Monday, May 12, 2008


First stop, Gilbert Stuart Birthplace. He was born in Saunderstown and is best known for the portrait he did of Washington which is on the dollar bill. They also have a herring run by the water wheel. Next we went to the Tomaquag Indian Museum in Exeter. It was tucked away in a small neighborhood which was strange. It seemed like we were driving down someones driveway. There were 3 buildings, the museum, which was very interesting alot of very old stuff, and 2 small school buildings. They teach K-5 in one and 6-12 in the other 19 students in all. We had succotash (Corn & red beans) for the first time, it was pretty good. From there we went to Arcadia Management Area in Exeter for a picnic lunch. There are over 13,000 acres of forest here with trails and swim areas. It was a little cold for a picnic but we had fun walking through the trails (we found this cool little bridge). Next stop, Kenyon's Grist Mill. This was very cool and Paul seemed to have made a new friend (the owner of the mill). They've been making corn meal here since the early 1700's and we had the best Johnny Cakes! I think you can only get these in RI. They are like a small dense pancake made of corn meal. The colonist called them Journey or Jarney cakes because they would take them on journies. Over time the "r" was dropped (like everyone still does in RI!) and they became Johnny Cakes. Anyway, they were delicious! Our last stop was at Smith's Castle. Roger Williams (founder of RI) first started a trading post on this site - sold the building and land to Richard Smith and he built the house (called a castle because it was one of the largest and most expensive houses in New England at the time) that is still there today. There was a pirate encampment going on the day we were there. Needless to say we had fun with all the pirates and Paul seems to have made another new friend. We've been by all these places a million times and never made time to see any of them so it was fun being a tourist in RI.

1 comment:

The Mehl Family said...

A little long winded on this one aren't you:) I think it is funny you live there all your life and now you decide to go site seeing :)


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