STEPHEN HOPKINS:
The Formidable Life &
Times of Rhode Island’s
Greatest Statesman
Presenter — Daniel F. Harrington
Wednesday, March 4, 2020, 7:00 PM
Salem Family Auditorium & Collis Family Gallery
at the Barrington Public Library
Daniel F. Harrington is a monthly columnist for the Providence Journal and president of Chartwell Wealth Management in Rumford. A former city councilor in East Providence, Mr. Harrington—a self-described recovering politician and historian—now lives in Warwick.
First Course: Three Wednesdays, 9:30 to 11:30 AM January 15, 22, and 29, 2020
Would you like to learn more, and help others to learn more, about the history of your town of Barrington? Here is a chance to serve by becoming a docent at the Barrington Preservation Society Museum.
Beginning this month, BPS is holding a new educational program for anyone interested in volunteering with the museum. The program consists of three two-hour sessions to be held in the Museum, lower level of the Peck Center (Barrington Public Library building). The first offering takes place over three weeks, January 15, 22, and 29. Members of the museum staff and trustees of the society will offer information and guidance.
All who are interested in learning about Barrington history and sharing it with others are welcome to attend.
Schedule:
Wednesday, January 15: 9:30: Our Society’s Mission (Stephen Venuti, Incoming BPS President) 10:30: The Archives of Historic Barrington (Nat Taylor, Outgoing BPS President)
Wednesday, January 22: 9:30: Collection Management (Barbara Hail, Trustee & Museum Committee Chair) 10:30: Guiding Visitors Through the Exhibits (Maria Bruce, Trustee & Museum Staff)
Wednesday, January 29: 9:30: Techniques of Exhibition Mounting (Julia Califano, Trustee & Museum Staff) 10:30: The Historic House Plaquing Program (Nat Taylor, Outgoing BPS President)
After attending the three sessions, volunteers should be qualified to begin taking shifts as docents during museum open hours, Wednesdays and Saturdays from 1 to 4 PM, initially with another staff member, and when they are ready, by themselves.
Please contact Museum Chair Barbara Hail at barbarahail401@gmail.com if you would like to attend the three sessions.
Join us for our Annual Meeting & Luncheon, Sunday, January 26, 2020, at the Wharf Tavern, 215 Water Street, Warren, RI. The business meeting (open to all, even those who cannot stay to lunch) will start at 12:00 Noon. We will also present the prestigious Elizabeth Sargent Warren Preservation Award.
The Luncheon will begin at 12:40 PM and will be followed by a presentation from our guest speaker, Timothy Ives, Lead Archaeologist at the Rhode Island Historic Preservation and Heritage Commission:
“Stone Heaping Practices of Nineteenth-Century Farmers: New Insights from Archival Sources“
[Luncheon Reservations for this event are now CLOSED.]
A new call for volunteers has gone out from the chair of our Museum Committee, Barbara Hail. Download our volunteer info and application sheet here. Or stop by the Museum between 1 and 4 on a Wednesday or Saturday, and speak to any volunteer!
Hear stories about the history of New Bedford and see visitor favorites, including paintings, scrimshaw, furnishings, and more. Discover the underwater world of whales. See the world’s largest ship model. And learn about the people supported by 19th-century whaling.
COST PER PERSON $15 (cash or personal check) payable at the Whaling Museum. RESERVATIONS are required by October 23. REGISTER with Barrington Preservation Society by email to sutherlanddi1980@gmail.com.
SCHEDULE • 10:45 AM: Meet in the museum lobby • 11:00 AM: One-hour guided tour • 12:00 Noon: Lunch (on your own) at one of the nearby restaurants within walking distance • After Lunch: Back to the museum to tour on your own until closing at 5:00 PM
SYDNEY MONTSTREAM-QUAS, DIRECTOR FOR THE AWARD-WINNING EAST BAY BIKE PATH HISTORIC SIGNS
Saturday, August 10, 2019, 10 AM – 12 PM
Meet at Police Cove Park (adjacent to County Road and first bridge to Warren) at 9:45 AM where the Tour will begin / end
FREE • OPEN TO THE PUBLIC • AUGUST 11 RAIN DATE
Discover hidden town treasures and historical information such as:
• What were Barrington’s town centers prior to today’s center? • When did trains stop running through Barrington? • Where did the militia train for the American Revolution? • Where was the U.S.’s largest manufacturer of imitation leather?
REQUIRED bike helmets. And don’t forget to bring a water bottle.
Barrington Preservation Society and Barrington Public Library present:
Extraordinary Women of the East Bay
Opening Reception & Presentations by
Arlene Violet Julia Califano John Hazen White, Jr. Cindy Elder David Stewart
Thursday, June 6, 2019, 7:00 – 9:00 PM Salem Family Auditorium and Collis Gallery Barrington Public Library, Upper Level
Program:
Reception, Exhibit, and Refreshments Welcome and Opening Remarks Presentations, introduced by Arlene Violet Questions from the Audience
Video (before & after presentations): America’s Forgotten Heroine: Ida Lewis, Keeper of the Light
Mira Hoffman, Natalie Peterson, Mary Tefft “Happy” White and Kitty Stewart-Shadd will represent Barrington in an exhibit on “55 Extraordinary Women of the East Bay,” which will open with a reception and speaking program on Thursday, June 6, at 7:00 PM in the Salem Family Auditorium and Collis Gallery, on the upper level of Barrington Public Library. The exhibit was organized by Heidi Benedic, archivist at Roger Williams University, with the assistance of Heritage Harbor Foundation, nineteen local historical and preservation societies including Barrington Preservation Society. All four Barrington women were selected for using their impressive talents and vision to enrich the culture, education, governance, health and heritage of the community and the state.
Mira Hoffman (1865-1944): Founder of Girl Scouts in Rhode Island and Barrington. Donor of the Briggs Farm and Larkin Pond in West Kingston for Camp Hoffman and National President of Girl Scouts of America. Co-Founder of the Community House on Maple Avenue, that was organized to assist Italian immigrant families in Barrington. Presented by Julia Califano, Past President Town Council and current Town Moderator.
Mary Tefft “Happy” White (1916-2009): Artist, Community Activist, Philanthropist. President Trustees Board Saint Andrews School, where she created the Happy White Gallery for local artists. Founder Mary Tefft White Cultural Center, Roger Williams University, to provide a distinguished lecture series on leadership and service. Presented by son John Hazen White, Jr., Owner and CEO of Taco Comfort Solutions, Inc.
Natalie Peterson (1926-2012): Educator. Co-director with husband Armin Luethi of the Ecole d’Humanité in Switzerland. Founder in 1949 Luethi-Peterson International Camps whose aim was to increase peace and international understanding in the future by combating the influence of prejudice and ignorance among young people today. Presented by Cindy Elder, Associate Director of the Hassenfeld Institute, Bryant University; former LPC camper and counselor.
Kitty Stewart-Shadd (1923-2014): First female Editor of Barrington Times. President Town Council and Chair of Committee to renovate the former Peck Memorial High School into the Barrington Library, Adult Enrichment Center and Town Museum. Founder of Friends of the Library. Presented by son David Stewart, Owner and Director of the Coastal Design Center, a collaboration of Architects, Builders, Designers, Landscapers, Craftsmen and Realtors in Warren, Rhode Island.
Nockum Hill is a quiet corner of Barrington, cut off from the rest by water and by the state of Massachusetts. Nockum Hill, for countless generations a focal point for the Wampanoag people of the area, also became the first English settlement center in our town when, in the 1660s, Rev. John Myles led a small group of Baptists to settle here under a covenant of religious toleration. Lot 3A, the parcel pending acquisition by the Town, is almost certainly the site of Rev. Myles’s meeting house, documented as standing by 1668—which made it possibly the earliest purpose-built Baptist church building in the Western Hemisphere.
Redrawing the Massachusetts boundary in the 1740s isolated Nockum Hill and saved it from subsequent development. What was once a colonial village center and meeting house is now open land with one narrow road and no utilities.
That unique survival has been threatened by proposals for dense development of Lot 3A, inappropriate given its rustic infrastructure, and contrary to the parcel’s importance for environmental conservation as well as its unique historic value. The Town has responded to those concerns by approving the purchase of this lot, with costs to be offset by agricultural easements and, possibly, additional grant support. The Appropriations Committee has approved the Town’s plan.
Voices in The Times these past two weeks have showcased the important conservation reasons for the Town to purchase Lot 3A and preserve it. From a historical perspective, this purchase would also allow all of us to continue to enjoy and better study the earliest colonial heart of Barrington.
How can you help? Turn out and vote to approve the acquisition of Lot 3A at the Financial Town Meeting this Wednesday, May 22, at 7:00 pm at the High School.
Nathaniel Taylor President, Barrington Preservation Society
‘If Jane Should Want to Be Sold”: Stories of Enslavement, Indenture, and Freedom in Little Compton, Rhode Island
by Marjory O’Toole Executive Director, Little Compton Historical Society
Wednesday, May 1, 2019, 7 PM Salem Family Auditorium & Collis Family Gallery Barrington Public Library Building 281 County Road, Barrington
FREE ● OPEN TO ALL ● REFRESHMENTS PROVIDED
Marjory O’Toole will present research from her 2016 book, If Jane Should Want to Be Sold: Stories of Enslavement, Indenture and Freedom in Little Compton, Rhode Island. The book represents three years of research into the topic of local slavery and freedom and uses hundreds of primary source documents to tell the stories of 250 enslaved and forcibly indentured people in Little Compton. Ms. O’Toole will share the personal stories of some of these people, including Jane, who was given the choice to be sold or not, and Aaron Biggs, whose testimony about the burning of the Gaspee was sent directly to the King of England. Through these local stories we can better understand the larger story of African and Native American slavery in New England and throughout the Atlantic world.
Barrington Preservation Society is a volunteer organization dedicated to researching, preserving, and educating about the history and heritage of Barrington. Our town Museum is open Wednesdays and Saturdays, 1-4 pm and by appointment
a monthly columnist for the Providence Journal and president of Chartwell Wealth Management in Rumford. A former city councilor in East Providence, Mr. Harrington—a self-described recovering politician and historian—now lives in Warwick.
