"Fulling Mills—was there ever a place to be compared to it?”
Oliver C.Wilbur, circa 1846
One of the young boys who most likely played on or around the cannon
that had been acquired by the Kentish Artillery not long after the
organization was founded was Oliver Cromwell Wilbur. During his youth,
it is most probable that everyone in the village of Apponaug was aware
of the origins of the cannon. Unfortunately, while Wilbur gave us a
wonderful picture of the village in the early nineteenth century, he
does not mention the cannon.
Wilbur's 1846 letter
Wilbur wrote the letter circa 1846 and it covers his early boyhood in
Apponaug in the early 1800s. The letter was first made public in 1882.
In that year Henry L. Greene sent a letter to the Pawtuxet Valley
Gleaner that had been written by Wilbur. The author was born in
Apponaug and had an excellent memory of his boyhood days when the
village was still commonly referred to as "Fulling Mills". Wilbur's
letter was written to his brother and, as Henry L. Greene noted, "As a
picture of Apponaug and its vicinity eighty years ago, it seems to me
to be exquisitely delineated."
In 1889, not long after Wilbur's letter was published, Robert Grieve,
writing in Picturesque Narragansett, noted that Apponaug was "one of
the quaintest and most ancient looking places in the state." Wilbur's
letter makes that clear and takes us back to the Apponaug that existed
200 years ago.
The Village Store
Oliver Wilbur's father owned a store near Apponaug Cove, "close to the
stone docks where schooners and sloops tied in to load and unload
cargo." The store dealt mostly in "dry and West India goods" and Oliver
says, "I can remember the store well...” He tells us: the molasses
hogsheads on the skids in the cellar entry, a row of casks at the north
end, a pile of codfish, some salt. some crockery, a few milk pans and
coarse ware with the usual assortment of groceries. On the south side
of the store were dry goods and cases of cutlery and jewelry. Upstairs,
was the dwelling of our family.
Much of Wilbur's letter recalled the bucolic atmosphere of Apponaug in
the early 19th century as he says, "Look--I can see Ambrose Taylor and
two or three of us boys with fishing poles and a dish of worms, our
trousers rolled up. Oh, the great trout that was caught near the
thatch...."
The quahog-tide people
Apponaug Cove during the early 19th century, Wilbur tells us, was
filled with fish of all sizes. He mentions crabs, clams, quahogs,
scallops, bass, menhaden, squiteague, and tautog in his long list of
the types of marine life that abounded in the cove. He especially talks
of a "quahog tide" which attracted people to the cove to gather the
seafood. He tells us that these poor people came in ox-drawn carts with
some hay and some rough boards for seats. Wilbur describes them vividly
as he writes, "Wives, daughters and little ones well stored thus, men
and half grown boys followed barefooted. Their coarse homespun clothing
being often outgrown, were, especially the trousers, often wanting in
length. "
The letter says that the parties who came to gather the quahogs were
usually led by one or two men "dressed in ...frocks and trousers, a
leather apron and broad rough shoes, and supplied with a walnut stick
cut by the roadside with a leather string tied to one end." He goes on
to say that they would stop in the middle of the road until all the
parties gathered and then they would move for t h e shore to begin
their harvesting of the shellfish. His colorful description tells us,
"As soon as the tide was down they would go into the water as deep as
their necks. You could see hundreds with their heads just out of the
water digging and scraping with hands, hoes and rakes for a long time."
The work was not limited to men as Wilbur tells us, "Ladies joined in
with no concern for their frocks or bonnets which were probably the
same ones that had been worn by their ancestors. "
Happy days for young and old
Oliver C. Wilbur truly loved his village. He commented, "Fulling
Mills—was there ever a place to be compared to it?…My village--its fine
houses, its streets, its people." He spoke in glowing terms about some
of the inhabitants and especially remembered people such as "...old
Mat, the black woman with her barrel of root beer who was always on
hand for celebrations, especially the fourth of July." On that day,
Wilbur tells us, everyone came into Apponaug. He recalled the military
came with "their shrill fife and drum corps and their dusty uniforms."
A crowd of boys of all sizes followed the soldiers who pulled two brass
cannon in the parade. He tells us "All the taverns would be filled to
over-flowing .. .. 0ld Prince with his fiddle would set people to
dancing while the rum flowed freely."
During the early years, there was always something for young boys to do
in the old village. Wilbur tells us that when "the snow and ice locked
up our cove, we would go out with a small net or old stocking, and
catch bait for fishing by cutting holes through the ice." Arising
before dawn the following day, the boys would take their bait to
Gorton's Pond where soon they would "have an opening chopped in the ice
to be ready to drop a line as soon as daylight appeared."
Apponaug’s old buildings adapt well to 21st Century needs
Much of Apponaug’s present day charm can be found in its late 19th
century buildings. Many of them are located east of the Four Corners.
One of the most handsome is the beautifully restored, three story,
Mansard roofed dwelling at 3288 Post Road. During the mid-twentieth
century, the building housed the Warwick Office of the Providence
Journal and was later owned by the Warwick Beacon. During its stay at
the site, the Warwick Beacon developed into one of the state’s finest
local publications, a worthy successor to the old Pawtuxet Valley
Gleaner, which had provided the area with local news in the 1800s. In
1985, the mansard-roofed building was acquired by the Central Rhode
Island Chamber of Commerce, which owns it today.
This building is one of the area’s most outstanding and noticeable
structures. It had been altered and enlarged in the late 19th century
at a period of time when the village was gaining great prominence as
Warwick’s economic and political center. This type of building, known
as Second Empire Victorian, had become very popular in the 1870's when
large, spacious dwellings were in demand. The long roofline, named for
the French architect, Francois Mansard, gave a full upper story of
space. As a result, many earlier buildings were remodeled in this style.
In the 1990s, the Chamber of Commerce renovated the old building and
gave it a bright coat of paint, which would have been compatible with
the colors used in the late nineteenth century. Many of the village’s
more conservative residents were, at first, awed by the pink tone which
dramatically set it off from the predominant grays and whites of its
sister buildings. Now, other buildings in Apponaug are often located as
being, “across from the pink building” or “next to the pink building,”
The Old Town House
The two story, front-gabled structure at 3292 Post Road, next to the
Chamber of Commerce building, is another of the village’s early
structures that has been adapted to the changing needs of the city.
Research by the late Dorothy Mayor, one of Apponaug’s leading
activists, indicates that it was built in 1835 and was once part of the
old Town House. Like many of the early nineteenth century buildings, it
reflected the increased importance of the village.
By 1835, Warwick’s municipal and economic center had drifted away from
the coast at Shawomet and centered in Apponaug. At that time, the
village was still small and, while the Post Road was a main artery of
commerce, it was bucolic. Cows were numerous, as were farms. Fences had
to be erected to keep the cows from destroying the saplings planted
near the then new town buildings. Within a fifty-year period it became
very obvious that the small buildings were inadequate for the rapidly
growing town, which included present day West Warwick.
Apponaug had by this time become a center of highly industrialized
textile trade. Mill owners such as Enos Lapham demanded a new Town Hall
which would mirror the rising importance of the town. The result was
the beautiful present day City Hall. In true conservative fashion, the
old Town Hall was not to be wasted. To make room for the large brick
edifice built by William Walker & Son, the old building was moved
across Post Road to its present location by David Curtis.
During the twentieth century, the former town hall had many uses. In
the 1980s, it was the Town Pizza Palace; a busy establishment at the
time the fast food business was sweeping the area. In the last decade
of the century, it was a Recovery Store and later a clothing store. It
is now a computer store.
Rhode Island Commerce Academy
At the present time it is the Rhode Island Commerce Academy operated by
the Chamber Education Foundation. This foundation was established in
1987 as a division of the Central Rhode Island Chamber of Commerce.
According to its literature, “this high-tech training center serves
adults who need to improve their skill to qualify for entry-level
career opportunities.” One of the most sought after services at the
Academy is its General Equivalency Diploma (GED) program. The Academy
also offers a Certificate of WorkForce Readiness (CWR) program to help
in the search for employment. In much the same way that the old Town
Hall served its 19th century residents, the old building is now meeting
the needs of the 21st century.
Feinstein Mentor Training Institute
The building at 3296 Post Road, next to the Rhode Island Commerce
Academy, is also part of the Chamber Education Foundation. It is the
Feinstein Mentor Training Institute. The program that it supports,
known as the “Institute without walls,” has been made possible through
a gift from the Feinstein Foundation. Their literature indicates that
this innovative education program is to train business and community
mentors “to work with youngsters who could benefit from a one-to-one
relationship with a caring adult.” At a time when the community is
becoming more aware of reforms needed in the educational structure, the
programs based in Apponaug’s Historic District are making a positive
effort in helping to provide a better world for all.