Event
Ranger Walkabout: Friends in Union Village
Fee:
Free.Location: LAT/LONG: 41.989074, -71.529096
Meet at Smithfield Friends Meeting, 108 Smithfield Road, Woonsocket, RI
Dates & Times
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Type of Event
Description
Join a Park Ranger and explore the Blackstone River Valley.
During the months of June, July, and August, park staff offer specialty tours at varying locations across the Blackstone River Watershed. These programs begin at 6:30 PM and are 60-minutes long.
Please wear comfortable footwear and bring water. Most tours are outside and often include walking on uneven surfaces on varying types of terrain with no access to bathroom facilities. Bug spray and sunscreen are also highly suggested.
Please Note: There will be no Walkabouts on June 19 and July 3.
August 7 – Friends in Union Village
Location: 108 Smithfield Rd, Woonsocket, RI
What brought Quakers to Smithfield, Rhode Island? Discover the history of Union Village and learn about the people who have called this place home. This walkabout will include a visit to the Smithfield Friends Meeting House.
Future Schedule:
August 14 – Community and Change in Berkeley
Location: 30 Martin Street, Cumberland, RI
What happens when a mill community changes ownership? Join a ranger and two members of the community for a guided walk through Berkeley, a Cumberland mill village. Discover how this village has adapted to change and continued to foster and strengthen community and learn about the history of this mill village. Meet in front of the Berkeley Mill complex. Limited free parking is available to participants at the Berkeley Oval just down the road.
August 21 – Roger Williams National Memorial 60th Anniversary Celebration
Location: 282 N. Main St., Providence, RI
Roger Williams National Memorial is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year. This year’s National Memorial walkabout will showcase some of the amazing research we’ve done about the creation of the historical well and gardens. Learn about the “memorial within a memorial,” first donated by J. Jerome Hahn, in memory of his father, Isaac Hahn, the first Jewish person elected to public office in Rhode Island. The Rhode Island Jewish Historical Association will be there to help tell this amazing story.
August 28 – Remaking a Landscape
Location: 67 Roosevelt Ave., Pawtucket, RI
Old Slater Mill, America’s first cotton-spinning mill, still stands along the Blackstone River, a reminder of Pawtucket’s industrial past. But the landscape that surrounds the mill has been remade numerous times over the last 232 years of the mill’s existence. On this tour we will use historic photographs, maps, and archeological findings to discover how this landscape has evolved from a rural landscape to an industrial center to a landscape marked by the effects of Urban Renewal. Please note this is not a tour of the interior of Slater Mill, but participants wishing to see the interior will be able to do so after the tour concludes.