 of a mile, and it connects a baseball field and a playground. There are some benches here, and the park provides a nice picnic spot along the river.

Riverwalk Park

Great Road, Lincoln
From Route 146: Take Route 123/Breakneck Hill Road Exit. Proceed east, down the hill to Great Road. At first light, take a right. The Meetinghouse is about 1/10 of a mile on the right.
Parking is available at the Arnold House, Chase Farm, and the Whitman House, as well as at the Butterfly Pond Conservation Area, which is across the street from the Butterfly Mill and just west of Hearthside.
Free Open House Tours on Great Road on Saturdays. Blacksmithing demonstrations at the Hannaway Blacksmith Shop offered every Saturday April through November from 9AM to Noon. Other properties open Saturdays on a rotating schedule from 1PM – 4PM. 1st Saturday of month – Valentine Whitman House. 2nd Saturday – Hearthside. 3rd Saturday – Friends Meeting House. 4th Saturday – Eleazer Arnold House. For more on Great Road events please see the Hearthside web site or call (401) 726-0597.
Sites #2 through #5 are marked with purple Heritage Corridor signs.
Source: National Park Service, Great Road Driving tour, May 1998, John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor

There are many fascinating historic sites throughout Lincoln, but the jewel of the town's heritage is the Great Road Historic District that shows the evolution of Lincoln from a handful of frontier homesteads, to the beginnings of the Industrial Revolution, to today. Great Road contains not only the two oldest houses in Lincoln, but also a quarry village, a sample of the town's agricultural origins, and a variety of industries along the Moshassuck River.
Great Road is one of the earliest roads built in America. Construction began sometime in the 1660s and was completed in 1683, but the road's history goes back even further as many sections followed ancient Native American trails. Great Road began in Providence and ran north into Lincoln before continuing up into Mendon, Massachusetts, the first English settlement in south-central Massachusetts. By 1737, the road had been extended to connect with the new county seat at Worcester, Massachusetts. The Great Road allowed the settlers of the Blackstone Valley to send their farm goods and other products, such as lumber and iron, to the port of Providence.
Great Road served as the major transportation link through the Blackstone Valley until the early 1800s, when the Louisquisset Pike (1806) and the Blackstone Canal (1828) absorbed much of the road's traffic. In the late 1600s, many of Lincoln's earliest residents settled along the road. In the 1700s, several taverns opened to serve the stagecoaches that traveled on Great Road. Lime haulers from the local quarries used it to get to Providence. Between 1800 and 1820, several small mills opened along Great Road, but the limited power of the Moshassuck River hindered the development of the larger mill villages that thrived on the Blackstone River. The only village to develop along Great Road in Lincoln was Lime Rock, centered around the limestone quarries that supplied the village its name.
Even into this century, Great Road served as a key route on the western side of the Blackstone River. In 1926, as cars and trucks replaced wagons and stagecoaches, Great Road was widened and paved with gravel and tar, but even this could not eliminate the charm of this well-worn trail. Modern highways have now replaced Great Road as the Blackstone Valley's main thoroughfare, but have in no way diminished its natural beauty and historical significance.
Total distance of the tour is 3.25 miles. Driving Tour time is about one hour.
3.3 miles / 5.2 kilometers

1 Friends Meetinghouse (1704/1745) 374 Great Road
The one-room meetinghouse built in 1704 became the center of the Quaker community for northern Rhode Island. The meetinghouse was expanded in the 1740s to its current size. As the Quaker community in the Blackstone Valley grew, a chain of meetinghouses were established along Great Road, several of which, including this one, are still active. The adjacent cemetery contains the graves of many of the meetinghouse's members over the past three centuries, including Stephen H. Smith, whose home you will soon see.
Continue north to the traffic light and park in the dirt lot across the intersection.

2 Eleazer Arnold House (c. 1693)
The oldest home in town is also the finest example of a "stone-ender" in the state. Its most distinctive feature is the great stone-end chimney which makes up the western wall of the house. Eleazer and his wife, Eleanor, had ten children, many of whom also built homes in the Lincoln area. The Arnold family was so prominent that this part of Lincoln was sometimes called "Arnoldia." The house remained in the Arnold family until 1918.
Behind the Arnold House is the Croade Tavern, built c. 1700. It is the last remaining structure from the original Jenks Settlement in Pawtucket, RI and was moved here in 1918.
Proceed west 3/10 of a mile to the Moffett Mill.

3 Moffett Mill (c. 1812)
This small wooden mill, believed to have been built by George Olney, was used as one of the first machine shops in Rhode Island. It is a rare example of a wooden mill built during the first wave of industrialization in the Blackstone Valley (1790- 1820). In 1850, Arnold Moffett purchased the mill and built the stone dam that still stands. Besides housing a machine shop, the mill also produced shoelaces, wagons, and wagon wheels.
Continue along Great Road for about 2/10 of a mile. Parking for Chase Farm is available just past the farm house, near the blacksmith shop.

4 Chase Farm/Hannaway Blacksmith Shop (1870-1895)
On January 26, 1867, Benjamin E. Chase and his wife Alzada purchased this 118 acre farm for $10,000. The Chase family ran a dairy farm and milk delivery service until 1965, making this one of the last working farms in Lincoln. The farm remained in the Chase family until the widow of their grandson, also named Benjamin, sold it to the Town of Lincoln in May 1979. Currently the farm is being preserved as a reminder of Lincoln's agricultural heritage.
Adjacent to the Chase Farm is the Hannaway Blacksmith Shop. Originally located across from Hearthside, this shop was built as a carriage house between 1870 and 1895. In 1901, William Hannaway purchased the building and moved his business into it. Hannaway's smithy was successful until the proliferation of the automobile forced him to close his shop in the 1920s.

One of the finest Federal-style houses in Rhode Island is Stephen H. Smith's Hearthside. According to legend, Smith was engaged to a woman who wanted to live in the grandest home in the state. While Smith came from a prominent family, he did not have the funds to build such a mansion. Then, fortune smiled upon him and he won $50,000 in the Louisiana lottery. He secretly used his winnings to construct this mansion for his beloved. Despite this grand gesture, however, his fiancé refused to marry him. Some say she did not like the house and did not want to live so far into the wilderness. Others say it was because he spent all of his money building the house. Whatever the reason, the heartbroken Smith never married and lived here with his brother and his family.
While unlucky at love, Smith was successful in other aspects of his life. He built and managed the Butterfly Mill across the street from his home. He was also a commissioner of the Blackstone Canal and played a key role in planning the canal's route and purchasing the land. The Town of Lincoln now owns Hearthside and it is operated by the Friends of Hearthside.

6 Butterfly Mill (1811-1813)
One of Rhode Island's earliest stone textile mills, it was built by Stephen H. Smith between 1811-1813 and named after a pair of stones in the wall that resembled a butterfly. In later years it served as a textile print works, a tannery and a machine shop. Besides the butterfly, the mill also gained fame from its bell, which was cast in Amsterdam during the 1500s. It served on board the H.M.S. Guerriere which was captured by the U.S.S. Constitution in the War of 1812. Smith purchased it for his mill shortly afterwards. In 1950, the roof collapsed and what had been a two story mill was renovated as a single story dwelling. The famous butterfly can now be seen in the chimney. It is currently a private residence.
Follow Great Road to the right for about 2 miles. About 1/10 of a mile past Central Elementary School is the Mowry Tavern on the left, next to the horse farm.

The location of the Mowry Tavern along the Great Road made it a popular rest stop for travelers, especially after it became a horse-changing stop for stage coaches that ran between Providence, Woonsocket, and Worcester. The Mowry Tavern, and others along Great Road, continued to serve travelers until the Providence & Worcester Railroad opened in the 1840s eliminating the need for stage coach service. The tavern was then used as a farm house and is today a private residence.
The Mt. Moriah Lodge is the brick building across the street, at the intersection of Anna Sayles Road.

8 Mt. Moriah Lodge #8 (c. 1800/1804) 1093 Great Road
The first structure on this site was a one-room schoolhouse, built c. 1800. In 1804, 23 local Masons received permission to establish a new Lodge. They expanded the building to its present size, meeting on the second story while the first floor continued to be used as a school until 1870. The Masons then took title to the entire building. The Lodge still holds its meetings here.
Follow Great Road to the intersection with Wilbur Road, take the right fork and continue northwards for about 4/10 of a mile.

9 Valentine Whitman Jr. House (c.1694)
The Valentine Whitman, Jr. House is another wonderful example of a stoneender. The Whitman family was one of the first to settle in Lincoln, but Valentine Whitman, Sr.'s original homestead was burned by Native Americans during King Philip's War. It is believed that Whitman, Sr. built this house in about 1694 and gave it to his son as a wedding gift. The first town meeting of the new Town of Smithfield was held here in 1731.The Whitman family lived here until the mid 1700s when it transferred to the Wilbur family. Then, throughout the 1800s and 1900s, it served as the home for the Whalen family. The Town of Lincoln now owns the Whitman House, and it is open one Saturday per month.

Lime Kiln at Lime Rock
In the mid-1660s, Gregory Dexter began quarrying limestone in the center of Lincoln. The lime had several uses, such as for the tanning and bleaching processes and for making mortar. Before the end of the century, Thomas Harris opened a second quarry nearby and the village of Lime Rock grew around the two mines. The two quarries merged in the late 1800s and continue in operation today under their corporate descendent, the Conklin Limestone Company, which is the oldest company in America in continuous operation. This lime kiln from the mid 1800s is located along the Louisquisset Turnpike just northwest of the active quarry.
More kilns on Sherman and Dexter Rock Rds.

Worcester
From I-290 through Worcester, Eastbound, take Exit 17, turn left on Belmont Street; Westbound, take Exit 18, then Concord Street – both exits indicate Route 9 West. At traffic lights, bear onto Lincoln Street, following signs pointing to Route 9 West and Salisbury Street. Continue straight through traffic lights to Institute Park, on the right-hand side. (The campus of Worcester Polytechnic Institute is on the left.) To begin, turn right on Humboldt Avenue. The tour starts at the intersection of Humbolt Avenue and Salisbury Street.
>Source: National Park Service, Worcester Driving tour, September 2003, John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor

Becoming a shire town in colonial times put Worcester on the map, but the opening of the Blackstone Canal in 1828 set off the boom that made it a major industrial city. The Blackstone Canal Company, chartered in 1822, based its venture on three key factors: water, wealth, and marketplaces. The 3,000 residents in pre-canal Worcester were landlocked, the setting a mere speck on the landscape by comparison to the grand seaport at Boston, but the spark of an "All-America City" was already glowingly evident.
WATER
It's one thing to propose the building of a navigable 45-mile waterway connecting landlocked Worcester at 450 feet above sea-level to the seaport of Providence, RI, at Narragansett Bay, but it's another thing altogether to figure out where to get enough water to fill such a big ditch. Around Worcester there were plenty of water resources. The watershed formed by the hills surrounding Worcester, plus natural springs, filled several large ponds. The canal's engineers were confident that the water supply would be enough for industry transportation, houses and farms.
WEALTH
Next, the Canal Company found ample financing for the deal. On May 7, 1825, more than two dozen Worcester businessmen, doctors and attorneys – residents of a place modestly described as a "sleepy rural hamlet" – bought up $100,000 worth of canal stock in a matter of hours. Eventually local investors bought about 1/3 of the canal's $750,000 initial construction fund. The boom of commerce and prosperity that followed the canal's construction made Providence and Worcester the second and third largest cities in New England.
MARKETPLACE
Originally on a Nipmuck trail, by 1700 Worcester was a crossroads on the Bay Path between Hartford and Boston. In 1731, less than two decades after its permanent settlement, Worcester was chosen as the county seat because of its central location. Even people who had no transactions at the court house came into the shire town during court week for trading, for entertainment and to hear the latest news. Worcester's small but hardworking manufacturers and fertile farms were eager to reach new customers for their products and produce via affordable means.
Pumping up Worcester's prestige, the waterway gave the city its first port to the sea, its first low-cost means of transporting materials and manufactured goods to and from markets worldwide, and its first glimpse into the faces of its future generations with the arrival of immigrant workers. However, the canal's moment of glory was brief. By 1835 competition from the railroads shrank the cargo shipped by canal barges and swelled the company's losses. Ironically, in 1848, as Worcester reincorporated as a city, the canal venture was deemed a financial failure and soon dissolved.
The ponds, brooks and streams that were dammed and channeled to fill the Blackstone Canal and power Worcester's mills, met the Middle River at Quinsigamond Village – becoming the Blackstone River. Every time a boat passed through one of the 48 stone locks on the canal, more than forty thousand gallons of water flowed with it.
Along this two and a half-mile route through downtown Worcester are some surprising bits of evidence that tell the story of how Worcester was changed by the Blackstone Canal during the 1830s and 40s.
The driving tour begins at the corner of Salisbury Street and Humboldt Avenue.
Canal stories on wayside exhibits at tour stops marked (i)
2.74 miles / 4.41 kilometers

1 Mill Brook at Institute Pond
(0.0 mi) Thousands of workers poured out of the nearby factories on their noon hour break gathered here, seeking "refreshment and cheer" as Stephen Salisbury III, the city's most generous benefactor, proposed it should.
A larger version of this manmade pond provided water power for mills along Mill Brook, including the Washburn & Moen wireworks in the 1830s. At times of drought or during a winter freeze, the flow of water was barely enough for the mills to operate. Yet the canal company planned to use these same water sources. As the company sought rights to water sources around the town, it also had to guarantee existing mills their fair share. The mills and the canal company depended on each other, but their relationship was wrought with costly lawsuits, endless negotiations and complicated contracts over control of the water.
Mostly unseen and entirely channeled as it flows southward through the city, Mill Brook becomes the Blackstone River at Quinsigamond Village.
Turn right on Humboldt Avenue. Turn right on Lancaster Street. There is free parking for the North Works shops and restaurants directly in front of the mill. (i)

2 North Works
(0.1 mi) The North Works wire mill is the typical scene of enterprising Worcester hard at work. Along the front foundations, you can see Mill Brook entering through sluiceways and gates. The marriage of water and mills did not end until the 1850s, when steam engines made it possible for factories to set up shop using less water while generating "power to let."
The metals industry used Mill Brook and other waterways as handy catchalls for waste for over a century, causing some of the long-term contamination of river sediments as the water flows on its way south into Rhode Island's Narragansett Bay.
Continue on Lancaster Street through two lights. After Institute Road, turn left into driveway of the municipal parking lot. There are a few free parking spaces reserved for visitors touring Salisbury Mansion. (i)
There are thirteen historic mill buildings on the 23-acre North Works complex in various stages of rehabilitation and reuse since manufacturing ended here in 1943. Washburn & Moenl, the company that "barbed-wire fenced the American West," became the largest industrial enterprise in Worcester in the 1800s. At the close of that century, it merged as American Steel & Wire, then in 1901, U. S. Steel.

3 Salisbury Mansion, 1772
(0.4 mi) 40 Highland Street, moved from Lincoln Square in 1929. Twenty-one year old Stephen Salisbury opened a Worcester branch of his brother Samuel's Boston dry goods store in 1767. After the venture proved itself, the brothers built this handsome building and the store filled two-thirds of it. When it stood on nearby Lincoln Square, Mill Brook babbled alongside.
When the Blackstone Canal Company sought Worcester investors, cash resources flowed like water. Stephen Salisbury (1746 - 1829) bought 40 shares of stock. His only child and heir, Stephen II (1798 - 1884), invested more money. Already regarded as a shrewd businessman, Stephen II was elected an officer of the canal corporation in his 30s.
Exit at Lancaster Street. Turn left on Highland Street. At the first light, turn right onto Main Street.
The Gilbert Stuart portraits at Salisbury Mansion of Samuel and Stephen, and Stephen's wife Elizabeth Tuckerman, were meant to document status as well as capture likeness. Because Stuart (1755-1828) painted many distinguished individuals, including U.S. presidents and British royalty, the paintings tell us much about the confidence of Worcester's elite regarding their position in genteel society in the early 1800s.
The painstakingly researched interiors show the lifestyle of a wealthy family in the 1830s – the heyday of the Blackstone Canal. Elizabeth and Stephen Salisbury remade the vacated store space into two formal parlors, decorated with the finest furnishing, carpets and wallpaper money could buy.

4 Main Street
(0.6 mi) During its twenty-year run, the Blackstone Canal was like a second main street. Even before the canal era, Worcester had a lively Main Street. The 1829 Village Directory listed 4 printers, 16 taverns, and 27 stores. Along or near the tree-lined boulevard, there were 7 blacksmith shops, 6 machine shops, more than dozen carpenters and masons, plus tinsmiths, rope makers, brick makers, paper makers, coach and harness makers, clock and gun makers, and distillers.
At 2 Main Street, stood the 1802 neo-classical-style county court house designed by famed Boston architect Charles Bulfinch.
After the fifth light, turn left on Foster Street. At the second light, turn left on Worcester Center Boulevard. Continue to third light at Thomas Street. (i)

Mechanics Hall
321 Main Street is Mechanics Hall, an Italian Renaissance revival-style performance hall built in 1855 and restored in 1975. It is open for visitors.
http://www.mechanicshall.org/

5 Thomas Street
(1.5 mi) The Site of the Canal Basin The formerly landlocked village officially became a port at this spot on Tuesday, October 7, 1828, when the packet barge the Lady Carrington tied up her bowlines to the snubbing posts at the basin. The exciting two-day voyage from Providence, ended with the peals of bells and cannon fire. The newspaper debuted a column called the Marine News, trumpeting the cargo arriving in the Port of Worcester.
Canal barges moved during daylight hours only. Traffic leaving this northernmost terminus at dawn spent at least half the morning slowly dropping down, one at a time, through Worcester's five locks. Between locks, the 30-ton barges were pulled southwards by a team of hardworking horses, led by a man or boy walking the 10-foot wide towpath. The boats entered the somewhat swifter current of the Blackstone River where its course naturally swelled and deepened more than five miles from here. In all, the river drops 438 feet on its 45-mile run to Providence.
Turn right on Thomas Street, turn right on Summer Street. Continue straight through second light into Washington Square. Continue towards Union Station, on Grafton Street. (i)

6 Union Station 1910 Reopened 1999
(2.0 mi) Summer Street parallels the first leg of the canal trench as it left the city. To read the cityscape and "see" its route through Washington Square, look for the railroad tracks of the Providence and Worcester line. Lock, number 49, was about where the stone supports for the railroad are today. Since there were usually several boats in a "lay-by" near the locks waiting for their turn to be raised or lowered, basins were natural gathering places, typically with a locktender's house, loading docks, stores, repair shops, taverns and inns.
Before the red ink had a chance to dry on the canal company's debts, stock-rich railroad men bought up the assets. In a pattern repeated elsewhere, the next chapter of the story is the filling-in of canals to lay rails.
On Grafton Street, immediately after the corner of the Union Station building, turn right on Franklin Street. Turn left on Harding Street. (i)
Follow the blue-stenciled canal boats painted on the pavement: they indicate the former canal route. Continue into Kelley Square.

Lock, number 49 ???

7 Harding Street to Kelley Square
(2.2 to 2.6 mi) Why was the waterway dug here?
Remember Mill Brook? The water flowing through Institute Park and the North Works eventually forked when the stream ran its natural course. One leg swept farther west. In order to meet the Blackstone River on the shortest possible route, it made sense to dig the channel along the easterly flow of Mill Brook in a more direct line through here.
Irish-born Tobias Boland, the canal contractor in Worcester, bought the floodplain between the two forks. As a veteran of the Erie Canal project, he knew it would be transformed into prime real estate as soon as the swamp-water was drained into the new artificial waterway.
In the 1830s, Boland built four-family tenements on the land between the trench and the river. He was landlord to mostly Irish immigrants, who he had brought to Worcester years earlier to dig ditches and build dams. Worcester prospered as a result of the canalers backbreaking effort, and thousands more Irish-Catholics and their families found permanent homes and jobs in what had been until the mid-19th century, a predominately Protestant town.
Look around and you will see the kind of diversity that makes any city interesting. The neighborhood known as Green Island and Harding Street are the nucleus of the Blackstone Canal historic district.
When the Blackstone Canal Company folded, parts of the abandoned trench deteriorated into rank open sewers. During the 1890s, they were sensibly integrated into Worcester's underground waste water system. Dressed granite blocks from the 13-foot walls of the 82-foot long locks were sold and carted away to become parts of new buildings. During deep excavations, the city's highway department even now sometimes uncovers the canal.

Kelley Square

Walking
Sources: National Park Service Walking & Driving Tours, John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor

Arnold Mills
From Route 295: Take Exit 11 to Route 114 North (Diamond Hill Road). Follow Diamond Hill north for about 3 miles until you come to a light at Route 120 (Nate Whipple Higiway). Turn right onto Rt. 120 and follow for about 1 mile. Turn left onto Sneech Pond Road.
[I found no suitable parking on Sneech Pond Road]
Source: National Park Service, Arnold Mills Walking tour, June 2001, John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor

From the highway, you might catch a glimpse of Arnold Mills-a cluster of historic buildings, a church, a bridge. Arnold Mills today is a small village in the Town of Cumberland, but it tells the larger story of early industry in America. A closer look will help you see how industrialization and other forces shaped Arnold Mills. This guide will help you explore the Arnold Mills of today-and envision the village as it was in the past.
Arnold Mills began in the 1700s, when small, water-powered mills located here provided essential services-such as sawing wood, grinding grain, and working metal-for the farmers scattered throughout the area. The village became an attractive community center, with a school, meeting houses, and businesses that served local families. During its early days, the small-scale production of Arnold Mills was typical of American industry. But it also included a blast furnace, which was a major industrial operation for this period.
Arnold Mills weathered the industrial revolution of the early 1800s with a relatively smooth transition. Throughout America, people were making a fundamental shift from selling their work on the farm to selling their time in the factory. The village remained small, since it lacked the waterpower to support a major factory. However, a new industrial operation-a machine shop-let the village benefit from the new industrial economy. While some residents left seeking greater opportunities in more thriving towns, many stayed. Today, some local residents are descended from area pioneers-the Metcalf, Arnold, Razee, Whipple, and Walcott families.
The village character of Arnold Mills is exemplified by the buildings that remain-the Methodist Church, the Grange Hall, the elegant houses along Sneech Pond Road-and by the tight-knit community of people who live and work here today.
[This is the Pentimento shops parking lot. The shop (a restored grain storage shed from the mill) was closed on the day I visited so I did not park here or see the gristmill foundation and dam (Site #1). I parked by the Methodist Church (Site #5)]

1 Amos Arnold's Mill
Your tour begins where Arnold Mills began. From the 1740s, the farmers of the village relied on the sawmill and gristmill located near this site. The gristmill, erected in 1745 by Amos Arnold, gives the village its name. It provided key services to local farmers, who raised corn, rye, and other crops. Largely self-sufficient, these hardy farmers provided for their families and sold surplus timber and produce at local markets. They brought their grain here to be ground into flour between massive millstones, their timber to be cut into usable lumber.
Today, only a grain storage shed, now restored, remains from the old Arnold Mills [the Pentimento shop]. Behind the storage shed, you can see the stone foundation of the gristmill (c.1745-1962). The sawmill (c.1734-1862) was located on the west end of the dam across the river. The millrace-the fast moving stream that powered the mill-now runs under the parking lot to the site of the machine shop.
[This is private property, the Pentimento shop]

2 Metcalf Machine Shop Ruins
Across the street from the remains of Arnold's gristmill you can see where Joseph and Ebenezer Metcalf founded a small machine shop in 1825. Taking advantage of water power, the factory produced textile machines used at factories in other towns-Arnold Mills' participation in the Industrial Revolution. The machine shop housed a number of businesses after 1870, including a gristmill, a blacksmith shop, and a wagon repair shop. It was destroyed by fire in 1987, but you can still see some remnants of the waterpower system-including the turbine, wheel pit, and tailrace.

Posted No Trespassing

3 Abbott Run Bridge
You cross the Abbott Run on a steel bridge with Victorian details that replaced a 19th-century wooden structure shown on the cover of this guide. The Abbott Run powered many mills and factories in the region, including an iron furnace called Furnace Carolina (c. 1735), in honor of the wife of England's King George II. Plentiful iron ore was the original attraction of the region in the Colonial era, drawing families such as the Metcalfs, whose descendants would later build the machine shop. Local lore has it that cannon were cast here for use during the French and Indian Wars.
[Bridge Closed to Motor Vehicles]

4 Sneech Pond Road
Sneech Pond Road was Arnold Mills' Main Street, where the heart of the village's residential area lives on in an intact section of houses built by prominent area settlers. The Colonial-era Amos Arnold house (c. 1750) survives in fine shape, as do a handful of 19th century houses. Houses here are situated at varied distances from the gently curving road-rather than an organized pattern like today's housing developments.
Faster, more direct transportation arrived with the Nate Whipple Highway in 1963-named in honor of Nathan W. Whipple, Jr. a popular resident of Arnold Mills, its first fire chief, and one of the last operators of the grain mill. But this road also changed the character of the village significantly by separating the village into two parts.
The Doric columns along the facade of the Dr. Addison Knight house (c. 1844-46) exemplify the Greek Revival style—and the idealism and belief in democratic ideals popular in the new National.

5 Methodist Church
Settlers drawn to Arnold Mills came from many religious and ethnic backgrounds, seen in the many types of churches and cemeteries in the area. Dedicated on February 17, 1827, the elegant, white church before you is the second oldest Methodist church in Rhode Island and the oldest in northern Rhode Island. The congregation traces its origins back to meetings held in the 1790s.
The village's churches and the nearby Cumberland Grange #2 were the centers of social life in 19th-century Arnold Mills. Then, as today, these organizations supported a wide range of projects and events. Perhaps the most well-known is the Arnold Mills Parade (or Parade of Horribles), originally sponsored by the Methodist Church's Reverend Horatio H. Crawford in 1927. The Arnold Mills Parade Association took over the parade in 1964 and also sponsors a four-mile road race.

6 Arnold Mills Schoolhouse
Literacy in New England was almost universal at the time of the American Revolution. But by 1900, more than half of the school-age children in nearby mill towns were illiterate or barely literate, especially in mill communities where child labor was widespread. While the New England tradition of public education was threatened in some milltowns, Arnold Mills was known for educating its children.
Current residents remember attending classes in this one-room schoolhouse (c. 1850s), heated by a pot-bellied stove. In spring, the sound of ringing anvils from the nearby blacksmith shop drifted through the open windows of the schoolhouse. That the church, schoolhouse, and blacksmith shop were all within shouting distance attests to the small scale of Arnold Mills. To preserve the school, local residents relocated it across the Nate Whipple Highway in 1964.
Just down the road from the schoolhouse is the rest of the original village, including the Friends Meeting House (c. 1810) , and the Cumberland Grange No. 2 (c. 1895), the first grange organized in northern Rhode Island.

The Monastery
A popular recreation area in town is the old Monastery on Rt. 114. Cistercian Monks lived here from 1900 until 1951 when a fire damaged much of their complex. The town library is in one of the remaining buildings, and the grounds contain an attractive walking trail. Along the trail is the Nine Men's Misery Monument, where nine colonial soldiers were executed by Native American warriors during the King Philip's War.
Cumberland Public Library-Monastery History
Wikipedia
Joseph Bucklin Society-Nine Men's Misery
Site of Nine Men's Misery, where nine English soldiers from Pierce's Fight, a battle in 1676 during the King Philip's War, were taken and tortured to death by Narragansett warriors. Source
Along with having a rich history, the monastery site is rumored to be haunted. A monk's ghost is said to wander the library, moving books. A phantom horse rider is said to "come upon you out of nowhere" in the nearby woods. The ghost of a child has also reportedly been seen running near the swamp area and through the back trails. Source

Blackstone
From Route 146 A: Proceed to intersection with St. Paul Street (at light next to North Smithfield Volunteer Fire Department). Drive east on St. Paul Street for about 1.5 miles. Blackstone Municipal Center is on right. From Woonsocket: Take Route 122 North across state line into Blackstone. At first light, take a left onto St. Paul Street. The Municipal Center is on left.
Source: National Park Service, Blackstone Walking tour, September 2005, John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor

The town of Blackstone serves as the Blackstone Valley's crossroads between Massachusetts and Rhode Island, and shows how the spirit of the valley extends across political boundaries. Blackstone's ties to its sister towns in Massachusetts have existed for over three centuries. Blackstone was originally part of the Town of Mendon. The first colonial settlers did not arrive here until after 1700, but by 1766 the population increase led to the creation of the new South Parish of Mendon, which included modern Blackstone and Millville. The South Parish was a farming community at that time, but a number of small grist and saw mills and an iron forge operated along the Mill River.
Textile production began here in 1809, when the Blackstone Manufacturing Company (B.M.C.) opened a cotton spinning mill and built the village of Blackstone. The same year the first in a series of small mills opened at East Blackstone along the Mill River. A third manufacturing district was established at Waterford by Welcome Farnum in 1825. The growth of these mill villages led to the incorporation of the South Parish into the Town of Blackstone in 1845.
Blackstone's first important tie to Rhode Island came from the Providence investors who owned the B.M.C., but new transportation systems led to further links. In 1828, the Blackstone Canal connected Blackstone with the rest of the valley, and made the town an important transportation center. In 1847, the Providence & Worcester (P&W) became the first railway in town, replacing the canal. Two years later, Welcome Farnum campaigned to have the Norfolk County Railroad, which led to Boston, connect to the P&W in Blackstone instead of Woonsocket. Eventually, three railroads and a system of streetcar lines served Blackstone.
Today, the mills and the rail station are gone, but Blackstone continues to act as a junction between Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Many residents of Blackstone work in Woonsocket, as has been the case for over a century. The most recent example of bistate cooperation was the creation of Blackstone Gorge State Park in 1991. The park is jointly maintained by Rhode Island and Massachusetts, and is one of the best examples of the cooperation which has been integral to the success of the Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor.
This tour covers 1.3 miles and takes about an hour to walk. All of the buildings are private residences unless otherwise noted.

1 Blackstone Municipal Center
The Blackstone Municipal Center was built in 1978. In 1825 Welcome and Darius D. Farnum built their Red Mill in the field behind the Municipal Center. By 1835, the Farnums had three mills in operation, and Waterford Village was thriving. The Red Mill was destroyed by fire in 1877.
While facing the Municipal Center, turn right and proceed along St. Paul Street.

2 Mill Houses on St. Paul Street
Most of the houses here were constructed c. 1840. Just before the turn onto Canal Street, you will be walking over a stone arch bridge built across the Blackstone Canal c. 1851 by Daniel Simmons, a Blackstone architect who was renown throughout the valley for his bridges and dams.
In front of you are two railroad bridges. The nearest one was built in 1901 for the Norfolk County Railroad, while the other was built in 1913 for the Providence & Worcester. The railways were elevated to avoid grade crossings with the streets.
Turn right onto Canal Street.

3 Canal Street
This section of Canal Street was built on top of the old Blackstone Canal towpath. The canal is to your right. The canal opened in 1828 helping both Waterford and Blackstone grow by providing a cheap source of transportation. Welcome Farnum, who was on the canal's board of directors, made sure that it passed through Waterford, as opposed to the opposite bank of the river as originally planned. After the canal closed, Farnum used this section as a power trench for his mills.

4 Waterford Depot
To your left are the embankments that elevated the railroad tracks above street level. The Waterford Depot was located on top of this embankment, where the two lines intersected. From this point it was possible to get a train to Providence, Worcester, Boston or New York. This intersection made Waterford one of the valley's most important rail links.

5 Saranac Dam
While crossing the bridge you can see the Blackstone River and the Saranac Dam below. The dam was built by Daniel Simmons in 1856 to power the Waterford Mills. The canal and the river intersected at this point, and there was a small bridge used by the horses that towed the barges to cross the river here.

6 Monument Square
Monument Square, built just after Blackstone became a town in 1845, was the town's first true center and commercial district. This area was originally known as Central Village, but was renamed in 1913 when the Civil War Monument was erected. The first structure here was the Blackstone Block, built by Welcome Farnum in 1849 to house a bank, post office and other businesses. During the late 1800s the town offices and county courthouse were located here as well. On the eastern end of the square is the Union Hotel, which opened in 1853 to serve travelers who came to Blackstone on the railroad. The third building on the square is the McMullen Block, which was built c. 1854 to house more offices and stores.
Of the 720 men from Blackstone who served during the Civil War , 46 were killed.

7 Canal Street West of Monument Square / Tupper Park
This section of the street is built on top of the old canal. As the canal flowed along here it went through a series of three locks before it passed through the river at Monument Square. On the left is Tupper Park, which was built by the Tupperware Company as a recreation facility for their workers' children. Now it is run by the Boys and Girls Club. Inside the park is the last remaining building from the B.M.C. mill complex, a two-story stone storehouse built c. 1820.
At the park, Canal Street ends and intersects with Church Street.

8 Church Street / The Arcade (1843)
Along Church Street are several mill houses built by the Blackstone Manufacturing Company. #6 was built c.1840, but the seven duplexes between # 10 and # 25 were built c. 1820. At the corner of Church Street and Main Street is the Arcade. Made of granite and rubble stone, the Arcade was built by the B.M.C. in 1843 to house the company store. A large room on the upper floor, known as Arcade Hall, was used as a social hall and community center. The Arcade has been recently restored and reopened as a church.
Continue up Church Street to School Street.

9 Blackstone Federated Church (1836) / Grammar School (1867)
At the end of Church street is the Greek Revival style Blackstone Congregational Church, Now the Blackstone Federated Church. It was built in 1836 by the B.M.C. to provide for the religious needs of its employees. The Church's original steeple, like many others in New England, was destroyed during the 1938 hurricane, but was replaced by a close replica. Next to the church is the Grammar School, which was built as Blackstone's first High School in 1867 before being converted into a Grammar School in 1920. It is now used for apartments.
Proceed to the end of School Street and turn right onto Mendon Street. At Main Street, turn left.

10 Main Street
As you walk along Main Street you will notice a number of homes that are quite different from the mill houses seen earlier. That is because Main Street was home not to mill workers, but to mill owners and managers, doctors, lawyers and businessmen. Most striking are the number of Greek Revival style houses built in the 1840's and 1850's. One particularly well-preserved example of this style is Dr. William Kimball's house at 127 Main Street.

11 Welcome Farnum House (c. 1840)
The brick Federal-style building at 61 Main Street was the home of Welcome Farnum. The Farnums ran the Waterford Mills together until Darius died in 1845. Welcome Farnum's first action after his brother's death was to purchase the mills in nearby Millville, which raised the value of his investment in woolen mills to one million dollars. With his fortune in textiles assured, Farnum turned to railroads. He became the president and majority owner of the Providence & Worcester Railroad, as well as a major investor in the Norfolk County Line. It was through his influence that Blackstone became a major rail junction.

12 Farnum's Gate
This stretch of Main Street is known as Farnum's Gate, after a small bridge where cattle crossed the river to graze in the meadow located here before Waterford was built. These houses were built between 1840 and 1850 during the peak of activity at the Farnum mills. The wealthiest residents of the village lived here, including several members of the Farnum family. Most of the houses are Greek Revival style, but the house at #64-66 Main Street is a Second Empire style. As you return to your car, compare these homes with the worker tenements built along St. Paul Street at about the same time.

Stone Store
In 1809, the first of several small cotton mills was built at East Blackstone along the Mill River, which had been harnessed in the 1700s to run an iron forge, sawmill and a grist mill. None of these mills remain, but the village's commercial and social center, the Stone Store (c. 1800), still stands at 120 Elm Street. It remained opened as a store until 1912 when it was purchased by the East Blackstone Grange which used it for a dining room and meeting space.

Blackstone Gorge
Source:Blackstone River and Canal Heritage State Park Trail Map 2008

Blackstone Gorge

Trail
0.28 miles / 0.44 kilometers round trip

Trail
0.42 miles / 0.68 kilometers round trip

Blackstone Canal
A self-guided walk along the historic Blackstone Canal
Source: National Park Service, Riverbend Walking tour, July 1997, John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor

Picnic Area Trail
See Blackstone River & Canal Heritage State Park map.

In the early part of the 19th century, America was in the midst of a second revolution. In many ways it was a quiet revolution, one that has gone largely unsung and uncelebrated.
Yet it was a revolution that profoundly and permanently changed the way Americans live. It transformed a provincial agrarian society into an industrial giant, moved whole populations off the farm and into the factories, and altered our relationship with the land, with time, and with each other. In time, it altered the landscape and affected nearly every aspect of daily life.
The revolution we are talking about is, of course, America's Industrial Revolution. There is no better place to begin to understand its development than here on the banks of the Blackstone River, where it all began over 200 years ago.
The Blackstone, once "the hardest working river in America," descends 438 feet in its 45-mile course from Worcester, Massachusetts, to Providence, Rhode Island. By the early 20th century, 409 feet of the river's fall was utilized by 34 dams providing power to adjacent mills. For a span of 20 years, from 1828 to 1848, segments of the river were paralleled by a man-made canal on which horse-drawn boats carried freight and passengers between landlocked Worcester and the wharfs of Providence.
Inspired by the success of the Erie Canal [begun in 1817] and spurred by the remarkable expansion of textile manufacturing along the Blackstone in the early ..th century, a group of Providence and Worcester merchants formed the Blackstone Canal Company in 1822. The canal would meet the considerable transportation demands of inland factories, which needed both to obtain raw materials and to ship finished products to market.
Overland travel on poor 19th-century roads was timeconsuming and expensive. It could cost as much to haul a ton of freight 30 miles overland as it cost to ship it to England. The Blackstone Canal brought a savings of nearly 50 percent on goods shipped to Worcester from Providence by canal over those carried overland from Boston.
But the canal was plagued with problems from the outset. Mill owners argued over water rights. Ice closed the canal in winter. The canal was susceptible to flood and drought.
The greatest cause of the canal's demise was the Providence and Worcester Railroad, completed in 1847. The railroad was cheaper, faster, and more reliable than the canal, and the canal ceased operation a year after the railroad opened.
The trail described in this brochure takes you along the Blackstone River and one of the few remaining sections of the canal. The numbered sites tell the story of the canal, of the shift from farm to factory that it facilitated, and of the impact of the Industrial Revolution on the land and its people.

Picnic Area & Canoe Access

1 Plummer's Landing
(0.0 miles, north side of Church St.)
The Blackstone Canal had been established for nearly 10 years when 27-year-old Israel Plummer constructed a general store and warehouse beside an existing canal lock in 1837. Boats entering the lock could easily tie up in the adjacent basin used to control the water level in the lock. Plummer's Landing became an important commercial center. Local farmers brought their products to be shipped to expanding markets, while coal, cotton, molasses and other goods produced outside the Valley arrived at Plummer's.
When the Providence and Worcester Railroad replaced the canal in 1847, Plummer took advantage of the railroad for a new business venture, shipping high quality structural granite from a quarry just a half-mile west of here. Today we can walk through the foundation stones of Plummer's buildings and picture a time when this was a bustling stop on the canal.

2 Lock No. 26
(0.05 miles, south of parking lot)
The Blackstone Canal was built with 48 stone locks and one wooden lock. When the Blackstone Canal Company went out of business in 1849, many of the locks were given to creditors to satisfy significant debts. Some locks were taken apart and the granite used to build power trenches and mill extensions. If you look under the bridge that crosses the canal at Church Street, you will see a portion of lock 26 now used as a bridge abutment. Further down this trail, at Goat Hill, you will see one of the last remaining examples of a canal lock.
How a Canal Lock Works
1 A barge traveling downstream enters a lock and the upstream gates of the lock close behind it.
2 Water from the upper level of the canal is let out of the lock through sluice gates until the water level is the same as that of the canal's lower level.
3 The downstream gates open, and the barge moves out of the lock. The process is reversed for vessels moving upstream.

3 Open Field
(.80 miles)
When the Blackstone Canal was operational, most of New England looked like this cleared land. In fact, at the time of the Civil War in 1861, 85 percent of New England had been cleared for grazing livestock and planting crops. Wood was used for construction and fuel.
Towing a canal boat
The Blackstone Canal was built before the advent of steam engines and other forms of self-propulsion. Horses were used to pull the boat, carrying as much as 40 tons of freight, along the shallow, slow-movingits development than water. Two horses, one behind the other, were attached to the boat by a tow rope here on the banks of the and led along the towpath by a teamster.

4 Canal Construction
(1.4 miles)
The Blackstone Canal merged with navigable portions of the river for approximately 10% of its 45 mile course. The rest was hand-dug, using ox carts, picks, axes, iron bars, shovels, and limited quantities of black powder. The canal bed was prism-shaped, 34-feet wide at the top and 18-feet at the bottom, and just 4- to 6-feet deep. It was fed by a system of reservoirs, most of which were natural ponds enlarged by damming. The towpath was about 3 feet higher than the water level and 8- to 10-feet wide. A thousand men worked in the Massachusetts section alone in 1827, earning about $26 a month working 6 days a week from dawn to dusk. The Canal was officially opened in the fall of 1828 after four construction seasons and a cost of $750,000.

5 Goat Hill Lock No. 25
(1.7 miles) 1
A series of canal locks helped boats to ascend and descend the elevation changes between Worcester and Providence. Forty-eight were built of stone quarried close to where they were erected. Cut stone was more expensive than wood, appoximately $4,000 per lock, but required less maintenance. The locks were 10-feet wide with 82 feet between the large oak gates on either end. The average lift of a lock was 9+1/2 feet. Wooden sheathing lined the lock to help protect the canal boats as they passed through. An attendant operated the locks and collected tolls, but later, to cut costs, the attendants were eliminated and tolls were billed.
How a Canal Lock Works
1 A barge traveling downstream enters a lock and the upstream gates of the lock close behind it.
2 Water from the upper level of the canal is let out of the lock through sluice gates until the water level is the same as that of the canal's lower level.
3 The downstream gates open, and the barge moves out of the lock. The process is reversed for vessels moving upstream.

6 Stone Cutting
(2.0 miles)
Engineers used stone from this hillside to construct the Goat Hill Lock. Notice the holes in this boulder. An iron rod called a star drill was held by hand on the rock surface and hammered with an iron mallet. The drill would be turned slightly and hammered again, drilling a hole 2+1/2-inches deep. Holes were drilled 3- to 4-inches apart. Next, splitting devices called feather wedges were placed in the drilled holes. The stone cutter would then drive an iron stake between the wedges, splitting the stone. The stone here appears not to have cracked where the stone cutter wanted, and his tools were caught in the uneven break of the stone, leaving them for us to see.

7 Rice City Pond
(2.25 miles)
After the Blackstone Canal Company went out of business in 1849, owners of the Taft Central Mill (later Stanley Woolen Mill) about a mile south built a 14-ft dam along Hartford Avenue, creating a 100-acre mill storage pond. For over 90 years the pond waters stretched out to the hillsides, covering the canal towpath and lock. During the hurricane of 1955, the dam breached, exposing the remains of the Canal, towpath, lock and bridge abutments. The dam was rebuilt to 9 feet, leaving the Canal channel and towpath visible below the path around Goat Hill.

8 Canal Changes
(2.5 miles, south of Hartford Ave.)
In the 1860s, owners of the Taft Central Mill constructed a dam and control gate at this site to control the flow of water from the mill pond reservoir into the Canal, which they converted into a power trench for the mill. They also built up the height of the towpath. Greater power was achieved by increasing the volume and height of the water before its descent into the mill's turbines. The rust marks along the stone-work indicate the 5-foot difference between the 1860s dam and the dam built after the hurricane of 1955.

9 Canal Impact On Farming
Fresh produce was a common commodity on Blackstone Canal boats. Although many New England farms would be abandoned in the 19th and early 20th century, the canal stimulated local farm production, enabling farmers to ship their products to nearby villages and towns.

Visitor Center
Uxbridge is located at the junction of routes 122 and 16. From Rte 146, take Rte 16 east to Uxbridge Center and turn left onto Rte 122 north. In 1+1/2 miles turn right at traffic light onto East Hartford Ave. In 1 mile turn right on Oak Street at the Tri-River Family Health Center. The Visitor Center is located in the large red barn at River Bend Farm.
River Bend Farm, established prior to the Revolutionary War, became one of the region's largest dairy farms, operating until 1974.
Source: National Park Service, Riverbend Walking tour, July 1997, John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor

10 Widow Willard Bridge
Widow Willard's farm was split in half when the Blackstone Canal Company took part of her land by "eminent domain." Her barns and livestock were on one side of the canal, most of her pastures on the other side. The company was required by charter to pay her $125 or build a bridge over the canal so that farm operations would not be disrupted. Here we see the stone abutments of the wooden arch bridge that connected the farm – one of the more than 50 farm bridges the company built along the length of the canal.

11 Water Power
When the Canal was transformed into a high banked power trench, the towpath was raised, the canal banks lined with rock, and the canal diverted directly into the Taft Central Mill, where water flowed to the mill's turbine, generating power to operate the mill.

12 Stanley Woolen Mill
The Stanley Woolen Mill, established by Moses Taft in 1853, is one of many large textile mills that flourished along the Blackstone River in the 19th and early part of the 20th century. Taft, formerly a co-owner of the Waucantuck Mill on Route 16, secured water rights from the defunct Blackstone Canal Company, allowing him to divert water from the canal to his mill. The mill processed raw wool, dyed the yarn, and wove it into finished fabrics. During the Civil War, the factory manufactured cloth for the Union Army. The Calumet Woolen Company, owned by the Wheelock family, later purchased the mill, subsequently supplying fabric for coats for Army personnel in WWI, WWII, and the Korean conflict.
The Stanley Woolen Mill closed in 1987, a late casualty of the decline of the textile industry in New England.

Lookout Rock
Lookout Rock provides one of the best views in the Valley. To get there, follow the 1.5-mile trail beginning at the Heritage State Park parking lot on East Hartford Avenue. Or go to the Quaker Street parking lot and follow the trail a short distance into the woods.
Also known as King Philip's Rock.

King Phillip's Trail
Source: Blackstone River and Canal Heritage State Park Trail Map 2008

Trail

Chepachet
From Interstate 295, exit at Route 44W. Chepachet village is at the junction of Routes 102, 100 and 44 in the town of Glocester, RI. There is free parking at the Town Hall at 1145 Putnam Pike, Route 44/102.
Source: National Park Service, Chepachet Walking tour, September 2003, John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor

All across America, while big cities carry the march of progress ever forward, small villages like Chepachet keep busy maintaining their time-honored traditions. Romanticizing its passion for the past, in the 1920s author H. P. Lovecraft described this place as "a veritable poem".
Sa-pat-set means a place to cross the river in the Algonquin language of the Nipmuc tribe. The first English homesteaders kept the native place name, marking the crossing, and the river too, on the map as Chepachet before 1700. There were no doubt many suitable places to get from one side of the river to the other easily, but like spokes in a wheel connecting at the hub, the byways and highways through three states met at this shallow fording place. The early settlement was remote, but by no means isolated. The first bridge was probably built sometime in the early 1700s, and since then Chepachet village has been a nucleus of commerce and manufacturing. When Glocester was set off from Providence and incorporated as a separate town in 1731, the village became the civic center. The northern half of Glocester became the town of Burrillville in 1806, but little changed in Chepachet as a result. By the mid-19th century, the peal of factory bells and whistles from large woolen and cotton mills sounded out the daily routine of village life.
The events in the lives of country people often make history, but here in Chepachet their actions also shaped it in tangible ways. The community earned an important place in the books of American political reform during the summer of 1842 when a village tavern hosted the leaders and "army" of an insurgent state government. Their cause was voter rights. Sixteen years earlier, the senseless killing of a gentle Indian elephant on the main street bridge induced solo traveling shows to band together, making them the forerunners of modern circuses.
To this day, Putnam Pike, Chopmist Hill Road and the roads to Providence and Boston are busy thoroughfares. As in the past, the town affairs of Glocester are still conducted at the Chepachet junction. Dozens of stores and businesses are the main attractions, as they have been for centuries. Not surprisingly, for as long as travelers and residents have met and crossed the river here, the villagers' most enduring pastime has been the remembering, retelling and reenacting of the stories of Chepachet's colorful past.

1 Chepachet River Bridge
No one seems to know for sure what sort of grudge young Canton Smith of nearby North Scituate, Rhode Island, had against the traveling show of Betty The Learned Elephant and her handlers. Whatever it was, his hard-heartedness forever linked this river crossing with a memorable incident on the night of May 25, 1826. The enormous tragedy is noted on a tiny plaque which you can see mounted on the west railing.
Like hawkers and peddlers of wares, troupes with a rare sight or unusual act journeyed from town to town – often after dark to keep their spectacle a surprise. The show had performed here once before, four years earlier. However, as Betty's show hit the road this time, two of the six youthful conspirators instigated by Smith, aiming from a window in the second story of a gristmill, fired on the elephant as she walked across the "rustic" span. The shots were fatal, and the six hooligans faced charges for their cruel deed.

2 Chepachet River
Walk down the lane along the righthand side of the Chepachet Fire Station between the Chepachet River and the narrow canal. All around you are manmade structures that are clues to the meaning of the term "working water." Falling about 70' in elevation between one side of the village and the other, there was enough energy to run sawmills, gristmills, a fulling mill for processing woolen goods, a cotton carding mill and a nail and tool factory with a water-powered triphammer at the forge – all lining the embankments before 1808.
Above the dam, a channel called a headrace splits off the mill pond drawing water to run the machinery at the mill on the other side of Main Street. At one time, there would have been many spillways, dams, gates and waterwheels, all trying to make the most efficient use of the limited supply of water. Once past the mills, the water went back into the river via tailraces, typically carrying environmentally harmful manufacturing wastes with it.
Downstream, the Chepachet weds the Clear River, forming the Branch River. It joins the Blackstone River which eventually empties into the sea.
Return to the main street and turn left.

3 Stores
At the crosswalk on the main street, you are surrounded by a few of Chepachet's oldest stores. The building close to the riverbank at 1178 Putnam Pike was originally the Hawkins store and a post office after 1868.
Job Armstrong ran a shop in the basement of his home at 1182 Putnam Pike before building a separate store across the street in 1814. He employed four or five full-time clerks. Restored in 1974, Armstrong's store is now the headquarters of the Glocester Heritage Society at 1181 Putnam Pike.
Years ago, Yankee magazine's venerable editors challenged readers to name a rural grocery anywhere in America that had been in continuous operation longer than the Brown and Hopkins Country Store, at 1179 Putnam Pike on the main street. It has undergone at least seven name changes under different owners, since it opened its doors for business in 1809.
At the crosswalk, cross the main street with caution.

4 Tanyard Lane
Walk down the narrow street between the Job Armstrong store and the Brown & Hopkins store. The signpost on the corner is an easy clue to the past – from about 1800 on, Tanyard Lane led to a tannery where hides were cured into leather.
The first house on the right-hand side, a type of residence often called a "block," is a restored multi-family workers' tenement, dating from the 1870s.
The house at 15 Tanyard Lane was the office for H. C. White's woolen and cotton mill. Built in the 1860s, it is a private residence today. Lawton Owen, who lived in the house at 16 Tanyard Lane, established the tannery just around the corner.

5 Elbow Street
Continue around the bend to the left. This quiet wooded glen with its picturesque rolling river was at one time the noisiest, smelliest, most industrious neighborhood of Chepachet village. Shortly after dawn and again after dark, for over half-a-century, six days a week, hundreds of men, women and children walked along this lane to and from their jobs at huge factories on both sides of the now reforested riverbanks. Beside the street, you can see some of the old foundations and stone ruins.
Eddy & Owen's tannery, which stood close to the road along the right-hand side, was the setting of the final chapter of the story of Betty The Learned Elephant. Her carcass was skinned and rendered here. The tanned hide and the cleaned skeleton were sold to separate museums.

6 Oil Mill Lane
Follow the street as it bends to the left again. Another hint to what people did for a living in the village long ago is the name of this lane. It led to a processing plant that extracted oil from cotton seed and linseed. There are three interesting residences here, all close together, yet far apart in age and style. 11 Oil Mill Lane is a classical Greek Revival-style house from 1840, but the ell was probably built earlier. Lawton Owen, of the tannery business, lived here. Adfer Eddy lived at #12-14 in an ornate Victorian-style house built about 1850. The plain house at #5-7 is the village's oldest mill workers' tenement, dating from about 1800.
[editor's note: Some maps show this street's name as Old Mill Lane.]

7 Stone Mill (C. 1814)
At the end of Oil Mill Lane, turn left onto the main street. As you cross the bridge, look closely at the two different kinds of stonework on the corner of the stone mill. You will notice a massive repair. In February of 1867, the Chepachet River swelled from torrential rains and meltwater. When dams upriver began to break, a flash flood washed away many structures entirely, including the gristmill where Betty's snipers hid. It nearly destroyed the mill.
This oldest part of this stone building was the Chepachet Manufacturing Company, a cotton and later woolen mill. Before the flood, it had three floors, but it was rebuilt with one less story. One of the village's first textile mills, it is now the last left standing. Later wooden additions were demolished, but not cleared off the site.

8 Stagecoach Tavern (C. 1800)
Walk along the main street to 1157 Putnam Pike. For Thomas Wilson Dorr, a voter's rights activist, the road to rebellion ended at this tavern run by Jedediah Sprague.
Although the People's Party consisted mainly of citizens who did not have the right to vote because they were not landowners, in April 1842 they cast their ballots for Dorr electing him governor. However, Dorr's attempt to take office led to a charge of high treason from incumbent Governor Samuel Ward King, recently re-elected by the officially registered voters. After a confrontation in Providence, Dorr regrouped on June 25 in Chepachet, where he had many key supporters among workers. They wanted to convene a People's Party legislative session of the General Assembly. This tavern was Dorr's headquarters. King ordered 2500 militiamen to march on the town three days later to capture the insurrectionists, but Dorr had already disbanded his several hundred followers for their own protection. He fled to Connecticut, then New Hampshire.
This was originally Cyrus Cooke's tavern, built about 1800, now with many alterations and additions. As its name implies, it was a stagecoach stop. The only damage done to the property during the Dorr resistance was to a keyhole – a soldier fired a bullet through the locked door, wounding a man inside.

Scotstun Town Forest
Walking trail and scenic vistas of the reservoir through 45 acres preserved by the Glocester Land Trust, Chopmist Hill Road, Route 102. Map and brochure at Glocester Town Hall, 1145 Putnam Pike. 401-568-6206
There are many habitats in the 46 acre forest including part of the shorline of the Smith & Sayles Reservoir. Underground streams run through that can be heard but not seen. None of the trails are formally maintained or marked.
Directions: Head south on Route 102 and continue for approximately a half mile from southern junction of Routes 44 and 102 in Chepachet; use trail on right at Pole #124 (after Wilmarth Road). For more information see the Glocester Land Trust Web Page

Pole #124
Trail entrance?

Glocester Town Pound
This stone pound was built in 1748 to confine stray livestock and is claimed by the town to be the oldest extant pound in America.
Ref. Wikipedia

Douglas
Exit Rt. 146 at Lackey Dam Road toward East Douglas. Turn left on Gilboa Street. Go by Guilford of Maine textile mill. Turn left on North Street. Continue onto Main Street (Rt. 16). Park nearby at the corner of Cook and Main Streets.
Source: National Park Service, Douglas Walking tour, June 1999, John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor

Come, take a walk through East Douglas, where an agricultural community evolved into a mill town, and a stage stop became a dynamic commercial center. In East Douglas, you can still catch a glimpse of what it was like when fields met factories and country met commerce in the valley where American industrialization was born.
Centuries before the arrival of the first Europeans, Douglas was inhabited by Nipmucs, an Algonquin people, who lived here in a settled agricultural and hunting society. In the 1720s, the first English-speaking settlers here established the town as New Sherborn, later renamed Douglas in 1746. Over the next century, Douglas enhanced its agricultural economy with increasing commerce, becoming a crossroads for stagecoach turnpikes from Worcester to Providence and Boston to Hartford. Its growing number of taverns and wayside inns soon transformed Douglas into a hub for people and goods traveling through the Blackstone Valley. In addition, local grist mills turned grain into flour and saw mills processed lumber from Douglas' forests.
Douglas' East Village, now East Douglas, developed in the early 1800s when entrepreneurs established mills on the Mumford River. By harnessing the river's waterpower, they significantly increased the production of goods that for centuries had been made slowly and individually by hand. By mid-century, industrial activity centered upon the miles of buildings along the Mumford which produced edged tools-the "Axe Shops" of the world-famous Douglas Axe Manufacturing Company. The axe business had declined by 1912, undercut by Pennsylvania's steel industry, and was replaced by the Hayward and Schuster woolen mills. By the 1950s, these mills employed 856 town residents, representing 92 percent of the local workforce.
While most of the textile mills have gone the way of the axe shops, Douglas remains a thriving community, grounded in a more diversified economy and committed to the re-use of local assets. 20th-century storefronts rest comfortably in 19th-century structures, while older buildings stand renovated nearby. Modern apartments grace old mills, while another produces contemporary industrial fabrics. A former livery stable holds commercial businesses, what was once a factory office is now a restaurant, and the E.N. Jenckes General Store has become a historical museum. In Douglas, rather than bulldozing the past, the residents have reclaimed it.

1 Elmwood Club Restaurant #338 Main Street
The Elmwood Club Restaurant at the corner of Cook and Main streets was built c1865 as the main office for the Douglas Axe Co. After it passed to one of the woolen mills in 1912, it became an employee recreation center. Another recreation outlet supported by mill owners throughout the valley was baseball. Mill owner Walter Schuster sponsored many winning professional baseball teams and helped local boys become major league players. In 1932, in the last week of his life, ailing Walter Schuster had himself driven to Douglas' Soldiers Field to watch the high school team pull ahead of Northbridge in late innings. From the back seat of his roadster, Schuster helped manage one last game. He ordered the Douglas third baseman, who was supposed to pitch exclusively for the mill team, to pitch the final three innings and save the game.
In 1798, brothers Joseph and Oliver Hunt built a blacksmith shop in East Douglas. Because it was a rural community on the main route between Boston and New York, they found a ready business shoeing horses and making tools. Their superior axes built their reputation, and they soon developed the Douglas Axe Manufacturing Co., shipping edged tools throughout the country and abroad. Axe company workers are shown here in front of the Lovett Shop on Cook Street in 1885.

2 Lovett Mill #3 Cook Street
Behind the Elmwood Club, down Cook Street, is another example of renovation and preservation. One of Douglas' first textile mills, the Lovett Mill was built in 1827 on the Mumford River. The Douglas Axe Company owned the building in 1877, when the company's owners purchased the newly invented telephone. Stringing wires between their office at the Elmwood Club and their factory buildings, the Axe Company had cornet solos played at their lower factory, which were enjoyed via phone line at the office. The building was briefly a piano factory in 1911, and the Hayward- Schuster Woolen Mills' offices in the 1940s. Today the building contains apartments.

3 Baker Store Building #318/320 Main Street
The re-use of buildings was a practice embraced early in the Blackstone Valley by settlers who understood the value of "recycling" architectural materials, designs, and labor. This structure was originally a barn, built on Warren Hunt's Mechanic Street farm about 1850. By 1869, Ezekiel Thayer was using it to stable horses, a profitable business on any stage line. In 1874, Thayer moved it to the rear of the lot next door. Although the railroad was eroding horse-drawn traffic when Richard Lafleur bought it in 1898, he ran a livery there until 1917, carrying passengers to and from the train, and transporting children to school. Herman Baker moved the building to its present site in the 1930s and, after remodeling it, ran his dry goods business here until 1954. Since that time, it has housed a paint store, a laundromat, and a liquor store, among many other businesses. Baker's department store still thrives in Whitinsville.

4 East Douglas Hotel #306-300 Main Street
Salesmen and traveling shows are said to have once made up much of the clientele at Asa Thayer's inn and tavern, built in 1833. In the decades to follow, however, the establishment was plagued by temperance reformers, leading some patrons to enter and leave by the back door to avoid being seen. When, in 1919, Prohibition banned alcohol sales altogether, the owners left the bar business, selling to the Whitin Machine Works of Whitinsville. The building was then used as a boarding house. In 1934, mill owners Hayward and Schuster bought its western section (#300), turning it into tenements, which they owned until 1940. The eastern ell (#306) was detached c1922 and made into a gas station. Recently the station was converted into a restaurant and shops.

5a Rogerson Building #296 Main Street
When Asa Thayer's partner, Robert Rogerson, went independent about 1850, he erected this building (#296). Always a saloon or store, it attracted its own share of temperance reformers. According to one account from the early 1880s, a group called The Praying Band burst in on the proprietor of Simpson's Saloon, which then occupied the building. After being lectured on the evils of alcohol, and warned of his fate in the afterlife, Simpson is said to have become agitated, had a stroke, and soon died. Despite a history of temperance agitation and legal prohibition, however, Douglas residents seem to have upheld their right to decide with regard to alcohol consumption. While the building across the street (#295, built in 1847) has at times been a pharmacy, post office, restaurant, convenience store, and clothing shop, today it is a liquor store.

5b #295 Main Street

6a The Hunt Houses #274 And #271 Main Street
Axe manufacturer Oliver Hunt's son, Warren, was instrumental in building his father's business, and also became a leading citizen. His success is evident in his mansion, #274, built c1825. Federal in style, the Italianate details were added in the 1870s. Warren's brother, Otis, owned a similarly impressive Greek Revival mansion, #271-complete with stately columns-across the street. Both homes set the tone for this section of Main Street, helping to establish the authority and privileges of Douglas industrialists.

6b The Hunt House #271 Main Street
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7 E.N. Jenckes Store Museum #283 Main Street
This classic general store was built by Ebenezer Balcomb c1833. In 1884, Edward N. Jenckes bought it, making several additions. Over the next decades, he sold groceries on the west side, dry goods on the east, furniture upstairs, and grain from the attached barn. Deliveries were by horse and wagon. After Jenckes died, his daughters, E. Mialma and Helen, ran the store until 1972, then deeded it to the Douglas Historical Society that operates it as a museum. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.

8 Wixtead Building #297-303 Main Street
The only brick commercial building in East Douglas, this structure was built by James Wixtead in 1910 to replace the old Thayer Block that burned in 1909, destroying Wixtead's grocery and dry-goods store. (Note that the high curb and stone steps at the street, designed for the Thayer Block, do not line up with the Wixtead entrance.) When it opened, Wixtead's new store shared space with the Post Office. After his death in 1923, several owners ran the store until it was converted into a pharmacy in 1940. In 1993 it became a restaurant.

9 Batcheller House #317-325 Main Street
Consistent with the pattern of building adaptation, this series of structures (marked at one site as #319) was altered from a single- to two-family dwelling, and then to commercial and private use. The central part, a brick Cape, was built c1800. The right-hand wooden frame, with Greek Revival influences, was added when Jeremiah and Joseph Batcheller bought it from Jesse Balcome in 1828. Joseph occupied the newer extension. The lefthand, two-story commercial ell, added in1917, was a fruit store and, from 1927 to 1943, a grocery store. It has since been occupied by a grocery, barber, laundromat, and dry-cleaning business.

10 Balcome Block #335-342 Main Street
Second Empire in design, this large commercial block was built by Julius Whipple in 1882 and purchased by Isaac Balcome soon thereafter. Among the town's more impressive structures, its 19th-century feel and 20th-century applications reinforce a sense of ongoing connection between the modern commercial era and that of an earlier time. Built in the early years of prosperity generated by the local axe and textile industries, the block was at one time owned by the Hayward Woolen Company. Its shopfronts have since held a bakery, as well as grocery, drug, hardware, notions, package, and clothing stores.

11 Hayward Landing #26 North Street
The power generated by the Mumford River has made this a superb mill site since the 1700s. First used for grist mills, the site also accommodated a cotton mill that was built in 1863 and that burned in 1880. William E. Hayward then built this brick structure, from which he operated Douglas' first successful woolen mill. He was joined by partner Winfield S. Schuster, and was succeeded by his son, William L. Hayward. As partners, the Schuster and Hayward families acquired numerous mills in Douglas, Manchaug, and Millbury. They also were Douglas' largest employer until the industry began to decline in the 1960s.
The mill closed in 1965 and, in 1992, was converted into apartments. Although this ended 200 years of industrial activity, the mill's present embodiment provides another fine example of renovation, preservation, and renewal. Large photos and examples of textile machinery in the lobby reinforce a sense of the mill's historical role in Douglas.

Gilboa Flats
Home to the old Schuster Mill buildings and surrounding dwellings. Currently a manufacturing plant, a Division of Guilford of Maine, the mill is only 350 feet above sea level, the lowest land in Douglas.

Old Douglas Center
an original 18th-century hilltop village, is at the intersection of Rt.16 (Main Street) and Rt.96. Seven roads intersect at the point where land and buildings surround the Douglas Common. One of Douglas's old inns, the Dudley Tavern (built c1775) is still standing there. At one time a tavern here supplied horses for the Marquis de Lafayette, who stopped there during the American Revolution.

Douglas State Forest
The Douglas State Forest contains 4,620 acres of recreational opportunities and scenic lands including Wallum Lake. From Douglas, follow Rt.16 (Main Street) west through Douglas Center.
The forests of Douglas were known throughout the region for their superior timber. They supplied cedar for shingles, white pine for ships masts, and black walnut and maple for furniture and gunstocks. Forest products were used to tan leather in Grafton, to change pig iron into gun metal in Millbury, and to become railroad ties and potash for making soap and candles in Sutton.

Georgiaville
Georgiaville village is on RI Route 104 in Smithfield.
From Interstate 295, exit at Route 44 East. Turn left at the traffic light onto Esmond Street. Turn left on Route 104, the Farnum Pike. A short distance ahead, bear right onto Homestead Avenue. Turn right onto Stillwater Road. Park near the entrance to Georgiaville Pond recreational area.
Parking is available during the non-summer months in the small parking area near the Georgiaville Pond entrance on Stillwater Road.
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Almost all of the sites in this walking tour are private property, so be sure to respect the privacy of the residents of the village.
Source: National Park Service, Georgiaville Walking tour, September 2003, John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor

Practice saying "Woonasquatucket" before you head into Georgiaville Village – woo-naah-squaw-tuck'-et. The Woonasquatucket River is the reason that Georgiaville exists. In fact, it is impossible to find a hardworking 19th century factory community like this one that is not situated on a riverbank.
The natural flow of the river was less than mighty compared to the Blackstone, yet by the 1750s pioneer farmers in the wilderness west of Providence harnessed the Woonasquatucket to power early manufacturing sites such as iron forges and saw mills. The first textile mills on the river were built here and just downstream in Esmond in 1813. The village was called Georgiaville after the Georgia Cotton Manufacturing Company. Neither the business nor the settlement grew much, perhaps because of the limitations of the water power. Just 56 men and 64 women, and a handful of children, were kept on the mill's payroll by mid-century.
Only a person with great economic ambition and an unstoppable creative energy would have seen the potential in such a gentle river. But, Providence industrialist Zachariah Allen (1795-1882) put hundreds of carding machines, spinning mules and weaving looms to work producing miles of cotton cloth.
Allen was already a textile manufacturer when he purchased Georgiaville in 1852. His first action was to refurbish the old mill and build a bigger one. More production called for more water power, so he built a bigger dam, which enlarged the mill pond and reservoirs above it. He came up with a plan to raise the dam to 36 feet, doubling its energy output. When insufficient rainfall caused the river to periodically fail his demand for power, he installed a steam engine, and added even more machinery. He invented and patented many innovative systems, including pulley-free shafting. The 16,000 spindles and 369 looms required more workers, so Allen built additional dwellings, a church and a school. More jobs meant more immigrant arrivals into the rural factory village. By the 1870s, French-Canadian and Irish laborers, plus a handful of Scotsmen and English workers outnumbered Georgiaville's native born residents. The mill employed nearly 300 villagers.
Georgiaville is a prime example of a 19th century mill village. Preserved here, within a compact 62-acre area, are numerous types of employee residences. This walk will take you past rubblestone homes built for the workers of Georgiaville's first cotton spinning mill in 1813, past the boarding houses and standardized tenements built as the operations expanded, and finally along treelined avenues where the managers and their families lived in a somewhat grander style as the enterprise prospered. In this loop along one side of the river and down the other, you can still see the way 19th century factory workers lived along the banks of the Woonasquatucket.
Praised for being among the few men of industry with a social conscience, Zachariah Allen was above all a practical person. A thinker, theologian, lawyer, author, inventor, engineer, and tinkerer, he sought to improve everything and everyone. A prolific note taker, diarist and writer, Allen left an incredible record of his life and times complete with observations on the weather and drawings and calculations for his numerous inventions.
Allen lived in Providence, and "rode out" to Georgiaville only on business. Although mill owners were often accused of paternalism in a derogatory way, Allen's version of benevolence took the form of pragmatic good deeds, such as building things and making improvements. He believed that his domination over the village he created would ensure a good quality of life, fostering a strong sense of community among strangers with no common heritage or culture. Word spread that Allen paid workers higher wages and offered merits, even cash, for their innovative suggestions.
After 1858, the Georgiaville Mill was part of the Bernon Manufacturing Company.
There is ample evidence in Zachariah Allen's papers that he believed Georgiaville was a rural worker sanctuary set in a peaceful river valley. The label on his bolts of cloth shows romanticized park-like scenery surrounding his factory, complete with a manicured lawn, chestnut trees, and a perky picket fence as if it were no different than a cozy country cottage. The gritty truth is industrialization is rarely pretty. Allen attempted to improve the quality of life for his employees by adding rudimentary plumbing in their homes, and keeping the landscape picturesque. Allen even preserved a corner of the millpond and river as a natural cascade tumbling through a shaded glen for his workers' benefit. However the soul-soothing retreat was too far away for them to enjoy on their half-hour lunch break.
Though Allen considered Georgiaville to be a model mill village, large textile complexes where housing and stores stood side-by-side with factories were noisy, smelly and unsanitary environments. The settlement may have been remote from coarse urban influences, but tranquil it was not.

1 Georgiaville Pond
Begin at the Georgiaville Pond parking lot on Stillwater Road. This loop is under a mile.
Walk into the recreation area to the shores of the pond. This is a man-made body of water, enlarged in the 1850s from a smaller mill pond created by a dam on the Woonasquatucket River in 1813. As an option, you can walk to the spillway by heading towards the beach areas to your right. At the gorge, the gate mechanism is still visible. This water powered the mill you will see later on your walk.
Leaving the recreational area, turn to your left and walk down Stillwater Road.
From the diary of Zachariah Allen, under "Stoppage for Want of WATER"
- 1852 During the fall of this year a drought prevailed and the machinery was occasionally stopped for want of water until the last of November, when the winter rains set in.
- 1855 This year was also remarkable for a protracted drought. During 52 days in September and October, there was hardly rain enough to lay the dust.

2 Courtyard Houses (1813)
23 - 29 Stillwater Road. It has been suggested that these three small 1+1/2 story houses on the right-hand side were built in a cluster to mimic the close-knit living arrangements the workers had known in England or Ireland. This grouping is unusual for Rhode Island. The houses, now private residences, are made of rubblestone, covered in stucco. Rubblestone is a far cheaper building method than either brick or quarried stone, and more fireproof than woodbuilt houses.
Turn right down River Road.

3 Dye House (1813)
55-59 River Road. This sturdy rubblestone building was a dye house, separate from the main mill. It is the only surviving industrial building from the 1813-era mill. The dye house needed to be on the riverbanks. Water from the river was used to make the dye solutions, to rinse the fibers and flush away the used chemicals. Depending on the color of dye being used on a particular day, the water itself and all the riverbanks in the towns downstream were tinted likewise.
Beware of poison ivy growing along the riverbanks and roadsides. Return along River Road to the footbridge over the river.

4 Woonasquatucket River
At times quite shallow, and non-navigable, the water passing under the footbridge is part of the 18+1/2 mile long Woonasquatucket River. From the language of the Narragansett tribe, woonasquatucket means "river where the tide ends." The river rises from Primose Pond in North Smithfield and is fed by the Stillwater River, which Zachariah Allen dammed in several places to create reservoirs. Southwards, the stream joins the Moshassuck to create the Providence River, and then flows into Narragansett Bay and the Atlantic Ocean.
To this day, pollutants from nearly two centuries of industrial discharge into the waterway remain in the bottom silt. Poor water quality in the Woonasquatucket is one of the sadder legacies of the great era of 19th century American industry. However, the Woonasquatucket River Greenway Project has unified 17 public and private groups to develop a plan of action aiding the river's recovery. The US. Environmental Protection Agency calls this "a river on the rebound."
The beautiful historic iron truss bridge that once spanned the river here is currently preserved at the Valley Falls Heritage Park in Cumberland, RI.

5 Mill Tenements, (1871 To 1896)
1-16 Hill Street. Turn right at the end of the footbridge and walk along Cross Street to Hill Street where you will see eight 4-family tenements. All but gone by the time these dwellings were built is the idealistic notion among industrial corporations that workers should be given housing that is appealing and attractive as an enticement or reward. These plain wood-frame buildings are as basic and standardized as residential architecture can be. Social critics of the time declared that housing like this was proof that desensitized mill owners considered their workers as just another replaceable piece of their machinery.
Turn right onto Whipple Avenue and cross the Woonasquatucket River again.

6 Mill Boarding Houses (1854, 1855)
These rubblestone buildings, built by Zachariah Allen, are a pair; one for male workers and the other, with the raised columns on the façade, for female workers. He could not have placed them any closer to his mill. Efficient and in an odd way elegant, these are both Greek Revival style, with their gable ends to the street.
The mill owners' account books for the decade after these two buildings were built record $200 for grading streets and moving houses, $2,500 for building 24 new houses, $125 for five new privies, $1,000 for fencing lots and improving streets, $750 for re-siding five houses, and $650 for improvements on tenements.
Compare the lifestyle of worker families living in a rustic stone-cottage to that of workers living communally in boarding house built like a classical temple, to that of workers occupying the wood-built tenement houses you saw previously on Hill Street. Which would you prefer? In some cases, families had part of a house, and in other cases they lived among single workers, sleeping in a room with many beds and sharing common rooms together. As you stroll along and discover the different kinds of mill houses, keep in mind that if employees lost their jobs, the families lost their houses.

7 Homestead Mill Condiminiums
The original stone mill on this site, built by Samuel Nightingale, Samuel Arnold and Thomas Thompson, was one of 140 textile mills within a 30-mile radius of Providence by 1815. It was torn down in the late 1960s. Parts and pieces of the complex you see now date to 1828, 1846, 1853 (the largest part now visible), 1865, 1970 and 1989. The 1853 mill building, designed by Zachariah Allen himself, was considered to be one of the most impressive of its day. At one entrance, nicely preserved in the pediment above the doorway, are the date and the initials, Z. A.
Textile manufacturing went on here until the 1930s. More recently, this was the Industrial Machine Tool Company. Throughout the Blackstone River Valley, many solidly built mills like this one were torn down after years of abandonment, vandalism and neglect. Here, however, the mill complex was converted to residences, an excellent example of the creative reuse of an industrial site. From 1987 to 1989, a Boston-based corporation redeveloped the complex into The Homestead Mill, a 125-unit condominium village.

The Farnum Homestead, 1770, 18 Whipple Avenue
Around 1755, John Farnum came from Uxbridge MA, and bought land on the banks of the Woonasquatucket River from an earlier settler, Thomas Owen. Along with his sons, Farnum established a blacksmith shop and iron forge. At first, Farnum's clients would have been the farmers in the surrounding hills and valleys. One of Rhode Island's early toll roads to Providence, now Route 104, was improved in 1808 making it easier for the Farnum family to market their iron goods to a wider circle. The thoroughfare was not called Farnum Pike until after 1900. The house pre-dates the mill village by 43 years and is the oldest in Georgiaville.

8 Superintendent's & Managers' Houses
Just before you turn right and walk down Homestead Avenue, look up across the intersection towards your left.
22 and 24-34 Homestead Avenue.
22 Homestead Avenue, an ornate 2-story Italianate-style house, built about 1860, was the Mill Superintendent's residence. Its imposing presence, and especially its location atop the hill above the mill and workers' houses, paints a clear picture of the exalted status of the occupant. From this vantage point, there was nothing the overseer could not over see. Nonetheless, the superintendent was still a hired hand of the corporation that owned and operated the mill and the entire village.
Continue towards your right along Homestead Avenue past the row of houses on your left, built c1871. It is not actually clear who would have called this block "Boss Row" - the bosses or the workers - but it is referred to by that name because these are the residences provided for mill managers. Moving up the ranks within the organization had obvious benefits, and mill owners knew that there was no greater motivation for workers performance or obedience than better housing for their families.
Note the two simple amenities that housing for workers lower on the employment hierarchy did not have - a postage-stamp sized lawn and a covered front step. There is something of the American Dream in the neat white-clapboarded mangers' houses with their simple architectural details, porticoed porches, bay windows and hip-roofed dormers. These houses sit slightly higher in elevation than most of the operatives' dwellings, and lower than the superintendent's.

9 Mill Houses (1813)
Turn left on Stillwater Road, and look towards your right.
6-18 Stillwater Road. This is another group of early mill houses dating from the era of Georgiaville's first textile mill. Each is slightly different, but all are rubblestone construction. These buildings housed more than one family or groups of workers living together. All have been converted into apartments or private residences.

Smith-Appleby House Museum
Learn more about Georgiaville and the early farm families of Smithfield by visiting the Smith-Appleby House Museum, the Historical Society of Smithfield, 220 Stillwater Road, Smithfield, 401-231-7363.
http://www.smithapplebyhouse.org/

Powder Mill Ledges Wildlife Refuge
Take a walk on the wild side at the Powder Mill Ledges Wildlife Refuge. The 77- acre sanctuary has more than 2 miles of trails. Audubon Society of RI, 12 Sanderson Road, Smithfield, 401-949-5454.

Grafton
Exit 11 off Mass Pike (Route 90). Right on Rt.122 south. Merges with Rt.140. When Rt. 140 and Rt. 122 divide keep left on Rt.140 up hill to Grafton Center.
Exit from Route 122: Proceed into Grafton. Turn onto Church Street, and follow to Common. Parking available around Grafton Common.
Source: National Park Service, Grafton Walking tour, September 2005, John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor

A visit to Grafton is a chance to see a wonderful example of an early 19th century New England town center. Most of the villages in the Blackstone Valley are based around large mechanized mills and rows of worker housing. Here in Grafton you can imagine yourself in an earlier time, when "cottage" industries clustered near the Center, fine homes arose gracefully beside more modest residences and farmers rubbed elbows with business owners on a regular basis. Today you can still tour Grafton's original "walking community," with its park-like common surrounded by church spires, gracious structures, and an old fashioned general store.
What is now Grafton was once part of the lands of the Nipmuc tribe. About 1660 several of the Nipmucs joined an English Christian "praying village" named Hassanamesit, established by famed missionary John Eliot. The Native American village was abandoned after King Philip's War, in 1675-1676. Today the Nimpuc's own 4 acres of land in Grafton. In the 1720s, the region was sold to 40 investors from several towns, and a four-acre common was created at its center. Incorporated in 1735, Grafton became a prosperous farming community.
In the 1800s, Grafton built upon its agricultural base, developing its industry. It not only became a national leader in leather tanning and currying, but also in boot and shoe production. Second only to Lynn, Massachusetts, Grafton specialized in coarse brogans, or work boots for slave use in the south. Where a shoemaker once worked alone in a small shop, slowly making customized shoes in their entirety, early industrialization found entrepreneurs "putting out" quantities of shoe parts to farm families for binding and bottoming. Central shops and cottage industries rose around the Center and by 1837, 906 men and 486 women made over 671,000 pairs of shoes and 18,000 pairs of boots a year.
A lack of waterpower at Grafton Center allowed the center to develop into what it is today. Grafton investors built mills on the Blackstone and Quinsigamond rivers, creating new village centers in Fisherville, Farnumsville, Saundersville, Kittville, Centerville and New England Village. Each of these villages has its own fascinating story to tell, but it is also important to recognize how their existence shaped Grafton Center. For while their labor and wealth enhanced Grafton's development, the center remained largely free of the sprawling mills and worker housing associated with the modern industrial landscape. The result is the exquisite 19th century town center that you can still explore today.
Fine grasslands prompted farmers to graze their herds near Grafton, stimulating the growth of cattle and dairy farming and leather and shoe industries. In the 1880s, when the railroads opened up new cattle ranges in the Midwest, leather and shoe production began to shift west as well.

1 Grafton Inn
The Grafton Common has served as the crossroads of town since settlement. Shoe manufacturer Samuel Wood built the Grafton Inn, the oldest structure on the common, in 1805. The Inn is a reminder of the days when Grafton Center was the intersection of key stagecoach routes from Boston to Hartford and from Providence to Worcester. Stagecoaches were the first regularly scheduled source of overland transportation in the Blackstone Valley, providing a fairly quick trip for mail and passengers. The Inn was a popular stop for food, rest and for switching stages. The unknown designer of the Inn was obviously inspired by famous Boston architect Charles Bullfinch.
The oldest structure on the Common, the inn acquired a rear ell (as large as the original building) and a two-story porch c1865-1875. When A.J. Kirby ran it in the 1890s, it was said to be "strictly first class."

2 Churches
The early 1800s were a period of religious upheaval across the United States, particularly here in Massachusetts where the state supported Congregational Church was being challenged after two centuries of dominance. Little had changed in the Congregationalist Church since its establishment by the Puritans, but immigration and industrialization had radically changed the religious mores of the population. New voices and ideas were yearning to be heard and church politics was often the focal point.
The passion of this conflict is displayed here at the Grafton Common where three new churches were built around the Grafton Common between 1830 and 1833. The first was the Greek Revival style Baptist Church built in 1830. The Baptists had been meeting in Grafton since 1758, but were prevented by the power of the Congregationalists from building a church on the common for over 70 years.
A theological schism was also dividing the Congregational Parish here in town. When a new meetinghouse opened in 1832 on the northeast corner of the common, the Unitarian faction of the parish claimed it for their use. This building, which also served as the town meetinghouse for several years, burned in the "Great Fire" of 1862 and was replaced by the current structure the following year.
The remaining parishioners, who remained faithful to the traditional Congregationalist tenets, were now homeless. So in 1833, the Evangelical Congregational Church across the common was built at a cost of $5,000. The steeple and gallery clocks of the Congregational Church were made by the Willard family, famed Grafton clock makers whose home and shop a few miles north of the common are now open as a museum.
The Second Great Awakening gave voice to those who criticized Congregationalism for focusing on a Scriptured, Heavenbound elite, leaving the rest behind. The Baptists, emphasizing faith and universal salvation, tended to appeal to working people who hoped God cared more about piety than education and wealth. The Unitarians, stressing human reason and ability, often drew upwardly-mobile entrepreneurs who hoped "social engineering" would promote profits without worldly sin and conflict. When Grafton's parish embraced Unitarianism in 1831, appalled church members withdrew, taking church records, furniture, and the communion plate.

3 Shoe Industry/South Street
Grafton Center was once the site of a thriving shoe and leather industry. Unlike the massive water powered textile mills along the Blackstone in South Grafton, the leather manufacturers were located in small shops or houses particularly along South and North Streets where hand tools and muscle power did the work. In 1837, Grafton led Worcester County in boot and shoe production. In 1866, there were 10 shops making boots and shoes, two tanneries and several other leather goods establishments around the Center. These were small concerns, most employing 10-15 workers. Shoe and boot making continued to thrive here until the 1880s, but had ended by 1925 no longer able to compete with larger, more mechanized mills.
As you look down South Street, the economics of the leather industry can be readily seen. To your right on the west side of the street stand the impressive homes of many of the boot shop owners. Across the street to the east are many of the old shops, now converted to housing, along with the tenements that housed the workers. Locals often speak of these as the "dollar houses and the 50¢ houses."
The handsome "50cent houses" along the East Side of South Street, once the site of shoe mills and worker tenements, stand in stark contrast to the grandeur of the mill owner homes located across the street.

4 George W. Fisher House
The most grandiose home on the Common is the Victorian mansion of George W. Fisher. Built c. 1885, the Fisher House displays the wealth earned by Mr. Fisher at his textile mill in Fisherville, located along the Blackstone River in South Grafton. His workers lived much more modestly in company owned houses in the mill village. The Fisher family took over the mill at Fisherville in the 1840s and ran it for about 80 years, producing cotton cloth and toweling. In 1879 the mill produced 1.5 million yards of cloth and about 700 mill hands were employed there in 1930 just before the mill was forced to shut down during the Depression. The mill was lost in a spectacular fire in 1999.
The grandeur and wealth of Fisher's mansion reflects the growing importance of mechanized industry for the Grafton economy after 1880. Meager wages, however, confined Fisher employees to rented mill housing in outlying Fisherville. Those lacking all property, moreover, went to Grafton's "Poor Farm" where, in 1878, 1,100 "tramps" (those "tramping" to find work) were lodged and fed overnight for 12+1/2 cents each.

5 Jerome Wheelock Statue
At the southern end of the Common stands a statue of Jerome Wheelock (1834-1902). Wheelock was a native of Grafton who earned fame and fortune as an engineer, particularly for his design of a steam engine valve system that revolutionized steam transportation. Wheelock bequeathed $50,000 to the Town of Grafton on the sole condition that they erect a statue in his honor. This money was used in 1927 for the construction of the town library located to your left as you face the statue.

6 Grafton Common
In 1728, the original 40 proprietors of Grafton set aside 4 acres in the center of town as common land. In 1730 Grafton's first meetinghouse was built here. Over the next century, a large town center grew up around the common, and in 1845 a small portion of the original common was fenced in and planted with trees. Today the common is still a site for recreation and relaxation. The town Common is a site so quintessentially small town New England that it attracted Hollywood's attention.The bandstand at the center of the common was built in 1935 by MGM who came to Grafton to film parts of Eugene O'Neill's Ah Wilderness. They left it behind for the people of the town to continue to use. The bandstand is built on the site of Grafton's first meetinghouse. An earlier bandstand was also located here.

7 Commercial Blocks
At the northern end of the Common are Grafton Center's two commercial blocks. They were situated to take advantage of the transportation crossroads here, as well as the growing importance of the common as a community center. There has been commercial activity here since the early 1700s. On the left is the Wheeler Block, opened by Jonathan Wheeler in 1806 and used by several merchants since that time. The third floor housed an assembly hall that was used as a social center for the town. On the right side of Worcester Street is the Warren Block or Town House, built in 1862 replacing an earlier commercial building that had been destroyed by fire. Purchased by the town of Grafton in 1885, the Warren Block was used for town meetings and as an exhibit hall as well as several storefronts.
On the northern side of the Grafton Common is the commercial center, anchored by the Town House, seen here with the Unitarian Church. Along with its businesses, the Town House also is home to the Grafton Historical Society where more of the town's fascinating stories can be learned.

8 Grafton & Upton Railroad
The crossroads at Grafton Common finally entered the steam age in 1874 with the inauguration of the Grafton Center Railroad. This was a light rail commuter line that only ran about 3 miles from Grafton Center to the main tracks of the Boston & Albany Railroad in North Grafton. The depot for this line was located behind the Town Hall and the Unitarian Church. This allowed Grafton residents to commute to jobs in Worcester or points east, a tradition that continues today.
In 1887 the railroad added freight service and extended its track through Upton and Hopedale to Milford. The name of the line was changed to the Grafton and Upton Railroad. The new track connected several mills with the main B & A line, including the massive Draper Loom Corporation in Hopedale. A new depot was built along Upton Street behind the library. A fire started by a lightening strike destroyed that structure in 1940. It was replaced with a cinder block building that still stands today, but no longer belongs to the Railroad. On rare occasions a freight train will still ride these rails.

Willard House and Clock Museum
For a historical museum in a 1718 farmhouse, visit the Willard House and Clock Museum at 11 Willard Street in North Grafton. The museum contains 60 fine Willard clocks. Admission charged. Guided Tours. Reservations required for large groups. Open Tuesday-Saturday, 10 AM to 4 PM, Sunday, 1-4 PM. 508-839-3500.
http://www.willardhouse.org/

New England Village
To see some of the mill villages of Grafton visit either New England Village on Main Street (Rt. 30) in North Grafton, or Farnumsville along Rt. 122 in South Grafton. Both contain not only extensive mill complexes, but also much of the original worker housing.

Farnumsville
To see some of the mill villages of Grafton visit either New England Village on Main Street (Rt. 30) in North Grafton, or Farnumsville along Rt. 122 in South Grafton. Both contain not only extensive mill complexes, but also much of the original worker housing.
For examples of preservation and adaptation of historic sites, visit the old mill in Farnumsville (South Grafton) on Depot Street. You can see the dam, waterfall, and pond.

Indian Burying Ground
1664 Nipmuc Indian Burial Ground

Harrisville
Harrisville Village is in the Town of Burrillville at the junction of RI Rt. 107 (East Avenue) and Rt. 98 (Main Street).
From Route 146 North or South - Exit at Route 5 Forestdale / Route 102 Slatersville.
Park Free in Lot across from Public Library.
More about Burrillville's history is available at the Jesse N. Smith Public Library. 144 Main Street, Harrisville. 401-568-8244 or through the Burrillville Historic and Preservation Society at 16 Laurel Hill Avenue in Pascoag, 401-568-8534.
Source: National Park Service, Harrisville Walking tour, September 2003, John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor

Library Parking Entrance
Tinkham Lane

"Not worth surveying for settlement purposes since these outlands are too far from Providence" was more or less the opinion people had of the northwest corner of Rhode Island in the mid-1600s. Yet, by the end of that century, homesteads dotted the wilderness. The point where the Clear River and the Nipmuck River flowed together became a small village by 1800. Non-navigable except by canoe, the swift current provided sufficient water power to run sawmills and gristmills.
The village was originally called Rhodesville, named for Captain William Rhodes (1743-1823), it was one of fourteen villages in the town of Burrillville. Not much was documented about Rhodes' high seas adventures as a privateer during the Revolutionary era, but it is known that he owned large parcels of land here, as well as some of the first mills. He was prosperous, as was his tiny village.
Andrew Harris purchased Rhodesville and renamed it Harrisville in the early 1800s. In 1825 he opened a factory to make spindles and flyers for the cotton industry. He later built a cotton mill that he leased to other operatives. William Tinkham of nearby Harmony village, and his brother-in-law, Job Steere, bought the mill site in 1856. Their success at increasing production dramatically shaped Harrisville over the next quarter century.
A mill village is a unique kind of community, in that much of its character is the result of a clearly defined relationship between the factory and the town. As Tinkham's mills increased production during the Civil War economic boom, the need for a stable labor force residing within walking distance to the workplace grew also. Therefore, the company bore the responsibility of housing their employees since workers themselves earned too little to afford their own.
Here, as elsewhere, mill owners molded the community by extending their business-like influence beyond the factory walls and into the daily lives of their workers. In the worst examples, corporate paternalism spawned unenlightened despotism, but fortunately in Harrisville, it did not.
Working with a commission board, between 1933 and 1937, mill owner Austin T. Levy privately funded and coordinated the Town Buildings Project, a village beautification campaign. Many mid-Victorian era structures and homes were demolished, remodeled or moved for the simple reason that at the time they seemed to be on the far side of a generation gap between the "old fashioned" taste of the 19th century and the "modern" 20th.
What is unique about Harrisville, is the extent to which the evidence of the mill village lifestyle has been preserved. For that reason, Harrisville was placed on National Register of Historic Places in 1984. Although Harrisville's residents in most instances now commute many miles to their jobs, this charming village set in the middle of a largely reforested area is - as it has always been - a fine neck of the woods.
Born in Providence, James Burrill, Jr. (1772-1820) graduated from Brown University at the age of sixteen. He was a respected politician whose career culminated in election to the US Senate. After serving as the state's Attorney General for nine years, Burrill was paid a handsome tribute by having this town named after him in 1806. In the town's possession are ledgers with an inscription by Burrill, yet nothing suggests he ever visited his ville.
From the time he acquired the Harrisville mill complex and housing in 1912, New Yorker Austin T. Levy (1880 -1951) began a personal campaign to better the quality of the worsted woolens Stillwater Mills produced. Simultaneously, he bettered the quality of life for workers. His producers, as he called them, enjoyed frequent pay increases, profit sharing (initiated in 1916), paid vacations, a company nurse, affordable housing and access to literature, entertainment and culture. Rather than firing workers when orders occasionally slacked off, Levy stockpiled the factory's output until market conditions improved.

Jesse N. Smith Public Library
More about Burrillville's history is available at the Jesse N. Smith Public Library.
http://www.jmslibrary.org/

1 Mill Dam and Falls
Standing on the footbridge below the falls you have a good view of the dam, built in 1857. Depending on recent rainfall, the river either roars or whispers over the spillway. When the mills were in operation, the flow was carefully controlled by gates and gear works, still visible in places.
The granite barrel-vaulted bridge was built in 1902 and has a keystone in the center of the span naming its local builder.
Above the dam, the Clear River fills Harrisville Pond. It originates at Wallum Lake, and grows as tributaries throughout the town feed into it. At Oakland Village, it is joined by the Chepachet River and becomes the Branch River. From here it flows northward and merges with the Blackstone River in North Smithfield, RI. It then surges south, into Narragansett Bay. The mill history of all of these hardworking waterways is what ties the course of events and the economy of Harrisville to other manufacturing centers some twenty or more miles away.

2 Stillwater Worsted Mill Complex
The bridge is a good place to ponder the fate of the mill complex. Textile operations ceased here in 1972, but parts of it are occupied by various businesses.
When earlier mill buildings on this site burned in 1894, owners William Tinkham and Job Steere rebuilt. The largest structure remaining is the No. 4 Mill, built by Boston architect Adolph Sück in 1911. For its day, the reinforced concrete building was a reassuring marvel of fireproof engineering.
Run-down factories are often regarded as blight. Yet, mill sites like this one are the largest structural artifacts we have to show the big picture of New England's vast textile heritage. They demonstrate the success of 19th century manufacturing on a scale that seems unattainable even now.
With support and encouragement from public/private partnerships, the town has been developing plans for adaptive re-use of the Stillwater Mill. Keep in touch – there will still be news from Stillwater!
Return up East Avenue.
Standing side-by-side with Irish and French- Canadian immigrant workers more skilled than he, mill owner William Tinkham (1823 - 1914) worked on the production line to learn the ins and outs of the textile business. When orders for satinets and cassimeres ebbed, he kept the machines running by hitting the road as one of his own salesmen.

3 The Assembly and Jesse N. Smith Library
The Assembly, a performing arts space, and the nearby library date from the era of the Town Buildings Project in the 1930s. Levy intended to give Harrisville the look and feel of a "traditional" colonial- era town - envisioning, no doubt, a romanticized heritage based on stoic "Yankee" virtues and values. His intention was to enhance community life with some of the features he applied to the factory floor - efficiency, order, and safety.
The Harrisville theater company was known as The Village Players. They were a box-office success season after season.
The Stillwater News, June 15, 1948 The 1947-48 season just completed had been the most active one since the foun- dation of the Village Players in 1934. Four major productions were presented, and also two programs of one-act plays.
Diagonally across from the library is the Harrisville Post Office, a 1950 Levy project. It was the first time a private citizen had personally built a United States post office wanting to make a gift of it to the federal government. This, of course, befuddled the nation's bureaucrats, who sought Congressional approval on the simple matter of accepting the key to the front door.
Turn left at the corner of Main Street.

4 176 Main Street
The Stillwater House was a tavern in the 1840s, and later a boarding house. After 1919, the Stillwater Company bought it to use as a community center and dance hall. The building has been rehabilitated into apartments.
The Stillwater News, October 15, 1951
...the tavern was the site of many happy and hilarious occasions. However, during the last thirty years it has been operated as a well conducted Inn for the Company's employees...and the building has lost a lot of the atmosphere of frivolity of its earlier days to assume one of New England dignity.

5 173 Main Street
Once known as the Central Hotel, this was run by the Stillwater Company as the Loom and Shuttle Inn after 1919. As it was a long ride back to Providence or New York City, the hotel was a convenient stopover for salesmen on business with the mill. The back ell on the 1837 building was for horse stalls, and the second floor had a dance hall. It is now apartments.
Turn around and walk North on Main Street.

6 First Universalist Church
How old do you think this quaint colonialstyle meeting house at 134 Main Street actually is? Take a closer look. It was built in 1886.
This Victorian-era church was made to look older than it is during the Town Buildings Project. In the early 20th century, the architectural detailing common on Gothic Revival, Italianate or Queen Anne-style buildings went out of style. "Beautification committees" nationwide peeled off the picturesque trimmings on their once-fashionably ornate buildings. They substituted simpler colonial-type doors, and small paned-windows. Generously applied coats of brilliant white paint gave everything a uniform "New England look."
Luckily, the scale and proportions of this building held up well to the adaptations it was given in 1933. The Berean Baptist Church, 1878, which you can see just down Chapel Street to your left, was also given a makeover.

7 Levy Memorial
Just past the church, set back a few paces from the street, is an unassuming memorial to town-benefactor Austin T. Levy.
An idealist, Levy's goal of running a model American factory would not have been complete without a model American town to go with it, apple trees and all. As a result of Levy's Town Buildings Project, Harrisville has the look and feel of a planned community.
The fortune made by Levy's textile empire – encompassing mills in Harrisville, Ashaway, Greenville, Glendale, Mapleville, Nasonville, Rhode Island, plus one in Connecticut, and three more in Virginia – now endows The June Rockwell Levy Foundation, an ongoing multi-million dollar philanthropic fund in the name of Levy's wife.

8 Joseph Clarke House
Built about 1845, the house at 116 Main Street is a precious example of domestic Greek Revival-style architecture. Classical designs, especially these petite temple forms were considered a civic ideal in the first half of the 1800s for houses, banks, schools, town halls, courthouses and churches. All across America, new gable-ended buildings, were being set on their lots "end-on" to the sidewalk so that they could have a perfect Parthenon-like portico tacked on.

9 Town Office Complex
Visitors are welcome at the Town Office at 105 Main Street. If there is no meeting in the chamber room, take a look at the wall mural of Burrillville. Burrillville was established in 1806, set apart from Glocester, because area residents had complained for years that it was too far to travel for town meetings. Although it was not the largest village in the new town, Harrisville became the administrative center.
The Town Office building and the now attached Ninth District Court building were two other components of the mid-1930s Town Buildings Project.

10 Mill Houses
Scattered throughout the center of the historic district are mill houses built by the Harrisville mill owners between 1870 and 1895. At the time of the 1875 census, the population of Harrisville had already swelled to 605 residents, many foreign-born.
Like some other mill owners of their time, local proprietors understood that dependable operatives with families could not easily be recruited to towns with bad tenements and rough reputations. While a decent paycheck was a priority, small town life was cherished by both native and immigrant laborers. Separated by driveways and side yards suitable for small garden plots, the one and one-half story duplex-type mill house, despite the monotony of repetition, made neighbors out of newcomers in no time.

11 Harrisville Pond Overlook
On the right-hand side of Main Street is a good resting spot on the benches at the back of the parking lot across from St. Patrick's Catholic Church. An earlier wood-frame church once stood where the parking lot is, but it was demolished by the 1938 hurricane.
Contemplating the serenity of this idyllic little lake, it is easy to forget that this body of water is also one of Harrisville's most important industrial artifacts. A man-made pond is a vital clue in piecing together the story of a mill village's past. Mills used water for spinning waterwheels, boiling into steam, washing wool and dying cloth.
There was plenty of working water in Burrillville, but then, as now, some ponds are just for fun. The Stillwater News, June 15, 1944 Well, it's warm again and there are times we all wish we could just leave everything and go up to the lake for a swim.

Hopedale
Hopedale is located just off Route 16. To get there from Route 146, follow Route 16 East through Uxbridge and Mendon, approximately eight miles. Turn left on Hopedale Street. From Route 495, take exit 20, Milford, Route 85 south to Route16. Follow Route 16 West and turn right on Hopedale Street. Adin Ballou Park is on your right, between Social and Peace streets.
Free parking is available on Hopedale Street near the Bancroft Memorial Library. Adin Ballou Park is diagonally across the street.
Good resting areas are Parklands, near the Little Red Shop, and the small park at the corner of Hopedale and Dutcher streets.
Source: National Park Service, Hopedale Walking tour, June 2001, John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor

Hopedale is unique among the villages of the Blackstone River Valley in that it was born of two distinct attempts to create an ideal society. Founded in 1841 as a small communal association of Practical Christians who advocated temperance, abolition, women's rights, Christian socialism, and non-violence, Hopedale evolved into a paternalistic model company town.
Today, its tree-lined streets, abundant parks, grand buildings and silent towering manufacturing complex invite you to relive the story of a town rooted in a dream of "peace and love" and tempered by the fire of industry and spectacular wealth.
The story began when Universalist Reverend Adin Ballou and forty-four followers purchased a 258-acre farm in an area long known as "the Dale," located on both sides of the Mill River in the town of Milford. There they established "Fraternal Community No.1," launching what they hoped would be an ever growing number of Practical Christian communities that would transform the world.
Among this small band of Yankee pioneers was Ebenezer D. Draper, who ran a machine shop that produced parts for mechanical weaving looms. Eventually, Draper's business became the main source of support for the communal association, and in 1856 he and his entrepreneurial brother, George, purchased the community and assumed all of its debts. George Draper gave rise to a new era in Hopedale. His successful use of technological innovations resulted in the Draper Company's emergence as the nation's leading manufacturer of looms for the textile industry.
Combining great wealth with a strong social conscience, the Draper family maintained complete control over the town for over one hundred years. They provided jobs, built and maintained award-winning workers' houses, erected imposing public buildings, and regulated most aspects of public life within the community. They also left an endowment that continues to be used for community projects today.
At its height of production, the Draper Corporation employed more than 4,000 workers. But, due largely to the decline of the American textile industry, the Draper family divested themselves of most of their town properties in the 1960s, and the Corporation was acquired by an outside owner. By 1978 the plant was closed.
Today, the sprawling factory lies on the edge of town like a sleeping giant. But the town's moral and social underpinnings still resonate in the streets of Hopedale-streets named Freedom, Social, Union, Peace, and Hope.
Reverend Adin Ballou, a Unitarian clergyman from Mendon, was the guiding spirit for the Practical Christians who founded Hopedale. When the original community disbanded, he wrote, "The great question involved in our Hopedale experiment is not yet settled; only postponed to a wiser and better time."

Library Parking Lot

1 Adin Ballou Park
Your tour begins in Adin Ballou Park where the statue of Hopedale's founder presides over a beaten front door step and bootscraper, the only remnants of the farmhouse the first Hopedale settlers called home. The spirit of hope that inspired these Practical Christians is evident in the town's name, Hopedale, which they chose for their fledgling experiment in communal living.
Much like the1960s, the 1840s were a time when many people questioned the moral authority of the existing establishment and sought to achieve modern Utopias by restructuring society along communal lines. During the 1840s, Henry David Thoreau withdrew to his cabin on Walden Pond, while Transcendentalists such as Emerson and the Alcotts experimented with communal living at Brook Farm and Fruitlands.
The original Hopedale community was the most enduring of these communal societies, outliving the better known Brook Farm by a decade.

2 Factory Site
As you head northwest along Hopedale street, you will immediately be struck by the monolithic factory complex before you. The Draper office building across the street, between Social and Chapel streets, is connected to the manufacturing plant by a tunnel. It was at the Draper offices, not the town hall, that most residents paid their taxes during the years of the Draper Corporation's dominance.
The section of the factory built first stands on Freedom Street, where it was constructed to take advantage of water power from Hopedale Pond. From the bridge on Freedom Street you can see the water rushing under the building.
By the 1890s, the Drapers dominated the nation's loom-making business. They manufactured every piece of the machines they used, including the nuts and bolts. They processed raw steel in their own foundry. They purchased land in northern New England to assure themselves of a steady supply of wood. The Grafton and Upton Railroad brought in raw goods, while trolleys provided transportation for workers from Milford and Uxbridge.
To ensure a force of stable dedicated workers, the Drapers built quality company housing. Today, these large, comfortable duplex houses are still inhabited. You can see some of them along the shoreline of Hopedale Pond and in other sections of town.

Draper office building
George Draper had a passion for finding innovative technology to make the production of cloth more efficient. He led the company's charge to become the nation's leading producer of machines for the clothmaking industry. The more idealistic Ebenezer, who had started the business as a member of the original Hopedale community, eventually moved to Boston and died in bankruptcy.
In 1887, the Drapers cut the work week to fifty-five hours, more than a decade before Massachusetts made those hours a state requirement. Well into the 20th century, residents regulated their lives according to the company's bells which rang at 6:00 a.m. to wake people up, 6:55 a.m. to alert employees to report for work, 12 noon for lunch, and 12:55 to remind employees to return to work. A 9 p.m. bell served as a curfew for most of the town's youth.
The loom temple, patented by Ebenezer's father, Ira, revolutionized the weaving process. By holding the fabric taut, the temple greatly reduced the number of hours required to manufacture cloth. Mechanized weaving led to a reduction in the cost of cloth, so that many people today own many more clothes than did their ancestors.
In addition to providing inexpensive housing, the Drapers implemented an efficient system of garbage collection and constructed a sewerage system that, by the late 1890s, was connected to every house in town. All houses had water, gas, electricity, and indoor plumbing by 1910.
During the Great Depression, the Drapers suspended rent collection for two years and provided work for every employee at least one day a week.

Tour Extension 1

Bridge on Freedom Street

3 Little Red Shop
The Little Red Shop across Freedom Street provides a stark contrast to the sprawling Draper Complex. Yet it was in the rear section of this shop that the original Hopedale community operated several machine businesses, and where Ebenezer Draper began to manufacture loom temples.
When George Draper joined his brother's business in 1853, he devoted his considerable energy to finding more and improved ways to mechanize the weaving process. He was so successful that they soon outgrew the Little Red Shop: during the 1880s alone, Draper companies produced and sold more than six million new highspeed spindles to textile companies.
The Drapers moved the shop twice before placing it in its present location. It houses a collection of memorabilia related to the cloth-making industry.
http://www.littleredshopmuseum.org/

4 The Parklands
From the Little Red Shop, you can see the Parklands stretching along the eastern shores of Hopedale Pond, with the path beginning behind the beach. Before the turn of the century, the Drapers hired Warren Henry Manning, who had helped develop Boston's regional park system, to design a public park around the pond. If time permits, enjoy a stroll through this carefully planned woodland comprised of over a thousand acres (nearly one third of the town's acreage).

Hopedale Pond
Hopedale Pond provided water power for the mill and recreation for town residents.

Tour Extension 2

Tour Extension 3

5 Dutcher Street Company Housing
Continuing north along Hopedale Street to Dutcher Street, you will find rows of duplex company houses, which were constructed between 1902 and 1907. By 1910, Hopedale had won international recognition for its model housing for workers, with an English housing expert declaring it "America's Best".
The Drapers formed an "Army of Volunteers" to provide free maintenance to keep the houses in good condition. But there were restrictions: fences were prohibited and no one could "tie or fasten any horse to any shade or ornamental tree".
Turn right on Dutcher Street. Adin Ballou's house, built in 1841, is number 64. Continue down the street where you will see the Dutcher Street School, now condominiums, and the Hopedale House on the left. This former rooming house with over one hundred rooms provided housing for Draper employees who lived alone.

Town Park

Adin Ballou's house

Dutcher Street School

Central Fire Station

Hopedale House

Union Evangelical Church

Hopedale Community House

Draper Gymnasium

6 Unitarian Church And Townhall
At the corner of Dutcher and Adin streets note an old street sign donated to the town by George Draper's son, William, who distinguished himself in the Civil War. Turn right and you will find yourself at the Unitarian Church. This granite structure was erected in 1898 in the name of George and Hannah Draper by their sons George and Eben. Eben Draper served as governor of Massachusetts from 1909 - 1911.
Across the street stands the town hall. Built of local granite and brownstone, this building was a gift of George A. Draper and presented to the town in 1887, one year after Hopedale was granted township. It was designed to accommodate businesses on the ground floor and has an auditorium on the second floor.

Old Street Sign

Hopedale High School

Town Hall

Harrison Block

Henry L. Patrick Store Site
The Henry L. Patrick store sold groceries and dry goods. For many years, it was the only business in town not owned by the Draper firm.

Statue of Hope Fountain

7 Bancroft Memorial Library
As you head back toward Adin Ballou Park on Hopedale Street, you will come to the Bancroft Memorial Library. Joseph Bancroft was a member of the original Hopedale community, and in 1856 he cast the lone vote against the dissolution of the community. He remained a life-long friend of Adin Ballou and became a business partner to the Drapers. With a strong interest in improving community life, he provided the money to build this distinguished building, which he dedicated to his wife.
The library houses a small collection of artifacts and memorabilia, including Adin Ballou's cradle and writing desk, as well as some fine portraits of Hopedale's founders.

Adin Park

Leicester
From downtown Worcester, follow Park Avenue, Route 9 west into Leicester. Alternately, from 146 N or S, follow Route 20 West for 7.5 miles. Turn right onto Route 56. Continue 6 miles to Leicester center at the junction of Route 9. Staying on Route 56, turn right at this intersection, then turn at the first left. (Signs indicate Becker College.) At the town common, take the first right.
Source: National Park Service, Leicester Walking tour, September 2003, John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor

Marauding Mohawks may have been the reason the sachems of the Nipmuck tribe tolerated the initial English interest in the land along the banks of Kettle Brook. Hoping that a handful of white men might offer them some protection from nearby warrior tribes, the Nipmucks were friendly in their negotiations with the eight men from Roxbury, MA who purchased nine miles square in 1686. The price was 15 pounds, and it was a wise buy for the investors: at least three well-used Nipmuck trails criss-crossed at what would become Leicester center, and the land lay along a Boston Post Road, now Route 9.
In the Algonquin language, the region was called Towtaid. The first English settlers, none of whom were the original partners, built their first meeting house in 1719, and incorporated as Leicester – for Leicester, England – in 1722.
At the same time that tracts of farmlands were being cleared on the town's rolling hills, small streams and brooks were being put to use to turn the waterwheels at numerous sawmills, gristmills and fulling mills. The population of Leicester grew to 1100 inhabitants by 1800 and there soon were more mill workers than farmers. This placed Leicester's earliest businessmen squarely at the forefront of the new nation's procession from "farm to factory" during the textile boom in the first half of the 19th century.
At the start of the Industrial Revolution, Leicester already had an important role to play. The town's small but efficient workshops, realizing that "mechanical business has for years been more profitable than agriculture" specialized in making hand cards – combing tools used to prepare raw fibers for spinning into thread. By the late 1820s, its merchants claimed there is "scarcely a state in the union that is not, to some extent, supplied with these [cards] from this town." While Leicester's seven villages prospered, many of the town's farms, which were once expertly cultivated, had become "little better than mere wastes, where briars and bushes were the only productions of the soil."
When the pendulum of industrialization in New England swung in reverse in the mid-20th century Leicester's prime industries, like thousands of others in the region, closed. Some mills and worker housing were lost to fires and floods. Suburbanization after World War II changed the landscape further. now that more than half of its area is reforested, the entire town reflects the character of its rural beginnings. While other early towns throughout the Blackstone Valley boomed every time a canal basin was dug, or a train station opened, or a new highway exit was paved, Leicester seems to have somehow guarded what has been a quieter, though no less industrious, way of life.
On this short walk around the village green, you'll soon see why Leicester center so effortlessly retains the spirit of the past.
The ring of the green is a half-mile walk. Begin by walking into the Common on the walkway through the West side leading past the stone monument honoring Leicester's Minute Men.

1 Leicester Common
Town life was well anchored around the village green long before the Revolution. Strollers on the Common in the late 18th century walked past their favorite tavern on their way to the meetinghouse. Perhaps they stopped to chat on the steps of a store with a friend. Continuing on, they came to a newly founded private school, respectably housed in a former store and past several more stylish residences of the town's leading merchants and manufacturers.
By the 1880s, the green was "much used in summer for lawn tennis, croquet and baseball games," and even then had "a pleasant little grove on the East side."
Cranking the clock forward to today, Leicester Center manages to exude an inclusive sense of community even now. The Common has that unmistakable aura of authenticity that the planners of America's "new towns" attempt, but more often fail, to duplicate.
From the walkway across the West corner of the Common, you have a good side view of the Becker College Administration building.
The unadorned gable-ended back ell of the Hiram Knight house at 3 Paxton St. (Route 56) is most likely the oldest building on the green. The house is now used as the administration building of Becker College. The ell most likely dates from after 1767, and the newer part of the house dates from the 1840s.
Reuben Swan was the tenth individual to run a pub on this site, holding the license from 1781 to 1801. Swan is also known as a founder of Leicester Academy. More like clubs, taverns everywhere were cornerstones of colonial life for villagers and travelers alike. One D.A.R. historian colorfully described another nearby establishment as "a miserable rum-hole at the time it was wiped out by fire in 1882" not hesitating to add, "no respectable person was sorry to see it go."
Continue along the North side of the Common to the Federated Church and the Town Hall.
On a side wall of the Federated Church is a stone tablet with four dates on it. Three are the dates of construction of the earlier meeting houses that stood on the Common. This church was dedicated in 1901. A tallspired church built in the 1860s might still proudly dominate the green to this day had it not been torched by a bolt of lightening in 1900.
Take a moment to look at the seal in the gable end of the Town Hall. It reads "Incorporated 1722," but 1713, is the official date recognized by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Leicester did not receive tax-collecting powers until 1722. There are those who argue for the sake of history that the seal needs to have 1686 on it, the year of the original deed of purchase.
Leicester Academy appears on the seal. In 1783, Sturbridge resident Col. Ebenezer Crafts along with other gentlemen from Leicester petitioned to charter a private school here. The next year, Leicester Academy opened in a former store facing the Common. It opened with four students, and by autumn, there were eighty pupils.
A brochure for the Leicester Inn that once stood on the Common, claimed it was located at "the easternmost point of the Berkshire Hills." While this was a generous tweak of geography for the sake of catchy advertising, Leicester did enjoy a reputation in the early 1900s as a tranquil summer resort "free from malaria." There were tennis courts, riding stables and a country club. The pamphlet suggested that guests might want to send their baggage ahead to the inn, so they could come by "electrics" all the way from Boston.

2 Unitarian Church (1834)
Continue on the North side of the Common.
Leicester's Unitarian Congregation gathered in 1833 and raised $4,000 for their new meeting house by selling shares. The church looks much as it always has. A combination of three different elements – temple, tower and a traditional oblong meeting house – it nonetheless has a quiet confidence. It was spared a Victorian-era "remodeling" into something more ornate.
In a democratic nation that had just shunned the rule of monarchy forever, Greek Revival-style buildings became popular. Their precisely balanced forms seemed at the time to symbolize simple truths about equality and by association, freedom.

3 Becker College
Abundant historical records document the love of knowledge and learning among the inhabitants of early Leicester. The townspeople built their first school in 1738. Before then, the teacher had been going to three different locations to teach for thirty days at a time for a stipend of $3.75 a month.
The founding of Leicester Academy in 1784 gave the town an unmatched respectability. Some claimed that Leicester's excellent schools were the reason why "intelligence was diffused throughout the community." Others believed that something in the "atmosphere of the place seems to foster intellectual acumen."
In 1937, the Academy burned down. Leicester Junior College purchased the land, and built here a few years later. It merged to become a satellite campus for Worcester's Becker College in the late 1970s.
Today, the Leicester campus includes 19 buildings, many of which are historic structures. With a co-ed enrollment of about one thousand students, Becker's areas of academic excellence are business, education and animal and health sciences.
Perhaps no other structure is more closely identified with Becker College than the pump house. How interesting that a functional building was given such lavish architectural details.
Tour the Becker College campus by picking up a free campus map at the Borger Academic Center at 9 Washburn Square (directly behind the Marsh Hall building).

4 May Hall
Continue straight from the East side of the green into the Becker campus on the road to the left the Swan Library.
960 Main Street. This 1840 house was built by the first Unitarian minister in Leicester, the Reverend Samuel May and remained in the family for 126 years.
When asked by church leaders in 1846 to ease off on his impassioned discourses on the subject of abolishing slavery, May instead asked to be dismissed after a 12-year pastorate. Although he left his pulpit, he did not permanently leave town. Today, the May house is a residence hall of Becker College.
Samuel May (1810-1899) was born in Boston and graduated from Harvard in 1829. He was an ardent abolitionist, serving as treasurer of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society. May's direct descendants claim that he made good use of the location of his country residence as a waypoint on the Underground Railroad. Since violating the Fugitive Slave Laws was not generally a matter people wrote copious personal notes about, oral tradition is the only evidence that slaves fleeing to freedom in Canada hid beneath a trap door in May's now demolished barn.

5 Main Street
In the 1890s, the Spencer trolley line ran from Worcester along old Main Street. It took 30 minutes for anyone with a little leisure time and 15 cents to escape what had become New England's third largest city, and step off the streetcar into this bucolic country setting. The excursion was so popular that people sometimes overcrowded the cars, and one woman once complained of the crush, saying "I've waited till Sunday to have a pleasant ride, but I can't see where the pleasure comes in."
Stroll past many of the fine residences lining Main Street, most of which now house Becker College students. On your way you will see:
963 Main Street, the Russell family home for generations, built in 1828, altered in 1867;
981 Main Street, built in 1812 by Roswell Sprague, as a two and one-half story Federal style house, now much altered;
995 Main Street, formerly Leicester Junior College's dean's residence, a classic Federal style brick dwelling built in 1813 by card maker David MacFarland;
997 Main Street, also built by MacFarland as a store, it became a double-tenement house in 1835, then a one-family;
1003 Main Street, built by Col. Thomas Denny, Jr., another card maker, as a double house in 1791, later converted to a one-family.
As you reach the southwest corner of the Common, near the stone marker commemorating General Washington's visit to Leicester in 1775, turn right on the walkway crossing the center of the green back to the Town Hall parking lot
From the town Common, walk or drive .5 miles on Route 9 West, Main Street, to the Rawson Brook Cemetery on the right-hand side. Note that parking is not allowed on Route 9.

6 Rawson Brook Cemetery
Entering the gate, turn left in front of the flagpole towards the farthest row of three- and four-foot tall slates. Compare the three headstones of Johnson Watson, d. 1770, Samuel Watson, d. 1778, and his wife, Margrat, d. 1780. The carver who did the effigy on Johnson's headstone detailed eyebrows and a nice bowtie. The figure on Samuel's headstone has wings carved right across the chest. The face on Mrs. Watson's stone hardly seems to be a portrait of her, and it has an unusual zigzag hairdo. Note that the carver did not bother to polish away the guidelines he scratched to help him do the lettering on some of the stones.
There are four Watson girls, none of whom married, buried in a row. Betsy, Sally and Clarissa all died in their twenties, and a child, Unis, died at the age of five.
Another grave worth noting is the plot of Col. William Henshaw, d. 1820, in the row behind and to the right of the flagpole. Read the large footstone, crediting him as "Founder Of The Minute Men." In 1774, he recommended that men between the ages of sixteen and sixty years of age be enlisted and "ready to act at a minute's notice." When a call against the British came from Boston on April 19, 1775, it took the Colonel four hours to assemble his Worcester County Minute Men. His regiment marched into Cambridge the following day.
Besides the several hundred markers you see here, there are believed to be some one hundred unmarked burials. Several others were lost when Rawson Brook was dammed to create Sargent's Pond.

Extra Info
Pliny Earle (1762-1832) opened his carding mill in Leicester in 1786. Workers glued a calfskin panel pierced with rows of thousands of wire teeth onto one side of the thin wooden paddles. Many craftsmen were kept busy – carpenters, tanners, gluemakers, wire-makers, and also, women and children doing piecework assembly. Earle and other Leicester manufacturers perfected machinery (some of which was powered by trained dogs) for piercing the leather and setting the wire teeth in "card cloth" used on the immense rollers of carding machines. Samuel Slater of the Almy and Brown Mill in Pawtucket sought out the ingenious Pliny Earle to solve mechanical problems he encountered in getting his early cotton carding machines to work properly.

Mendon
Mendon is located just off Route 16. To get there from Route 146, follow Route 16 East through Uxbridge to Mendon, approximately six miles. Turn right at the traffic lights onto Main Street and park at Founders' Park. From Route 495, take Exit 20 for Milford/Rt.85. Follow Rt. 85 South to Rt. 16. Follow Route 16 West past Hopedale to Mendon and turn left at the traffic lights. Free parking is on Main Street along Founders' Park.
Refreshments are available in the town center.
Good resting areas are Founders' Park and the cemeteries on the tour.
Source: National Park Service, Mendon Walking tour, September 1997, John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor

0.6 miles / 1.0 kilometer

It is hard to tell whether Mendon is better known as the mother town of all the towns that abut it, or as the town that did not let George Washington sleep there.
While both stories are rooted in fact (an innkeeper's wife turned the President away in 1789), there is another truth about Mendon that is more immediately apparent to the passing visitor: to visit Mendon is to glimpse a 19th-century farming community unaltered by industrialization.
Unlike many towns within the Blackstone Valley, Mendon never became the site of major industrial villages. Instead, it became an important source of farm products to an increasingly industrialized population. Perched on a hilltop at a crossroads to four major manufacturing centers, Mendon's farm production increased in the late 19th century to meet the growing demands of nearby manufacturing centers. Even today, Mendon's agrarian roots can be seen in its winding roads, tranquil pastures, and sturdy stone walls.
The second-oldest town in Worcester County, Lancaster being the oldest, Mendon began as an eight mile square tract purchased for twenty-four pounds from several Native American tribes in 1662. John Eliot, historically famous "Apostle to the Indians," was one of the witnesses of the deed.
In 1663, fifteen families, mostly from Braintree and Weymouth, undertook the arduous task of creating a new settlement in what was then considered the western frontier. Squinshapauke Plantation, as the isolated settlement was originally known, was incorporated as the town of Mendon in 1667.
Eight years later, Mendon was the first town in the Massachusetts Bay Colony to be attacked in the Native American uprising known as King Philip's War. Five residents were killed, the entire town was burned to the ground, and the community was not resettled until 1679.
Over the next 200 years, "Mother Mendon" lost the furthermost portions of her territory when inhabitants of those distant parishes successfully petitioned the courts to incorporate as separate towns. Lacking the abundant water that powered the early mills of the Industrial Revolution, Mendon residents continued to pursue farming and cottage industries. Even the railroads passed the town by.
Today, quiet Mendon is becoming a bedroom community as many of its pastures are filled with new housing. Cars whiz along the intersecting thoroughfares. Yet the past is everywhere evident, in the tiny triangular village, the weathered farm buildings, the sleepy cemeteries, the timeless vistas. In "Mother Mendon," one can still find living vestiges of old New England.

1 Founders' Park
Begin your tour at Founders' Park, site of Mendon's first three meeting houses, where residents held town meetings and worship services. The first meeting house, a 22-foot square structure built in 1668, was burned to the ground along with the rest of the town during King Philip's War. Metacomet, known by white settlers as King Philip, was the son of the great Wampanoag Chief Massasoit. King Philip led his people into a desperate battle with white settlers in an attempt to prevent further encroachment onto ancestral lands.
By 1680, the war was over and Mendon had begun to rebuild. A plaque on the property tells the story of the two subsequent meeting houses built here. Also of interest on the property is a Franklin mile marker in the Northwest corner.

Post Road Mile Stone
The mile stone on Founders' Park marks 37 miles from Boston. It was erected in 1772, during Benjamin Franklin's administration as Postmaster General for the Colonies. Franklin had the markers erected at varying intervals on all post roads from Boston to Philadelphia. Route 16 was at that time known as the Middle Post Road, and was the major route from Boston to Hartford and New Haven.

2 Ammidon Tavern
Looking across Main Street you will see Ammidon Tavern. Built in 1745, this building is a relatively rare Worcester County example of a Georgian public house. Famous guests included Nathan Hale but not George Washington.
Legend has it that President Washington, during his triumphal inaugural journey in 1789, had planned to stay at the tavern on his return trip to New York. But the innkeeper's wife did not recognize the presidential party and advised them to continue down the road to the Taft Tavern in Uxbridge. There is no known account of how the president reacted to this unexpected refusal, but an existing letter from Washington reveals that he was greatly pleased by the hospitality he received from the Tafts, ancestors of future president William H. Taft.

A walk down Main Street enables you to imagine the town as it was in the 19th century. The Mendon Historical Society building, adjacent to Founders' Park, was built as the Mendon Bank in 1825. It subsequently served as a law office, a private school, a dwelling, and the public library.
What is now the Baptist Church was built in 1830 by Congregationalists who separated from the Unitarian Church during the religious upheaval that swept New England in the 1830s.
The Adin Ballou house at 9 Main Street is named for the preacher who founded the Utopian society at Hopedale in 1842. Ballou was a minister in Mendon's Unitarian Church for a decade before he and 44 followers withdrew from town to begin their great experiment in Practical Christian communal living. From this house he published his weekly newsletter, the Independent Messenger, from 1831 to 1842.
The tiny brick building at 13 Main Street was built in the 1820s as a law office. It subsequently housed town offices, a tailor's shop, and a general store. It is commonly referred to as the "record room" because it was used to store town records.
As you approach Memorial Square, note the long two-story structure to your right. This 1830s commercial building has housed a number of general stores where residents have met for generations to discuss news of the day.

Mendon Historical Society

Baptist Church

Adin Ballou House

1830s Commercial Building

4 Unitarian Church
Turn right on Maple Street and walk one block to the Unitarian Church, the oldest church building in town. Designed by master builder Elias Carter in 1820, it is a classic example of early 19th-century church architecture. The spire, rising 130 feet, was damaged by fire caused by lightning in 1936 and was duly replaced.
Turn back along Maple Street and return to Main Street, noting the modest 19thcentury houses that form the nucleus of the town. Holding pride of place in the town center is Memorial Square - dedicated to Mendon's sons and daughters who served their country in times of war.

0.2 mile / 0.33 kilometer

Willow Brook

Civil War Monument

5 George House
Looking south down Main Street, you will see a grand Federal style house on the left side of the street. It was built in 1810 by the George family, a notable family of lawyers, town officers, farmers, boot and shoe manufacturers, and, in the late 19th century, bottlers of Miscoe Spring Water. This is the most architecturally sophisticated Federal house in town. The property presents a memorable vignette of a prosperous early 19th-century farm, with its old stone walls, period slat-work fencing, farm buildings of various vintages, old trees, and open fields.
Return to your car and drive to the Old Cemetery. At Memorial Square, continue down Main Street past the George House. The Old Cemetery will be on your right.

0.1 mile / 0.16 kilometer

Memorial Square

Taft Public Library

6 Old Cemetery
Established in 1669, the Old Cemetery contains the graves of 40 Revolutionary War soldiers. Many of the older headstones, carved with such traditional mourning symbols as the cherub or urn and willow, have been worn down by years of weathering. The oldest graves were marked with simple fieldstone.
Turn down George Street, directly across from the cemetery, to visit two other old cemeteries.
Many people enjoy an afternoon in the Old Cemetery because of its interesting art and epitaphs such as this one: My children dear, this place draw near, a mother's grave to see. Not long ago I was with you, and soon you'll be with me.

Col. Philip Ammidon Grave

Beware of Dog
Large dog on neighboring property prevented my access to this end of the cemetery

7 George Street
A short drive down George Street brings you to two old burial grounds. On the right is the site of Mendon's first Friends Meeting House and Quaker Cemetery. Note the many weathered fieldstone markers. Worship services were held here regularly from 1729 to 1841, when they were discontinued by the Smithfield Monthly Meeting. The building was sold in 1850 to Colonel Israel Plummer of Northbridge, who dismantled it and used its timbers to construct a train depot near his granite quarry and store in Whitinsville.
Across the street is the George Cemetery, an excellent example of a family burial ground. Its orderly plantings and marker arrangement are typical of the classical orientation of formal landscaping in the early 1800s. Burials took place there from the 1820s to the 1980s. The cemetery was formerly the site of Mendon's first school house, built in 1709.

Friends Cemetery

George Cemetery

King Philip's War Plaque
This plaque on Providence Street at the intersection of East Hartford Avenue, marks the beginning of King Philip's War in the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

Lake Nipmuc Park
Lake Nipmuc Park was a popular resort for many years. Its theater drew top-notch vaudeville acts and its ballroom attracted the best in the musical world. Transportation to the park was originally by trolley from Milford and from Uxbridge. On weekends, the cars ran about every 15 minutes.
[This site is NOT open to the public]

Millbury
Exit from Route 146, following the signs to Millbury Center onto Main Street. Stay on Main Street to intersection at Elm Street. Turn right onto Elm. Then left onto School Street. The Waters Mansion parking lot is the first driveway on your right.
Source: National Park Service, Millbury Walking tour, October 2001, John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor

Tucked to one side of several major thoroughfares, the Massachusetts Turnpike, Rt. 146, the railroads, and the river, Millbury seems but a modest suburb of nearby Worcester. Yet it is Millbury's geographic position, sitting so close to where things meet, that has given the town a vital role in the industrial upheaval born in the Blackstone Valley.
Millbury began as Sutton's Second or North Parish in the 1700s, the industrial district of a farming community. Throughout America, ninety percent of all Americans tilled the soil, while most manufactures were imported from Europe or hand-made by artisans. Recognizing the industrial potential of Sutton's northern districts, investors established waterpowered mills on the Blackstone and Singletary rivers, mass producing flour, lumber, paper, textiles, guns, and other metal products. Villages formed around these mills, and after several attempts this district was incorporated as the new town of Millbury in 1813. The mills gradually stimulated commerce and inventions, while attracting immigrants from Ireland, Great Britain, and French-speaking Canada.
In many ways, Millbury's development was shaped by its proximity to several New England crossroads. It was near Millbury that Native Americans called the Blackstone the "Halfway River," marking it on their travel from the Connecticut River to the sea. In the colonial era the English established an east-west route "the Bay Road" while a north-south route connected that road to Millbury. By 1828, the Blackstone Canal also traveled north-south from Worcester to Providence. In 1837 the first rail connection to Boston was made, followed ten years later by the Providence and Worcester Railroad. As a result, intersecting waves of people and ideas repeatedly transformed Millbury's historic landscape.
While change is never easy, Millbury has always found ways to innovate, renovate, and renew. It was here that Thomas Blanchard invented the eccentric lathe to turn irregular objects. Millbury was also among the first to print postage stamps, create a lyceum to present public lectures and use water power to manufacture guns. It was local mill workers who, in 1831 published The Plebian and Workingmen's Advocate, one of America's first labor newspapers. Local mill owners repeatedly adapted their facilities to new uses and technology over the years. Today, Millbury continues to incorporate innovation and new people, while saving what is special about its heritage.

1 Asa Waters Mansion
Not all mill money went into banks and businesses, as seen in this estate built in 1826-29. As some of the county's largest landowners and employers, members of the Waters family reinforced community standards of authority and respectability with visible displays of wealth. While church leaders supported republican government, many also believed in a "natural aristocracy" in which white, male land-owners should lead.
Nonetheless, the family drew the line at slavery. They may have supported the rights of African-American people on moral grounds, or just believed in the argument that "free soil, free labor, free men" were necessary for industrial capitalism. Regardless, residents proudly keep alive the local folklore that the Waters Mansion was a station on the Underground Railroad, helping runaway slaves escape to freedom. While the truth remains buried in the past, there is no question that Asa H. Waters III, gun manufacturer, lawyer, banker and legislator was anti-slavery and active in the Free Soil Party.
Asa Waters II spent two years gathering materials for his "honeymoon cottage". It was one of the last buildings in town to use the Georgian Colonial design. Materials in the house include Southern hard pine and brick, Central American mahogany and Italian marble. The woodwork was handcrafted and the house designer, Asher Benjamin, was brought in from Boston.
http://www.asawaters.org

2 Blackstone River/Armory Site
Over the fence, you will see the turbulent rapids of the Blackstone River. The Asa Waters family perceived the possibilities for water powered industry along the river here as early as the 1770s. Descended from a line of gun-makers, Asa Waters was the first to use waterpower for what had been a labor-intensive handcraft. He built gun works and a powder mill on Singletary Brook, making weapons for the revolutionary army. He also acquired 800 acres of land and passed his wealth and gun making skills on to his sons. In 1808, Asa Waters II built an armory where you now stand. With his son Asa Waters III, he made guns for the United States military and also operated flannel, cotton, sash, and bind and nail factories.
As industry grew, a transportation system linked Millbury to the rest of the region. When the Blackstone Canal opened in 1828, two horses slowly towed barges through Millbury's landscape. The nine locks in the canal here made the trip through town slow indeed. Next steam powered railroads rushed raw materials and finished goods between Millbury and major seaports. Then by 1901, two electric powered trolleys ran through town.
Waterpower provides a primary reason for Millbury's industrial history. Both Singletary Brook and the Blackstone River have a steep drop as they pass through Millbury, providing a number of suitable dam building sites. Particularly stunning is the sharp drop over the Class 3 rapids on the Blackstone River visible from the Main Street Bridge.

Main Street Bridge

3 Millbury Center
Many New England towns were created from earlier colonial era towns in response to rising populations, changing resources and new opportunities. A perfect example of this is Millbury where the migration of Sutton residents northward towards the waterpower sites of the Blackstone River led to the creation of a new town in 1813. Armory Village was established in 1808, built around the activities at the Waters Armory. Like its sister textile based mill villages throughout the Blackstone Valley, Armory Village grew to become a population and commercial center, and later the seat of the town offices. Today, the small common provides a respite from the bustling traffic and business district that surrounds it.

4 Central Diner
Diners, sites for the original "workingman's lunch," are another product of the Blackstone Valley. Invented in Providence in 1872, horse drawn lunch carts were soon being manufactured in Worcester to serve working people after restaurants closed. With its original wood interior, steam tables and stained-glass windows, the Central Diner is one of 651 cars made by the Worcester Lunch Cart Company between 1906-1957. It is built in the popular "railroad dining car" style known across the country.

5 Millbury Federated Church
A classic example of the New England "white church on the common", the Millbury Federated Church opened in 1828 as the First Presbyterian Church of Millbury. Asa Waters II was one of its founders. In 1834, it became the Second Congregational Church of Millbury. In 1919, the Second Congregational Church and the Methodist Church, founded in 1822, united to form the new Federated congregation.

6 Millbury Savings
Growing businesses made banking a necessity to handle their many transactions. Mills required banks to handle their payroll and purchasing accounts.
When the Millbury Bank (later Millbury National Bank) was created in 1825, mill owners were its main stockholders and Asa Waters II was its president. The Millbury Saving Bank, established in 1854, was also run by mill owners, including Asa Waters III. Both banks moved to this site in 1881 and shared it for many years.

7 U.S. Post Office
While human intersections often generate valuable exchanges, diverse and changing cultures also bring conflict. When this building was built in 1941, it held one of America's steel reinforced bomb shelters. In time, local children would practice air-raid drills in its basement. A mural in the lobby, painted by artist Joseph Lasker, shows a different conflict. Lasker was among the unemployed aided by the Works Progress Administrations in the Depression. Invited to paint a WPA mural using local history, Lasker depicted the battle that ensued when colonist met Native Americans in the vicinity of nearby Ramshorn Pond in 1675, during King Philip's War.

8 Torrey House
Town leaders also extended their influence beyond Millbury. The Torrey House, beyond the fire station, was built in 1824 for Susan H. Waters (daughter of Asa Waters II and Susan Holman), when she married Samuel D. Torrey. Their grandson, William Howard Taft of Ohio became U.S, President in 1908. Asa H. Waters III and Mary Hovey also were grandparents of Gilbert Grosvenor, editor of National Geographic. Grosvenor married Elsie May Bell, daughter of inventor and National Geographic Society president Alexander Graham Bell.

9 Millbury Public Library
Across Elm Street from the family home, Delia Torrey, Asa Waters II granddaughter donated her cow pasture in 1903 to be used as the site for a town library. The library opened in 1915, built with $12,500 donated by steel magnate Andrew Carnegie who had spearheaded a drive to build new libraries across America. Long before then, however, town leaders where shaping local culture. The lyceum movement–organizations presenting public lectures–began here c.1820 by Josiah Holbrook. In 1832, Asa Waters donated land for the Millbury Academy. Abby Kelley Foster, advocate for Women's rights, ran the Millbury Women's Abolition Society.

Millbury's Central Cemetery
Millbury's Central Cemetery, on Waters Street in Armory Village, contains the graves of many prominent old Millbury families, including that of Asa Waters III.

Fetters Co.

Hakes Manufacturing Co.

Buck Brothers edge tool works

Cordis Mill (c. 1870)

Millbury's Old Common
Millbury's Old Common, at Elmwood Street and Carleton Road, is the town's original center. It has many old homes, built as early as 1747, including a former general store, a tavern, and a one-room school house.

S&D Spinning Mill
S&D Spinning Mill on West Main Street (formerly the Wheeler Cotton Mill, depicted on the town seal) was built in 1846. It sits upon one of the oldest mill sites in continuous operation in the U.S. Since John Singletary built a grist mill there c1720, it has been used for lumber, cotton, linen, and wool production.

Millville
Traveling north: Take Interstate 295 to 146N. Take exit for Route 5 and 102. Turn right off ramp, then left onto 146A. At the light at Slatersville Plaza, turn right, then bear right into Millville onto Central Street. One mile to parking.
Traveling south: Take 146S. Take exit for Uxbridge, Route 16. At junction with Route 122, turn right. Continue, then turn right onto Central Street in Millville. One-quarter mile to parking.
Many interesting places in Millville are near or are private property. Please be respectful and do not trespass, litter, or cut plants and flowers. During hunting season in late fall and early winter, wear bright colors and do not leave the trails. There is no hunting in Massachusetts on Sundays.
Source: National Park Service, Millville Walking tour, September 1997, John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor

Parking
On this walking tour of Millville you will learn to recognize the stone ruins of mill foundations, pieces of the old canal and lock structures, and sections of unused railroads and bridges. These are your best clues to discover what an important link Millville was in transportation and commerce in the Blackstone River Valley during America's Industrial Revolution.
Millville, originally part of Mendon, is the second youngest town in Massachusetts. By 1766 the population had grown enough in the villages along the banks of the Blackstone River for them to organize as Mendon's South Parish. In 1845, Blackstone divided from Mendon to become a separate town, and Millville happily joined it. By then, both Blackstone and Millville were hardworking communities with quite prosperous mills and manufacturers.
In 1906, the residents of the five-square miles of Millville also petitioned for independence. Their first attempt to obtain a "divorce" from Blackstone failed, but ten years later, the Separation Committee refiled "The Millville Bill" with the State of Massachusetts. Among other things, they said, Millville was not receiving its fair share of state apportionment. Moreover, they added, the 2,100 citizens were not allotted sufficient funds for such modern municipal improvements as sidewalks. When the Governor vetoed the bill, the State Senate and House voted to pass the bill over the veto. The busy village incorporated as the Town of Millville on May 1, 1916.
Everyone celebrated the privilege of township with a great parade on May 31st. By some accounts, over 10,000 people witnessed the festivities that lasted from morning until night. Girls and women who worked in the mills proudly waved to the crowds from aboard floats they made. A few schoolchildren and teachers rode on a float, and three hundred more children marched the parade route down Main Street, over the river, and along Central Street. All the industries in Millville were closed for the day, but the mill bells rang and factory whistles blew in celebration, joining chorus with all the church bells and school bells.
Today, the families who live along Millville's quiet side streets and miles of winding country roads enjoy the secure residential lifestyle of their community. No one doubts Millville will always maintain the one feature it has cherished since the day of the great parade in 1916, its own identity.
Clues to Millville's past are all around us – this short "above-ground" archaeological expedition shows you what to look for. Along almost every swift-moving waterway in New England, evidence of early industry has been found, the Blackstone River through Millville is no exception.
Begin the first loop from the visitor's parking area at the corner of Central Street and Hope Street. The terrain is easy and level. The Millville lock may be difficult to reach when nearby brooks swell during lowland flooding.

1 The Southern New England Trunkline Trail
The path leading through the gate at the parking area is the actual Boston & Hartford railroad bed, the tracks were removed in 1955. Just to the right, at a higher level, you can see evidence of the railroad bed of the Grand Trunk line, which was never completed. If it had been, with the still operating Providence & Worcester RR, trains speeding along three sets of tracks would have roared through the center of Millville.
The neighborhood on the left side of the trail (along Hope Street) was called Banigan City, but locals call it New Village. Built in the 1880s for employees of Joseph Banigan's rubber company, the houses were generously sized, two-family units.
Past the row of houses, look for the branch path on the left. Stay on the downhill path for about 200 yards, then step carefully over Angelique Brook. Just ten yards from the riverbank, is a great archaeological find, the best preserved lock along the Blackstone Canal.
After 1870 Joseph Banigan, an Irish immigrant, developed the Banigan Rubber Company into the prosperous Woonsocket Rubber, and later into a consolidation of fifteen factories renamed the United States Rubber Company. The collapse of the company in 1930 jeopardized Millville's independence.
It is common in New England to find aromatic Sweetfern growing along old rail beds, and you might also discover the Massachusetts State Flower. The dainty half-inch Mayflower, fragrant and pinkish-white, blooms in springtime. The trail leading to the Millville Lock leads past a wooded knoll named Mayflower Hill.
The quietest walkers might come upon deer, fox, rabbit, raccoons, mink, and fisher. Look for ducks and geese along the river, and listen for the notes and calls of many local songbirds. The Blackstone River Valley is part of the flyway for North America's migratory species, and the best bird watching is during the spring and fall fly-overs.

2 Lock #21 on The Blackstone Canal
Construction on the canal trench, the lock, and towpath at Millville took place in the Fall of 1827, and again in the spring of 1828. When you compare the quarried blocks in the lock pit with stonework in some of the great mills, you will see that the same experienced workers constructed both. Many were Irish laborers who had previously built the Erie Canal.
At each end of the Millville lock, you can see the iron pins set in grooves on the top of the lock where the huge wooden gates hung. The indentations in the lock wall are so the gates sat flush when fully opened.
Inland from the lock, you can see sections of the towpath beside the canal. Two horses pulled each boat along the canal a distance of fifteen miles a day. The next day, they worked the same section of the canal in the other direction. The animals were small but sturdy, and of no specific breed.
For a brief time, Millville served as a minor collection and distribution center between Uxbridge, upstream, and Blackstone Village, downstream. Much of the old canal and towpath were bought by the railroad less than two decades later to lay down tracks. Overall, the Blackstone Canal project, although considered wonderfully convenient by its users, was considered a major commercial failure by its investors.
The contracts for the lock pits specified measurements of 10 feet in width and 82 feet between gates to accommodate the 75-foot canal boats. The lock floor is about 13 feet down. The walls of the lock are cut granite, at least five feet thick at the foundations. The towpath alongside the canal was about 10 feet wide.

3 The Triad Bridge
Follow the rail bed to the Triad Bridge. Only the lowest rail line, the Providence & Worcester, is still in use and the highest tier, the Grand Trunk, was never completed. But even as it is, this is evidence of an exciting idea, it works like our modern super-highway interchanges. During the late 1800s, these spans were planned so that while boats were passing below, three railroad lines, the Providence & Worcester, the Boston & Hartford, and the Grand Trunk, would crisscross at this point thus forming a tri-level bridge.
Near both riverbanks below you can see the abutments that were to hold up the highest bridge. Through the dense foliage directly across, you can see two more huge abutments on the far river bank. At this site you have sound archaeological evidence of the sophistication and complexity of the industrial transport system in Millville in the late 1800s, a factor that attracted even more commerce to the Blackstone River Valley.
Begin the second loop at the visitor's parking area by turning right on Central Street. As you walk down to the riverbanks, you are following in the footsteps of Millville's laborers on their way to work in the mills and factories along the Blackstone River.

4 Central Street
Not only were massive blocks quarried for industrial use in the bridges, the canal, and mills, but for the streets and homes as well. It's easy to spot granite curbstones, stone fences or posts, block retaining walls, and stone foundations all along Central Street. St. John's Episcopal Church, 1849, at the corner of Hope Street showcases the talent of the stonemasons. Architect Richard Upjohn's design for the unusual twin bell-tower adds great character to the petite gothic facade.
Between 74 and 52 Central Street you will see a mix of architectural styles in the wooden houses, spanning nearly a century of construction before 1900. The central chimney and symmetry of the Capron House, 40 Central Street, is a clue that it is a much earlier Georgian style house from around 1750. The buildings between 38 Central Street and the river were shops and storefronts until the early 1900s.
As you continue you will cross:
1. the ruins of the Blackstone Canal and,
2. the west branch of the Blackstone River. Upstream, you can see exactly how the Blackstone canal and the river divide. When in use, the two remarried downriver, just past Lock # 21. In the wall to the farthest right, about thirty yards downstream, you can see a stone archway. This important detail helps you identify these ruins as the site of the former John Scott Woolen Mill, among the other foundations visible on the island and along the riverbanks.
3. a tiny island in mid-stream with mill ruins, the little 2+1/2 acre island and this spot on the river were written up in the original colonial deeds as "the mill plac." As early as 1727, Samuel Thompson's gristmill ground corn from the nearby farms. The water rushing by here soon powered and provided water for processing in many more mills: saw mills, "clothier's mills," an axe and scythe forge, small carding shops, and a fulling mill. The area was called The Mills, and then Millville Village. Esek Pitts built and ran an early woolen mill at Millville by 1814. Later, as a result of better transportation, Millville's industry grew to include: The John Scott Mill, Lawrence Felting, Joseph "The Rubber King" Banigan's rubber company, and machine shops.
4. the east branch of the river, then,
5. the remains of a former mill sluiceway; and a few yards ahead, 5 Central Street, the impressive Greek Revival-style home of woolen manufacturer E.S. Hall, from 1838.
6. the railroad tracks, along the sides of the railroad underpass, you will see more labor-intensive stonework. The P & W, completed in 1847, is now a 400-mile system. Two freight trains run nightly, and occasionally, passenger cars travel the line for sightseeing excursions.
On the other side of Central Street is the 1850 Longfellow School, now town offices. One of Samuel Thompson's old millstones is a commemorative plaque at the foot of the flagpole. The odd stone tower is an "udor," Greek for water. Believed to be built around 1890, it is a good example of state-of the-art plumbing at the time: rainwater falling on a conical roof (now gone) filled a cedar-lined tank, gravity-feeding water through copper pipes into the house (also gone).

The Millville Historical Commission

Stone Church
St. John's Episcopal Church
Sources: Blackstone River and Canal Heritage State Park Trail Map 2008, Blackstone Daily News Millville page

Chestnut Hill Meeting House
Another interesting site in Millville: the beautifully restored Chestnut Hill Meeting House dates back to 1769. From Central Street, cross 122 onto Lincoln Street, then immediately left onto Chestnut Hill Road, for 1+1/2 miles. On the first Sunday after Labor Day, an ecumenical service is held at the meeting house. Open for tours by appointment. No restrooms. 508-883-8466.

Udor Tower

Old Cemetery

Pawtucket
Traveling north:
Take Interstate 95 to Exit 28. Watch for signs for Slater Mill Historic Site and Visitor's Center. Turn left off exit ramp. Bear left at light, then bear right on Main Street towards river. Turn right on Roosevelt Avenue. Free municipal parking is on the left.
Traveling south:
Take Interstate 95 to Exit 27. Watch for signs for Slater Mill Historic Site and Visitor's Center. Turn right onto George Street, then right, downhill, on East Avenue. Turn right onto Main Street. Turn left onto Roosevelt Avenue. Free municipal parking is on the left.
Source: National Park Service, Pawtucket Walking tour, June 2001, John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor

Pawtucket, from "petuket" meaning waterfall in the Narragansett language, is one of only two Rhode Island cities to keep its native place name since its settlement. (Woonsocket, upriver, kept its native name, too.) First settled by Joseph Jenks in 1671, it was here that Samuel Slater opened the country's first successful cotton mill in 1793, setting into motion not only the cogs and wheels of his spinning and weaving machinery, but an entire new era for America-the Industrial Revolution.
A tree grows, but cities are built. From about 1840 to 1940, block by block, brick by brick, the buildings in downtown Pawtucket were drawn by architects, calculated by engineers, financed by industrialists, and built by armies of carpenters, stonemasons, bricklayers, plasterers, electricians, plumbers, metalworkers, glassmakers, roofers, and more.
Pawtucket became an important manufacturing center and a rich American city. All around downtown you can see layers of old and new, a mix of private and public buildings, and a blend of residential, recreational, and commercial uses.
The century-old buildings have great public value as evidence of Pawtucket's construction boom after 1850. Even more significantly, these edifices still have the capacity to delight our eyes with details.
Inspired to modernize from large village to business district by the mid-19th century, new buildings and all the things that make a city livable appeared-street improvements, such as paving, curbstones, crosswalks, as well as water works, gas street lights, and later, electric lights, public fountains, and parks. "The streets are well paved and kept in good order," it was recorded, "and the city is excellently lighted." It should have been-in 1875 alone, the city generously spent $5,000 on street lamps plus $23,000 for streets. The largest community in the United States still under town government, Pawtucket filed its city charter in 1886.
In all, it took hard work, scientific ingenuity, playful imagination, and a vision for what makes a city a good place to live and work. This guide will show you precisely where to look for outstanding architectural decoration and unusual artwork on Pawtucket's historic downtown buildings.

1 Roosevelt Avenue
Your tour begins at Pawtucket City Hall, 1936, directly across from the municipal parking area on Roosevelt Avenue.
Look for two spirited eagles on the steps, theater masks above the doors, and stone-portraits honoring the president of the United States and the mayor of the city of 1936. The wall of stone-carved pictures tells the story of Pawtucket.
To the right of City Hall, you can enter the grounds of Slater Mill Historic Site. The plain wooden Slater Mill, originally a cotton mill, looks especially barn-like-a clue to its early date, 1793. Notice the tiny windows in the roof that add light to the attic. The complex details of the industrial engineering here, both visible and invisible, require some explanation, so ask for a free site guide and map.
The path leads to the banks of the Blackstone River. Docks, wharves, and warehouses located just a few hundred yards from here made shipping access to Pawtucket easy prior to 1900, and were a bustling part of the downtown activity. The Great River, as it was once called, ends a 46-mile journey from its headwaters in Massachusetts by spilling into the northernmost point of Narragansett Bay at Pawtucket.
From the park, there is a picturesque view of the Romanesque Revival style Pawtucket Congregational Church, 1867-1868, and, to its right, the former Episcopal parish of Trinity Church, 1852-1865. Trinity, constructed of native stone in the gothic style of a 14th century English parish church, is Pawtucket's oldest church building. As you proceed,enjoy the falls, then turn right on Main Street.

As you continue along Main Street, past High Street, you can get an idea of what downtown Pawtucket looked like around 1900 if you can imagine block after block of buildings like number 216, originally the Providence County Savings Bank, 1901. (The date on the facade is the founding date of the business). The great Chicago Colombian Exposition in 1893, featured buildings in this style, exciting many architects to try the "White City" look. Look for the Ionic capitals on the columns, plus many delicate details such as festoons, fan windows, and fanciful fish-scale glazing.
230 Main Street was originally the Wheaton Building, built in 1892. It was renamed the Toole Building, and raised two stories in 1922. With the exception of changes at street-level, this curved facade is remarkably intact. The impressive cornice, the copper-tiled canopy and balconet remain eye-catching.
255 Main Street was originally the Pacific National Bank, built in 1890. The gothic romance of this building against the Pawtucket skyline was lost when the original conical tower and other Queen Anne style dormers, turrets and pinnacles were removed to substitute a squared off, block-glassed fifth floor in 1952. However, the exuberance of the style still radiates from the second to the fourth stories.

3 Maple Street
Turning right onto Maple Street, you will pass the Pawtucket Mutual Insurance Company, 1906 and enlarged 1938. After 1850, a process was developed to compress nearly-dry clay powder into cast-iron molds, giving every brick precise industrial edges and an identical smooth, clean surface. Above the firstfloor windows the same brick was creatively patterned into interesting lintels. Notice the limestone details and the urn-like finals.

4 Summer Street
Turn right to 1 Summer Street, originally the United States Post Office, built in 1897. Look for lots of cast-stone Beaux- Arts style decoration, twin eagles, interesting trim, Doric columns, carefully proportioned arched windows, and the distinctive ribbed copper cupola.
Walk back along Summer Street to the Deborah Cook Sayles Public Library, 1902. It is impossible to imagine downtown Pawtucket without this white granite Ionic temple and its row of "antefix" ornaments dotting the skyline.
The six pure white marble high-reliefs chronicle various civilizations. Starting from the far left, look for Dante in the first; King Arthur and Shakespeare in the second; and Wotan binding Brunhilde in the magic sleep in the third. On the right, look for Moses in the fourth panel; ancient Greeks are shown in the fifth, and the last scene depicts Egyptian culture.

5 North Union Street
Turn right onto North Union Street to see the corner block, originally the Summer Street Stables, 1891-1892.
How would you ever guess that this enormous brick building was specifically constructed for Harold F. Arnold as a livery for 176 horses with second-floor space for carriages and carts, third-floor feed storage and hay-loft, ground-floor offices, blacksmith shop and comfortable ladies' and gentlemen's waiting rooms?
The clue is high up on the wall: a terracotta inscription of the compassionate Bible verse Joel l:18, "How Do The Beasts Groan!" It had water-powered elevators, electric arc-lights, and running water at wash basins indoors as well as an outdoor drinking fountain.
Bricklayers mortared over 650,000 bricks to build the Arnold Stables. What was their time worth? Around 1879, nationwide economic setbacks deflated a mason's $3.75 pay to $1.25 for a tenhour shift. Twenty years later, their wage recovered to 39 cents an hour, or about $21 for a 6-day week.

6 Exchange Street
Turn left on a short block of Montgomery Street, and then turn left along Exchange Street, until you come to the B.P.O.E. Pawtucket Elks Lodge Building, 1926. Take an inventory of the details on this Spanish Renaissance Revival style building: a perfectly intact antlered elk's head, flags, festoons, mottoed medallions, a fluted-shell balcony, zig-zag balconets supported by jumbo brackets, a parade of colonets, Corinthian capitals, broken scroll and triangular pediments and a long-short-long scored brick pattern.
Next-door is the Pawtucket Times Building, 1895. Although the first three stories of this Romanesque Revival facade are plain and functional, from the fourth floor up the details are unexpectedly interesting.
Turn back and walk along Exchange Street until you come to the George Fuller & Company Mill, and the former Rhode Island Cardboard Company Mill, both 1880. Here you can compare the form and function of a small wooden factory building with the expanse of a brick mill. Exterior stair towers evolved from a need for fireproof exits. Like this one, many local industrial buildings have been successfully adapted for reuse as residences or offices.
Continuing up the block, you will see the Pawtucket Armory, 1894. Ordinary brick and common stone was used to create this romantic, moatless city fortress. The thick quarry-faced granite in a random bond pattern on the first story adds to its look of impenetrability.

7 Broadway back to Main Street
Turn right, and stay on the right-hand side until you find 139 Broadway, the former Metcalf Mansion Carriage House, 1879-80. The roof spirelet on this tiny wooden building draws your curiosity. Although altered with a storefront, it is among a handful of surviving carriage houses in all of Pawtucket.
130 Broadway was the Free Will Baptist Church, 1884. Both the church and Metcalf carriage house are late-Victorian style, and typically characterized by the features you see here- asymmetrical design, mixed materials, fancy shingles and spindlework, sturdy porch posts, rows of brackets, and a generous assortment of eclectic romantic details.
After the falls, turn right to return to the Roosevelt Avenue parking area.

Slater Mill
Learn about the Slater Mill Historic Site-request a free site map. Free parking. Bus parking. Restrooms. Admission charged for guided tours. Open June 1-Labor Day Tuesday-Saturday 10 AM-5 PM, Sunday 1 PM-5 PM. Slater Mill Historic Site, Pawtucket. 401-725-8638.

Daggett House
Daggett House 1685, Pawtucket's oldest standing house, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Slater Park, off Rte. 1A, Newport Avenue, Pawtucket. Weekend tours June through September by the Pawtucket Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Admission charged. 401-722-2631.

Providence
Traveling North or South on I-95, take exit 22 (Providence–Downtown) and proceed onto Memorial Boulevard. At fourth light turn left onto Waterman Street. Take first left onto North Main Street. At second set of traffic lights, turn left onto Smith Street and make first left onto Canal Street. Parking lot for the Roger Williams National Memorial is on the left-hand side.
Source: National Park Service, Providence Walking tour, June 2001, John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor

If you think architectural design is a type of puzzle with rules that constantly change over time, this guide will be your key to unlock clues to these elements that make a building church-like. On this walking tour of churches and libraries from three different centuries, you will be walking along streets that date to the founding of the settlement of Providence.
Just sixteen years after the landing of the Mayflower at Plymouth, Massachusetts, Roger Williams founded a new settlement in what would become the colony of Rhode Island. This settlement was named Providence for the act of God that Williams believed led him to the east side of the Seekonk River in 1636.
Williams, a thirty-year old Oxford educated minister, had been banished from the Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth colonies for his "newe and dangerous opinions against the authorities." Of the thirteen original colonies, only Rhode Island was founded with the determination that "soul liberty," or freedom of worship, would apply to all people, of all denominations, and of all beliefs. The novelty of Williams' idea was that he advocated there could be no peace on earth until all men granted each other the freedom of their consciences. The danger the orthodox Puritans, as well as the Church of England, saw in Williams' beliefs was that, in addition to the difficulty of suddenly having to espouse a lenient behavior, it also required unconditional separation of church and state. In that era, both notions were entirely unimaginable to most Puritans.
In such a climate of not only freedom from persecution, but also freedom to choose, change, and construct one's own beliefs, the Rhode Island colony more than any other attracted religious refugees of all denominations. It was as if the settlements had advertised "Dissenters Welcomed." At liberty to worship, congregations were also free to build their houses of worship.
Existing physical evidence of a tolerant attitude that endured for centuries is the variety of places of worship in a multitude of architectural styles ornamenting Rhode Island's cities and towns. Each one, in its own way, tells you it is a religious building. But sometimes, you will be surprised to learn, a design your eye recognizes as a "church," is not.
This walking tour of churches in the College Hill National Registered Historic Landmark District (part of which was Roger Williams' own back yard) begins directly across the street from Roger Williams National Memorial on North Main Street.

1 Cathedral Of St. John (Episcopal)
271 North Main Street . 1810, Smithfield stone, brownstone trim. John Holden Greene, architect.
You would never mistake the original building of the Cathedral of St. John for an office building or a department store. The tall, sharply pointed arch windows, plus the stained-glass, give you the first clues to the building's purpose. Although 19th-century church buildings of the English Gothic Revival style share some decorative elements with everything from armories and town halls to picturesque country residences, the tower with a belfry gives this building its church-like appearance.
Since the twelfth century, the emotional message of the Gothic style, with its entirely vertical emphasis, has been clear: everything points heavenward. The clergy supported the Gothic style, original or revival, as most aptly suited for worship, reasoning that it provoked spirituality.
Walk up the stairs in front of the diocesan offices, continue close along the right-hand side of the building, and through the iron gate at the back. Continue up the path and steps, and turn right on Benefit Street. For the rest of the tour, follow the map carefully.

2 First Baptist Church
75 North Main Street. 1775, timber frame, wood. Joseph Brown, designer.
This is the Baptists' third church building in Providence, and the oldest in the country. A transitional structure, this is a traditional meeting house combined with a London church style steeple. Brown, a "gentleman-architect," copied the five-stage steeple design from detailed drawings in James Gibbs' "Book of Architecture," published in England in 1728. As much a landmark 200 years ago as it is today, the religious symbolism of the 185- foot steeple is sometimes secondary to its usefulness as a navigational aid by sea or by land.
The First Baptist Church is open for tours. Free. 401-454-3418

11 Thomas Street
One of dozens of Cultural and Historical Banner Trail sites, pick up a free Providence Banner Trail Guide at the Providence Art Club. Dodge House Galleries open to the public. Free. 401-331-1114

The Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design
224 Benefit Street, Tour The Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, and pick up a free map for a self-guided tour of the RISD campus. Admission charged. 401-454-6400

Rhode Island School of Design

3 Memorial Hall, Rhode Island School Of Design
Formerly, Central Congregational Church. 226 Benefit Street. 1853-1856, brownstonefaced brick. Thomas A. Tefft, architect.
With almost no exterior modifications, the Rhode Island School of Design has adapted the former Central Congregational Church for reuse as a mailroom and snack bar. The twin towers were damaged and later removed as a result of the Great Hurricane of 1938. The triple-rounded arch entrance, and the tall rounded arch windows are clues to the building's original religious function. Romanesque designs are characteristically solid, heavy, and usually symmetrical. Builders felt the mass and weight of the sturdy masonry was a good allegory for the importance of a spiritual foundation and permanence of belief in people's lives.

Providence Athenaeum
251 Benefit Street Visit the Providence Athenaeum, 1836-1838. Free. 401-421-6970

Governor Stephen Hopkins House
15 Hopkins Street Tour the Governor Stephen Hopkins House, 1707. Admission charged. 401-421-0694

4 First Unitarian Church
Formerly, First Congregational Church. 301 Benefit Street. 1816, granite. John Holden Greene, architect.
This church was the third built by the congregation in Providence. A characteristic of the Baroque style, originally from the late-Renaissance, is the use of harmonious, yet richly three-dimensional forms. Under the huge classical pediment on the facade beneath the tower, Greene placed an enormous Gothic round-headed, three-part lancet (pointed arch) window. He then flanked the window with four colossal columns also in a classical design. Finally, Federal style finials and decorations were added on every corner and edge, nearly all the way up to the sky. The visual effect of the combination of architectural elements is so dramatic that the building is awe inspiring.

John Brown House
52 Power Street At the corner of Benefit Street, visit John Brown House, 1786-1788. Free parking off Charlesfield Street. Admission charged. 401-331-8575

5 Manning Hall, Brown University
1834, stuccoed-rubblestone. James Bucklin, architect.
This Greek Revival style building originally housed a library, downstairs, and a chapel, upstairs. Used commercially to the extent that the style eventually was ridiculed by taste-makers in the mid-1800's, today the best of the Greek Revival buildings are among the most powerful designs on the landscape. Stand next to one of the Doric columns in the deep shadow underneath the portico of Manning Hall. You feel the permanence and strength of the forms.

6 Robinson Hall, Brown University
Formerly, University Library. 64 Waterman Street. 1875-1876, poly-chrome masonry. Walker and Gould, architects.
Built as the university library, Robinson Hall looks for all the world as if it should have a sacred function. What first makes you see this as a church? The "pointy-ness" of the High Victorian Gothic design and decoration immediately catches the eye. The colorful stonework and festivity of the decorations on Robinson Hall give it the look of a site of celebration. The domed, octagonal cupola is another architectural feature automatically associated with religious, and sometimes official, buildings. The size and symmetry of the building is a final hint that it might be a place where many people gather inside, rather than a private residence.

7 First Church Of Christ Scientist
71 Prospect Street. 1906-1913, brick and limestone with terra cotta trim. Hoppin and Field, architects.
This basilica-sized, copper-clad Renaissance-style dome and the State House dome are landmarks on the city's skyline. During the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries proportioned and measured buildings aspired to total refinement and complete perfection of detail. Built by a collaboration of architects, scientists, mathematicians, and intellectuals, backed by the wealth of the church, the thrilling vision of a flawless and inconceivably expensive structure was a symbol for the great importance and influence of a whole, unified, and perfect churchdom.

8 Congdon Street Baptist Church
15 Congdon Street. 1874, wood frame. C. F. Wilcox, architect.
This church is an important site in the city's African-American religious history, beginning with the congregation from the African Union Meeting House, which stood on Meeting Street. The Italianate style, inspired by sixteenthcentury sources from the Tuscan hill towns surrounding Florence and later interpreted by an English sensibility, produced simple, strong, and typically asymetrical designs. The easily recognized details are heavy framing, bold trim, and decoratively capped windows and doors set against a plain background surface. Following close after the decline of popularity for Greek Revival designs, Italianate buildings must have seemed enjoyably picturesque, and substantially less laden with meaning and portent.
Return by walking down South Court Street. On your way, you will pass the Old State House, 1762, on the right-hand side. At the foot of the hill, turn right on North Main Street.

Prospect Terrace
70 Congdon Street The best view of the city is from Prospect Terrace, a small park just a short way up Congdon Street. Free.

Old State House

21 Meeting Street
Pick up more walking tour guides for the "Mile of History" along Benefit Street or downtown Providence, or get the schedule for guided walking tours at Providence Preservation Society. Ask for more information about the religious architecture of other congregations in Providence. Terraced formal garden open. Free. 401-831-7440

Roger Williams National Memorial
282 North Main Street See the exhibits at the Roger Williams National Memorial. Free. Entrance to the free parking lot is off Canal Street, a one way street, heading south. 401-521-7266

Quinsigamond
Exit 10 off Mass. Pike (Hwy 90). Take Rt.290 toward Worcester, exiting at Rt.146 (Millbury Street) South toward the town of Millbury. Stay on Millbury Street when it forks to the right (Ballard Street forks to the left), passing over the railroad tracks. In under 2/10ths of a mile you will see the Teamster's Hall on your left. Park in their parking lot.
Source: National Park Service, Quinsigamond Walking tour, June 1999, John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor

1.0 mile / 1.6 kilometers

Tucked behind old warehouses and the snarl of urban traffic is one of Worcester's hidden treasures:
Quinsigamond Village. At first glance, the area might seem like nothing more than a bit of America's postindustrial landscape; one more neighborhood where factories closed and life turned grey. Yet, look again. Four church spires stand against the skyline, nestled between family businesses and treelined streets filled with handsome, three-decker homes. Quinsigamond's school and library stand at its heart, their historic facades important enough to preserve, even as modern buildings are erected around them. And everywhere, in the signs, family names, architecture, and conversation-is what may be the village's greatest legacy: the mark of the thousands of Swedish immigrants who, for generations, called Quinsigamond their home.
Although Worcester began as a farming region, the damming of streams allowed small industries to develop. In the 1830s and 1840s, rail lines helped transform the city into a transportation and manufacturing center. The Quinsigamond area, a narrow valley isolated for centuries by two steep ridges carved by the Blackstone River, became a vital part of that change. As early as the 1770s, publisher Isaiah Thomas operated a paper mill at the river's headwaters, producing the revolutionary newspaper, The Massachusetts Spy. And in the 1840s, Ichabod Washburn established what would become Worcester's leading industry: an iron rolling mill and wire factory. As thousands of workers sought housing close to their worksite, the Village spread along Millbury Street.
Largely Irish Catholic from the 1840s to the 1860s, the Village became a "Little Sweden" after 1870. Isolated by geography and drawn together by kin and culture, Swedish iron workers, mostly hired by the Washburn & Moen wire works, forged a world all their own. Most came from the same iron-working region of Sweden and many were Protestant and temperance advocates. Newspapers, neighborhood businesses, institutions, and Republican political candidates were sustained for generations by one of the largest Swedish communities in the United States.
In the late 20th century, however, the villagers experienced "de-industrialization," as corporations increasingly abandoned domestic industry in favor of foreign manufacturing. As local production waned, scrap metal was shipped by rail from Worcester to Providence, and then on to Japanese steel mills. While the last iron works closed in the 1970s, the Swedish community nonetheless persists. Influenced by its traditions, Quinsigamond retains a strong sense of its village identity.
The tour takes about one and one-half hours.
Village life in the late 1800s became uniquely "Swedish-in-Quinsigamond." Activities were conducted in "Quinsigamond Svenska" a mixture of English, Swedish, Varmlandska and mill jargon. By 1900, the Village had four churches, a Swedish branch of the Salvation Army, 23 businesses, several associations, and a Swedish city map.

1a Blackstone River Railroad Bridge
Begin your tour at the Teamsters Hall on Millbury Street. You can see where the forces of water (or coal fired steam) and transportation intersect: the railroad tracks and the headwaters of the Blackstone River.

1b Washburn & Moen Buildings
In 1846, Ichabod Washburn harnessed both for what became Washburn & Moen's South Works, where he developed new ways to draw wire. Producing telegraph, telephone, piano, and barbed wire and suspension cable for bridges, railways, and manufacturing, his three plants became a major Worcester industry and the largest wire producer in the world.
Just past the river you will see two Washburn buildings, surviving remnants of the extensive industrial complex once situated here. The building on the right, built between 1886 and 1892, was a galvanizing house; the one on the left, built between 1870-1886, made wire rope. It was said you needed a Swedish passport to pass between them since, by 1900, 79 percent of the nearly 3,000 villagers were Swedish, and 85 percent worked for Washburn and Moen.

2 Quinsigamond United Methodist Church, #9 Stebbins Street
Although Worcester's first Swedish immigrants in 1868 were Lutherans, by 1875 most villagers belonged to "free churches" that had broken from Sweden's Lutheran faith. Many were Methodists, who quickly assumed a primary role as village leaders and entrepreneurs. In 1878 they formed the first Swedish Methodist Episcopal Church in New England. In 1884, aided by Yankee Methodists and wire manufacturers, they built a church on this site. In 1893, a brick first floor was added and the building redesigned to resemble the "mother church" of their homeland. The structure was rebuilt after a fire in 1975.

3 Quinsigamond Branch Library #812 Millbury Street
The Quinsigamond library played a major role in shaping village life, influenced by both Methodists and industrialists. This building, now on the National Register of Historic Places, was built in 1913, using land donated by American Steel & Wire and paid for with Andrew Carnegie's steel profits. Librarian Madeline Bell, interviewed at the time of its dedication, indicated the library "is not only used for exchange of books, but is a day nursery, a meeting place for young people, and a quiet reading room for the older men and women as well."

4 Quinsigamond School, #828 Millbury Street
Rising numbers of children living in the Village required three new school buildings, built in 1890, 1896, and 1899. Taught the language and values expected in America, Swedish youth soon found it easy to fit in. Whether in school, in Protestant churches, or in the Republican Party, they shared many of the beliefs held by New England's older "middling sort." They supported government protections for skilled, propertied, and independent tradesmen, community control of public institutions, and prohibition of liquor and tobacco. This cultural affinity meant they were easily accepted in America. The Quinsigamond School was recently renovated after a community effort successfully campaigned to preserve the school rather than have it demolished.

5 The Klondike #854-858 Millbury Street
For many Swedes, work was a way to obtain the independence found in property ownership. By 1900, 30.4 percent of the villagers owned homes, finding these "three deckers" an improvement over cramped tenements rented by earlier generations of working-class families. Nonetheless, Swedish residents often shared their living spaces with other families-often relatives-until each could acquire funds to build their own. Owners also rented out empty space, applying the income to mortgages and retirement. Those living in the commercial district tended to live upstairs while running a business below. This structure, built between 1896 and 1900, housed the Quinsigamond Baking Co. and later, Gustaf Gutkey's grocery.

6 George Reeves House #894 Millbury Street
Among the earliest homes in the Village, this Victorian vernacular structure was built between 1857 and 1862. It was owned by George Reeves, a skilled English craftsman who by 1880 was a foreman of Washburn and Moen. His position allowed him to acquire much land in the area. Now a commercial building, it was owned by the Reeves family well into the 1900s.

7 Lutheran Emmanuel Church/Community Center, Greenwood Street
Unlike the revivalist churches, Swedish Lutherans were slow to start a congregation. They lacked support from "Yankee" counterparts, their formal religious services and selective membership failed to draw people, and their consumption of liquor and tobacco was unpopular among Methodists, Baptists, and Congregationalists alike. They therefore spent years meeting in the IOGT hall on the corner of Millbury and Greenwood Streets. Finally, in 1896, they organized the Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Emmanuel Church, building this structure in 1898-1899. Its towering spire and Gothic Revival design have made it a Village landmark. In recent years, with neighborhood support, it has become a community center.

8 Bethlehem Covenant Church, Greenwood and Halmstead
Swedish Congregationalists enjoyed the support of native Protestants as well as shared with other "free churches" the desire for a Swedish community of respectable, hard-working, family centered, pious, and sober individuals. In the 1880s, Swedish Congregationalists began meeting in the village. In 1894, they became the Swedish Evangelical Congregational Church. In the 1920s, they severed their Congregational ties and joined the Covenant Church of America, renaming themselves the Bethlehem Covenant Church.
The First Swedish Congregational Church built a Chapel for the villagers in 1891 on Greenwood Street. Between 1899 and 1901, Village Congregationalists built the Second Swedish Congregational Church (c1910), beside the old Chapel on Greenwood Street.

9 Berg/Dahlin Cottages #841 & 843, #845 & 847 Millbury Street
Unlike the many three deckers, there are a few "single family" workers' homes left in the village. These Victorian double cottages were built between 1875-1878 and were privately owned from the start. At one time, #845 & 847 was occupied by Alfred Dahlin, once a "hammers man at the wire works" who rose to foreman in 10 years' time. #841 & 843 was owned by the Berg family, starting with Gustaf C. Berg in 1875, down to 1995 when Herbert E. Berg sold his florist business at the site. His grandfather, Gustaf, was a wire die maker (called a sinker) for the Washburn & Moen Company.

10 Quinsigamond Fire Station #837 Main Street
In an age of open fires, largely wooden buildings, and hot mill furnaces, fire stations played a critical role in the community. This handsome brick and sandstone building, now on the National Register of Historic Places, was built in 1891-1892. Yet life was not always work, even at the firehouse. Villagers still recall firemen giving the children rides on the firewagon or hosing down Millbury Street in the winter so that they could skate. In a neighborhood so self-contained, the lines of work, play, and civic responsibility regularly crossed.

College of the Holy Cross
To see the campus of the College of the Holy Cross, built c1850-75 in the Quinsigamond area, take McKeon Drive, across Millbury Street from the Teamsters parking lot, and follow it through Middle River Park to Riverside Street. Turn left on Riverside, left on Southbridge Street, under Hwy 290, and left again on College Street. The school is on your left.

The Worcester Historical Museum
The Worcester Historical Museum, located at 30 Elm Street, offers exhibits, library, and a museum shop. Open Tuesday–Saturday, 10am–4pm and Sunday, 1pm–4pm. For more information, call 508-753-8278.
http://www.worcesterhistory.org/

Mechanics Hall Historic District
The northern section of this route coincides with a portion of the Worcester Driving Tour.

Worcester's Mechanics Hall Historic District is at 201-631 Main Street. Take McKeon Drive, across Millbury Street from the Teamsters parking lot, and follow it through Middle River Park to Riverside Street. Turn left on Riverside, turn right on Southbridge, left on Madison, right on Main Street. The historic district is immediately ahead. Included are the Lincoln Block (built 1818-30s), Mechanics Hall (1855-57), Worcester County Institution for Savings Bank (1851, 1906), City Hall and Common (1898), the Park Building (1914), and Worcester's Market Building (1914).

Worcester's Market Building (1914)

City Hall and Common (1898)

Worcester County Institution for Savings Bank (1851, 1906)

Lincoln Block (built 1818-30s)???

Park Building (1914)???

Rumford
Traveling north or south:
From Interstate 95, take 195E to exit #4 for EastProvidence, Route 44E, Taunton Avenue. Follow 44 (it makes a one-block jag in the downtown area) until junction of Route 114/ 1A, at the Wampanoag Mall. Turn left onto Pawtucket Avenue. Follow to junction of Route 152, Newman Avenue. Turn left, free parking on left, across from Newman Congregational Church.
Public restrooms during business hours-Rumford Branch, East Providence Public Library, 1392 Pawtucket Avenue.
Source: National Park Service, Rumford Walking tour, June 2001, John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor

Find out what a Rhode Island village, a Count born in Massachusetts, and a can of baking powder have in common.*(the answer is at the end of the tour)
The city of East Providence hugs the riverbank where the 46-mile Blackstone River becomes the Seekonk River, and finally spills into Narragansett Bay. This walking tour in the Rumford section is along a small corner of what was once an enormous two hundred acre village green, laid out according to a careful plan over 350 years ago.
The residents of East Providence, Rhode Island, playfully declare that they have lived in two states, and three towns, without ever having moved once. Originally a collection of early Massachusetts settlements which began 25 years after Plymouth, the villages united, shifted again into separate towns, and were later repartitioned upon the resolution of 226 years of boundary disputes between the two states on either side of the river.
If Roger Williams had his way, the land on this side of the river would have belonged to the Rhode Island colony all along. Banished from the Massachusetts colony for his literal interpretation of "soul liberty" and what were considered to be his "newe and dangerous opinions," the Cambridge educated, ordained minister and his followers encamped here in 1636. Within months, they were informed that this land was still within the Plymouth colony's patent. Williams gave up his claim on the east riverbank and moved to the west side, naming this new settlement Providence.
Eight years later, the Reverend Samuel Newman and his followers established a community here, remaining under the authority of Plymouth and the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Their stake of land, eight square miles or about 41,000 acres, was called Rehoboth. In the Bible, all the places named Rehoboth are by a river, or water.
By the late 1800's, the chemical works and the village surrounding it, part of the old town green, became known by the same name-Rumford. Finally, in 1862, four neighboring communities-Rumford, Riverside, Watchemoket, and Phillipsdale, plus a former colonial farmstead now called Kent Heights-incorporated as East Providence, in the State of Rhode Island.
Because the hands of time have moved slowly across the face of this landscape, you can still see several different eras of Rumford center's history, all within an arm's reach as you walk a short section of the "Ring of The Green."
Present day Rumford, Rhode Island, is part of an area first known as "Seakunke," in Massachusetts, possibly meaning "at the river" in the Native American language. There are 29 different spellings of Seekonk in early records. Another, more popular translation was "black goose." The seal of East Providence silhouettes three geese in flight.

1 Newman Congregational Church And The "Ring Of The Green"
Begin your walking tour at Newman Congregational Church, at the intersection of Route 114/1A, Pawtucket Avenue and Route 152, Newman Avenue. Here, in 1643, the Reverend Samuel Newman's congregation of about two-hundred souls established their church and organized the first division of lands which became known as the "Ring of The Green." Surveyors laid out the house lots in a lopsided 200-acre rectangle, giving most land owners access to the river and setting aside land to build the first meeting house.
Each landholder was responsible for the construction of fencing along the border of this large central meadow where livestock grazed. Several gates were built at convenient locations, paths criss-crossed the common, and "highways" wide enough for carts encircled it.
At the church, you are standing about in the middle of what was the ring of the green. The present church, from 1810 with later additions, is the fourth built in this same area. Nothing remains of the first three meeting houses, built in 1646, 1680, and 1716, each one successively larger and used for town meetings as well as worship.

2 Newman and Hunt Cemeteries
Cross over to the cemetery in front of the church.
The area bordered by the original house lots was so huge, that a small patch used for burials out of the whole was of no consequence. Over the years, the village green shrank as residences and businesses encroached upon it. An important part of the character of the landscape of the earliest settlement is perfectly preserved because the burial ground is mostly intact after nearly three and one-half centuries.
Family burials here tended to be laid out in rows, rather than squared-off plots, and most of the rows line up in mismatched directions. For this reason, there is no methodical way to find specific graves, so you have to practice the art of meandering a bit. To simplify maintenance, city workers moved most of the footstones in the oldest graves up alongside the corresponding headstones, and that is the reason for the confusing big-stone, little-stone arrangement.
You will want to spend some time in this part of the cemetery, reading the epitaphs, and studying the kinships, the carving styles, and the lettering. Look for the colonial long-s, which looks like f . See if you can find the stone of Mrs. Anner Carpenter-a large square slate on the left-hand side of the dirt road, not far from the entrance. The carver, clearly an expert draftsman, misspelled her last name, leaving out the "n." He went back and edited his error. This marker is also unusual for the twin- cherubs angled in the upper corners.
These old gravestones, as much as any written text, tell the story of the lives of Rehoboth's colonial families. To the right, facing the road not far from the two stone-built tombs which form an above- ground L, is the oldest stone in this graveyard, that of William Carpenter. A simple, rough-cut fieldstone about twenty inches high, it reads in rough-cut letters, "W.C., 1658." A few rows back on the right-hand side, look for the urn- topped, 9-foot Minister's Monument.
In this cemetery, the sequence of the three main phases of mortuary art prior to 1850 easily can be seen. First, look for slates carved with grimacing skulls and wings. These generally date from before 1790. These images suggest death and decay, life's brevity, and the circumstances of orthodox Puritanism - hard work, hard life, and quite possibly, a hard death.
Second, look for gravemarkers carved with pleasant, sweet cherub faces and angel wings. These date from about 1760 to 1810. These images suggest a softening of religious views, prosperity, and optimism about life. There is a promise of a happy afterlife, redemption, and salvation. Look for double-stones, which often mark the graves of children who died within a short time of each other.
Stones with other mourning symbols- these could be simple urns or vases, weeping willow trees, or both, geometric designs, fanciful framed borders, or an ornate family coat-of-arms or heraldic crest-can date from the late 1700's in some places, but mainly occur from 1800 to 1830.
Follow the dirt road as it winds around all the way back to the farthest side of the cemetery, and exit exactly opposite where you first came in. Once you reach the paved cemetery road, turn right. Exit onto Greenwood Avenue, and turn left. Watch for traffic.
My flesh shall slumber in the ground Till the last trumpets joyfull sound Then shall awake with sweet surprise And in my saviour's image rise.
-Epitaph, Newman Cemetery, Rumford, RI

3 The Phanuel Bishop House, C. 1770's
The first house on the right is the Phanuel Bishop House, 150 Greenwood Avenue.
This brick-ended Georgian-style house was originally built as a two-family home. To some extent, you can "read" the formality of the floorplan from the exterior-the twin end chimneys, the central entrance, and the symmetrical design tell you that there are identical rooms off to each side of a generously- sized hall with a staircase in the middle.
Some reconstructed maps suggest that at the time of the first settlement, this was the site of Newman's garrison. Because the village was so spread out, it could neither be defended as a whole, nor stockaded, leaving it highly vulnerable. The people, however, could dash for cover inside the "Indian Arrow Shelter." About sixty homesteads and forty barns and buildings on the ring of the green, including the meeting house, were torched and burned to ashes on March 28, 1676, in a swift and terrifying attack during King Philip's War.

4 Formerly, The Rumford Chemical Works
The industrial complex you come to on the right-hand side as you turn back along Greenwood Avenue is the former Rumford Chemical Works, makers of Rumford Baking Powder, other food products, and chemical compounds used for manufacturing.
Eben N. Horsford, a scientist, and George F. Wilson, a businessman, located their chemical plant here in 1856 on land which was once a corner of the ring of the green. They named their company Rumford because Horsford held a lecturer's position at Harvard University, endowed by Count Rumford for the "Application of Science to Useful Arts." Advertised as a highly-advanced scientific breakthrough in cooking, the company's calcium and phosphate-based powder was a self-rising additive which simplified baking.
The two-square miles near the factory also came to be known as Rumford, and was dubbed the "kitchen capitol of the world." Still standing are some 19th century frame buildings, plus a three-story brick mill from about 1895, and a five-story brick mill built in 1928. In operation here until 1966, Rumford Baking Powder is now made in Terra Haute, Indiana.
Turn right on Newman Avenue to return to the parking area.
Rumford products were so successfully marketed that at one time, the plant employed nearly 400 workers, men and women. Rumford Chemical Works pub- lished and distributed to women all over America hundreds of thousands of almanac-type pamphlets and cookbooks with recipes all made with Rumford Baking Powder-everything from soup to candy.
*The answer to the riddle is Rumford their name is what a Rhode Island village, a Count born in Massachusetts, and a can of baking powder have in common. The Rhode Island village was named for the chemical factory, and the chemical factory, makers of Rumford Baking Powder, was named for the Count born in Massachusetts.
Who was Count Rumford? He was born Benjamin Thompson in Woburn, Massachusetts in 1753. After 1783, living as an American expatriate in Europe, he became world-renowned as a philanthropist, engineer, inventor, and scientist, particularly in the study of heat, and especially, cooking.

Rumford Branch, East Providence Public Library
Public restrooms during business hours-Rumford Branch, East Providence Public Library, 1392 Pawtucket Avenue.

John Hunt House
Some rooms are furnished and decorated to show the lifestyle of an 18thcentury family, while other rooms are used for changing exhibitions and gift-shop.
http://www.ephist.org/hunt.htm
Open the second Sunday of each month, see website for schedule and admission fee.
http://www.ephist.org/visit.htm
http://www.ephist.org/events.html

Caleb Williams House

Heritage Garden
The Heritage Gardens at the Hunt House Museum are period gardens. They were established in 2000 from plans developed by Searle/Searle Associates.
http://www.ephist.org/heritage_garden.html

Slatersville
From Route 146: Take the Forestdale/Slatersville exit. From the south follow the Slatersville sign west for about 1 mile. At intersection with Green Street, at the common, take a left. Continue straight onto Main Street. From the north, follow the Slatersville sign west on Rt. 146A. Turn left at intersection with Green Street, which merges with Main Street just past the town common. The library is on the left.
Parking is available at the North Smithfield Public Library, which is on the left. The tour begins just behind the parking lot.
Source: National Park Service, Slatersville Walking tour, September 1997, John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor

At first glance Slatersville appears to be a classic New England small town-crisp white houses stand neatly aligned along quiet streets that merge at the town common and the Congregational church. In reality, Slatersville is America's first planned industrial village and its true heart is not the quaint common, but the massive stone mill along the river.
In 1803, John Slater, younger brother of Samuel Slater, came to America from England. Samuel Slater assigned him the task of finding a site for a new textile mill. After searching throughout the region, he chose Buffum's Mills, a small settlement along the Branch River where a sawmill, gristmill and blacksmith's shop were already in operation. In 1805, the Slaters' partners William Almy and Obadiah Brown began buying the land and water rights, and on July 4, 1807, the new stone mill opened. Unlike the Slater Mill in Pawtucket, this mill required a village to house the workers. The success of Slatersville proved that it was feasible to build mills outside of population centers, thus opening up the entire Blackstone Valley for industrialization.
John Slater became the resident manager of the mill and remained the driving force behind the village until his death in 1843. The Slater family continued to own Slatersville until 1900, when it was sold to James R. Hooper, who used the mill to bleach and dye cloth. In 1915, Hooper sold the village to Henry P. Kendall. Like the Slaters before him, Kendall took a personal interest in the village and initiated many improvement projects. He renovated many of the homes, made sure that the houses were maintained, lawns and shrubbery were planted, and he forbade the removal of any tree without his approval. Much of the traditional New England character of Slatersville is attributable to the efforts of Mr. Kendall.
The current residents still exhibit the sense of pride instilled by the Slaters and Henry Kendall. While the surrounding areas have been developed, the village core has been preserved and Main Street looks much as it did in the 1920's after Kendall's renovations. Thus modern Slatersville is not only a mill village entering its third century, but the end result of a preservation project that has been lovingly carried out on a community level for eighty years.
Like his older brother, Samuel, John Slater gained experience by working in textile mills in England before coming to America. John Slater also took note of the improvements made in the English mills in the fifteen years since his brother immigrated, and helped to incorporate them into the Slater family mills
The tour takes about an hour and covers about 1 mile. The route is not strenuous, but some might want to eliminate the walk down the hill to the Railroad Street Bridge.
Sidewalks are available for most of the tour, except for the stretch between Town Hall and the church. Please take care while walking along the shoulder of the road.
There is a crosswalk across Main Street in front of the library.
Facilities are available at the Library and Town Hall during business hours.

1 Slatersville Reservoir
Follow the small path at the post office end of the parking lot towards the river. From here you can see two waterfalls. The larger dam, known as the Middle Dam, was built in 1849. It is 300 feet long, and causes a twentyfoot drop. Behind the dam is the 170 acre Lower Slatersville Reservoir. The smaller dam was built later to increase the water power. The sluice gate here controlled the amount of water flowing into the raceway that powered the Slatersville Mill.

2 Worker Housing
Head back up the path towards Main Street. Across the street are six houses. It is believed that they predate the mill, but all were used to house workers. The ring on the stone wall in front of #27 and #29 was used to tie up horses.
Continue right on Main Street to the Library.

3 Slatersville Library/Western Mills
In 1821, the Slaters built an eight building mill complex, known as the Western Mills, on the western side of Railroad Street. Two of these buildings remain. One, the former store house, became the North Smithfield Public Library in 1966. Its rubble-stone construction shows us what the old Western Mill complex looked like. Proceed down the stairs to the left of the library and head east along the power canal to the former picker house that is currently not in use.

4 Slatersville Mill
The original Slatersville Mill, built in 1807, burned down in 1826 and was replaced by the current mill, known as the Center Mill or the #1 Mill. It is a four-story building with a five-story stair tower. Behind the Center Mill is the Granite or #3 Mill, built in 1843, and along the power trench is a brick weaveshed, built in 1894. In front of the Center Mill is a wooden office building, the last remaining structure from the original mill. The current owner of the property, the Poly Top Corporation, is looking to restore the Center Mill and find a new tenant for it.
Walk back up the hill to Main Street and take a right.

5 Green Street: Dr. Elisha Bartlett House (C. 1850)/Mill Housing
The attractive Greek Revival style house at 2 Green Street was the home of Dr. Elisha Bartlett, one of the most remarkable residents of Slatersville. Born here in 1804, he graduated in 1826 from Brown University with a medical degree. He took up practice in Lowell, Massachusetts and was elected the first mayor of that city in 1836. In 1842, he published the first thesis on typhoid in English, and two years later wrote an essay on the Philosophy of Medicine. Suffering from poor health, Dr. Bartlett retired to his home town about 1850 with his wife Elizabeth, who was John Slater's daughter. The house is built on the original site of John Slater's home.
Just past the Bartlett house are six mill houses built between 1810-1820. They are among the first to be built by the Slater Company. In the 1920's they were altered by Henry Kendall as part of his effort to make Slatersville look like a traditional New England village.

6 Slatersville Congregational Church And Common
There are very few town commons in Rhode Island, but the small town green in Slatersville, located in front of the Congregational Church, serves as an important social center and focal point for the village. The green, laid out by the Slaters in 1838, also adds to the traditional New England essence of Slatersville. Feel free to take advantage of the benches here before continuing your tour.
Members of the Slatersville Congregational Church began meeting in 1816, and in 1838 the Slater family erected this church for the congregation. The church is a lovely example of the Greek Revival style topped by a three-stage belfry with an octagonal spire. The church's original steeple was blown off during the 1938 hurricane. Its replacement is much smaller.
Go past the church and turn right onto School Street.

7 John Slater House (16 School St. C. 1810)
Slater built his home in 1810. It originally stood where Dr. Bartlett's House is today. It was moved to this site in 1843 shortly after Slater's death. Slater's home is handsome, but modest. Additions have been made on each side, but the center section resembles the houses built for the mill workers.

8 Playground/Slatersville Cemetery
Turn left off School Street into the playground. In 1816, the original Slatersville Meeting House was moved to this site to be used as the village school. The building was moved one more time to Green Street in 1887 when the Slatersville School was built. The 1887 school was used until the opening of the Kendall Dean School in 1936. One of the doorsteps for the old Slatersville School is still here. Can you find it?
To the right is the Slatersville Cemetery. Many prominent Slatersville residents are buried here. The Slater family plot is behind the wrought iron fence in the center of the cemetery.
Proceed past the cemetery. To the right is the Episcopal Church.

9 Episcopal Church/Grange Hall
This building was erected in 1897 as a chapel for the St. Luke Episcopal Missionary. It was later used as a social hall, and in 1920 became the Union Grange Hall. It is currently being renovated for future use.
Turn left onto Green Street.

10 Old Meeting House (55-57 Green St.)
In 1808 John Slater held a lottery to raise $4,000 in order to build Slatersville's first church. Originally, it stood where the Congregational Church is today. In 1816 it was moved to School Street to serve as the village school. Then in 1887, it was moved to its current site, and is now a two-family home.
Continue west on Green Street to Town Hall.

11 North Smithfield Town Hall 1921
Built in 1921 on land donated by Henry Kendall, the North Smithfield Town Hall is an attractive brick neo-Georgian style structure. A hotel and boarding house stood here before the town hall.

12 Slatersville Commercial Blocks
The First Commercial Block (on the right) was constructed in 1850, when it housed the company store and the First National Bank. Many other businesses have used this space over the years, including barber shops and a hardware store. The stairway on the far side of the block leads to the old night-deposit vault for the bank. The Second Commercial Block was built in 1870. The upper floors of both buildings were used for workers' recreation -dances, social activities and later movies. Today, both are still in use.

Forestdale
Forestdale was renowned for its scythe works that was begun in 1824 by Newton Darling. During the Civil War the scythe works produced 30,000 sabers for the Union Army.

Forestdale Schoolhouse
The Red Forestdale Schoolhouse, built in 1877, is the headquarters of the North Smithfield Heritage Association.

Union Village
One of the most attractive Federal-era villages in the Blackstone Valley is Union Village, situated on Route 146A. Union Village is a turnpike village established around a number of taverns built to service stagecoach travelers along the Great Road between Providence and Worcester. The village was named after the Smithfield Union Bank, the first bank in northern Rhode Island, which opened here in 1805.

Seth Allen Tavern

Captain Daniel Arnold House

Joel Aldrich House

Peleg Arnold Tavern
The Peleg Arnold Tavern off Great Road in Union Village in North Smithfield, Rhode Island was built around 1690 and is one the oldest homes in North Smithfield. Peleg Arnold was a justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court and representative to the Continental Congress. Arnold's popular tavern served as center of American military operations in the town during the American Revolution.
Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peleg_Arnold_Tavern

Smithfield Friends Meeting House, Parsonage & Cemetery
A Friends Meeting House of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), built in 1881 is located on Route 146A in Woonsocket, Rhode Island (across the street from North Smithfield). The meetinghouse is home to one of the oldest Quaker communities in the region.
Rhode Island provided a home to many Quaker refugees in the 17th century and in the early 18th century a group of "Friends" started this congregation. Their original Meeting House, built in 1719, was connected to a chain of Quaker Meeting Houses that were built along Great Road (near Union Village and Smithfield Road Historic District). It was destroyed by fire in 1881 and replaced by the current structure.
James Brayton, an African American Revolutionary War soldier and former slave is buried here.

Stephen Brownell House

Sutton
From Rt. 146, exit at Boston Road, traveling west to Sutton Center (about 2 miles). Park in Church parking lot. Start tour.
Source: National Park Service, Sutton Walking tour, June 1999, John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor

The Blackstone Valley is the birthplace of the American industrial revolution, but it is the agriculture of towns like Sutton that gave that revolution life.
At first, Sutton-with its white church, country store, blacksmith shop, and cattle pound-may seem bypassed by the modern industrial world. Look again- towns like Sutton have always raised the food needed by the industrial workforce and the materials essential to industrial production.
Sutton began in 1718, when 30 families left the land shortages plaguing New England's coastal communities to settle on a huge grant owned by eastern investors. While other towns broke territory away from Sutton (Millbury, Upton, Grafton, Auburn, Uxbridge, Westborough, and Northbridge), much land remained. Because Sutton holds some of the region's most productive soil, family farms have dominated over time, producing dairy products, fruit, flax, grass crops, lumber, livestock, corn, grain, and vegetables for local consumption and commercial use. You can still see some farms working today, as well as visit the historic Marble and Waters farmsteads.
Sutton's agriculture has gone hand in hand with manufacturing. Farmers often doubled as blacksmiths or carpenters, while women spun thread, wove cloth, and made butter in their homes. Widening markets created cottage industries in some trades, with such items as boots and shoes, ploughs and scythes, and casks and coffins produced in farm-based workshops.
Farm products also supported industry: hay fed horses used in factories, cattle hides were used for leather shoes, wool was used for cloth, and wood was used for potash, railroad ties, and charcoal to produce pig-iron. Moreover, lumber, grist, textile, and metal-working mills developed on local rivers distant from Sutton Center, creating the outlying villages of Manchaug, Wilkinsonville, and North Sutton (Millbury).
Sutton's contours altered somewhat over the 20th century, with the decline of cottage industries, collapse of mill production, specialization of agricultural production, and spread of suburban residences. Yet farms still dot the landscape, producing dairy products, fruits, and vegetables for urban markets. Many historic homesteads have been preserved, along with community buildings and much of the rural landscape. And Sutton's families (many of whom can trace their local lineage back for generations) have worked hard to reclaim their community's historic past, while harnessing it for the future. As a result, Sutton retains much of its picturesque 19thcentury feel, along with a modern vitality.

1 First Congregational Church
In the 1630s, the Puritans came to America, driven by their opposition to the Church of England. They disliked the church hierarchy telling people what to believe as well as the King's interference in church matters. In New England, their own Congregational Church increased member participation in religious matters, while banning political involvement in the church. It did, however, urge church involvement in politics. To assure this blend of community and church activism, many New England towns were built around a central building, doubling as a church and civic building. The modest edifice erected in Sutton in 1720 housed the First Congregational Church and the celebrated "New England town meeting." While Sutton later experienced a full "separation of church and state," both church and town meetings continue to occupy a central position in the Sutton community.

2 Parsonage #301 Boston Road
By the time Sutton was founded in the 1700s, New England Congregationalists continued to blend economic goals along with religious ones. Sutton Center bustled with activity, as farmers, artisans, and mill owners brought goods here for sale or exchange. Boston Road became a major east- west artery across New England, conveying products, information, and people through town. And civic leaders, living close to the Center, provided a range of commercial, religious, political, legal, and medical services. The building on this site, for instance, was occupied by an attorney and a judge in 1785, transformed into a tavern in the 1820s, and home to church ministers by the mid-1800s. Its Federal-style structure, added in 1790, was renovated in the 1880s and c1907.

3 La Baron Tavern #297 Boston Road
The flow of traffic through 18th-century Sutton generated several inns and taverns. Hale's Tavern, once located here, was bought in 1777 by Lazarus La Baron, a merchant and French Huguenot from Boston. He built this Federal-style structure in 1794, hosting prominent visitors like John Hancock, John Paul Jones, and the Marquis de Lafayette. His fancy inn was among the more popular public houses between Boston and Hartford.

4 Fairview/Brigham Farm
Some of the Center's most successful residents artfully combined commercial and farming activity. Established in 1720, this farm became one of Sutton's most productive after it was bought by the Hovey family in 1811. Marius Hovey ran a saw mill and a dry goods store, harvested woodlands, and sold some of Sutton's finest stock. The farm-house burned in 1898, the year Hovey died, and his wife moved across the road to her family home. The current buildings, built by the new owner c1902, have continued to support a working farm to the present day.

5 Red Brick Block #314 Boston Road
Simon Tenney built the Center's only brick building in 1839, hoping to capitalize on a growing market by offering store goods for Sutton products and trading Sutton products to Boston. As in many rural locations throughout America, many exchanges were conducted on a store credit or barter basis. The store's first "sale" involved the trade of two eggs for chewing tobacco and "yaller" snuff. Among local items Tenney accepted were farm goods (including an apple, the "Sutton Beauty"), boots and shoes (including cheap brogans, or work boots, for slave wear in the South), wood, jeans, cassimeres, "family flour" from the Sutton Flour Mill, and broadcloths from the Sutton Woolen Mills.
The brick block also housed manufactories (boot and shoe, tailoring, harnesses, flour bags), offices (Selectmen, lawyers, doctors), as well as tenements, the Sutton Library, the post office, and a private school. Washington Hall, upstairs, was used for exhibitions, lyceums, and Methodist meetings. And, until recently, the building always held a general store, often a neighborhood gathering place.

6 Sherman Blacksmith Shop
When Hollis Sherman bought the brick store in 1893, its barn (now gone) housed a livery stable and shop, run by blacksmith Daniel Dudley. When Sherman's son, Milton, took over the shop, Dudley leased neighboring land from Marius Hovey and built this shop. Since the spread of specialized commercial agriculture was gradually eliminating resident smithys from local farms, both men were eager to meet a growing demand for wheels, tools, and utensils. Heavy traffic through town also increased the need for wagon wheels and the shodding of the draft animals used to pull plows and haul produce to Boston.

7 Methodist Church/Holbrook House
Although the Puritans encouraged popular participation in church affairs, some groups felt they had not gone far enough in preventing hierarchy and politics from interfering with individual faith. They also opposed Congregationalism as the only "official church" in New England. Several denominations, such as Baptists and Methodists, struggled for recognition, initiated major revivals, and faced major conflict in the 18th and 19th centuries. In Sutton Center, however, neither group presented much of a challenge. The Baptists met only in outlying areas. And, while the Methodists met for a year and built this structure across the Common in 1855, they were bankrupt by 1864. Stephen Holbrook bought the building, moved it to this site, and refit it into a post-office, store, and home. With hot and cold running water, it was among Sutton's most desirable residences. It was subdivided into apartments in the 1940s.

8 Hancock House
When minister David Hall sold this farm to his son in 1753, the buildings had just been erected. In 1759 Hall, Jr., sold it to wealthy merchant Thomas Hancock, uncle to John Hancock, American revolutionary and future Massachusetts governor. Thomas made a fortune from war contracts and by smuggling goods to the West Indies in evasion of British regulations. John, adopted by his uncle as a child, inherited Thomas' fortune, including this farm, which he owned from 1764 to 1785. In 1785, when Hancock sold the farm, he also stepped down-briefly- from the governor's seat. A fortuitous decision, he thus avoided blame for the armed insurrection that tore across Massachusetts the following year. Led by debt-ridden farmers seeking changes in state policies of taxation, debtor laws, currency, and representation, Shays' Rebellion garnered strong support among Suttonites, some of whom actively joined the uprising.

9 Animal Pound/Hearse House/Center Cemetery
This stone-walled pound was used since Sutton's early days to hold stray livestock. The small structure to its left, now a supply shed, was built in 1864. It held the town hearse and sleigh, used until 1900 to carry the dead to the Center Cemetery. The Cemetery, just beyond, is well worth exploring. As the oldest graveyard in Sutton (set aside in 1719, organized in 1732), it contains headstones of some of Sutton's most prominent families.
From the beginning, livestock production was a central part of rural life. Herbert L. Ray, for instance, was known to drive his cows from his home on Singletary Avenue through the center of town to his grazing lands in the fields of Bond Hollow off Uxbridge Road (pictured here in 1902). Not surprisingly, straying livestock was a common problem. As a result, one of the town's first official actions was to establish a pound to contain the runaways. Owners had to pay for the release of their wayward animals.

10 Masons Building/School House
The Olive Branch Lodge of Masons built this hall in 1823. While they used the upstairs for meetings, the downstairs was used for a school. When the Masons moved, the entire building became a schoolhouse, operating into the mid-20th century. It was a public library until 1982, when it became home to the Sutton Historical Society Museum. It is named for Rufus Putnam, a Sutton farmer, surveyor, and builder. As a Brigadier General in the Revolutionary war, Putnam built the fortifications used to defend Boston harbor from the British.
This building is now named The General Rufus Putnam Hall and is the home of the Sutton Historical Society Museum.

11 Town Hall
Although the Sutton Town Hall is a recent structure, center meeting houses have always been home to that classic New England institution, the town meeting. It was at such meetings in the 1780s that Suttonites expressed dismay at state policies thought harmful to struggling farmers in a post-war depression. In 1783, they attacked tax collectors passing through town. In 1786, they voted in sympathy of Shay's Rebellion, signing petitions, calling meetings, and contributing participants to what proved to be six months of armed battles against the state's army. While some town meetings have proved livelier than others, they have always been a place for the citizens of Sutton to express the voices of their community.

12 Parsonage
The center's oldest building, built in 1729 and first owned by the Rev. David Hall, began as a simple half-house with an interior end chimney. The rest of the structure was gradually built around that core, much like Sutton developed around its Center. In recent years, as the building fell into disrepair, Sutton residents gathered in town meetings, much as they had over the centuries, to debate what to do with the structure. Echoing a struggle taking place across America today, they weighed the importance of Sutton's unique historical character against the needs of a growing community. Finally, in a powerful mandate, the town bought the building with a preservation covenant: while the structure might be adapted to new uses, the town must also preserve its historical integrity. As a result, the parsonage now stands in silent testimony to the spirit of renovation and preservation invigorating the Sutton community.

Manchaug Village
Original home of "Fruit of the Loom," is on the Mumford River in southwest Sutton. It was used for cotton manufacturing, 1836 to 1926. It offers worker housing, stone mills, a store, baptist church, school, and mansion house. Boston Road west to Central Turnpike. Turn left. First right onto Manchaug Road to Parker Road. Turn left, to the intersection of Putnam Hill Road, Whitins Road, and Main Street. Explore in each direction.

Waters Farm
Waters Farm in West Sutton is a 130-acre hilltop homestead established in 1757 and now a "living museum." October is "Farm Days" where hundreds of vintage tractors run. Early American crafters provide demonstrations, music and the best apple crisp can be had. Other events include a hitch and harness school, an equestrian ride-a-thon, and a winter sleigh rally. For making tour appointments or special events call the Blackstone River Valley Visitors Bureau at 800-841-0919. Directions: Boston Road west to Central Turnpike. Turn right. First left up Douglas Road. Left at fork onto Waters Road until end.
"Chain of Lights" is a December celebration with trolley tours to Waters Farm, a century old candy factory, a folk art studio specializing in Santa Claus figures created from 14th century chocolate moulds, church suppers, Christmas tree cutting and more! Call Blackstone River Valley Visitors Bureau at 800-841-0919.

Freegrace Marble Farm
The Freegrace Marble Farm, on Burbank Road off Boston Road near Sutton Center, is a 63-acre family farm, established in 1731. For more information contact the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities at 617-227-3956.

Upton
Upton is located on Route 140, approximately six miles south of the Millbury exit on the Mass Pike and just off Route 135, approximately 4 miles west of Route 495.
Source: National Park Service, Upton Walking tour, May 1998, John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor

It was shoes and boots that gave Upton a foothold in the Industrial Revolution, but it was hats that would take it to the top.
Upton was created in 1735 from the outlying areas of four towns: Mendon, Sutton, Hopkinton, and Uxbridge.
This patchwork community was typical of New England towns in the 18th century. Nuclear families worked small farms, with the women spinning wool, making candles, and preserving food, while the men plied some supplemental speciality such as blacksmithing, shoemaking, or repair work.
By the dawn of the 19th century, handcrafts began to develop into industries in New England. In Upton, a half dozen streams provided waterpower for small mills, but the power was not sufficient for the large-scale manufacturing that was emerging in other towns in the Blackstone Valley. Undeterred, Upton proceeded to build a prosperous boot and shoe industry.
Growing side-by-side with Upton's shoe trade was the straw hat business. Upton women had been braiding straw for hats in their homes for many years, and small hat shops dotted Upton's streets. But it would take an entrepreneurial genius,William Knowlton, to make Upton the home of what would ultimately be called the largest women's hat factory in the world.
Born in Hopkinton in 1809, Knowlton had been apprenticed to a cooper at an early age, following the death of his father and two older brothers. At the age of twenty he arrived in Upton, determined to make his fortune. He took an early interest in the manufacturing of straw goods, and soon focused his considerable energy on building a ladies' hat business.
Knowlton established his company in West Upton. It remained in family hands until 1926. In 1956, New York hat manufacturer Charles Kartiganer bought the operation. But changing fashions brought the demise of large-scale women's hat manufacturing and the plant closed in 1973.
Upton today has become a bedroom community for employees of high tech industries. The former hat factory has been converted to apartments. But, continuing the tradition begun by housewives of long ago who braided straw for hats in their homes, many Upton women still make hats at home for wholesalers and for retail sales to buyers who use them for decoration and display.
As Kartiganer said in an address to the Upton Historical Society in 1974, "There's nothing like this Upton. [It has] ... the finest hands in the world."
Between 1730 and 1850, Upton was dotted with small shoe shops, called ten–footers. These operations were gradually merged into large assembly-line manufacturing companies. By 1837, Upton produced 21.7 percent of the 542,154 pairs of boots made in Worcester County.
To visit an authentic "10-footer" bootshop c.1812, contact the Upton Historical Society at 508-529-6600.
Free street parking is available along the common.
Refreshments are available in the town center.
Good resting areas are the town common and Pratt Pond.

1 Common Area
Your tour begins on Upton's town common. Here was the town's center of social, religious, and economic activity for much of its history.
Most of the buildings around the common date to the mid-19th century. East of the common stands the Holy Angels Catholic Church, built in 1848 as the First Unitarian Society in Upton. The Catholic bishop of Springfield purchased the building in 1874 when the Unitarians moved to a new church in West Upton. Parishioners remodeled the building, lowering the steeple and adding large stained glass windows imported from Germany.
To the right of the church is the center's main commercial block, built in 1836. Over the years it has housed a dry goods store, the town post office, a barber shop, and a florist shop.
Just south of the block, facing Grove Street, is another, smaller commercial building. Built as a store in 1833, the structure for a short time served as the meeting place of the Sons of Temperance.

2 Library
In the triangle formed by the junction of Main and Grove streets stands the town library, built in 1876 as the Methodist Episcopal Church. The town bought the building after the Methodist and Congregational churches formed the United Parish in 1970.
Carpentry students from Blackstone Valley Regional Vocational Technical High School remodeled the building, which today houses the public library and other town offices, as well as the Upton Historical Society. The Society has on display local artifacts and historical memorabilia, and is open to the public on Wednesdays and Saturdays from 9:30 – 11:30AM.

3 United Parish Church
West of the common, on the corner of Church Street, is the United Parish Church. This church boasts what is probably the most famous steeple in the Blackstone Valley. Ironically, the steeple is a transplant from nearby Oxford.
Erected in 1848 as the First Congregational Church, the church became nationally famous in 1949 when townspeople started an informal campaign to replace the steeple that had been destroyed by the 1938 hurricane.
Residents sent out letters with a picture of the church as it once had been. Eight miniature white churches were set up in regional stores and post offices. The Worcester Gazette carried a front-page story headed "Three Religions Join to Give Church New Steeple."
The story went out over the national Associated Press wire on December 21. Contributions came in from around the country, including one with this note attached: "This is the type of togetherness that we think of as being really in the American spirit."
Over the next few years, the steeple fund climbed to $7,000. Then, in 1956, the Oxford Methodist Church was dismantled and parishioners donated their steeple to the cause. The new steeple, complete with a town clock, was raised the same year.
The church made news of another sort in 1970, when it combined with the Methodist Church to form the United Parish Church.

4 Polly Dean Bradish House
Once you leave the common area, turn left on North Main Street. The first house on the left is the Polly Dean Bradish House. Built in 1844 by locally prominent Harvey Bradish and his wife, Polly, the house soon became one of two known stations in Upton on the Underground Railroad. That elaborate system of concealment moved slaves through designated houses in towns stretching from the deep South to freedom in Canada. An outspoken abolitionist, Polly is said to have moved more than 500 slaves through her home, despite the $1,000 fine imposed on anyone caught aiding slaves in this manner. The house contains a hidden staircase that leads to the room where the fugitives were concealed.

5 Dr. Josiah Dean House
Continue walking up North Main Street. Two houses beyond the Bradish house is the only remaining 18th-century house in Upton center. Dr. Josiah Dean, an ancestor of Polly Dean Bradish, built the house in 1740. It continues to be a private residence.

Gertrude Lawrence Memorial
Broadway actress Gertrude Lawrence, who starred with Yul Brenner in The King and I, is buried in Lakeview Cemetery, bordering Pratt Pond. She rests in the family plot of her husband, Richard Stoddard Aldrich, whose first Upton ancestors came to the area nearly 200 years ago.

6 Pratt Pond
As you continue up North Main Street, note the many 19th century houses along the way. At the end of the road is one of the most scenic sites in Upton center, Pratt Pond. Across North Main Street is Upton's second cemetery, Pine Grove. It contains some fine old headstones. Walk west through the cemetery and turn left on School Street. Use caution crossing the street. There is a sidewalk a few yards down the road. When you pass Stoddard Street, note the fine stone wall on the east side of School Street. The wall marked the boundaries of Upton's largest shoe manufactory. It was owned by Ezekiel Bates Stoddard, who prospered during and immediately after the Civil War.

Stone Wall
The wall marked the boundaries of Upton's largest shoe manufactory. It was owned by Ezekiel Bates Stoddard, who prospered during and immediately after the Civil War.

7 Grange Hall
Just beyond the Upton police station, across Warren Street, is the Grange Hall. One of only a few still standing in the Valley, the hall is a reminder of the once mighty Order of the Patrons of Husbandry. Established in Washington, D.C. in 1867 as a social and educational organization for farmers, and popularly known as the Grange, the organization influenced Congressional approval of the Interstate Commerce and Sherman Antitrust acts and supported proposals that in time became part of the American political system, including direct election of senators, direct primaries, and the graduated income tax.
Young farmers in Upton began to meet informally after the Civil War and established a Grange unit that continues to be active to this day.
The Grange Hall was built as the Center School for primary and intermediate grades in 1863. High school classes were conducted intermittently on the building's second floor, but it was not until 1877 that Upton's first high school class graduated-with four boys and four girls.
Head right on Warren Street, and take a short walk back to the town center.

Post Office Parking

Tour Extension

Knowlton Hat Factory
To view the former Knowlton hat factory, follow Rte. 140 North about one mile to West Upton. The building is now private apartments.
William Knowlton founded what was to become the world's largest women's hat factory. He was a benefactor to the town and a founder of the University of Massachusetts Agricultural School.
Beginning in 1850, Knowlton made many trips abroad, buying materials and machinery for his operation. He brought back skilled workers, notably patternmakers, dyers, molders, and others who helped him build his business.

Uxbridge
Uxbridge is located at the junction of routes 16 and 122. Your tour begins on Route 16, just east of Main Street (Route 122).
Free parking is available at the Cornet John Farnum House, Mendon Street (Rte. 16), courtesy of Tom Schwartz of Emile Bernat and Sons, Inc. Free street parking is also available along Mendon Street and Main Street.
Places to eat are available in the historic downtown.
Good resting areas are Capron Park and the town common.
Source: National Park Service, Uxbridge Walking tour, July 1997, John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor

Many threads run through the story of Uxbridge, creating a tapestry as complex and richly woven as any of the cloths the town produced in abundance at the height of its prosperity.
As you walk through its multi-textured streets, you will be struck by the juxtaposition of old and new, the intertwining of agrarian and industrial, the evidence of decline and renewal. If you look closely, you can see traces of our nation's development, for as one local historian observed "Here in our small Town, through the last centuries, has been enacted a miniature United States history."
Like most communities that pre-date the Revolutionary War, Uxbridge was initially an agrarian community with a healthy smattering of gristmills, sawmills, and other small enterprises. Here, the Congregationalist majority lived in harmony with a small group of Quakers who erected their own meeting house on the outskirts of town. Such diversity would become characteristic of Uxbridge.
Early on, too, the impact of manufacturing would be felt. At the time of the Revolution, most cloth was made in the home. An Uxbridge farmer by the name of Richard Mowry successfully built and marketed the paraphernalia needed for making woolen, linen, or cotton cloth.
At the turn of the 19th century, Uxbridge was among the first communities to move cloth-making out of the home and into factories. In 1810 Daniel Day built one of the first woolen mills in New England in the eastern part of town on the West River. Other mills, including the Crown and Eagle cotton mill, the Rivulet woolen mill, the Capron worsted mill, and the Stanley Woolen Mills, followed in quick succession.
By the mid-19th century, more than 20 textile mills flourished in Uxbridge. They attracted many immigrant workers, including Irish, French, and Poles, who enriched and further diversified the town's population.
Uxbridge's 100-plus years of manufacturing prominence were brought to an end by the Great Depression and the subsequent move South of the textile industry. Many of the great mills are now occupied by several smaller companies.
But changing times have not dimmed the resourcefulness and industry that are characteristic of Uxbridge-a tapestry that grows richer with the passing years.
During its first 100 years, Uxbridge was a farming community. Its second hundred years saw the dominance of manufacturing. Dutch immigrants came to Uxbridge early in the 20th century and bought and revitalized many of the old farms.
The town produced a significant amount of cloth for uniforms and blankets for the Civil War and both World Wars. Five divisions of the Uxbridge Worsted Company were awarded the Army-Navy "E" flag for excellence in war production. In 1949, the town gained fame when the U.S. Air Force chose "Uxbridge Blue" as the color of their new uniform.

1 Cornet John Farnum House
Your first stop is the Cornet John Farnum House on Mendon Street, site of Uxbridge's first town meeting in 1727. At that time, approximately 50 families comprised the new town.
John Farnum, who was active in the political affairs of both Mendon and Uxbridge, built this house around 1710. The house is on its original site and over the years it has overlooked an apple orchard, grist mill, gun factory, and livery stable. It has been extensively restored and contains many early furnishings and china.
The town bought the property in 1968. It is maintained by the Historical Commission and Historical Society. It is open for tours the third Sunday of each month, April through October, from 1 to 4 p.m.

2 Prospect Hill Cemetery
Across Mendon Street, near the corner of Depot Street, you enter Prospect Hill, the town's oldest cemetery. Here you will find the names that recur through Uxbridge's history, Aldrich, Farnum, Taft, Wheelock, Capron, Willard, Chapin, and others.
Note the Revolutionary War Memorial west of the gate as you leave the cemetery. Many of the same family names appear on other war memorials on the town common and at the high school.
Before you continue west up to Main Street, you may want to stroll down Depot Street on your left to get a better view of the Capron mill or to visit some of the shops.
Or, simply continue up Mendon Street to Main Street, passing under the substantial Providence and Worcester Railroad bridge and turning left at the corner.

Capron Mill
Also known as Bernat Mill, destroyed by fire on July 21, 2007.

3a Train Depot
The P & W Railroad tracks were laid in Uxbridge in 1847, and trains began to steam into town from all directions. The railroad brought raw materials to the factories and distributed their products to the rest of the country, contributing vastly to the expansion of production and precipitating the demise of the Blackstone Canal, which shut down in 1848.
Every town along the P & W line had a passenger depot. Built in 1895, the former depot retains all the major elements of its original design and is characteristic of late-19th-century architecture. A walk to the rear of the building reveals the boarding platform and an excellent view of the tracks.

3b Uxbridge Inn
Cross Main Street and head north to the Uxbridge Inn. Built as the Hotel Wilson in 1882 on the site of two earlier public houses, the inn was a very important stop-over for travelers. It has been extensively renovated and includes on its premises a restaurant and several function rooms.

4 Common
Continue on to the picture-postcard town common on which can be traced many of the nation's major events.
To the east and west of the common you will see two imposing churches whose establishment was rooted in a religious conflict that swept New England in the 1830s. Differences between liberals and Calvinists caused a division among members of the First Church of Christ of Uxbridge, leading to the formation of two distinct societies. Facing the common on Court Street is the First Evangelical Congregational Church, built in 1833. Directly opposite it, on Main Street, is the First Congregational Society, Unitarian church built in 1834.
At the north end of the common is a small brick Federalist-style building, built jointly by a private academy and a Masonic lodge in 1819. Such joint ventures were common throughout Massachusetts in the first half of the 19th century before state laws required public support of high schools. The school opened on the ground floor in 1820, while the second story was reserved for use by the Masons.
Beginning in 1855, the ground floor housed the public high school, mandated by new legislation. Following the high school's move to a separate building in 1867, the former academy housed a district court until the mid-20th century. Solomon's Temple Masonic Lodge purchased the town's share of the the building and land in 1941.
Almost directly across Main Street you will notice the D.A.R. House. It was built in 1768 by Simeon Wheelock, whose descendents would play key roles in the development of some of Uxbridge's major mills. The house is open for public tours during Harvest Weekend in October.

Thayer Memorial Library
For further information about Uxbridge, visit the Thayer Memorial Library, donated to the town by Edward Thayer in 1894. This beautifully-appointed building contains many records and artifacts related to the town's history.

5 Capron Park
As you return to your car, you will pass a little park just west of Farnum House, overlooking Mumford Pond. Note the power generated by the water flowing over the dam. Three large rivers-the Mumford, West, and Blackstone-and numerous streams and ponds provided the water power that was the key to Uxbridge's early industrial growth.
Across the dam stands one of downtown Uxbridge's oldest buildings. Built as a grist mill around 1777, the building later housed Bay State Arms, which produced single-shot rifles.
The Mumford also powered the once mighty Capron Mill across the street. The mill, built by Effingham L. Capron in 1820, operated under various names over the years, including the Uxbridge Worsted Company from 1910 to 1962. In its heyday, the company ran 24hours a day, seven days a week, closing only on Christmas and Easter. The dye houses straddled the river so dye kettles could be dumped directly into it. It is said that the river ran blue when the dye kettles were emptied.
The company was sold to Emile Bernat and Sons, Inc., in 1962. Today, the mill houses several small enterprises.

St. Mary's
Irish immigrants first came to Uxbridge in the 1820s to work on the farms, and later on the canal, the railroad, and in the mills. They established St. Mary's parish in 1855.

Taft Tavern
Taft Tavern in North Uxbridge was the site of two presidential visits. George Washington, newly elected President, stayed here during his triumphal tour of New England in 1789. He was so pleased with the accommodations that he sent the innkeeper's daughters, Patty and Polly, a piece of Chintz. In 1909, President William H. Taft, whose grandfather was born in Uxbridge, took time out from a visit with Governor Eben Draper in Hopedale to visit his ancestral home.

Trolley Bridge???
This trolley bridge over the Blackstone River was part of an elaborate electric railway system developed in the early 1900s to provide transportation around town and to many of the neighbor ing communities.

Valleyfalls
From Route 295: Take Exit 11 to Route 114. Follow Route 114 south to Valley Falls. Take right onto Mill Street and right will be on right at intersection.
From Route 95: Take Exit 30 to East Street/Central Falls. Follow signs to Central Falls along Roosevelt Avenue. Take right onto Charles Street. Proceed to Broad Street and take right. Proceed on Broad Street for about 1 mile. Town Hall on right.
Parking is available at Town Hall lot and along Broad Street.
Source: National Park Service, Valley Falls Walking tour, May 1998, John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor

Valley Falls is the site of the most extensive textile activity in the town of Cumberland. The first textile mill here opened in 1818, but development of modern Valley Falls did not begin until 1839 when Oliver Chace purchased the mills on both the Cumberland and Central Falls sides of the river. For the next seventy-three years the Chace family, specifically Oliver's sons Harvey and Samuel B. Chace, built a textile empire here in Valley Falls. They began with two mid- sized stone mills but eventually built two massive brick textile complexes on either end of the Valley Falls dam.
The influence of the Chace family, however, went beyond providing jobs for the workers of Valley Falls.
The Chace brothers were active Quakers, and both were committed to reform movements, including abolition. Samuel's wife, Elizabeth Buffum Chace, was one of the leaders of Rhode Island's anti-slavery movement and even ran a stop on the Underground Railroad from the family home on Hunt Street in Central Falls. In her diary, Mrs. Chace remembers shuttering the windows whenever they harbored fugitive slaves. She and her husband feared they would be arrested, leaving their children alone. Within her own community, Mrs. Chace tried to improve the lives of the mill workers by starting evening classes for adults, and opening a reading room and an activity room. She also began a day care center and a kindergarten for the workers' families.
As the Valley Falls Company grew, the village expanded to support it. By the 1860s, the village had become urbanized and was the seat of town government. Other manufacturers came to the village as well to take advantage of the labor force and the infrastructure, including the Rhode Island Horse Shoe Company and the Cadillac Textile Mill. Gradually, Valley Falls became Cumberland's downtown, and most of the houses on Broad Street were replaced by businesses.
The Valley Falls Company Mills shut down in the 1930s, ending an important phase in the history of both the village and the town of Cumberland. Despite this loss, Valley Falls continues to be the urban center of Cumberland. So while the site of the old mill has been turned into a park, the thriving business along Broad Street and the presence of the active Portuguese community here provide a taste of what Valley Falls was like during the textile boom years.
Facilities are located in Town Hall and picnic sites are located at Valley Falls Heritage Park.

1 Heritage Park
Valley Falls Heritage Park is built amid the ruins of the Valley Falls Company mill complex. For over one hundred years a massive mill operated here, but in 1934 the owners demolished it to avoid paying the property taxes. This site remained vacant until 1991 when the Town of Cumberland and the Heritage Corridor began to transform what had been a local eyesore into an historical park. Walkways, ramps and bridges allow you to tour the foundations of the mill complex. A series of informational signs tell the story of the Valley Falls Company as well as other mill topics. The tour begins at the Broad Street entrance, and continues along the trails to the Mill Street entrance.

2 Valley Falls Railroad Station And Rail Yard (C. 1895)
This small wooden train station was built by the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad in the mid-1890s. Rail service first came to the valley when the Providence & Worcester Railroad (P&W) opened in 1847, leading to a new period of mill expansion as it became possible to ship larger amounts of raw material and finished textiles between the mills and the docks of Providence. The P&W was leased by the larger New Haven Railroad from 1892 to 1968. In 1973, the P & W reopened as an independent freight line and still uses this site for a switching yard.

3 Valley Falls Post Office (12-14 Mill St., C. 1890)
This building has served many different purposes over the past century. It was originally built as the Valley Falls Post Office, and later housed Cumberland's first library. Then, throughout much of the early 1900s, a grocery store operated on the first floor of this building and the upper floor was a residence.

4 Cumberland Town Hall (1894)
The town offices moved to Valley Falls in 1868, but the current Town Hall was not built until 1894. At that time it was considered to be the "town house" and included the town jail and library, besides the town offices. Today, Town Hall houses only the town offices. Town Hall has been recently renovated to its original historic character. Particularly attractive are the clock tower and cupola that top the building. Inside Town Hall, along the main hallways, is a wonderful collection of historical photographs and postcards depicting Cumberland. Compare these images with the Valley Falls that you see outside today.
Turn left onto Broad Street and continue across the bridge into Central Falls to the intersection with High Street.

5 Valley Falls Company Mill (1849)
This mill complex was built in 1849 by the Chace family as part of their expansion of the Valley Falls Company. Though parts of the exterior have been covered with stucco, this complex provides an excellent idea of what the original mills looked like. Notice how the power canal flows in between the two wings of the complex. In this way two separate drive systems could be powered by the same canal.
Several years ago this mill was renovated and converted into senior citizen's housing for the City of Central Falls. This is one of the best solutions to a problem that has been plaguing the communities of the Blackstone Valley for the past fifty years: What is the best use for old textile mills? Many are still being used by a wide variety of businesses or for warehouse storage, while others, like this one, have been converted into public housing, or private condominiums.

Valley Falls Mill

Valley Falls Mill, Office and Bath House

6 Gatehouse (1854)
This building houses the gate controls which directed the flow of water into the power canals that served the mill on this side of the river. Most of the original machinery is still intact inside. A similar structure originally stood in the park on the Cumberland side of the River, where the gear wheels can be seen along the river today.

7 The Broad Street Bridge (1915)
In 1812 Issac Wilkinson built the Valley Falls Turnpike from Pawtucket to Lonsdale so he could ship goods from his mill in Valley Falls to market. This was the earliest bridge to cross the Blackstone in the area and made Valley Falls an important transportation center. Since Valley Falls was not connected to the Blackstone Canal, it was not until the advent of the railroad that the Turnpike was replaced as the primary transportation link to Pawtucket and Providence. The current bridge, built in 1915, continues to connect the two halves of Valley Falls. While facing upstream, to your left is the American Supply Company building, built in 1875. The company produced supplies for textile mills, including belts, gears, shuttles and loom parts.
Proceed ahead and make a left onto Meeting Street.

8 Cadillac Textile Mill
One of the other major manufacturers in Valley Falls, this mill was in operation as a textile mill until 1985, most recently producing nylon cloth for safety flags. Notice the saw-tooth design on the roof. They are fairly common in the Valley, and are built oriented to the north. This provides a steady source of sunlight without glare, which is necessary for quality weaving. Currently, several small companies are operating here.
Return down Meeting Street and make a left onto Chase Street.

9 Club Juventude Lusitana
Immigrants from many different nations have come to the Blackstone Valley over the years to seek employment in the mills. One of the later groups to arrive were the Portuguese, who began to come to the valley in the 1920s. At that time, there were already many Portuguese immigrants living in southeastern New England, mostly working in the fishing and whaling fleets. Today, the Portuguese community is still vibrant in Valley Falls, and its center is the Club Juventude Lusitana. The club sponsors numerous cultural activities and festivals as well as a Portuguese school.

10 Mill Houses (C. 1895)
These two duplexes at 33 - 39 Titus Street, featuring gambrel roofs, were built for mill workers during the late 1800's. Unlike most other villages, the houses in Valley Falls were not owned by the company, but built by landlords who rented them out. They are now private residences.
Take a right down Titus Street and return to parking lot on Broad Street.

William Blackstone Memorial Park
The Reverend William Blackstone, the first English settler in the Blackstone Valley, built his home along the banks of the river in what is now the Lonsdale section of Cumberland in 1635. Blackstone, who was also the first settler of Boston, came here after falling into disagreements with the Puritans. His home, known as Study Hall, was burnt during King Philip's War, shortly after his death in 1675. A granite marker that is said to have marked Blackstone's grave now stands across the street in the William Blackstone Memorial Park.

Valley Falls Marsh
The mills along the Blackstone have caused many problems for the river's fragile ecosystem over the past two centuries. However, the Industrial Revolution has also led to a few improvements for the river's wildlife. The Valley Falls Marsh, created by flooding caused by the Valley Falls Dam, is the largest fresh-water marsh in Rhode Island. The marsh is an important stopping point for migrating birds on one of the great northeast fly ways, and each spring several breeds of waterfowl, including Canadian Geese, Mute Swans, and Mallard Ducks, use the marsh for their nesting grounds.

Whitinsville
Whitinsville is located in Northbridge. Take Rt. 146 to Lackey Dam Road, Whitinsville Exit. Follow signs to Whitinsville for about 2.5 miles. Turn right onto Elm Place. Parking at James Fletcher Homestead.
Source: National Park Service, Whitinsville Walking tour, July 1997, John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor

The historic district of Whitinsville in the Town of Northbridge presents a remarkably complete picture of one of the distinctive by-products of the Industrial Revolution in New England: the company town.
Maintained and controlled by the Whitin family for over 100 years, Whitinsville today reveals its evolution from agrarian settlement to industrial giant, and offers a fascinating glimpse of the powerful family behind it all.
Following the Revolutionary War, Colonel Paul Whitin came from Dedham, Mass., to serve as an apprentice in an iron forge in the budding community then known as South Northbridge. James Fletcher owned the forge, along with most of the land that now comprises Whitinsville.
Eventually, Paul Whitin married Fletcher's daughter, Betsy, with whom he had five sons and a daughter. The Whitin-Fletcher alliance was further solidified in 1815 with the establishment of the Whitin and Fletchers Cotton Mill.
In 1826, Whitin bought out the Fletchers and went into partnership with his sons Paul, Jr., and John C., under the firm name of Paul Whitin and Sons.
Both sons were astute businessmen, but it was John's inventiveness and marketing acumen that led to the development of Whitin Machine Works, which would overshadow the family cotton mills and become the world's largest textile machine shop.
Explosive industrial growth throughout the Blackstone Valley during the 1800s resulted in ongoing labor shortages in this region. To staff their burgeoning enterprises, the Whitins brought in workers-Irish immigrants beginning in 1847, followed by French Canadians, Dutch, and Armenians. And to house their employees, the Whitins built nearly 1,000 worker dwellings between the mid-1820s and mid-1920s.
In addition to housing, the Whitins built or subsidized the town's schools, churches, town hall, library, and recreational facilities. Like lords of the manor, the Whitins erected grand homes from which they dictated many aspects of the town's political and social life. They perpetuated a system of benevolent paternalism, providing job security and an orderly environment in exchange for worker loyalty.
By the late 1940s, worker loyalty was tempered by a tide of labor unrest. When employees voted to unionize, company president E. Kent Swift-the last of six generations of Whitins to run the company- resigned. The Whitins sold their interests in Whitin Machine Works along with their town properties.
With the end of the Whitin era, a new chapter in the town's history began-a chapter that is still unfolding today.
The tour takes about one and one-half hours.

1 James Fletcher Homestead
Your tour begins at the James Fletcher Homestead, now the Northbridge Historical Society. One of only two remaining 18th-century structures in Whitinsville's National Register District, this house was built in 1770 by Colonel James Fletcher. Fletcher set up the first iron forge in the community, and later established a cotton mill. He served in the Revolutionary War and held many town offices.
Note the close proximity to the Brick Mill across the street, where Fletcher built his iron forge in 1772. It was then customary for a proprietor to live near his place of business.

2 Old Brick Mill
Across the street, along the Mumford River, stands the Old Brick Mill. This mill marked the beginning of large- scale industry in Whitinsville. Paul Whitin and Sons built the mill as a cotton and textile machine shop in 1826, on the site of a much smaller cotton mill owned by James Fletcher. The Brick Mill originally employed 40 workers, most of whom were from the village. It was expanded in 1830 and employed 146 workers at the height of its operation in the early 1840s.
By 1845, Whitin cotton manufacturing had outgrown this mill. The company constructed a much larger mill, and John C.Whitin began using the Brick Mill exclusively for machine production and repair. This was the beginning of the Whitin Machine Works, which would come to dominate the town.
Before heading down towards Main Street, take a short side-trip up Fletcher Street to your right. Here you will see three Federal-style workers' houses, numbers 18-20, 26-28, and 36-38, constructed in 1826 in conjunction with the Brick Mill. These houses represent the beginning of the extensive company housing system that the Whitins developed over the years.
The remainder of the workers' houses on Fletcher Street were built in the 1840s, in conjunction with the granite Cotton Mill.

18-20 Fletcher Street

26-28 Fletcher Street

36-38 Fletcher Street

3 Granite Cotton Mill
Retracing your steps, turn right towards Main Street. Across the Mumford River on your right stands the massive cotton mill built by the Whitins in 1845. Built of local granite, this mill increased the company's production four times over what had been possible in the Brick Mill. In front of the building stood the Dudley Company store, where residents could purchase basic foodstuffs and dry goods.
The textile industry in the North suffered economic depression following WWI, and cotton manufacturing came to an end in Whitinsville in 1923.The granite mill became part of Whitin Machine Works, used as the company's research branch. The mill was converted to apartments in 1976.
Directly across the street is the Northbridge Town Hall. Built in 1876 by John C. and Charles P. Whitin and donated to the town of Northbridge in honor of their parents, the building was erected on the site of the original Paul Whitin homestead. Whitinsville then became Northbridge's political center.
Turn left onto Main Street and you will immediately come to the imposing Whitin Machine Works.

Northbridge Town Hall

4 Whitin Machine Works
What would become the largest textile machine manufactory in the world began with the building of Whitin Machine Works along the Mumford River in 1847. The original two-story mill, with its octagonal corner towers and crenelated battlements, accommodated 200 workers and was devoted exclusively to the production of textile machinery.
The mill was expanded decade by decade as the company came to dominate the manufacture of machinery for picking, carding, and spinning cotton and wool. Additions to the plant included machine shops, foundries, and specialized structures that ultimately gave it a floor space of 1 3/4 million feet. The 1923 addition facing Main Street features a ceremonial balcony and large clock face.
As you continue along North Main Street, you will pass the Whitin Community Center, which was built by the Whitins in 1922, was and remains the social and recreational hub of the town. Further along you will see a series of row houses on your right. Built in 1864, these dwellings were so unpopular with employees that the Whitins did not build row houses again until the early 1900s.
Turn right up High Street, where you will pass a number of duplexes built for Whitin employees between 1847 and 1864.

Whitin Community Center

Row Houses

Duplexes

5 Whitin Mansions
The Whitin mansions reflect the mill owners' rise to power and the social stratification that came to characterize Whitinsville. At the top of High Street, turn left onto Chestnut Street. Immediately on your right is the first mansion built by John C. Whitin, a Greek Revival structure erected in 1840. It originally stood across from the Whitin Machine Works and was moved in 1870 to make room for Whitin's second, and grander, mansion.
Turn back to where Chestnut Street merges with High Street and continue northeast to Hill Street. Across the street to your left stands Oakhurst, built in 1890 by Chester Lasell, son of Josiah Lasell and Jane Whitin, daughter of John C. Whitin. Chester Lasell succeeded his father as president of Whitin Machine Works. He bred some of the finest race horses in the country and entertained guests, including President Taft and Booker T. Washington, on a grand scale.
Turning right on Hill Street towards the town center, you will pass Whitin Park on your right. This was the site of John C. Whitin's second mansion, a 32-room Victorian structure that stood at the top of this landscaped estate. Built in 1875, the estate boasted three greenhouses, several swan ponds, and trees imported from all over the world. The house was torn down in 1943, but much of the foundation remains.
Across the street, at 46 Hill Street, is the Victorian home built in 1875 by Gustavus Taft, John C. Whitin's Superintendent of Works.

Oakhurst

Whitin Park

Gustavus Taft House

6 Memorial Square
At the intersection of Hill [Church] Street and Main Street [Linwood Avenue] is the heart of Whitinsville-Memorial Square. The Whitin family transformed an existing pasture into the village common in 1890 and in 1905 added the Civil War Memorial. Across from the Square stand the imposing Congregational Church and Whitinsville Social Library -both given to the town by the Whitins. The white mansion beside the Library is the Congregational Parsonage, donated to the Congregational Society by the Whitins in 1864.
Cross through Memorial Square to the central intersection, and a short walk up Douglas Road brings you back to the Historical Society.

Congregational Church

Whitinsville Social Library

Congregational Parsonage

If time (and energy) permit, take a short stroll or drive up Douglas Road past Whitin Avenue to Castle Hill Road. You will see a spectacular view of Whitin Machine Works along the Mumford River. Turn up Castle Hill Road. About 3/10 of a mile brings you to the remains of Castle Hill Farm. John C. Whitin established this beautiful farm during the depression of the 1870s in order to provide employment to his workers. Workers cleared the land and built the magnificent stone wall that surrounds the property. The farm supplied dairy products and produce, which were sold to workers at the company store. The homes on Castle Hill housed the farm employees. The homes and farm are all privately owned.
1.0 miles / 1.8 kilometers round trip

Castle Hill Farm
The Whitins brought in Dutch immigrants to tend to the herds of Holstein cattle on Castle Hill Farm, the company-owned farm that supplied food to employees and their families.

Woonsocket
From Route 146 North or South: Take exit for Route 104 in Woonsocket. Turn left on Route 104 North and follow to light. Continue straight through on Providence Road to end. Turn right on South Main Street, continue to Market Square.
Free parking in Woonsocket-follow the signs for Market Square and Visitor's Center. Additional free parking at the Main Street Municipal Lot and the Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor Commission, Depot Square. Restrooms during business hours.
Source: National Park Service, Woonsocket Walking tour, June 2001, John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor

The Blackstone River makes several lazy bends as it curves through downtown Woonsocket on its way from Worcester to Narragansett Bay. Scholars debate the meaning and translation of the name Woonsocket, probably from "nisowosaket," but the most popular choice is thunder mist, a good description of the roar from the river's largest falls.
A plantation grant in the late 1600s from the Providence Committee to members of the Arnold family established the Rhode Island colony's possession of this huge northerly tract of land. However, boundary disputes with Massachusetts, which escalated to the kidnapping of each other's settlers and the use of armed forces by 1683, remained heated until the 1730's. Over the next century, water-powered gristmills, a sawmill, a fulling mill, and an iron forge set up shop around Woonsocket Falls.
Woonsocket Falls was "on the map" by the early 1800's as a crossroads along the Boston-Hartford Highway, and commercial activity increased when the Worcester- Providence Blackstone Canal opened in 1829. By 1850 the area was full of factories, mostly textile mills, and served by the new Providence & Worcester Railroad. Tapping into the hydro-energy required a complicated maze of sluiceways and power trenches to be fitted in between buildings and along the streets, walkways, railroad tracks, and bridges.
In 1888, the neighboring factory communities of Woonsocket Falls, Globe, Social, Bernon, Hamlet, and Jenksville incorporated as the City of Woonsocket. On this walk you will discover remaining hints of their separateness. As you walk along the city's streets, you will find that you are criss-crossing the Blackstone River - once on your way from Market Square to old Bernon Village and again on your way back to Main Street in old Woonsocket Falls.
Don't be surprised on this loop to hear passers-by and shopkeepers speaking as much French as English. The nationwide economic boom after the Civil War spurred great growth for Woonsocket manufacturers who hired thousands of job-seeking immigrants from Quebec, Canada. Over time, the so-called melting pot tempered some of the strong ethnic flavor of Woonsocket. The French-language daily newspaper, La Tribune was no longer published after 1942. The daily French-language broadcasts of WWON (now WOON) radio ceased in the 1960's. Still, the second, third, and fourth generation descendants of these Northern American immigrants, continue to give Woonsocket a genuine "Canadien" taste, and enjoy listening in on weekends to music and commentary in "Woonsocket-dialect" Quebecois-French aired by local stations.

1 Woonsocket Falls
Begin your tour at Market Square. Crossing to the falls at the intersection of South Main Street, you will find wayside information. Mechanical flood control barriers now in place diminish the natural beauty of the cascade, however you can still get a sense of the river's raw power by standing close enough to feel the mist and spray. Beyond the falls, the turbines in the Thunder Mist Hydro-Electric Plant continue to convert the energy of running water to electric energy, as the 46-mile river pitches downward about 30 feet here.
As you circle around Market Square you will pass the Falls Yarn Mill building, built sometime before 1846. Originally the Woonsocket Rubber Company, processors of rubber for boots and clothes wringers, it was later the Falls Yarn Mill, producers of wool and merino yarns until 1984.

Falls Yarn Mill

2 River Island Park & Bernon Street Bridge
A few yards along Bernon Street, enter River Island Park. The footpaths cross over the remnants of the "tailrace" from one of the many power trenches still found in downtown Woonsocket.
From the steps at the water's edge, you should be able to see an island upriver. When the Bernon Dam was in place downriver before 1900, it held back enough water to raise the river level, submerging this island and most of the park. A large area of water is shown here on some 19th-century maps–but no island. Since colonial days the building of dams, mill ponds, trenches, sluiceways and later canals, locks, and towpaths, required a compli- cated legal process involving buying and selling water rights, land rights, mill rights, and easements.
Along the left-hand side of Bernon Street Bridge, looking downriver, you can see the Veterans Memorial Bridge– which you will cross later. You also have a good view of the Pond/Narragansett Knitting Mill. This mill's machinery, although fully operated by electricity, also continued to draw on water power from the river until a 1955 flood damaged the Bernon Dam.
Below are the vegetation-covered ruins of another large power trench along the far riverbank. The gates are still intact at the foot of the pilings, and when opened, rushing water diverted from the river powered the mills on Front Street.

3 Front Street
Welcome to old Bernon Village! Once you have reached Front Street, you are no longer in old Woonsocket Falls Village. Turning left, you are on the main street through old Bernon Village. It led to Hamlet, the next village downriver.
At 115 Front Street is Mill #2, built in 1833, and part of the Bernon Mill complex now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In the center is Mill #1, built in 1827 and later enlarged. Originally a cotton mill, it is the oldest surviving example of slow- burning factory construction. Compared to wood mills, this structure's heavy- timber framing, double-planked floors and rubblestone walls were a vast improvement in fire-protection. Mill #4, closer to the bridge, dates from 1857. Mill #3 was demolished.

4 Court Street/Veterans Memorial Bridge
Turn left onto Court Street. From the bridge, there is a bird's-eye view of the historic Bernon Mills and the river. Allen Street, a narrow, straight lane to the left below, was the Blackstone Canal before it was completely filled in and paved over. Old maps show that Truman Drive, the next street below, was a large body of water called Clinton Pond. Before 1850 the area beneath you would have looked just like a busy seaport, full of boats and commotion all the way back to Market Square.
Looking downriver, the Providence & Worcester railroad bridge is held up by massive stone pillars dating from 1847. That bridge is a clue to why the canal business collapsed within twenty years. Everyone who once eyed the waters of the river and canal to bring travelers, commerce, and correspondence switched to watching the front door of the train station for new business, new customers, and any sign of progress in busy Woonsocket. The depot at the intersection ahead became the new hub of traffic and transport. At its peak, the P&W ran 26 trains a day. Freights still run along the 400-mile rail system twice nightly, and occasionally daytime excursion trains travel the scenic river valley.
Once across the Veterans Memorial Bridge, you are back in the original village of Woonsocket Falls.
The train station in Depot Square replaced the wooden station which burned. Built in 1882, this more fireproof depot was proudly regarded as the most impressive on the line. No longer serving passengers or parcels, it is now the John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor Commission office. Inside you can get more information about sites and events in the Blackstone River Valley.
Slightly behind the former terminal is the 1855 Harris Warehouse, listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The rubblestone building is gracefully curved, and was designed with train tracks running inside so freight cars full of raw wool could be unloaded, and finished woolen goods reloaded, regardless of the weather.

Train Station
John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor Commission office

Harris Warehouse

Turn left on Main Street. Many properties along this stretch of Main Street are significant for their architecture and historic value in illustrating the themes and patterns of Woonsocket's history. Together, the buildings are silent, solid proof of Woonsocket's 19th-century success as an important urban center, busy with retailing, banking, publishing, government and professional services, and even saloons and hotels. Enough remains of the character of downtown Woonsocket as it looked in the early 1900s to imagine its potential for revitalization. In fact, you will notice that some excellent adaptive reuse has already been done here. Behind the add-on 20th century storefronts is an authentic American Main Street–well-designed and built to last.
The National Register properties on this half-mile section are:
169 Main Street–City Hall/Harris Block, 1856 and 1891 (Lincoln trivia buffs–look for the special plaque about Lincoln's speech here); 112-114 Main Street - an unnamed commercial block, 1902; 106-108 Main Street–Honan's Block, 1879; and 1 Main Street–Hanora-Lippitt Building.
After 55 Main Street look for the Lyman-Arnold Trench, dating back to the 1820s and named for Samuel Arnold and David Lyman who purchased 25 acres here in 1814. Peer through the railing– to the left you can see where the water flowed underneath the foundations, supplying mills as well as hydro-powered elevators in some buildings on Main Street. To the right you can see where the trench made a sharp turn coming in from Market Square above the falls. The waterscape of central Woonsocket involving the river, huge mill dams, mill ponds, Clinton Pond, the canal, three 85-foot long locks, and many trenches and sluiceways like this one, indicate how important waterpower was for this city. Main Street leads to Market Square.

Lyman-Arnold Trench

Museum of Work and Culture
Learn about the lives of the French Canadians who left the farms of Quebec for the factories of New England. 42 South Main Street, Woonsocket. Open daily 9:30AM-5PM, Saturday 10AM-5PM, Sunday 1PM-4PM. 401-769-9675.

Stadium Theater
Built in 1926, is the one remaining theater of six in Woonsocket. Located along Main Street, the theater is open for special shows and programs. It is currently under restoration by the Stadium Theater Foundation. 401-762-4545.