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Hi, My name is Robert Barlow. I was an FTG-3 on the Benjamin Stoddert from 74-76. Cindy (my
wife) & I live across the Seekonk River from Providence. She was born and raised in the house we now (almost)
own. I work at Electric Boat in Quonset Point, RI, building Virginia
class submarines as a shipyard electrician.
Welcome to Rhode Island. Named "Roodt Eylandt"
by Adrian Block, the Dutch explorer. https://www.landofthebrave.info/colonial-rhode-island.htm It was 1620. The Pilgrims
were headed for Virginia, but foul weather kept them from getting South of Cape Cod. So they went to Plymouth. Roger
Williams was a Puritan minister in England, who came to America in 1631. Williams was expelled by the Puritan leaders from
the Massachusetts Bay Colonies for spreading "new and dangerous ideas", In 1635, the magistrates
of Plymouth had had enough of Roger Williams' radical ideas, and he was tried and convicted of sedition, heresy, and refusing
to swear an oath of allegiance in God's name. Williams regarded it as blasphemy to use God's name in a civil proceeding. Under
order of banishment to England, Williams fled in February 1636, walking through the snow from Salem to Narragansett Bay (54
miles) where he spent the rest of the winter with the Wampanoags. Learning that spring that he was still within the land grant
of Plymouth and fearing extradition to Massachusetts. Williams and some companions from Salem crossed the Seekonk River into
Narragansett territory. There, on land purchased from his friends Miantonomi and Canonicus, the chief sachems of the Narragansetts,
Williams began a settlement. He called it "Providence" because he believed that God had cared for him. This colony
was a refuge, offering what he called "liberty of conscience", a place where everyone would have religious freedom.
He was a staunch advocate for religious freedom, separation of church and state, and fair dealings with Native Americans,
and he was one of the first abolitionists. It's New England. A
2 1/2 hour drive will get you to Maine and the best Diner in North America (imho), or the tip of Cape Cod where the settlers
first landed. There's ferry service to Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard, or Block
Island. An hour's drive to Narragansett and you can go charter fishing, or
hit the beach. And no
matter where you go, you're walking on hallowed ground, where America's first veteran's (mostly farmers and craftsmen) fought
to create the freedom's we now enjoy. Below is a list of places my wife and I have been and enjoyed. Things
to do for Sat. There are pictures of most of them on my facebook page. I
have spoken with most of these places and acquired reduced or free admission.
Local Walking tours of Providence. Brown University
has great old buildings, and Sayles Hall has a great big organ. (https://www.goprovidence.com/things-to-do/providence-walking-tours/)
Free admission @ Rhode Island School of Design Museum for Sat. 8/25/18 (https://risdmuseum.org/visit/) Walking distance (1
mile) Present your Reunion Badge for 1/2 price admission
(if you don't have your badge just tell them your with the Stoddert/Jupiter). You
pass the site of the original settlement of Rhode Island, stop in the Roger Williams National Park office, (great deal
on lifetime National Park Pass), you go past the First Baptist Church in America (it's closed on Sat. but they said all
are welcome on Sun. and after the service there will be a free tour for reunion attendee's), two blocks more and your
@ RISD Museum on the left.
1/2 price @ Roger Williams Zoo & Park (the park is free) Sat 8/25/18 (http://www.rwpzoo.org/) 6 miles. Bus
service from Kennedy Plaza. Present your Reunion Badge for 1/2 price admission
(if you don't have your badge just tell them your with the Stoddert/Jupiter). From
9 A.M.-1 P.M. you can visit the third oldest zoo in America, after 1 P.M. they are setting up for "Brew at the Zoo"
(sorry, it's sold out). Since
the 1890's, Roger Williams Park has been the premier playground for both Providence and Rhode Island residents. Designed in
1874 by landscape architect Horace W.S. Cleveland, the entire park is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The park's 435 acres feature over 100 acres of ponds that weave their way through the rolling landscape. Major attractions
include the nationally-recognized Roger Williams Park Zoo, the Museum of Natural History and Planetarium, the Botanical Center,
the Casino, the Carousel Village, the Temple to Music, the Todd Morsilli tennis courts, and the Tim O'Neil baseball fields.
(http://www.providenceri.gov/providence-parks/roger-williams-park/)
Free admission @ Slater Mill for Sat. 8/25/18 (https://www.facebook.com/slater.mill) 5 miles. Bus service
in front of hotel Present
your Reunion Badge for free admission (if you don't have your badge just tell them your with the Stoddert/Jupiter).
The Slater Mill is a historic textile mill
complex on the banks of the Blackstone River, modeled after cotton spinning mills first established in England. It is the
first water-powered cotton spinning mill in North America. Samuel Slater ( look for the Slaterettes below), the mill's
founder, hired by Moses Brown of Providence, RI (he co-founded Brown University. The family firm was active in distilling
rum, owned an iron furnace, and took part in a wide variety of merchant activities) to produce a working set of machines necessary
to spin cotton yarn using water power in 1793. It has a cool vertical water turbine driving belt-powered machinery.
Need to quell that busy body for a
couple of hours? Looking for wholesome activity, or to learn a useful new skill? Slater Mill in downtown Pawtucket has
the answer, and all you need to do is drop in. On Saturday mornings in August,
the mill offers a free Drop In & WEAVE! Program from 10 a.m. to Noon, open-house style, meaning you can show up anytime
during those hours, even for a quick try. The program is family-friendly, and suitable for all ages. "Here's a chance
for the curious fiber artists, young and not-so-young, to try their hand at one of the worlds oldest domestic crafts: hand-weaving,"
(https://reportertoday.com/eastprovidence/stories/got-a-hankering-to-weave-slater-mill-invites-you-to-just-drop-in,24112) For any staying on
Sun. Slater's Mill is hosting SAM's MILLFEST...FREE Admission, FREE Music, FREE Fun, & Food Trucks 12-6
(Currently
pending) on admission @ McCoy Stadium (http://www.milb.com/content/page.jsp?sid=t533&ymd=20080830&content_id=452367&vkey=team1) 5 miles. Bus service
in front of hotel The
Pawtucket Red Sox (Boston's minor league team) are inviting the Pawtucket Slaterettes, one of the nation's only women's baseball
leagues, to play 33 innings of baseball at McCoy Stadium on Saturday, August 25.. The special event pays tribute to the historic
33-inning game played in 1981 by the PawSox and the visiting Rochester Red Wings, "Over the past two seasons, we have
been blessed to welcome such players from the AAGPBL as Rhode Island's own Wilma Briggs and California's Maybelle "All
the Way May" Blair and Shirley Burkovich. Part of this tribute is a tip of the cap to them.
For the more adventurist...
EAST Reduced admission @ Blithewold for
Sat. 8/25/18 (Regular $15.00, Reunion $9.00) (https://www.blithewold.org/about/the-estate/) 20.2 miles. Bus service from Kennedy Plaza. Present
your Reunion Badge for discount (if you don't have your badge just tell them your with the Stoddert/Jupiter)
Argh, Matey. This be where Capt. Ahab sailed from.
Reduced (Veterans) admission @ Linden Place for Sat. 8/25/18 (https://lindenplace.org/museum/ ;) 19.1 miles. Bus service from Kennedy Plaza. Present
your Reunion Badge for discount (if you don't have your badge just tell them your with the Stoddert/Jupiter)
Highlights include tales of DeWolf family
exploits, from their privateering and slave trading to their financial ruin and triumphant return to prosperity during Victorian
times. Docents introduce visitors to family members Pomeroy Colt, founder of United States Rubber, now Uniroyal, his mother
Theodora DeWolf Colt, who as Madam Colt ran Bristol Society from Linden Place as if she was Queen Victoria and the great actress
Ethel Barrymore who married in to this most prominent of American families.
(Currently pending) on admission @ New Bedford Whaling Museum for Sat. 8/25/18 (https://www.whalingmuseum.org/ ) 32.9 miles. Bus service from Kennedy Plaza. Present
your Reunion Badge for group rate(if you don't have your badge just tell them your with the Stoddert/Jupiter)
Free
admission @ Kilburn Mill for Sat. 8/25/18 (https://kilburnmill.com/event/the-grand-panorama-of-a-whaling-voyage/) 34.5 miles. Bus service from Kennedy Plaza. Present
your Reunion Badge for free admission (if you don't have your badge just tell them your with the Stoddert/Jupiter)
"A Spectacle in Motion: The Grand Panorama of a Whaling Voyage Round the World."
I've seen this and it is truly amazing. See America's longest painting - longer than the Empire State Building is tall.
All 1,275 feet of the Panorama is currently on exhibit to awe visitors.
Just down the point is The Fort Taber Fort Rodman military Museum
Well worth seeing, the site of many re-enactments and where I learned to throw a hatchet. (http://forttaber.org/) (Currently pending)
on admission @ for Sat. 8/25/18 Plimouth Plantation
(https://www.plimoth.org/) 53 miles Where it all
started. An hour on the highway to Plymouth Rock, Plimoth Plantation, the Plimoth Grist Mill (I really enjoyed
this place), and the Mayflower II (oops, just found out it's at Mystic Seaport getting work done). North
45 miles Group rate admission @ Larz Anderson Auto Museum for Sat. 8/25/18 (https://larzanderson.org/)
Collection of antique motors & vintage bikes displayed in a château -style Victorian
carriage house. 52
miles Free admission @ Minuteman National Park for Sat. 8/25/18
(https://www.nps.gov/mima/learn/index.htm) Minute Man National Historical Park. Lexington to the East, Concord
to the West. Paul Revere, John Hancock, and Samuel Adams. Just like they taught us in school. It really happened.
70 miles Free admission
@ Saugus Iron Works for Sat. 8/25/18 C (https://www.nps.gov/sair/index.htm) The first integrated ironworks in America (1646). It includes the reconstructed
blast furnace, forge, rolling mill, shear, slitter and a quarter-ton drop hammer. The facility is powered by seven large waterwheels,
some of which are rigged to work in tandem with huge wooden gears connecting them. It has a wharf to load the iron onto ocean-going
vessels, as well as a large, restored 17th-century house.
South (Currently pending) on admission @ Mystic Seaport (https://www.mysticseaport.org/) 50 miles on I-95 South.
From whaling ships to a Viking raider, a living, working wooden shipyard that's always a treat. Free admission @ USS Nautilus (http://www.ussnautilus.org/) 57 miles on I-95
South Aboard NAUTILUS, experience the decks that made Naval history: the world's
first nuclear powered vessel, first ship to go to the North Pole, and first submarine to journey "20,000 Leagues under
the sea." Great submarine museum on the same lot. Just up the river from General Dynamics/Electric Boat shipyard,
where our future submarine fleet is being built.
WaterFire Sat. 8/25/18
7:30 p.m. (https://waterfire.org/schedule/2018-waterfire-providence-event-schedule/) Yeah, I know that's
the banquet. But if you get a chance after the festivities, take the wife down to the Basin. You'll get points for it.
Waterfire centers around a series of nearly
100 bonfires that blaze just above the surface of the three rivers that pass through the middle of downtown Providence. The
string of fires illuminates nearly two-thirds of a mile of urban public spaces and parks, as residents and visitors gather
to stroll along the river, listening to music and watching performances. Boats pass quietly before the flames, as black-clad
performers tend the fires from sunset to midnight.
Beach's
East or South to the Coast,
Scusset Beach, Sandwich,
MA 61 miles A 1.5 mile stretch along the Cape Cod Canal with camping,
fishing pier, swimming areas & bike paths. (Non resident parking $20.00)
Horseneck Beach Westport,
MA 35 miles Beach with wind-surfing conditions, estuary for
bird-watching & trails on a sprawling landscape. (Non
resident parking $20.00) Narragansett Beach
Narragansett, RI 36 miles (https://www.narragansettri.gov/323/Narragansett-Town-Beach) Matunic Beach S.
Kingstown, RI 39 miles Nice, clean and long sand beach with restrooms,
showers and a place to buy refreshments. (http://www.riparks.com/Locations/LocationEastMatunuck.html) Misquamicut Beach Westerly,
RI 48 miles Bustling state beach with a
bathhouse, lifeguard, shade gazebos, picnic tables & a gift shop (http://www.riparks.com/Locations/LocationMisquamicut.html) Warwick Town Beach Warwick,
RI 14 miles Waterfront recreational area with baseball fields,
picnic tables & 3 miles of paved bicycle trails.
(?)
Conimicut Point Beach Warwick, RI 14
miles Wonderful beach with kids play area and slides..nice and calm, good fishing (?)
Rocky Point Park Warwick,
RI 15 miles This park, is a very simple park,
but with stunning views, a couple of beaches, a paved walking trail, rocks to fish from and lots of open space.
Formerly
the locally famous Rocky Point Amusement Park. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocky_Point_Amusement_Park) Also
have free movies. (http://moviesintheparkri.com/)
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