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Glen and South Portsmouth Neighborhood: Early History

January 29, 2025

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This blog is part of a study of Portsmouth neighborhoods. Some areas have a very rich history and the history of the Glen Farm area and South Portsmouth is an example. There will be a few articles to get us through the centuries. Information about this early land grant period for the Glen/South Portsmouth comes from historian Edward West’s article on the “Lands of Portsmouth” in the Rhode Island Historical Society Journal. West drew these land grant maps by going through the property records and there is some question about accuracy. However they give us a good start in learning about the various neighborhoods in town.

From the Lands of Portsmouth: A Glimpse of Its People. Edward West. Rhode Island Historical Society Journal, July 1932

“Let us now turn down the Newport path (East Main Road) until we come
to a road, nearly to the line,(Sandy Point?) which was laid out in 1713. Turning east through this road we come to what has been for many years known as Wapping Road. This road was mentioned in the list of 1661, and ran between many of the large farm grants. In the 1717 list of highways mention is made of the “Great Rock” near the line, a great mass of pudding stone. (Perhaps the great puddingstone at the corner of Wapping Road and Mill Road).

The farms here belonged to Bartholomew West, Samuel Hutchinson, and John Sanford. On the west side of the road was the Long Swamp farm of Thomas Lawton, made
up of several grants which he purchased of the grantees. On the east side was the farm of Thomas Burton, granted in 1640, to run from the middle of the first water south of
the second sandy point to the middle of the fourth water. In 1648, in a grant to Thomas Cook, mention is made of Mr. Burton’s ferry. I have never been able to find any
other mention of this ferry. I suppose it was probably the first ferry to Fogland. Turning east through a former road we come to Sandy Point first granted to William Aspinwall, and after he left, to Edward Hutchinson.

We will now take a cart path to the north, passing the grants, on the right, to Ralph Cowland, Giles Slocum, John Cranston and Thomas Cook. We now come to what
has been called for many years, the Glen. This was granted. to William Brenton but was acquired by Giles Slocum, who built a fulling mill on the bank of the stream.

North of this was the farm of William Brenton, called by him Middleford Farm. There was a broad approach to this farm… Returning to the Newport path we come to a brook, now
called Mint Water Brook, which crosses the road and runs into what was known in 1657 as Briggs Swamp, when Phillip Sherman was granteci 30 acres here. To the north
of this, on the east side of the road, was more of Phillip Sherman’s land, in what was known as Birch Swamp. Here, also, was the land of William Almy, who fenced in the
road to the watering place and was compelled by the court to open it again.

References: This is a link to the Edward West article: https://archive.org/details/rhodeislandhisto11rhod/page/n435/mode/2up

Portsmouth Neighborhoods: Bristol Ferry/Commons – Colonial Days

November 10, 2024

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As the Portsmouth founders moved away from the settlements around the Town Pond, Common Fence and Founder’s Brook, the Bristol Ferry community to the northwest began to develop. In the 1930s, Portsmouth historian Edward West did some remarkable work with land evidence. Among his works are the Land Grant Maps that tell us where the early settlers were given land. How he worked through all the locations with rods as measurements, we will never know. West tells us that upon founding the town “they immediately made laws governing the size and location of the house lots.” They began recording property in a book. There were times when land transferred without records, so the accuracy of the land evidence may be questionable in some cases. West illustrates the grants and town plan with his maps. Some of the first grants given were in the Bristol Ferry area.  As the town was laid out, Sprague Street was the southernmost border.  Land grants were given out in 1657, 1693 and the last lands were given out in 1713.  By 1713 the commons were laid out, highways were straightened and the town was considered finished as laid out from Sprague Street northward. As the Portsmouth population spread to the north and west of Town Pond, the town fathers and surveyors thought they had finished laying out the town.

The first street to the right was “Stoney Lane.”  It was a short “driftway” (a path used to drive cattle or sheep) between Richard Borden’s property and that of Mistress Harts.  South of that was a lane that led to a “watering place” now called Founder’s Brook. On the map it is called Hawkins Lane for Richard Hawkins and his wife Jane who was a friend of Anne Hutchinson. This “watering place” was laid out in 1713 as a public place for the washing of sheep and general water uses.  Also in 1713 Thomas Burton received a piece of land that was known as the “Training Place” before that.  That ground may be where the militia had trained.

Waiting for the Ferry

The tip of the Bristol Ferry area developed commercial businesses like taverns and shops that catered to those using the ferry. Ferries were more informal at the beginning. Those with boats provided a service to passengers and goods that needed to be transported to the mainline at Bristol. This is the site of a town common dating back to 1714. Ferry service started here in 1640. This 1.5 acre space was originally used by farmers and others to keep their livestock and other goods while waiting for the ferry to Bristol. The Bristol Ferry area had a British fort during the occupation. This area was the transportation hub for Aquidneck Island (Rhode Island) and there are records of George Washington passing through here after visiting with General Rochambeau in 1781. The French and Americans would make the start of their long journey to victory at Yorktown through Bristol Ferry.

A Bristol Ferry story

Just above the Bristol Ferry is the 3 acre lot that Richard Searle sold to Mary Paine.  Mary was a bar-maid at Baulston’s public house.  Searl exchanged his lot for a pint of wine.  He didn’t give Mary a deed, but the town council ratified the sale on the testimony of a witness in 1666.  Mary later married John Tripp and that piece of land became the site of his ferry house.

Bristol Ferry Common today

Recommended Reading

 West, Edward. Rhode Island Historical Society Journal in July of 1932 (The Lands of Portsmouth, R. I., and a Glimpse of Its People).