As odd as it sounds, I think it’s fair to say that the 15-foot-tall Chinese White Mulberry tree that has successfully established itself in my front yard’s natural garden area informs me each morning as I leave my home in western North Kingstown to head down to Wickford village. The song birds I am trying to attract with this planned “natural” area just love this Mulberry sapling and I’ve got to say this tree, one of the earliest documented “invasive species” in New England, pleases me as well.

The Oliver Carr Greene Cottage certainly isn’t much to look at, that’s for sure, and with just barely 500 square feet of living space, it definitely would not be anyone’s first choice as the place to “hang one’s hat” each and every evening after a long day at work. But don’t let this tiny cottage with its dowdy exterior fool you. Just like lots of other old but seemingly inconsequential buildings in our fair town, this building, has a story to tell that is much bigger than it is itself.

The story begins in 1855, when 40-year-old farm laborer Oliver Carr Greene purchased a small parcel of land, “fronting on the Boston Post Road” from the family of farmer Benjamin Potter who lived in the large 18th century farmhouse next door.

The very recent passing of Canon Peter Spencer has really got me reminiscing about him of course, and the church he led, the religious anchor of my childhood and young adult life. Throughout all that time, Peter Spencer was there ministering to his flock, connecting that flock to the greater world through action and outreach, and teaching us all that every individual we encountered was precious and deserving of our attention.

For a while now, I’ve been pondering on the solution to the question I’ve asked myself for quite some time. “Just who, in the approximately 115 years of its history, is the NK High School graduate that had the largest impact upon the world?” Who really made it to the big time after graduating from good old North Kingstown High School?”  Well, I feel like I’ve finally figured this out and, unless you are an educator, as I once was, or a psychologist, or similar academic, you may have never heard his name.  Be that as it may, I feel pretty confident in my choice; pretty sure that no other NKHS Alumni has impacted the world in a positive way to a greater degree than Class of 1939 member Ogden R. Lindsley Jr.

You know, I just love a good mystery; especially when it involves the history of our fair town. So, as you can imagine, 12 years ago, when I was approached by Lynette Pohlman and Lea DeLong of the University Museums of Iowa State in Ames Iowa and asked to help them find the enormous bronze panther sculptures created by Danish-American artist Christian Petersen for Charles Davol — well I just couldn’t say no.

Even now in the 21st century, it’s quite an accomplishment to live to an age of nearly 103 years old. That’s a lot of time and a lot of memories; the world has a way of changing in grand fashions across the fabric of one hundred years. 

I’ve got to admit it, I spent a good bit of time last week in somewhat of a state of confusion. Yes, that’s right, there were times when I wasn’t quite sure which end was up, and, well I’ve got to say it, I blame it all on a bunch of long dead Congdons.

I think I can state with some confidence, that in the more than 25 years that I have been writing this column centered upon the history of our fair town, a 38-year-old high-end contemporary off of Plantation Lane in Saunderstown is indeed the newest house that I have ever focused upon. 

With the Seabees celebrating their 80-year anniversary, I thought it was appropriate to take a look at the story behind the former Max Kiel gym which was once a fixture at Quonset Davisville. You know, I bet that barely a soul here in our fair town took notice when the Max Kiel Gymnasium was demolished more than two decades ago. 

The famed South County weaver Elsie Marie Babcock Rose was always proud to say that she was born on Bunker Hill Day (June 17th) in 1837. Her equally famous brother William Henry Harrison Rose, known by most as weaver Rose or Quaker Billy Rose, was just as happy to point out that he was born just a few weeks after the untimely death of the nation’s ninth president, William Henry Harrison, who served the nation for only 30 days before becoming the first Commander-in-Chief to die in office.

As those who are familiar readers of this column may know, I take a bit of exception to the idea of constructs such as “Black History Month” or “Women’s History Month”; I hate to narrow it down like that.  As far as I am concerned, every month is black or women’s history month, just like every month is white male history month. But all that said, I still feel like it’s important to contribute something to these times to remember.

This photograph really speaks to me across the 130 or so years since it was taken. It’s a picture, taken in the early 1890’s, of a group of proud men, many of them tools in hand, frozen in time in front of vessel they are constructing at the Saunders shipyard in Saunderstown.

This week, we are going to delve into the story of Uriah Weeks, one of the first barber/hairdressers who served the large black community that lived here in South County during the middle part of the 19th century.

Boy, the weather this winter has got me to thinking, thinking about the stories I’ve read about the winter of 1887-8.  Looking back on it, it’s almost as if Mother Nature herself was intent on playing a cruel trick on the inhabitants of New England in the winter of 1887-88.