Bristol ~ America's Most Patriotic Town

Positioned perfectly between the state capital of Providence and the historic city of Newport, Bristol is a charming little seaport town overlooking Narragansett Bay.  In the Guidebook I had picked up in Tiverton the previous week, I had noticed that Bristol might be worthy of closer attention.  Bristol bills itself as "America's most patriotic town" because it is home to the country's oldest Fourth of July parade.

The first mention of a celebration comes from July 1777, when a British officer noted            sounds coming from across Narragansett Bay:

"This being the first anniversary of the Declaration of Independence of the Rebel Colonies, they ushered in the morning by firing 13 cannons, one for each colony, we suppose. At sunset, the rebel frigates fired another round of 13 guns, each one after the other. As the evening was very still and fine the echo of the guns down the Bay had a grand effect." Wiki

 

Crossing the Mount Hope Bridge, our first stop was the Blithewold Mansion.  I thought it would take probably an hour to tour the mansion and wander through the gardens.  Instead, we were there almost three hours.  By noontime we were starving so we headed downtown to find a bite to eat.  But on the way we passed the Herreshoff Marine Museum and America's Cup Hall of Fame....and of course, Mag wanted to stop and have a gander.

 

The Museum houses over sixty classic sailing and power yachts from 1859 to 1945.  This week I found an interesting journal entry on the Blithewold site (Notes from Blithewold Archive) about a mishap Herreshoff encountered in 1899 when experimenting with a new aluminum mainmast for Columbia, a 40-meter yacht, that they were intending to sail in America's Cup Race.  (You can find the article here.)

 

 

After visiting the Museum, I decided that it might be worth our time to wander the streets nearby and photograph some of the outstanding architecture.   I had noticed various styles spanning three centuries - from Federal and Greek Revival homes to 19th century country garden estates.  Most of these homes were decked out in red, white and blue.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By now, we had reached the center of town.  After stopping at The Bagel Shoppe for a corn beef sandwich, we walked over to the Visitor's Center to ask if they could point us in the right direction to The Linden House, the home of Thomas DeWolfe, one of the biggest slave traders of the 19th century.

The Visitor's Center is housed in the former home of Ambrose Burnside, one of the major generals in the Civil War.  I found it interesting that "his distinctive style of facial hair is now known as sideburns, derived from his last name.

It seems Linden House was in the next block in the center of town.  As we walked down the street, we ran in to Bristol's Annual Sidewalk Art Show.  What an unexpected treat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Teabag art

 

Artists had even staked out the sidewalk and front lawn of Linden House.  Unfortunately, the house tour was canceled in lieu of the art show.  I would have liked to see the inside of this mansion.  Built in 1810 by Russell Warren, it was the home to the DeWolfs and Colts,  two of the largest slave trading families in the United States.  In 1974, it was the filming location for the movie, The Great Gatsby.  In 2007, Traces of the Trade, a documentary about the DeWolf family, was also filmed here.  I was able to find an interesting article "The DeWolf Family Burden" in the Providence Journal about descendants of the DeWolf/Colt clan and what they thought of their forebears.

Paul Davis, a staff writer for the Providence Journal wrote a six part series on the RI Slave Trade "The Unrighteous Traffick, Buying and Selling the Human Species" in March, 2006.  You can see the series here.

We did manage to walk around the grounds and take the following pictures.

 

 

 

 

And last but not least, my favorite statue.

As we were walking back to the car Mag asked "So, Bob, have you seen enough today?"

"One more stop, Mag, a working coastal farm....it's right out of town....probably not more then two miles away."

Riding down Hope Street towards Coggeshall Farm Museum is when we first noticed the red, white and blue strip on the road.  We both smiled...even their roads are patriotic in Bristol.

Photos by Magi and Bob.