Blackstone Valley Historical Society

May 21, 2023, Blackstone Valley Historical Society, 1873 Old Louisquisett Pike, Lincoln, RI.

1:30 pm: Annual Meeting of the BVHS.

2:00 pm: Christine Nowak Lecture by Kevin Klyberg, Blackstone River Valley National Historic Park

Slater Mill to Slatersville

Kevin Klyberg is the Director of Interpretation and Education for Roger Williams National Memorial and Blackstone River Valley National Historical Park. He grew up in Lincoln along the banks of the Blackstone Canal, and has been interpreting the Blackstone Valley with the National Park Service since 1996.

 The lecture will be about the development of Slater Mill and the establishment of the mill village of Slatersville by the Slater family.  These events served as a launching point for mill villages throughout the Blackstone Valley.

All are welcome.

2:00 p.m, April 16, Blackstone Valley Historical Society, 1873 Louisquisset Pike, Lincoln, RI, 02865

Rhode Islander Jim Bailey will be returning to the Blackstone Valley Historical Society (BVHS) for a double feature at 2:00 pm on Sunday, April 16, 2023. He will provide a brief update of his presentation to the BVHS last year concerning the ongoing recovery of 17th Arabian silver coins in New England and their connection to the infamous voyage of Captain Henry Every of the pirate ship Fancy. Additional coin discoveries and some of his latest research findings will be discussed.

The main feature of his presentation recounts his experiences in finding the site of a long-vanished country estate in Portsmouth, Rhode Island. The estate belonged to Metcalf Bowler, one of the wealthiest men in Rhode Island on the eve of the Revolutionary War. While the site produced a number of exciting artifacts dating back to the 18th century, the history behind the artifacts proved to be far more significant. Over 240 years later, it’s hard to contemplate the magnitude of the decision that all Rhode Islanders had to face sooner or later: remain a loyal subject of England and join the fight for independence? We’ll look at one man’s decision. 

Bio

Jim Bailey is a lifelong Rhode Islander from Warwick. He is happily married and has one daughter, one son, two dogs, and too much to do. His discoveries into the unknown history of Henry Every’s infamous pirating career is under development for a book and a docuseries film project.  

We regret to say that this program has been CANCELLED.

2:00 pm, Sunday, March 19,

Blackstone Valley Historical Society, 1873 Old Louisquisset Pike, Lincoln, RI.

Rhode Island once had two major thoroughbred racing facilities: Lincoln Downs and Narragansett Park. Bob Kynch worked at both of them, and still follows the races in Northern New England. Join him as he relives the days in Pawtucket’s Narragansett Park, with the crowds, the beautiful animals, and even the train that brought the people to the Park to enjoy the sport of kings.

Bob Kynch started working at the Rhode Island racing facilities as a young man, and still is a part of the racing set. Join him as he goes back to the heyday of horse racing in Rhode Island. This was one of the major forms of enjoyment for many people in decades past. Bob will show you the reason why, and give you an appreciation for the joys of this sport.

This presentation is free of charge. Donations are welcome.

Image courtesy of Wikipedia.

2:00 pm, February 19, 2023, Blackstone Valley Historical Society 1872 Old Louisquiset Pike, Lincoln, RI

Richard Ring, RIHS

Free Lecture. All welcome.

Richard Ring, the Deputy Executive Director for Collections & Interpretation at the Rhode Island Historical Society, is coming on February 19 to talk about the RIHS’s Drop Scene Project. The RIHS’s Theater Drop-Scene is the earliest known surviving American theater backdrop.

The backdrop features a panoramic view of Providence from the base of Federal Hill looking east, painted by John Worrall in about 1809-1810. John Worrall (ca. 1783–September 14, 1825), was a scenery painter who had worked in Boston. It was made for the first theater in Providence, which was located at the corner of Westminster and Mathewson, a spot currently occupied by Grace Church. In the 1790’s John Brown gave the lot for the theater, and subscribed for seven shares of the company. The theater opened in 1795. The Historical Society acquired the drop-scene in 1833, soon after the theater was demolished and the land sold to the Grace Church Corporation. It is the largest graphic image of Providence in their collection.

The Drop Scene Project 2018-2022

The RIHS has been engaged in a massive project to restore and make available this image of Providence, and it has taken four years, from 2018 to 2022. The drop scene was first cleaned and then conservation work was done by Curtains Without Borders. Then Artopia Giclée of Stoneham, MA took 76 digital photographs of the scene and stitched them together. The image was then digitally retouched using existing visual information, and printed onto large pieces of heavy art paper at 1/4 scale for the artist to work on. The artist physically painted areas of the image that were difficult to repair digitally. The photographer then shot the painted prints and put them together to make a restored digital image for display and interactive use. We can see again what Providence looked like in 1810.

Read more about the Drop-Scene Project, and come on Sunday, February 19 to learn all about it.

Photograph of the restoration work from 2018 courtesy of RIHS.

2:00 p.m. Sunday, January 22, BVHS, 1873 Old Louisquisset Pike, Lincoln, RI

What possessed a woman from the elite of eighteenth-century New England society to conspire with American and British soldiers to murder her husband at the midpoint of the American Revolution? The story of Bathsheba Spooner has alternately fascinated and baffled residents of Worcester County for centuries. Beyond central Massachusetts, the tale is largely unknown. It was, in fact, the most sensational “true crime” tragedy of the American 1700’s.

Bathsheba Ruggles Spooner (1746 – 1778)was the first woman in American history to be executed  following the Declaration of independence.

     Spooner was the daughter of a leading Tory lawyer Timothy Ruggles, who served several terms in the Massachusetts House of Representatives before the Revolution, and after the Revolution settled in Nova Scotia.  Bathsheba had an arranged marriage to wealthy farmer Joshua Spooner in Worcester and remained in Massachusetts. After becoming pregnant by her lover, 17-year old Continental soldier Ezra Ross, she enlisted the assistance of Ross and two others to murder her husband. On the night of March 1, 1778, Spooner was beaten to death and his body hidden in a well. Bathsheba and the three conspirators were soon arrested, tried, and convicted of Spooner’s murder, and sentenced to death.  She was buried in an unmarked grave in Green Hill Park in Worcester.

Andrew Noone became interested in Spooner when he realized that his house was adjacent to Green Hill Park where Spooner was buried.  He became fascinated with the story, and began to research the murder and trial.

     Andrew Noone, the author of the book, is an independent scholar with graduate degrees in art history and musicology from Syracuse University. He was music specialist in the Worcester Public Schools and has taught courses in the humanities at several colleges in Massachusetts, including Clark University.

2:00 pm, November 20, 2022
Blackstone Valley Historical Society
1873 Old Louisquisset Pike 
Lincoln, RI 02865

BVHS will show Kittacuck Speaks, a film about the Blackstone River.  John Marsland, president of the Blackstone Valley Watershed Council/Friends of the Blackstone, will introduce the movie.

The Blackstone River has been a lifeline to to the people living in the Blackstone Valley through the centuries, from before the Industrial Revolution. It is a beautiful part of our heritage. As time has gone by, there have been a lot of changes to the River, brought on mainly by humans, who used it as a dumping ground for hundreds of years. But now it is returning to its original beauty, and Kittacuck Speaks will show the river throughout the course of a year. It will take us on a tour of the majestic Blackstone River through the seasons, showing it as it has never been seen before: from above.

Kittacuck Speaks was produced by the Blackstone Valley Watershed Council/Friends of the Blackstone, together with the RI Rivers Council. Kittycunk translates to “the great tidal river.” 

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2:00 p.m., October 16^th, 2022
BVHS, 1873 Old Louisquisset Pike (Route 246), Lincoln, RI 02865

This talk was postponed until March, 2023.

Rhode Island once had two major thoroughbred racing facilities: Lincoln Downs and Narragansett Park. Bob Kynch worked at both of them, and still follows the races in Northern New England. Join him as he relives the days in Pawtucket’s Narragansett Park, with the crowds, the beautiful animals, and even the train that brought the people to the Park to enjoy the sport of kings.

Bob Kynch started working at the Rhode Island racing facilities as a young man, and still is a part of the racing set. Join him as he goes back to the heyday of horse racing in Rhode Island. This was one of the major forms of enjoyment for many people in decades past. Bob will show you the reason why, and give you an appreciation for the joys of this sport.

September 24, 11:00 am to 4:00 pm
1873 Old Louisquisett Pike, Lincoln, RI 02865

Great Road Day Map

BVHS is participating in Lincoln’s Great Road Day, where historic properties are open to the public.  The Eleazer Arnold House, the Saylesville Friends Meeting House, Hearthside House, the Hannaway Blacksmith Shop, the Moffett Mill, the Pullen Corner Schoolhouse, and the Mount Moriah Lodge will all be open at no charge.  Northgate and Arnold’s Lonsdale Bakery will be open 11:00 am to 4:00 pm on September 24.   We will have chocolate chip cookies in the bakery. Please stop by!

Northgate was built around 1807 as a residence for the toll collector for the Louisquisset Turnpike, which was constructed at the same time to expedite the shipment of lime to Providence. In later years, the building served as the Lime Rock Grange, a social gathering place for local families.

The bakery was originally a one-room, one story workshop, which was used by Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Jenks Arnold as a bakery in 1874, and was the start of their Lincoln business which lasted nearly 100 years. They were so successful that a large bakery was built in Saylesville, and eventually the little bakery was purchased by one of the Arnolds and moved to Saylesville next to their new building. In the 1990’s the original bakery was relocated and rebuilt in its current spot adjacent to Northgate.
The Jenks’ collection of antique baking equipment was placed on display at the bakery, and Gail Harris from BVHS has added to the bakery collection. Here is an article about the bakery from the Valley Breeze.

On Great Road Day, BVHS will also host an exhibit of Vincent Bernasconi’s paintings of the lime quarry and Lime Rock, courtesy of Joyce Bethel and the Conklin Lime Quarry. In addition, Dan Bethel will show material he has collected about Bernasconi.

Vincent Bernasconi (1885-1962) was a staff artist at the Providence Journal. He was born in Birmingham, England and graduated from art school. He began working at the Providence Evening Bulletin in 1917, drawing illustrations for the sporting page and sketching cartoons. He lived on Great Road in one of the houses just past the quarry, and in his free time he enjoyed painting his neighborhood. These illustrations of Lime Rock and the lime quarry may be on public view for the first time. On this page is a picture by Bernasconi of a lime kiln on Wilbur Road.

When: 3:00 p.m. June 12, 2022,

Where: Blackstone Valley Historical Society, 1873 Old Louisquisset Pike, Lincoln, RI 02865

Michael DiMucci, tenor and pianist,  will present a concert of songs and their stories from America’s past at the Blackstone Valley Historical Society. This concert is part of his Americana series. The program features well-known melodies from what he dubs, “The Sensational 70s!”

 Come celebrate with the music that defined the decade from country to pop to soul to singer-songwriter pieces and more.

Tickets are $15 each and are available at BrownPaperTickets.com and will be sold at the door. This is a fundraiser for BVHS.