When the Town of Lincoln separated from Smithfield in 1871, Great Road was already 200 years old, having been built in 1683. What is remarkable is that some of the original buildings still remain where they were during those earliest years when Great Road was the one of the country's first highways. It ran between Providence and Mendon, Mass. Today, there are a number of 17th, 18th and 19th century buildings as well along this historic roadway that have been preserved and are open to the public.
The annual Great Road Day welcomes visitors for free admission to 10 of these sites, and this year the focus is on the year the town was formed. Those sites include: Arnold House (c.1693), Saylesville Friends Meetinghouse (c.1703), Mount Moriah Lodge (c.1804), Northgate-Blackstone Valley Historical Society (c.1807), Arnold Bakery (c.1874), the Valentine Whitman House (c.1694) as well as Hearthside (c.1810), Moffett Mill (c.1812), Hannaway Blacksmith Shop (c.1880), and the Pullen's Corner Schoolhouse (c.1850). The buildings represent an impressive sampling of what was located here in the community in 1871.
The event runs from 11 a.m.-4 p.m.
One can just imagine what life was like a few years after the end of the Civil War when Lincoln was founded as a town. Its name was selected to honor the memory of President Abraham Lincoln. A visit to each of the sites helps to make this bring to life this moment in time with exhibits, displays and informed docents to present it all.
As part of the Town's commemoration of its 150th anniversary, two shuttle buses are being provided to make visits to all the sites easier, with continuous runs between each site and parking areas. Parking is available at lots at Gateway Park, Chase Farm Park, Hearthside, and at Mt. Moriah Lodge. Roadside parking at Whitman House and Northgate. To further encourage visits to each site, a Passport will be given to each, which will get stamped at the individual sites, and if all 10 blocks are stamped to show that the visit was made, then a gift will be given.
At the entrance to the Great Road Heritage Campus at Chase Farm Park is the Hannaway Blacksmith Shop, where visitors can watch the blacksmith shape hot metal into useful implements. Next door at the recently relocated one-room schoolhouse, Pullen's Corner but also known as the "Hot Potato Schoolhouse", visitors can learn what lessons area farm children of all ages were learning here together,what recess was like, and even what the original outhouse might have looked like.
Board the shuttle bus to take a tour of the Moffett Mill, accessible only by the shuttle, to this rare relic that appears to be frozen in time, with original tools and belt system that operated the machinery in this wooden machine shop still in place. This mill did custom work for area businesses and farms, from making parts, to wagons and buggies, to laces for shoes and corsets around the period of the Civil War.
What were the fashions of the day? Find out with a trip to Hearthside and see examples of dresses, underclothes, and a man's uniform from the Civil War. Docents in period attire welcome you to explore through three floors of this stone mansion. Besides the indoor exhibits, a small Civil War encampment will be set up on the grounds, and fall treats will be for sale of home-made apple crisp, popcorn, and apple cider. A selection of books about the Civil War and Abraham Lincoln are available for purchase in Hearthside's Gift Shop too.
Other special features include an exhibit at the Blackstone Valley Historical Society's Northgate, which had served as a tollhouse for the Louisquisett Turnpike and later as the Lime Rock Grange #22, a gathering place for local farm families. The exhibit is "The Papers of Arnold Jenckes," who was a farmer and a cooper, who made lime casks for the Harris Lime Company and whose farm was near the present-day Lincoln Mall. The papers which include bills, receipts, his commission as captain of the militia and the lists of the members of his company, among other bits and pieces give insight into the 19th century farmer's life here. The one-room Arnold Bakery originally located in Lonsdale but moved to its current spot at Northgate, operated for nearly 100 years. It contains a collection of antique baking equipment and memorabilia. Note that Northgate will be open starting at 1:00 p.m. and will close at 4 p.m.
At the Valentine Whitman Jr. House (c.1694), stop in to learn how Preserve Rhode Island, who recently acquired this stone-ender house from the town, plans to restore the building and give it new life. The house was the site of the first town meeting of the town of Smithfield.
The Mt. Moriah Lodge (c.1804) is one of the earliest Masonic lodges in the state and where the most notable early town residents were members. The Lodge opens once a year to the public which is on Great Road Day. The first structure on this site was a one-room schoolhouse, but in 1804 local masons established a new lodge here. Today, meetings are still held by the lodge regularly.
The opposite end of Great Road's Historic District holds a rare journey back to the 17th and early 18th century that is featured at Historic New England's Arnold House (c.1693), Lincoln's oldest structure and a unique stone-ender house with a massive chimney end wall and fireplace you can stand up in. Nearby is where Lincoln's earliest residents gathered at the Saylesville Friends Meetinghouse, one of the oldest continuously-used Quaker meetinghouses in New England. Both properties feature the stories of the Arnolds, Lincoln's earliest settlers as well as other notable family names from the town.
Return to Hearthside after your journey to all 10 sites with your fully stamped passport and you'll receive a gift for your time travels.