Founder’s Brook

Portsmouth Compact on the Puddingstone Rock

We call it “Founder’s Brook” because that was what the Portsmouth tercentenary committee called it when they unveiled a monument to Portsmouth’s founders there in 1936. In old records it was known as the “watering place” and later it was called “Stony Brook.” Today it is a place set aside to remember our founders, the Portsmouth Compact and the life of the community in its earliest days.

Although there is debate about whether Founder’s Brook was the original spring where the earlier settlement was centered, this area has traditionally been an important spot to remember the founders.  The bronze tablet with the words of the Portsmouth Compact inscribed was placed on a large “pudding stone” believed to be a spot where the founders made their speeches.  As the small group of settlers prepared to go to Aquidneck Island, they organized themselves into what they called a Bodie Politik or group of citizens. They picked William Coddington as their judge (ruler), William Aspinwall as their Secretary and William Dyre as the Clerk. They formed a government even before they left Boston. What is known as the “Portsmouth Compact” was a pledge to follow God and live by His laws as written in the Bible. These settlers were organized and came to Aquidneck Island with the idea that they agreed with each other to form a government which would follow the laws of God. Other settlements had the structure of church or a patent (agreement from the king) to guide them. These men and their families were developing something new.

As the spring of 1638 came, the little band of settlers began their journey to Aquidneck Island. Some came over the land by way of Providence. Others sailed around Cape Cod. The settled at the North end of the Island around Founder’s Brook and another brook in the area. They had left the security of Boston for tent like homes or dug out caves lined with wood. Just like the Native Americans before them, they hunted and fished for food and they began to prepare the land for planting. There was a new community on Aquidneck Island beginning as the old community had ended. At first this small settlement of English families was known by the Native American name of Pocasset.

Today we come to Founder’s Brook to honor the founders and to get a glimpse of the early roots of Portsmouth life.  Preserving this spot was not easy. The Tercentenary Committee in the 1930’s purchased the adjacent land and gave it to the town to preserve the brook area. In 1960 efforts were made to “save Founder’s Brook” when highway cloverleafs for Route 24 threatened to obliterate the Founders Brook Memorial Grove and the Mello Farm.  The Portsmouth Historical Society, the business community and the State Department of Public Works combined to protect the memorial area.  Improvements to the memorial area were made during Portsmouth’s 375th celebration.