Gaspee Days 2023

aspee Arts & Crafts Festival back again!

By ED KDONIAN

With another year comes another Gaspee Days celebration. From the end of May to June 11, when the symbolic burning of the Gaspee takes place, the Pawtuxet area will be host to a variety of celebratory events.

For many, one of the most exciting parts of Gaspee Days is the Arts & Crafts Festival which will take place May 27 – 29, starting at 10 a.m. daily. Each year vendors from all across Rhode Island and surrounding states vie for a chance to show off their wares and set up a booth at one of the biggest craft fairs of the year.

“We have about 25-30 percent new people, and the rest are all returning whether it be from their first year last year or they’ve been coming since 25 years ago,” said Tina Bingham, who has been in charge of the fair for over 20 years.

“Everything you can imagine is there. There will be, I think, 125 vendors set up this year. We do our best not to have more

than two or three of any type of booth.”

With such a long list of artisans selling their wares, it is impossible to list them all. We can, however, give you a little taste of some of the variety. Below is just a small sample of the different types of vendors those attending the Arts & Crafts Festival can expect to find and a few words from them.

We be Jammin: “We Be Jammin’ is excited to be back at the Gaspee Days Festival with our full line of specialty jams, salsas, bbq sauces, salad dressings, marinades, glazes, and specialty condiments. Come support the Warwick Police Department K9 unit and pick up a jar of our specially designed flavors for K9 Garry, K9 Haki, and Compassion K9 Charley. All sales of the K9 flavors will be donated to the Warwick Police Department K9 Unit.”

Fenham Publishing: “I will be displaying short story collections written by C. M. Eddy, Jr. a Rhode Island native and short story author. The stories range from mystery, horror, supernatural and suspense. Fenham Publishing is a small press that was established in 2000 by Jim Dyer, grandson of C. M. Eddy, Jr. The press was formed to showcase the works

of Providence, Rhode Island native C. M. Eddy, Jr. an author of short stories from the pulp magazine era of the 1920’s, most notably Weird Tales.

Wicked Sensual Candles: Wicked Scentual Candles produces intensely scented candles and gifts. We specialize in gel candles which burn longer, cleaner and brighter than traditional wax candles. We have recently added eco-friendly coconut wax melts, as well as a line of luxurious spa products. Prices range from $6 - $25and there will be special bundle discounts at Gaspee Days.

Mermaids Baubles: Selling handcrafted Sailors Valentines (which date back to the 1800's as a vintage nautical art form), decor and accessories entirely out of natural seashells, pearls and other treasures from the Sea! For well over a decade, her specialty has been transforming the Sailors Valentine style of art into wearable (and durable!) pieces...especially realistic Shellblossoms. You can find her work all year long at two Artists Cooperatives in Rhode Island: Harbor View Artisans, 61 Brown St, Wickford Village RI; and The Hotpoint Emporium, 39 State St, Bristol, RI. www.MermaidsBaubles.com

etting the Orchestra Ablaze S

New Piece at WSO Tells Story of Gaspee Burning

Fans of the Warwick Symphony Orchestra can expect a fiery performance at the Gamm Theatre on June 2, as the WSO premiers The Burning of the Gaspee, an original composition by Rhode Island native Ben Nacar. The roughly ten minute piece is a ‘tone poem,’ using musical motifs to relate the story of the burning of the HMS Gaspee in shallow waters off the coast of Warwick in 1772. This will be the first performance of the composition by a full orchestra, although Nacar has released an animated music video featuring himself at the piano. The accompanying

animations help to indicate which portions of the piece signify which elements of the historical narrative, from the rollicking, seafaring theme used to represent the chase between Gaspee and the packet ship Hannah to the dramatic flourish played as the ship burns, which evokes Francis Scott Key in order to hint towards the role the burned ship would play in the birth of the United States.

Nacar, a graduate of Brown University, has performed his work throughout Rhode Island; he has found particular success with his original piano transcriptions of orchestral

works by Mozart, Dvorak, and Dukas. Previous original compositions include his “Bruin Overture,” (dedicated to the mascot of his alma mater) and a “Dodecatet” (a piece written for twelve instruments).

Besides Nacar, the June 2 concert will feature a robust program, including classic composers like Beethoven and Mendelssohn, film favorites, and a selection of contemporary pieces.

General admission is $15 and tickets can be purchased from: (401) 723-4266.

id wives of raiders know what their husbands had done? D

By KELLY SULLIVAN

They were married to wealthy merchants and powerful politicians, their days spent squeezed uncomfortably into gowns and petticoats, busks, stays and stockings. They concerned themselves with scented hair powders and the duties of the servants - ivory combs and imported teas and the children’s music lessons. They were the wives of the Gaspee raiders, the spouses waiting at home that evening of June 9, 1772 to whom a great and dangerous secret would either be confided in or concealed from.

The majority of confirmed Gaspee raiders were either unmarried or widowed at the time the schooner was set afire and destroyed that fateful summer night. Only a handful of the known men involved were husbands and fathers who had to make a choice regarding whether to tell their spouses of their involvement in the affair or create a believable alibi.

It would be nearly impossible to imagine Sarah (Smith) Brown as a woman ignorant of her husband's involvement in the Gaspee affair. John Brown was a well-known Providence merchant accepted as being the planner and leader of the entire historic event. Her sister’s son, Benjamin Page, was also present at the schooner’s destruction.

John and Sarah were married by Elder Samuel Winsor on Nov. 27, 1760 when she was 22 years old. The daughter of Daniel Smith and Dorcas Harris, her mother died when she was only seven years old. She went on to become a mother herself. One child had died as a baby in 1766. On the evening the Gaspee burned, Sarah was home with 11-year-old James, nine-year-old Benjamin and six-year-old Abigail. She would have two additional children, in 1773 and 1779.

John later told his grandson about his connection to the Gaspee, how he was the last person off the burning craft and how he stayed away from home for several nights following the act in case the authorities came to arrest him.

Sarah and John lived in a three-story brownstone and brick mansion, designed by his brother in 1786, located on Power Street in Providence. The bricks were brought over from England and the interior gleamed with mahogany.

Sarah was widowed in 1803 when John succumbed to heart failure. She later died on Feb. 27, 1825 and was laid to rest in

North Burial Ground in Providence.

Hannah (Paine) Potter was the wife of merchant, distiller, politician and ship’s captain Simeon Potter. Married in Bristol on March 7, 1754 when she was 22 years old, she was the daughter of Stephen Paine and Priscilla (Royal).

Her husband, 12 years her senior, arrived at Fenner’s Wharf from Bristol with a full boatload of men on the evening of June 9, ready to do battle. As they approached the Gaspee and sighted William Duddingston, Simeon yelled out, “I am the sheriff of the county of Kent, God damn you! I have got a warrant to apprehend you, God damn you! So surrender, God damn you!”

Simeon and Hannah later resided in a house located at the corner of Marsh Street and Washington Street in Newport. She died in 1788 at the age of 56. Simeon outlived her by 18 years.

Sarah Hopkins married sea captain Abraham Whipple in Providence on Aug. 2, 1761 when she was 21 years old with Elder Samuel Winsor officiating. The daughter of John Hopkins and Catherine (Turpin), she was the niece of Governor Stephens Hopkins. On the evening Abraham captained a longboat and rowed toward the grounded Gaspee, Sarah was home with 11-year-old Catherine and five-year-old Mary. When Sir John Wallace suspected Abraham of being involved in the affair, he threatened to hang him. Abraham replied, “Always catch a man before you hang him.”

Financial problems in 1788 caused Sarah and Abraham to move from their Cranston farm to Ohio. Sarah died there in 1818 and Abraham followed the next year.

On Sept. 30, 1759, 23-year-old Elizabeth Power married Joseph Brown, the brother of the aforementioned John. An architect and politician, he designed the house he had built for his family on South Main Street in Providence in 1774.

Elizabeth was the daughter of merchant and distiller Nicholas Power and Anne (Tillinghast). Her father owned an estate and liquor manufacturing business in Surinam, a tropical Dutch plantation in Guiana, South America. He died there when Elizabeth was only eight years old. Her own children, Mary and Obadiah were 12 and 10 years old when the Gaspee burned.

Joseph died from the effects of a stroke in 1785. Elizabeth died 21 years later and she was laid beside him at North Burial Ground. Etched on her stone are the words “Widow of Joseph Brown.” We’ll never know whether it was secrets or suspicions that she and the other Gaspee wives took to their graves.

A portrait of Sarah (Smith) Brown as painted by Francis Alexander in 1823. The oil on canvas is owned by the RI Historical Society.

Summer at

80+ RETAILERS

OUTDOOR DINING

CAROUSEL EVENTS & MOVIES

FOOD COURT & MORE

SUMMER EVENTS

MAYOR FRANK J. PICOZZI

unt of Gaspee continues this summer H

By Dr. KARTHY ABBASS Director of the Rhode Island Marine Archaeology Project

The Gaspee was not a huge rated Royal Navy fighting vessel, but because she served for the King, the 1772 Patriot attack was a catalyst for growing friction that led to the Revolution.

The Gaspee was one of the more than 220+ vessels known to have been lost in Rhode Island waters during that war. RIMAP has found 3 of the 4 Royal Navy frigates along the west coast of Aquidneck Island, 10 of the 13 British transports scuttled in Newport Harbor, and last year Rhode Island Marine Archeology Project began the search for the Gaspee with divers groundtruthing remote sensing targets to the south of the spit. This summer RIMAP will continue the search to the north, and the public will again be invited to observe from the shore.

This search is difficult because the Gaspee was small. She was built in Marblehead and bought in 1764 as a tender to larger Royal Navy vessels serving in North America.

In Rhode Island she interrupted illegal trade, generating the local outrage that led to the Patriot attack. Admiralty documents describe the ship as only about 50' long, with a crew of 30, and probably armed with only 1/2 pounder swivel guns. Her small size, plus historical details of salvage following her loss, and the physical conditions at Gaspee Point suggest there might not be much left of the ship, but RIMAP's search for the Gaspee continues. Please join us!

yrics of Gaspee song kept raiders secret L

By KELLY SULLIVAN

In 1845, 47-year-old Providence judge and historian William Read Staples authored a book entitled “Documentary History of the Destruction of the Gaspee.” In the book, Staples included the lyrics to a song which had been written around 1773 about the previous year’s torching of the schooner. Allegedly, the tune had been very popular, sung all over town in the years that followed the Gaspee affair. Staples noted in the book that “the name of the author of this song is lost.”

In 1881, Wilfred Harold Munro authored the book “History of Bristol, RI.” The 32-year-

old, who would become a history professor at Brown University as well as president of the RI Historical Society, reprinted the song, attributing it “to Capt. Thomas Swan of Bristol, who is supposed to have been one of the participants of the affair.” Although there is still mystery surrounding the events and participants of that historic evening, its commonly believed that Swan had been present after arriving in a boat with others from Bristol, all costumed in Native American garb.

In the possession of the RI Historical Society is an old printed copy of the song which lacks any attribution to an author. The words “Theodore Foster’s” have been

handwritten at the top. At the bottom, some long ago person has written “If I remember, Swan was the author of the above – one of the sixty-four.” Also handwritten at the bottom are the words “Presented to the RI Historical Society by John Herreshoff.”

The name Theodore Foster (1752-1828) is that of a RI lawyer and politician who was also believed to have played a role in the burning of the Gaspee. It was around his death in 1828 when the printed song was first discovered among his personal papers and placed in the custody of the RI Historical Society. Sometime after 1837, the song was stolen from the archives.

The name John Brown Herreshoff (18411915) is that of a famous RI yacht builder and the president of Herreshoff Yacht Company. His great-grandfather was John Brown, the man believed to have been the ringleader of the Gaspee’s destruction. The printed song eventually ended up in Herreshoff’s possession and he later donated it back to the Society, the single sheet of aged paper seemingly having made its way through the hands of varied Gaspee patriots and their descendants.

The same year Herreshoff died, Emma Frances (Swan) Cottrell of Bristol was going through the effects of her father Samuel Osborn Swan who had died in 1905. Among his documents was a manuscript copy of the song. On the back of the manuscript, Samuel’s father Samuel (1801-1863) had written a note explaining that his own grandfather, Thomas Swan (1749-1805) had taken part in destroying the Gaspee and had written the song.

Five years after supplying much needed pieces to the puzzle that had stumped historians for years, Emma Swan died at the age of 59. She had been incinerating rubbish in her yard when her clothing became ignited and caused fatal burns over her entire body.

Did Thomas Swan pen the lyrics of the Gaspee song and have copies printed for each of the 46 raiders, omitting his name to avoid persecution and prosecution? According to the lyrics, even the utmost skill will never divulge the names of the patriots. Over the last 251 years, only 38 of “the sixty-four” have been unmasked.

The words to the song were as follows:

‘Twas in the reign of George the Third, our public peace was much disturbed By ships of war that came and laid within our ports to stop the trade In seventeen hundred seventy-two, in Newport Harbor lay a crew That played the part of pirates there, the sons of freeman could not bear Sometimes they'd weigh and give them chase, such actions sure were very base No honest coaster could pass by, but what they would let some shot fly Which did provoke to high degree those true-born sons of liberty So that they could no longer bear those sons of Belial standing there But 'twas not long 'fore it fell out, that William Duddingston, so stout Commander of the Gaspee tender (which he has reason to remember Because as people do assert, he almost had his just dessert) Here on the tenth day of last June, betwixt the hour of twelve and one Did chase the sloop called the "Hannah", of whom was Lindsey was commander They dogged her up to Providence Sound and there the rascal got aground The news it flew that very day that they on Namquit Point did lay That night about half after two, a "Narragansett Indian" crew? Being sixty-four if I remember, did make this stout coxcomb surrender And what was best of all their tricks, they in his britch a ball did fix They set the men upon the land and burned her up we understand Which thing provoked the King so high, he said "Those men shall surely die" So if he could but find them out, the hangman he'd employ no doubt For he's declared in his passion, he'll have them tried in a new fashion

Now for to find these people out that wounded William Duddingston

One thousand more he says he'll spare for those who say the sheriffs were Five thousand more there doth remain to just find out the leader's name He'll give one hundred pounds per man for every one of all that clan But let him use his utmost skill to find their names, he never will He cannot tempt those hearts of gold if he should offer fifty fold…”

lame the Indians B

By DR. JOHN CONCANNON, Historian, Gaspee Days Committee

It has long been debated whether those brave people that attacked and burned the HMS Gaspee in June of 1772 were disguised as Narragansett Indians.

Those there, at the Providence docks who witnessed the men embarking on their stealthy mission down Narragansett Bay in Warwick, are in agreement that these patriots were not disguised in the least. They merely called themselves Narragansett Indians. They took care, however, not to call each other by name. In fact, there was very little talking done. They did not go down in the boats until after dark, and having accomplished their business, returned quietly to Providence.

But these were not the only men to attack the British schooner; there was at least one boat, possibly two, that came up the Bay from the docks of Warren and Bristol to join up in the attack. And unlike the finely dressed men from Providence, the Bristol men were mostly dockworkers likely dressed in work clothes. John Brown and the people from Providence who directed the raid, most probably had sent word to Bristol crew that they were likewise to pretend that they were Narragansetts. Perhaps these men took it upon themselves to don some form of Indian head gear as well.

To bolster this argument, Simeon Potter, who was already in the boat from Bristol overloaded with 11 or 12 men, went out of his way to chase down and impress into service the hapless Aaron Briggs who was rowing around Prudence Island. Briggs was a slave of mixed African-American and Narragansett race.

Did Potter feel that he needed more manpower? Doubtful. Although he probably did not know the precise number of men in boats from Providence who were to join up with him for the raid, Potter must have

known there would be more than enough. The more likely explanation lies in the fact that, unlike the boats from Providence, the men of the boat from Bristol decided to dress themselves in the disguise of Narragansett Indians. Potter was accommodating the ruse by taking along someone actually of

Narragansett Indian blood.

After the attack, Briggs was prominently placed next to the wounded Lt. Dudingston when they rowed into Pawtuxet Village; they wanted to give the impression to Dudingston and his crew that the attackers were Indians. The disguise used by the men from Bristol

must have impressed someone, particularly someone in the Sons of Liberty. Eighteen months later the same disguise was used during the more famous Boston Tea Party. Blame the Indians.

For a closer look at this discussion please see the Gaspee Virtual Archives at Gaspee.org .

Artists who envisioned the night of June 9, 1772

By KELLY SULLIVAN

Over the last two centuries, images of the burning of the Gaspee have been depicted through paintings, illustrations, etchings and engravings on everything from canvas and paper to pewter, bronze and silver. With each image typically entitled “The Burning of the Gaspee”, “The Destruction of the Gaspee” or “The Gaspee Affair”, numerous artists in various capacities may contain the immortalization of that historic night among their creations.

Several Rhode Island painters have captured the schooner’s destruction, including Charles DeWolf Brownell. Born in 1822, at a house located at 107 Westminster Street in Providence, Brownell was the son of a physician and encouraged to seek a career in law. In 1843, he was admitted to the Conn. Bar Association. Never in the peak of health and forced to spend winters in the south due to recurring lung congestion, Brownell fell into a depression during 1853. Reexamining his life, he realized that it was not the law he was passionate about, but art.

Giving up his law practice, Brownell began to study art and traveled to Cuba that year to paint its tropical scenery. He traveled the world, memorializing what he saw in oil, water color, pencil and pen and ink. One of his most famous works is “The Charter Oak” which he painted in 1857, the year after the mighty Conn. landmark fell during a summer storm. Believed to be over 1,000 years old, the tree had been the hiding place chosen by Captain Joseph Wadsworth during the 17th-century to conceal King Charles II’s charter of the old colony of Conn. The oil on canvas had been on loan to the New England Building at the 1901 World’s Fair in NY when the building it was contained in was partially destroyed by fire. Insured for $1,000, the painting was removed undamaged from the structure.

Brownell opened a studio in NY in 1860, a full display of his landscapes and hauntingly lifelike historical scenes. In 1892, he painted the Gaspee aflame in an expanse of water while men in longboats watch from the near distance.

Robert James Pailthorpe was 50 years old when the RI Bicentennial Commission sought him out to do a painting of the Gaspee’s destruction in 1976. Born in Providence on March 31, 1926, the future maritime artist grew up in a home on Dixon Street, the son of a dry goods store salesman. He attended Sackett Public School in Providence and enlisted in the Army Air Corp in 1944. He later relocated to Cranston.

The son of a commercial artist, Karl Robert Rittmann was born on Dec. 1, 1919 in Providence. He grew up on Albert Avenue in Cranston and attended Lockwood High School in Warwick. While residing at Cedar Tree Point in Apponaug, he attended the RI School of Design and went on to work as an art teacher at Warwick Veterans Memorial High School before becoming vice principal of the institution.

As an artist, Rittmann concentrated on RI people, landmarks and landscapes. His work included images in pen and ink, pastel, charcoal, oil on canvas, oil on board and oil on tile. Some of his images were purchased by greeting card companies.

Rittmann also illustrated posters and painted murals, which grace many buildings across the state. From

1936 to 1999, he completed a portrait of every Warwick governor. A mural Rittmann created of the burning of the Gaspee is within the Scottish Rite Temple in Pawtuxet. He passed away in Warwick on Aug. 31, 2001.

Artist Robert Charles Haun, born in Boston in 1903, eventually relocated with his family to Providence where his father built the framework for construction projects. Haun was employed as superintendent at the department store Callender, McAuslan & Troup Company in Providence throughout the 1930s and early 1940s. He then concentrated on art, developing the theme of the Alpine Dining Room in the newly built Lindsey Tavern in Pawtucket, in 1948. To further enhance the ambiance, Haun painted Swiss scenes upon wall panels on three sides of the room.

In 1951, Haun was commissioned by Helene (Kelly) Burrell, the wife of Edward Burrell, owner of Sullivan Shoe Company on Westminster Street in Providence. Mrs. Burrell had decorated her Point Judith summer home “Rough Waters” with all manner of Madonna images. Haun completed two modern pastel sketches for her; “Madonna of the Roses” and “Madonna with Star Nimbus.”

In 1960, Haun was commissioned by Antonio Ribeiro, a Portuguese native residing in Central Falls. The man claimed to have had a vision of Christ in 1918 and provided the details for Haun’s oil painting of the experience. Haun later moved to Cranston and was known for painting church interiors throughout New England. He was also one of three artists who painted the dome of the RI State House.

A painting of the Gaspee’s last hours was created by Haun and, according to Gaspee.org, was last seen in 2000 and appeared to contain smoke damage. That source also states that the painting originally hung in a Newport Creamery and then in Gaspee Lounge.

East Providence resident Karl Doerflinger is the artist behind the Gaspee painting recently selected for a new Rhode Island license plate design. Doerflinger was born in Ohio in the autumn of 1950 and attended Grand River Academy where he showed an interest in art through studies in ceramics and painting. He later graduated from the Cleveland Institute of Art. Known as a folk artist with talent for quaint small-town scenes, Doerflinger is a member of the Providence Art Club and taught painting for over ten years.

Dozens of additional paintings depicting the Gaspee ablaze can be attributed to present-day artists and artists residing outside of RI.

Soldwedel

HAun

R ITTmAn mu RAl

Catholic Cemeteries of the Diocese of Providence

What makes Catholic Cemeteries different?

What makes Catholic Cemeteries Different?

Our cemeteries are consecrated ground designated specifically for our faithful, and the Catholic Cemeteries of the Diocese of Providence offers more options of final resting places than ANY other cemetery in RI.

Why should I go to a Catholic Cemetery?

Our faith teaches and prefers that as we come into this life and are baptized, our earthly remains should be laid to rest in consecrated grounds. We will assist you in following all aspects of end-of-life decisions and what our faith teaches.

“I can’t afford to buy cemetery space in these tough economic times.”

We offer three-year financing without interest allowing you to choose the type of space you want, at a price much less than what it will be in 20 years. It is our goal to work WITH you for the peace of mind you & your loved ones will need at a very difficult time.

We now have various discount programs available to further assist you, just mention our discount code, CHWB.

Make an appointment now for that peace of mind and not leave your loved ones with difficult decisions at a difficult time.

CATHOLIC CEMETERIES PROVIDE MANY OPTIONS THAT HAVE NEVER BEEN OFFERED BEFORE

We have sections specifically for OUR CLERGY, FAMILIES WHO HAVE EXPERIENCED THE LOSS OF A CHILD, CREMATION, AND OUR HONORED VETERANS.

Memorialize Your Loved Ones & Dedicate these features in Our Cemeteries.

Please note that until further notice, the hours of visitation at St. Ann Cemetery in Cranston are Monday, Tuesday, Thursday & Friday 7:30am – 4pm. The gates will remain open until dusk on Wednesday, Saturday & Sunday.

COMMEMORATIVE POUR:

leah Schroeder bends a moniker Brewery tap handle, pouring a cloudy golden Gaspee draft into a pint glass at o’Rourke’s Bar and Grill.

(Beacon Communications photos by Rory Schuler)

astes like freedom T

By RORY SCHULER

Leah Schroeder bent the Moniker tap handle, pouring a cloudy golden Gaspee draft into a pint glass. Just outside the barroom window, 251 years ago, a British ship burned, helping to spark the American Revolution.

“I think it’s so cool that they brewed these Gaspee beers,” Shroeder said while tending bar at O’Rourke’s Bar and Grill in Historic Pawtuxet Village. The annual commemorative Gaspee burning takes place just outside the waterfront pub. “And we get to serve the Gaspee beer right near its namesake.”

O’Rourke’s Bar and Grill, at 23 Peck Lane, has Moniker’s wheat ale on-tap in these last few weeks leading up to the Gaspee Days celebration.

Continued on page 18

BREWING REVOLUTION: For the 250th anniversary of the Gaspee Burning, The linesider Brewing Co. launched “Sestercentennial,” and the moniker Brewery introduced a brew called “First Blow for Freedom.” Behind the beers in this photo, taken in Historic pawtuxet Village, a British vessel was burned 250 years ago, an early act of defiance preceding the official start of the American Revolution and four years before the signing of the declaration of Independence. The breweries will be releasing their beers again, for the 251st celebration in warwick. (Beacon Communications FILE

Continued from page 17

“As part of last year’s 250th anniversary observance of the Gaspee Affair, a set number of specialty breweries were approached about producing a limited edition of unique craft beers for the festivities,” said Gaspee Days Committee member Paul Lotito. “For this year’s events, the Gaspee Committee has once again reached out to these four breweries, asking if they would like to recreate their limited issue, specialty craft beers.”

The other breweries were set to deliver cases of this year’s stock to Lotito on Friday evening.

Those breweries — Moniker Brewery of 432 West Fountain St., Providence, Apponaug Brewing Company, located in the Pontiac Mill, 334 Knight St., Warwick, The Linesider Brewing Co., 1485 South County Trail, East Greenwich, and Pivotal Brewing Company, 500 Wood St Building 111, Bristol — all agreed to brew another round for freedom.

The brews all have Gaspee-themed names: Apponaug’s “Hannah's Revenge,” Linesider’s “Sestercentennial,” Pivotal’s “Burn Gaspee Burn Lager” and Moniker’s “First Blow for Freedom.”

“They are excellent,” Parade Marshal and President of the Pawtuxet Rangers Ron Barnes, a Johnston resident said last year. “They are not made with Narragansett Bay water, (fortunately) but they were very good.”

“With all in agreement, fans of these brews will have the opportunity to enjoy them at the following locations,” Lotito said, listing Cork and Brew and Spirits in Pawtuxet Village, Edgewood Liquors on Broad Street, I.M. Gan Liquors on Warwick Avenue, Fellini Pizzeria in Pawtuxet Village, PTX Lounge in Pawtuxet Village, the Pawtuxet Rangers museum night and the Block Party in Pawtuxet Park.

“These limited edition craft beers will only be available through the months of May and June, or until supplies are exhausted,” Lotito warned collectors, history buffs and brew aficionados.

“Our Gaspee Brew, ‘First Blow for Freedom,’ is an American Wheat Ale,” said Bryan Benedict, Moniker Brewery Owner and Co-founder. “LIght, crisp, and easy drinking. We are proud to be involved with Gaspee days and helping educate Rhode Islanders and the rest of the country on Rhode Island's very deep, important and interesting history.”

History’s never tasted so good.

photo by Rory Schuler)

HANNAH’S BEER: Apponaug’s “Hannah’s Revenge,” will be available Thursday, may 5, on-tap at the brewery’s bar.