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    Tiverton and Little Compton
    Tiverton and Little Compton
    Tiverton and Little Compton
    Ebook192 pages53 minutes

    Tiverton and Little Compton

    By Nancy J. Devin and Richard V. Simpson

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    About this ebook

    With Tiverton and Little Compton, authors Nancy Jensen Devin and Richard V. Simpson invite you to travel historic roads, to explore late-nineteenth-century life in town, on the farm, on the sea, and at leisure. The reader will delight in sweeping views of the Sakonnet River and the Portsmouth shore from Fort Barton, and ride in a one-horse carriage down Main Road to Little Compton and the industrious fishing village at Sakonnet Point. A series of views from the Portsmouth Hummock offers a spectacular perspective of the Tiverton shore, where breakers crash majestically along the rocky coast. This narrow strip on Rhode Island's eastern flank forms one of the most peaceful, beautiful, and remote corners of the state. Readers will also observe the legacy and traditions of the Wampanoag Indians who settled this land centuries before the Puritans from Plymouth Colony.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArcadia Publishing
    Release dateSep 18, 2012
    ISBN9781439631867
    Tiverton and Little Compton
    Author

    Nancy J. Devin

    In more than two hundred vintage images, including many photographs by celebrated Fall River photographer O.E. Dubois and some never-before-published images from family photo albums, Devin and Simpson present a marvelous history chronicling the area's development.

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      Book preview

      Tiverton and Little Compton - Nancy J. Devin

      Tiverton and Little Compton

      Nancy Jensen Devin

      Richard V. Simpson

      Copyright © 1997 by Nancy Jensen Devin and Richard V. Simpson

      9781439631867

      Published by Arcadia Publishing

      Charleston SC, Chicago IL, Portsmouth NH, San Francisco CA

      Printed in the United States of America

      Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: Applied for

      For all general information contact Arcadia Publishing at:

      Telephone 843-853-2070

      Fax 843-853-0044

      E-mail sales@arcadiapublishing.com

      For customer service and orders:

      Toll-Free 1-888-313-2665

      Visit us on the Internet at www.arcadiapublishing.com

      Other Publications by R.V. Simpson:

      Crown of Gold: A History of the Italian-Roman Catholic Church in Bristol, RI (1967)

      Independence Day: How the Day is Celebrated in Bristol, RI (1989) Old St. Mary’s: Mother Church in Bristol, RI (1994)

      Bristol, Rhode Island: In the Mount Hope Lands of King Philip (1996)

      A Book by N.J. Devin and R.V. Simpson:

      Portsmouth, Rhode Island: Pocasset: Ancestral Lands of the Narragansett (1997)

      Dedicated to the Squaw Sachems Weetamoe and Awashonks.

      Table of Contents

      Title Page

      Copyright Page

      Dedication

      INTRODUCTION

      One - BETWEEN THE BRIDGES: STONE BRIDGE VILLAGE

      Two - ON, ABOVE, AND AROUND THE SAKONNET RIVER

      Three - NANAQUAKET AND BRIDGEPORT

      Four - FOUR CORNERS

      Five - LITTLE COMPTON AND ADAMSVILLE

      Six - AROUND THE COMMONS

      Seven - THE OLD COMMONS BURYING GROUND

      Eight - ARCHITECTURAL AND HISTORIC LANDMARKS

      Nine - SAKONNET FARMS

      Ten - SOUTH SHORE COTTAGES AND S’CUNNET POINT

      ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

      BIBLIOGRAPHY

      O.E. DUBOIS POSTCARD BIBLIOGRAPHY

      Pocasset Purchase. Judging by the prospect of Mount Hope Bay, this view encompasses the portion of North Tiverton set off to Fall River in 1862. This image is a c. 1880 chromolithograph titled View of Mount Hope Bay, Rhode Island after G. Dubois; published by H.W. Dubois & Co., Fall River, Massachusetts.

      INTRODUCTION

      When colonists arrived at Plymouth in 1620, the Wampanoag country extended from Narragansett Bay to Cape Cod. At the death of Massasoit in 1661, the Indian lands were reduced to Montaup (Mount Hope Neck), Pocasset (Tiverton), and Sakonnet* (Little Compton).

      The easternmost part of Rhode Island consists of a narrow strip of land contained between the Massachusetts line on the east and the Sakonnet River and Mount Hope Bay on the west. In area it is about 10 miles long from north to south, and only about 3.5 miles wide. A portion of Tiverton was given over to Fall River in 1862 in the settlement of a boundary dispute between Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

      TIVERTON

      Like its neighboring town, Little Compton, Tiverton was governed by a Wampanoag squaw sachem. Weetamoe ruled as queen of the Pocasset tribe; she joined with the Great Sachem Metacom (King Philip) in his struggle against the colonists. However, the squaw sachem of the Soughkonnets, Awashonks, remained neutral during the war.

      In 1629, Plymouth Colony’s Governor Bradford purchased Pocasset from its original inhabitants. Shortly after King Philip’s War, in 1680, Plymouth Governor Winslow then sold the lands to Edward Gray and seven other Englishmen for the sum of £1,200. A portion of the first Tiverton settlement was known as Pocasset Purchase. The southern portion of the town was sometimes known by its native name, Punkatust. Eventually, the principal settlements became known as North Tiverton, Tiverton, and Tiverton Four Corners.

      Tiverton was incorporated as a township in 1694. By royal decree in 1746, Tiverton, along with Little Compton, Bristol, Warren, and Cumberland, was brought within the jurisdiction of Rhode Island. For approximately three years during the Revolution when the British held Aquidneck Island, Tiverton was an asylum for Americans fleeing from British oppression.

      At Tiverton Heights, above the old Stone Bridge, are the remains of Fort Barton. There a force of 10,000 armed Americans garrisoned during the British occupancy of Newport. From this point the Americans under General Sullivan crossed over to Portsmouth in movements that led to the Battle of Rhode Island on August 29, 1778. Because Sullivan’s assault on Portsmouth was launched from Tiverton, the ensuing encounter with the British is locally referred to as the Battle of Tiverton Heights. Remnants of the old Stone Bridge connection to Aquidneck Island remain near the middle of the Pocasset lands, at Tiverton; just south of this center is an almost landlocked inlet named Nanaquaket Pond. Most of the oldest houses of the settlement are found along this waterfront road.

      Of the notable men whose names are associated with Tiverton’s history, perhaps the most prominent is Joseph Wanton. Wanton was one of the most successful shipbuilders in the colony, and many of the famous merchantmen and privateers of the time were launched from his yard.

      Cotton and woolen mills were established as early as 1827. Until 1900, Tiverton’s chief industries involved boat construction, agriculture, and fishing interests. The bountiful Narragansett Bay was responsible for a prosperous fishing industry. The water’s yield of an abundance of menhaden fish resulted in the establishment of processing factories for the production of industrial oil and fertilizer. Today, fewer than 1,500 of Tiverton’s 14,400 residents work at local trade establishments, the town’s major employers.

      Since the last quarter of the 1800s, the town’s Sakonnet River shore has become a favorite summer resort. Recent residential development is concentrated

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