Sincerely, The Friday Club - Farewell Quiz-Finals.pptx
Remembering adamsville things v1
1. Things
PreviousHome Next
Adamsville Cheese Baseball
Ice Skating
Bake Sales
Fire Truck Jonnycakes Penny Candy Rhode Island Red
Monument
Dr. White’s SpecialtiesClambakes
Farming
2. Adamsville Cheese
PreviousHome
Jeffery Shurtleff:
Expanding Cheese
In the first half of the 20th century Adamsville cheese developed
a regional reputation for its delicious sharp flavor. The post
office shipped thousands of pounds of cheese to summer
residents and visitors who wanted it all-year-round. The New
York Washed Curd Cheddar was delivered to Adamsville and
then aged in local basements for about nine months. Each
month it was turned to ensure an even flavor.
John Kneeland:
I Turned the Cheese
Adamsville Cheese at Simmon’s Store.
Courtesy of Leslie Deschene.
Next
Dick Squire:
We Did Not Turn the Cheese
3. Bake Sales
PreviousHome
Valerie Crowther Turcotte:
Bake Sales on the Wall
The stone wall surrounding the ball field was
frequently used for bake sales in the 1940s and
’50s. It was a prime spot for local organizations to
raise funds because of the high level of traffic in the
village each Saturday. The three grocery stores and
the liquor store drew people from Little Compton,
Tiverton and Westport, MA.
Saturday Summer, 1945.
Painting by Grace Simmmons McKivergan.
Next
4. Baseball
PreviousHome
Richard Desjardins:
As Fast as You Could Change Your Clothes
1950s
Baseball was, and is, incredibly popular in
Adamsville. Deborah Manchester donated the
Wheeler Memorial Baseball Field to the
children of Adamsville in honor of two of her
nephews. In the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s the field
was constantly used for neighborhood pick-up
games, with no adult supervision or
intervention. Today the field is a vital part of
the town’s Little League program.
Turn-of-the-Century Baseball
LCHS Collection
Next
Susan Peckham:
Scrub – 1940s
5. Clam Bakes
PreviousHome
Photo Album
The Old Stone Church Clambakes began during the Civil War to
raise funds for the troops. They continued until World War II
often drawing 1000 people from the surrounding areas. Local
newspapers reported on them extensively listing the gallons of
chowder ad the bushels of clams consumed. Diners, some
wearing white gloves, would eat at long tables set up under the
trees in back of the church. Servers were assigned a table and
would wait on that specific table year after year, even passing
the assignment down to their children.
Old Stone Church is just over the line in Tiverton, RI but
Adamsville has always “claimed” it.
Courtesy of Alice Wordell Beattie Next
Fall River photographer, O.E. Dubois frequently photographed
Adamsville scenes and captured these clambake images in 1910.
11. Dr. White’s Specialities
PreviousHome
Bottle Digging
This advertisement was
displayed on a trolley in
Providence, RI. Dr. White’s
son began manufacturing
and marketing his father’s
remedies in 1872 from the
family’s laboratory in
Adamsville. The White’s sold
the business to Frederick
Brownell, Carlton Brownell’s
father. Carlton referred to
the business as “not very
profitable,” and the
Brownells’ stopped making
the “Specialities.”
The Laboratory
LCHS Collection
Next
Dr. White
12. The Adamsville Fire Truck
PreviousHome
Tom Deschene:
The Adamsville Fire Truck
Fire was a serious threat to Adamsville’s homes
and farms. In the early 20th century, insurance
companies in nearby cities refused to insure these
rural properties. Little Compton residents
established their own insurance company and
volunteers built a fire truck in Little Compton and
in Adamsville. The Adamsville truck, built on a
1921 Phaeton, was housed in the Deschene
family’s blacksmith shop on Old Harbor Road. It
had an excellent track record for extinguishing
fires.
Everett Deschene in the Adamsville Fire Truck, c. 1930.
Courtesy of the Deschene Family.
Next
Tom Deschene:
John Burchard’s Sirens and Cisterns
13. Farming
PreviousHome
John Kneeland:
Planting Apple Trees with Dynamite
There were many family farms in and around Adamsville during
the first half of the 20th century. The farms closest to the village
tended to be small, producing just enough for the family. Those
farmers often had day jobs in addition to their farm chores.
Farmers ran dairies, raised poultry, grew flint corn for
jonnycake meal, planted apple orchards, and raised vegetables.
Every vacant lot was used for hay. What the farm families did
not eat themselves, they sold to neighbors or traded at
Adamsville’s stores for other products. After WWII there were
fewer farms. Young men were interested in other careers, and
increased regulations decreased profits. In the late-20th century
Adamsville’s biggest crop was most likely African violets.
The Stone Barn
A Jersey Bull
on the Kneeland Farm, Old Harbor Road, 1951.
Courtesy of John K. Kneeland.
Next
Elsa Cory:
A Quarter-Million Violets
14. Ice Skating
PreviousHome
Connie Shurtleff McGee:
Bon Fire Tires – 1950s & 60s
Ice skating on the Mill Pond was a winter pastime enjoyed by
Adamsville’s children and adults. Since everyone swears the
pond was frozen all winter long in the 1940s, skating was only
interrupted when John Hart and the other ice men harvested
giant blocks of ice from the pond.
Karen Rosina Daniels-Ambrifi:
Walking in Your Skates – 1960s & 70s
Eleanor Gray Rosinha ready to skate on
Adamsville Mill Pond, 1941.
Courtesy of Karen Rosinha Daniels-Ambrifi.
Next
Florence Jean Letourneau:
Crack the Whip – 1930s & 40s
15. Walking With Your Skates On
PreviousHome
Karen Rosinha Daniels-Ambrifi:
We ice skated in the winter. I wasn’t a big
ice skater, but I would go down to the pond
and go through the motions of putting my
skates on. Ed Cook ran the store then, and
sometimes he let us go in there and get
warm. You’d put your skates on in there, at
least me because I was the wimp. Then,
click across the street with your skates on.
I mean I didn’t have blade covers, so I put
my skates on at Ed’s store and then go
down the steps and across the street and
try to get my skates to skate after walking
on pavement with them.
Skating in Adamsville in the 1960s.
Courtesy of Stephanie von Trapp Derbyshire.
Next
16. Jonnycakes
PreviousHome
Jonnycakes are pancakes made from corn meal. Corn
grew well in New England, while wheat and other grains
did not. As a result, corn meal became a staple of New
England’s diet. Many families ate them at three meals a
day throughout the early 20th century. Locals preferred
thin cakes (skins) topped with thick, unpasteurized
cream.
The Recipe
The Society for the Propagation of the
Jonnycake Tradition in Rhode Island was
active in the 1980s. Sign by Tim McTague.
Next
Winston Hart:
Sixty-Three Jonnycakes
Walter Elwell:
Jonnycakes and Eels
17. Jonnycake Recipe
PreviousHome
Shop Gray’s Grist Mill
Next
Adamsville Thin Jonnycakes
1 c Jonnycake Meal
½ tsp. Salt
1 ¾ c Milk
Mix all ingredients in a bowl.
Cook on well-greased, hot griddle.
Add extra milk if necessary to keep
batter thin,
Courtesy of Gray’s Grist Mill.
18. Penny Candy
PreviousHome
Sarah Desjardins:
Penny Candy Postcard
So many Adamsvillians told us about penny-
candy, we knew it deserved its own page.
Tom and Leslie Deschene:
We Tried it All
Candy Counter Simmon’s Store.
Courtesy of the Deschene Family.
Next
Jonah Waite:
Five-Cent Candy
Tom Deschene:
As Soon As I was Done Working
19. Candy at Simmons Store
PreviousHome
Heather Bixby Fitzgerald
One thing I remember as a kid—
penny candy was huge! I think
Simmons’ Store had a better
selection but Gracie didn’t really
have a lot of patience when you
were picking out candy. But if you
went to Gray’s Store, you could
stand there all day long if you
wanted to, and Leonard would take
a half an hour if that’s what it took
you—one of these, one of these, one
of these! He didn’t have as good a
selection, but he wouldn’t scare you
the way Gracie did. I’m sure a lot
of my friends would say the same
thing.
Postcard by Sarah Desjardins.
Next
20. The RI Red Monument
PreviousHome
Bordon Tripp
Oral History 1990
In Dr. von Trapp’s house
was Harold Tompkins and
his brother, Lester. They
were what was called
“poultry-fanciers” and they
bred show birds. They were
very influential in
Massachusetts because at
that time they were living
in Concord, MA. They had
moved away from here and
Tom White had moved in
there. So they prevailed on
Deborah and Lizzie
Manchester to get this
monument erected here in
Adamsville. Well it was a
big furor. Everybody
downtown Little Compton
was terribly against it, they
thought that was no place
for the monument, and they
were probably right too.
But Deborah and Lizzie
prevailed and the monument
was dedicated in 1926. My
father and I walked up from
our place on Mullin Hill
Road. Professor Bill
Monahan was the
Commissioner of Agriculture
in the state of Massachusetts
and he gave the address
which lasted an hour, which
most of them did in those
days, or more. But very
interesting, and of course it
wasn’t me, but my father
who was in the poultry
business.. I was only 10
years old or so. I didn’t
think much of walking the
walk back. I was thinking
about that. But anyway,
the monument was dedicated
and it’s there today.
Next
Deborah Manchester
and her nephew Roger
Dennett Jr. at the
monument unveiling,
1926. Courtesy of
Alice Tripp Hopkins.
Other Monument
21. Rhode Island Red
PreviousHome
The Adamsville Monument
Bordon Tripp
Oral History 1990
William Tripp was a whaling captain. He brought back some fowl
that he bought in, actually in Bangladesh. You heard him speak of
chitty-cock before, the chitty-cock fowl? He picked up Mediterranean
fowl along the way and brought them home, and he bred these birds,
until he developed a straight breed. He lived down at the corner of
William Sisson Road and Long Highway. And of course, he was the
originator of the Rhode Island Red.
LCHS Note:
William Tripp was a farmer who sold goods to sea captains in New
Bedford. He did get an exotic chicken from the ships and bred it with
local birds to develop the first RI Red. Issac C. Wilbour further
developed and named the breed.
The “Other” Monument
Postcard, 1901. Courtesy of Walter Elwell.
Next
22. The Other Monument
PreviousHome
Bordon Tripp
Oral History 1990
In 1954 I happened to be working up at
the state house and we decided to have a
100th anniversary of the Rhode Island
Red. So we had a bill pass through the
legislature that gave us the funds. In
those days, Johnny Rego, he was the
director of the Department of Agriculture
and he sent his forestry crew down here
and we had a big celebration, a barbeque,
and fed 2,500 people. We dedicated a
monument over on the corner of William
Sisson Road and Long Highway, the first
place that a Rhode Island Red was in
being. So, that’s the history of the Rhode
Island Red, and at the same time we
influenced the legislature to name the
state bird, Rhode Island Red, and when
they did it I happened to get this little
button here…
See it on MapQuest
LCHS Collection
Next
RI Red Monument
23. Longfield Lantern
PreviousHome
This is the “classic” Longfield Lantern. It is copper and glass.
There were many variations on this design and the Longfields
took custom orders.
Longfield Lantern owned by Alice Wordell Beattie. LCHS Collection Next
