Art sessions offered for all levels, weekly classes & private lessons. Check website for events. Kelly Milukas is a multi-media painter and sculptor. 503 S Lake Rd, Tiverton • (401) 480 3536 kellymilukas.com/events • @kellymilukas
DECOR
TIFFANY PEAY
JEWELRY & HEALING ARTS
Annual FALL SALE: October 1-14
Explore the power of gemstones with Tiffany’s handmade fine jewelry. Crystal Bed Light Therapy & Fine Art by Peter Dickison. 3851 Main Road • tiffanypeay.com (401) 816 0878 • @tiffanypeayjewelry
Save The Date
Holiday Bright Night
Friday, December 6th, 4-7pm
Shops Open Late with Luminaries Abound Specials and Fun for Everyone 11th Annual Re-Tree Exhibition
Friday, December 6th through Friday December 20th
An Outdoor Showcase of Festive Trees Created by the Community with Recycled Materials
Visit Santa at The Cheese Wheel & Carolers at Four Corners Gallery!
STUDIO BY THE SEA
Peter Tirpaeck, Master Jeweler, will transform your ideas into heirlooms! Colors are sourced, designs are drafted and each piece is hand made for YOU. Kashmir Sapphire and Diamond Platinum Set. What can we create for YOU? 3848 Main Road • (401) 639 4348 studiobytheseari.com • @studio_by_the_sea
SALT
Add a touch of joy and whimsy to any home with beautifully handcrafted cotton kitchen towels. A perfect and practical housewarming, thank you, or holiday gift! 3845 Main Road • (401) 816 0901 @salttiverton
CEDIAN PAINTING
Studio-Gallery of artist Jennifer Jones Rashleigh. Nature inspired wildlife painting, pillows & tiles. 3848 Main Road • @cedianpainting cedianpainting.com
MICK'S ARTFUL ODDITIES & ANTIQUES
"Purveyors of the obscure."
Explore the world of oddities, unique antiques & unusual props. 8 Neck Rd., Lower Level (401) 835-0117 • @obscura_mick
Make your beach house a home with a cozy & fun addition from Lou Lou’s Décorwith locations in Tiverton & Newport. Full interior design services available. 3913 Main Road • (401) 816 4362 • www.loulousdecor.com
TIVERTON
FARMERS MARKET
A rotating selection of local farms, food vendors and makers. Year-round Farmers Market. Sundays 10am-1:30pm. Winter location: Tiverton Middle School, 10 Quintal Dr., Tiverton tivertonfarmersmarket.com @TivertonFarmersMarket
THE CHEESE WHEEL VILLAGE MARKET
Custom charcuterie & cheese boards available. Over 200 cheeses available, Sandwiches, Soups, House-Made Bread, Local Meats, Produce & Prepared Meals Call to order! Open 9-5 Tues-Sunday 3838 Main Road • (401) 816 5069 • @thecheesewheelri
LOU LOU'S
I think there are sections of East Providence that are fabulous for first-time buyers or for people looking to downsize. But there’s also a lot of people from the East Side of Providence and other communities who are finding that they can buy a tremendous house with lower taxes and at a better price than maybe some of what the other communities are able to offer.”
With a deep understanding of the East Bay market, Alicia helps clients discover hidden gems that offer more for their money without sacrificing convenience or location. Whether you’re a first-time buyer or seeking a home that fits your changing needs—bigger, smaller, or just different—trust Alicia to guide you through Rhode Island’s real estate market.
VS. AUGUST 2023
$737K AVERAGE SALES PRICE
VS. AUGUST 2023
31 DAYS ON MARKET
VS. AUGUST 2023 AUGUST 2024 DATA
The Buzz
9 Women’s volunteer club aims to spread awareness for greater reach
12 THE PUBLIC’S RADIO: Piano-driven “witch pop” from singer-songwriter
14 VOICES OF THE BAY: A parent brings DC knowledge to the PTO
16 CALENDAR: This month’s must-do’s
Life & Style
A13 HOME: An architect blurs boundaries of inside and out in a new beach house
A18 Ways to incorporate goth gardening style in spaces of all sizes
A20 INFLUENCER: Newport content creator wants you to follow her – outdoors
A22 RHODY READS: Six books that bring you outside
A24 RHODY GEM: A cozy spot to pregame annual art festival
43 A National Heritage Area designation would put indigenous history on the map
Food & Drink
49 EXPERIENCE: A Barrington destination for kebabs and more
IN
Where
Rhode Island Ghost Stories:
Photo courtesy of Discover Newport, modified by Nick DelGiudice
Photo courtesy of Sowams Heritage Area Project
Photography by Gina Mastrostefano
Photography by Morten Smidt, courtesy of Sarah Jefferys Design ON THE COVER: Photo courtesy of Rose Island Lighthouse, modified by Abigail Brown
Photo by Elyse Major
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Community | The Public’s Radio | Voices of the Bay | Calendar
Group Effort
Women’s volunteer club seeks to expand awareness and reach in Rhody
Adopt-a-Highway: GFWC Women’s Club of South County members clean up Route 1 each quarter
By Alexandra Ashe
t’s the best kept secret in Rhode Island,” says Alexandra Hahn. She’s talking about the General Federation of Women’s Club (GFWC), of which she’s the state president, and she’s on a mission to change that adage to, “the best-known volunteer organization in Rhode Island.” The GFWC is a federation of approximately 2,300 women’s clubs in the US, founded in the late 1890s, whose members work tirelessly to enrich the lives of others through volunteer service.
Women’s Veterans Honor Flight to Washington DC, GFWC Warwick
The GFWC of Rhode Island is made up of an alumni club and five area clubs: GFWC Bristol County’s Women’s Club (established in 1952 as the GFWC Barrington Junior Women’s Club, expanded and renamed for broader reach in 2000), GFWC Cranston Community Women’s Club, GFWC Warwick Women’s Club, GFWC Wampanoag Women’s Club, and GFWC Women’s Club of South County, the largest of all. Nancy DeNuccio, president of the South County chapter, offers that because of their numbers, “We get to do what we do. Not just for South County, but the rest of the state, too.”
Devoted members commit their time to collecting and donating food and clothing for food banks and pantries, serving soup to workers at the plants and fisheries in Galilee for the Soup for the Docks program, cleaning up trash, reading to children, raising funds and awarding grants for nonprofit organizations, sending Valentines to veterans, and more, across the state.
A leading fundraiser for GFWC Women’s Club of South County is the Annual Book & Author Luncheon, which celebrated its 24th anniversary during summer. The event takes place at the historic Dunes Club in Narragansett, where approximately 300 guests enjoyed an afternoon listening to three award-winning authors speak about their latest works. All proceeds go towards providing educational scholarships for women in need, as well as grants to local nonprofit organizations supporting worthy causes such as homelessness, food insecurity, domestic violence, mental health, and more. Since its launch, the event has proved to be a fantastic aid to the community. “People love it,” says DeNuccio. “The tickets always sell out in just a few hours, and it’s all thanks to our generous sponsors, the businesses and individuals who donate raffle prizes, and all our volunteers for their countless hours and dedication.”
So what’s next on Hahn’s agenda? In March 2025, the GFWCRI will be building their
Photos courtesy of GWFCRI
very own scavenger hunt to spread awareness. While the project is still in its early planning stages, Hahn shares the premise: “We’ll have our emblem up in 20 different female-owned businesses throughout the state. If you find one, take a selfie with it and upload it to our website. If you find all 20 emblems, you’ll win the grand prize!”
Spoken in true volunteer spirit, Hahn states why she feels it’s crucial to get the GFWC’s name out there as much as possible. “We’re not doing this for money; we’re doing this so we can keep making Rhode Island a better place every day and keep bringing so many wonderful women together. The sense of purpose and reward is unparalleled.”
DeNuccio echoes Hahn’s words. “In this organization, you can do a little or you can do a lot. Either way, you’re helping, and that’s what truly matters most.” Learn more at GFWCRI.org
GARLIC ROAST
Piano-driven “Witch Pop”
The Providence singer-songwriter’s latest single, “Ghost Story,” is a cautionary tale about heartbreak and the perils of modern dating
In partnership with The Public’s Radio • ThePublicsRadio.org • By
James Baumgartner
With a background in literature and classical music, Providence musician Olivia Dolphin writes piano-driven pop songs about relationships and self-reflection. She stopped by the studio for an interview with Artscape producer James Baumgartner.
OLIVIA DOLPHIN: I call it “witch pop.” Which is something we’re trying on, but basically, honoring the things that make me feel a little witchy, like, loving friendship and magic, and the environment, and community and infusing all of that into my lyrics. And then with the musical content, like sometimes we go a little dark with the chords and the chord progressions and the sounds we’re making as a band. So yeah, we’re trying on the term “Witch Pop” today.
JAMES BAUMGARTNER: Listening to your music, I hear elements of a little Pat Benatar, maybe a little Alanis Morissette, maybe a little Tori Amos, correct me if I’m wrong, maybe even, a little element of musical theater?
DOLPHIN: That is the list that I hear often, which is an honor, always. I would add the people that I listen to most often, which are Brandi Carlile, Ingrid Michaelson, Vanessa Carlton, like, the really piano driven singer songwriters, Regina Spector. That’s like who I listened to, but as a ‘90s girl, I think there’s a lot of that ‘90s rock influence that I didn’t know I had, it’s just coming out naturally.
BAUMGARTNER: What about some of those artists really inspires you?
DOLPHIN: I love the storytelling aspect. When you listen to Brandi Carlile, Ingrid Michaelson, or Tori Amos, they use really poetic, lyrical, high energy content in their songs. They’re really touching on a lot of different topics, but at the core of it all is that strong storytelling, which I really loved. So marrying
a lot of my writing background with my music background, I think it’s only natural that I kind of blend some of those aspects together.
BAUMGARTNER: Tell me more about how your literary background influences your songwriting?
DOLPHIN: I have always been a reader. I grew up reading the Harry Potter books. I was the Harry Potter girl at school. And while my relationship to Harry Potter has changed because of recent comments by the author, I still really value the morals that I took away from Harry Potter, like community, like celebrating friendships, like fighting for what you believe in.
BAUMGARTNER: Tell us about your latest single, “Ghost Story”.
DOLPHIN: It’s what I call a spooky banger. It’s loud. It’s in your face. It’s a little Halloween all year round. And it is about being ghosted. I got ghosted by the same person twice. My bad, I should have read the signs. “Ghost Story” is about wishing that you had seen the signs in a relationship to not get ghosted.
BAUMGARTNER: You put together shows at Askew. And I hear you like putting together mixed genre shows. What is that all about?
DOLPHIN: I’m trying to capture a variety show vibe, but under a theme. We did one in February called “Love stories, a little salty a little sweet” and it was poets, storytellers, musicians, and singer-songwriters under this idea of love stories. And you can get a little salty with it and a little sweet with it, and we had comedians. And I think with Providence being such a creative city, it just makes
Photo courtesy of The Public’s Radio via Olivia Dolphin
sense to me to try to pull a little bit from every audience niche and try to combine them. And something I’ve been saying at shows a lot is, you gotta use it or lose it. You gotta use the venues, you gotta go to shows. And I am a millennial. I’m in my 30s. I love to be in bed by 9. It’s really hard to get out for events, especially hosting them and doing them. But, you know, I just applaud anybody that’s going to live music shows right now or finding, like, that weird community variety show or that open mic and saying, you know what? I’m gonna roll the dice on this event and I’m gonna go and I’m gonna stay up past my bedtime because that is what we need to keep the creative community in Providence alive right now. We’ve got to show up. And so that’s my hypothesis with mixed genre shows.
BAUMGARTNER: Does your classical music education show up in any of the piano arrangements, or the band arrangements, or the music that you write?
DOLPHIN: Yeah, I actually think when you say, I hear a musical theater influence in your music, what you’re actually hearing is the classical background. I see so much value in musical theater and I have gone to Broadway shows and I love PPAC and everything about it, but it’s just not really for me. So when people hear Broadway or musical theater in my work, I think what they’re actually hearing is a deep love and appreciation and background in classical music, the Romantic era, the symphonies. The very first thing I listened to, I remember my dad having Vivaldi’s Four Seasons in the house and like no two pieces there sound the same. You know, with classical music, you just go through these really long journeys. And I think that you can hear that in my music, where it takes you on these dynamic ebbs and flows.
This article was originally posted on June 27, 2024 and has been edited for length. James Baumgartner can be reached at jbaumgartner@ThePubicsRadio.org
The New York Times picks Four Corners Gallery as a “Standout.”
Voices of the Bay: Chrissy Barlow
An engaged parent brings insights from her job at the US Department of Education to PTO meetings
By Nina Murphy
While growing up in Seekonk, Massachusetts, Christine “Chrissy” Barlow spent summers in Touisset. When COVID shut down the country, including Washington, DC where she and her young family lived, they packed up and headed to her family’s cottage to ride it out. After a brief return to DC, they headed back and now call the peninsula home. Barlow was recently named the Assistant General Counsel for the Division of Elementary, Secondary, Adult and Vocational Education, Office of the General Counsel for the US Department of Education. Her division provides legal advice on the distribution of federal grants that help school districts with everything from math and literacy coaches to after-school programs. The parent of two children at Hugh Cole Elementary School, Barlow is a candidate on the November ballot for two open non-partisan Warren seats for the Bristol Warren Regional School Committee.
INFLUENCE: My interest in public service stemmed from my uncle who was a local representative from East Providence, and then in college I was a Senate Page at the RI State House, and did community organizing work.
BRANCHING OUT: I applied to be a law clerk at the US Department of Education for my second year of law school. That summer I did lots of assignments for all different people and really enjoyed it; the people were really great mentors who were passionate about the work. I stayed part-time my last year of law school, and
then they had an opening when I graduated. I was never interested in working on “the Hill.”
FUNDING: In 2009, I transferred to my current division which essentially covers administering federal education grants to the states (which sends it down to the schools) and nonprofits. I was interested in how the federal government helps to promote equity and education, and help states with that. Since moving back, my duty station, as it’s referred to in the federal government, is here, but I go to DC quarterly to be with my team. We have more remote employees than we ever had. We’ve got people from all over the country who worked in school districts or who worked in state departments of education, who are program officers for these grants, and they’re able to provide a greater perspective than when it was just those of us in the DC area.
INSIDER: It’s funny being in a PTO meeting and
hearing what the funding is for or where it’s from. As a parent myself, the biggest way that I can make an impact is help explain to school districts how they can use the federal dollars. On the flipside, I am able to go back to my colleagues about an after-school tutoring program that my daughters were in at Hugh Cole and I am positive that it was education funds that helped support it. Federal dollars help support things like reading and math coaches in schools, those types of things.
FULL PLATE: So much is on the school district’s plate regarding care for our children. I think one of the biggest challenges for school districts is how to coordinate all of those things with the money that they’re given. One of the biggest things we try is to make things easier at the federal level to coordinate among ourselves because the school lunch program is the Department of Agriculture, and some mental health services are Department of Health and Human Services.
Photo courtesy of Chrissy Barlow
Chrissy Barlow
Gordon is east of the Washington Bridge in East Providence, conveniently located just off Broadway and Veterans Memorial Parkway. With the bridge construction still slowing down the trip to Providence, Gordon is a more convenient choice than ever for families in the East Bay.
At Gordon, we embrace a child’s inquisitive nature, inspiring students to play an active role in their learning and to welcome challenges with confidence and courage. With a curriculum rooted in multicultural practice and social justice, we educate young people who know their values and who work to use their knowledge and compassion to make the world a better place.
Explore the possibilities for your child at gordonschool.org/beyond
The Must List
essential events
For a statewide listing of events visit us online!
October 19-20: The 33rd annual Bowen’s Wharf Seafood Festival is back with fresh, locally harvested seafood, including lobster rolls, stuffies, chowder, fried calamari, clams, and oysters, along with signature cocktails, craft beer, and live music. Newport, BowensWharf.com
October 20: The Tiverton Farmers Market makes a move mid-month to their winter location at Tiverton Middle School, and invites all to the second annual Garlic Roast . A day celebrating the tasty bulb includes food, growing tips, and live music. TivertonFarmersMarket.com
Oct 12-13: The Bristol Vintage Market , held on the scenic south pasture of Mount Hope Farm, features a curated selection of vintage and artisan products for sale, along with live music from The Whelks. MountHopeFarm.org
October 5: The Decade of Dreams Twilight Party is a momentous night of food and drink that celebrates over 500 food and beverage entrepreneurs who have honed their skills at Hope & Main, the state’s leading culinary incubator. Warren, MakeFoodYourBusiness.org
October 5-6: The 50th anniversary Harvest Fair is an award-winning celebration that features craft and food vendors, hay rides, face painting, and a mud pile. There’s also live music, a home and garden competition, and more. Middletown, NormanBirdSanctuary.org
October 9-14: The 10th annual Rogue Island Comedy Festival is the state’s only stand-up comedy festival, and features local and national headliners appearing at various locations. Newport and Portsmouth, RogueIslandComedyFest.com
October 19: The Barrington Land Conservation Trust presents Art in Nature: Being (with) Trees , a workshop with artist Kendall Reiss at Sowams Woods creating molds from natural materials and transforming them into art pieces. Barrington, BLCT.org
October 20 & 27: Wander the eclectic watefront town during Warren Walkabout , an annual festival of arts, food, shops, and history; live music all over town and artist demonstrations add to the scene. DiscoverWarren.com
October 24: Linden Place hosts a Night at the Mansion Halloween Haunt , a spooky evening with award-winning mentalist George Saterial, as well as a live magic show, tarot readings, delicious treats, and a cash bar. Bristol, LindenPlace.org
October 26: Doctor Gasp is a seasonal project from New England troubadour and Newport Folk alum Dan Blakeslee, who brings a distinctively creepy set of original Halloween songs about vampires and other ghastly beings. Warren, GalacticTheatre.com
Photo courtesy of Mount Hope Farm
Bristol Vintage Market
Ghosted!
TALES – AND 37 SITES ACROSS
RHODE ISLAND – TO GET YOUR FRIGHT ON
INCLUDES INTERVIEWS WITH AUTHORS AMY BRUNI, RORY RAVEN, AND CHRISTOPHER RONDINA
By Bob Curley, Abbie Lahmers, Emily Olson, Tony Pacitti, Faye Pantazopoulos, Julie Tremaine
over the years, we’ve covered countless tales of hauntings and spooky lore – a college dorm in Providence that was once a funeral parlor, evidence of witches marks in Little Compton, and sightings of a ghost girl in a Charlestown inn bedroom – to name a few. Leaving no stone unturned, our editors invite you to a spooky campfire chat – with flashlights held beneath our chins – in the pages of this magazine. From interviews with a TV personality whose livelihood is tracking spectral visitors to authors specializing in New England ghosts, and places to eat, drink, and stay where you might feel the brush of something otherworldly, it’s all right here.
GHOST HUNTING IN THE EAST BAY
A CLOSER LOOK AT THE LEGENDS AND LORE THAT HAUNT THE AREA
“I feel like this whole island is haunted,” says Amy Bruni, of Kindred Spirits and Ghost Hunters fame. She lists off a handful of Aquidneck Island sites, both well-known for their frights like White Horse Tavern and those less traversed by tourists – Miantonomi Tower, where public hangings once took place, and the supposed “blood alley” behind the Newport Opera House. Paranormal investigators like Bruni spend their careers not only communicating with the dead, but also ruminating over genealogical texts, court records, and house deeds. Visit any historical society in the area and it will become immediately clear – the East Bay is home to both hallowed grounds and the stuff of haunts and legends.
“Ghosts did bring me here,” says Bruni, who was drawn to spirits from a young age, a passion
her father helped foster by supplementing it with American history lessons. Often traveling from California to the East Coast to film Ghost Hunters , she met her significant other in Providence and settled down in Portsmouth. She jokes that this comes with the benefit of sleeping in her own bed after investigating nearby haunts, but it also means she’s never far from the region’s abundance of lore.
“There are little cemeteries everywhere, especially on Aquidneck Island,” Bruni says. “You can just pick one and learn fascinating things about a family there, like the Cornells. They’re buried behind a condo complex in Portsmouth.” She’s referring to the family who went down in infamy for Thomas Cornell’s alleged murder of his mother, Rebecca Cornell, in 1672. The kicker?
White Horse Tavern
The evidence leading to Thomas’ conviction and execution was purely spectral – the ghost of Rebecca appeared to her brother, John Briggs, with a message about the illicit nature of her death: “See how I was burnt with fire.”
It’s likely Thomas Cornell now rests beneath the Valley Inn Restaurant parking lot – apart from the family plot, of course.
Bruni investigated the Valley Inn for paranormal activity on both Kindred Spirits and her podcast, Haunted Road (and returns often for the stellar pizza), though the job takes her all over. She brings a uniquely thoughtful approach to coaxing out stories from the past.
“It’s just about humanizing the ghosts. I won’t claim to know exactly what a ghost is or speak in absolutes; I’m still not sure what we’re dealing with. But I just imagine, if someone were there in front of me, how would I treat them?” she says.
Bruni compares what they do to walking into a party where you don’t know anyone. In Kindred Spirits , you’ll see her and paranormal partner Adam Berry calmly, cautiously conferring with the spirit box – a means of getting on the ghosts’ wavelengths to hear what they have to say – and asking polite but probing questions, reading the room and feeling out the energy. “And it can be scary – sometimes, just like in day-to-day life, people don’t like a super cheerful lady walking in. Sometimes we’ll actually have homeowners or business owners introduce us to them. It’s just manners,” Bruni explains.
Bruni and Berry go where they’re invited, and the scope of their investigations varies. Sometimes it’s homes that are plagued with unexplained phenomena. In those cases, “I think a lot of it is understanding,” says Bruni. “To a family, they’re living with door slamming every day and footsteps and voices and that’s terrifying until maybe Adam and I come in and provide some perspective. Sometimes that’s all it takes.”
For locations steeped in history like Fort Adams or Rose Island, “There’s just so much information to draw on,” says Bruni. They conferred with Joan Quinn, a historian and haunted tour guide who has worked for the Newport Preservation Society, on their visit to Rose Island Lighthouse. A former lighthouse docent, Quinn is not only an expert on the island’s history but has also spent lots of time there.
“I feel like the lighthouse has always had a very friendly kind of feel,” says Quinn. “I would say it’s very spiritual, but there is some spooky stuff, too.” Two mass graves, barracks that once housed a cholera ward, and a deadly ship collision that happened close to its shores all make the small island a prime source for otherworldly activity; but inside the lighthouse itself, both Bruni’s team and Quinn detected the more peaceful presence of its
have claimed to feel the presence of its former keeper, Charles S. Curtis, still determined to keep the light on
Newport Historical Society offers a host of entertaining and educational tours this season
Visitors of Rose Island Lighthouse
long-time keeper. Charles S. Curtis is rumored to still make the trek up the stairs every night to turn the light on, and appearances of a child could be grandson Wanton Chase.
“Maybe some people get stuck, maybe it’s some kind of trauma, or maybe it’s, ‘oh I love this house, I never want to leave.’ I think Rose Island was very much that,” says Quinn. “I think he still wanted to do his job. It was that important.”
Quinn, who speaks of local history and paranormal encounters with both relish and reverence, absorbs tales relayed by guests in her Bristol and Warren haunted history tour groups and – with their permission – adds them to her repertoire of lore, which has expanded to become a sort of oral history collection of East Bay experiences over the years. She has witnessed glowing orbs in graveyards, heard doors slamming in the Rose Island barracks, and found mysterious streaks of light on photos. Others have entrusted her with stories of hearing Revolutionary War flutes in the Bristol Town Commons, apparitions on Tower Street, and other echoes of the past.
“Being a religion minor, it always made sense to me that there is another step after this, another reality, maybe,” says Quinn. “I always ask people on my tours, ‘are you believers?’ I don’t even know what I think, but there’s definitely something going on. What we see is very minimal of what is really out there.”
For investigators like Bruni and Quinn, the search for spirits begins in courthouses, historical societies, and libraries before ever setting foot inside a haunted house. And often, the discoveries made in old paper trails can be more rewarding than the lure of the supernatural. This is true for Marjory O’Toole, executive director of Little Compton Historical Society.
“I find a lot of what I do is start with the old histories and compare them to primary source documents and find that many of them need adjustment in order to be more factual, more accurate,” says O’Toole. “The legends are fascinating and often start with a grain of historical truth, but it’s really rewarding to try and discern what is truthful and what is legend.”
Even when ghosts can’t be conjured between the lines of historical records, there’s evidence of colonists’ superstitious belief found in small details like silver jewelry stuffed in children’s shoes and hidden behind fireplaces for protection, or circles and lines etched into wood to ward off witches.
Apotropaic marks, or witches’ marks, can be seen in Little Compton’s Wilbor House, on furniture originally from the Waite-Potter House in Westport, MA. “They were purposely
tangled marks and designs because that would help tangle up and catch the witch as she was trying to get into your house,” explains O’Toole. “New England colonists would try to protect themselves from evil spirits with these marks…we have this impression of Puritans as not being superstitious people but in reality, not everyone was a Puritan, and English colonists brought European superstitions with them to the New World.”
Their concern over evil spirits was deeply rooted. “I think it was a fear of things they couldn’t control or understand and attaching that fear to imaginary things like witches and spirits that would come and hurt them,” speculates O’Toole. “The real fear, the greatest fear of all, was illness. There’s no antibiotics; something as simple as strep throat could kill your children.
“And they feared the wrath of God. Quite sadly, there was also a belief that God was punishing them. The witches marks and hidden shoes weren’t connected to God – they were connected to the opposite of God: evil creatures, evil spirits.”
The story of Jonathan Dunham – known as Shingleterry – and Mary Rosse taps into New England’s obsession with witches. O’Toole recounts the story as it’s told in The Naked Quaker by Diane Rapaport. In the 1700s, across the street from the Quaker Meeting House in Little Compton, the crime-committing duo broke into the home of John and Elizabeth Irish, barricading their children inside and setting the house on fire. John Irish was able to rescue his children, and Shingleterry and Rosse were “turned over to the officials – local judges – who decided that they needed to be tied to the back of a wagon and whipped on their way
out of town. So they were sent out of town but not imprisoned,” explains O’Toole.
Tracing out-of-town court records, you can chart the pair’s destructive path, and eventually their crimes caught up to them – or at least to Rosse, who was declared a witch. “The court decided that Shingleterry was under Mary’s spell and he was innocent. From what I understand, he became a minister and had congregations down in the New Jersey/Maryland area, and I’m not sure what happened to Mary but I’m sure she wasn’t treated as well by the courts.”
Little Compton Historical Society, and its Wilbor House museum, is a bottomless well of these kinds of stories, as well as lesser-known tales of ordinary people living in the town at different periods of time. O’Toole notes the wealth of new information digitized records give us access to. “In the past, people would think, you can’t do the history of people of color in New England because there just aren’t any records. That’s simply not true. There are lots of records, but they’re hard to find, so it really comes down to how hard we are looking.”
It’s this process of uncovering the facts behind the myth that drew O’Toole to the field of history, though she doesn’t dismiss the tantalizing lore that circulates our region.
“The main thing is that the stories are really fun, and there’s nothing wrong with a story – even an exaggerated story – if it piques someone’s interest in the history,” she says, “but I think as interesting as the stories are on their own, it’s even more rewarding to try and do a little bit of digging to find the truth behind it.”
–Abbie Lahmers, The Bay , October 2022
STAY THE NIGHT
• Castle Hill Inn, Newport
• The Conjuring House, Burrillville
• General Stanton Inn, Charlestown With rich history comes the lore of the inn being haunted. So, are there ghosts? “Oh yes, three sets of ghosts have been reported,” co-owner Jackie Moore grins, explaining that the last General Stanton died at the inn in December of 1821 and is buried in the cemetery on the back lot of the property. “Guests over the years claimed to see him peering from a second-floor window and some said they felt a touch on their shoulder or a saw doorknob turn on its own.” Moore is quick to regale with more tales like a ship captain’s widow who died of a broken heart waiting for her husband who perished in the hurricane of 1815. “She can be seen in a long flowing white night dress on the third floor.” There’s also the story of a ghost-cat whose tail disappears around corners. “Bartenders have felt it brush up against their ankles and some have even heard it meowing.” –Faye Pantazopoulos, So Rhode Island , August 2023
• The Graduate, Providence
• Hamilton Hoppin House (AKA Villa 120), Newport
• Hotel Viking, Newport
• Rose Island Lighthouse
AMY BRUNI TEAMED UP WITH OUR FORMER EDITOR JULIE TREMAINE ON AN ESSENTIAL READ FOR GHOST HUNTERS WHO ARE ALSO FOODIES: FOOD TO DIE FOR: RECIPES AND STORIES FROM AMERICA’S MOST LEGENDARY HAUNTED PLACES, WHICH PAIRS TASTY RECIPES WITH TITILLATING TALES.
Early settlers scrawled witches marks into furniture and beams to ward off evil spirits
Photos (R) by Marjory O’Toole, (left) by Serena Parente Charlebois
SPOOKY SOUTH COUNTY
FROM GLOWING GHOST SHIPS TO VAMPIRES, A DEMON DOG, AND
MORE, RESIDENT GHOST WRITER CHRISTOPHER RONDINA SHARES TALES SURE TO GIVE YOU A FRIGHT
“Rhode Island doesn’t really have a monster story,” Rondina laments. His macabre mood lifts, however, when talk turns to the state’s abundant haunted sites, many inhabiting the historic villages and deep forests of Southern Rhode Island. “In some ways, I think Rhode Island is one of the spookiest states in New England, with woods full of old graveyards,” he says. And, he points out, we do have at least one paranormal pooch pawing around the ruins of an old fort in Jamestown. Buckle up for some South County sites worth visiting for a few genuine chills.
CAMP GREENE, COVENTRY
The Advent Christian Church began holding religious camp revival meetings in the village of Greene in the 1880s, and ruins of the former Camp Greene can be found in the woods off Hopkins Hollow Road. “Abandoned cabins, enormous crosses, and bat houses nailed to every tree – this decaying former religious retreat in one of Rhode Island’s most rural corners feels like the backdrop for a Stephen King novel,” says Rondina. “Urban legends persist regarding murderous camp counselors and other dark deeds, but these grim accounts seem more like campfire tales than genuine history. Even so, it’s not a place most people would linger after sundown.”
CHESTNUT HILL BAPTIST CHURCH CEMETERY, EXETER
Rhode Island has more than 2,800 historic cemeteries; #22 on Route 102 in Exeter is the final resting place of Mercy Brown, who died of tuberculosis in 1892. Suspected by her family of being a vampire, Mercy was exhumed and found to be weirdly well-preserved; in desperation, a piece of her heart was fed to her brother (also ill with the disease) in an attempt to ward off death.
“Mercy was one of a dozen such revenants thought to prowl the graveyards of Rhode Island between 1796 and 1892, a cursed history which may have inspired Bram Stoker, author of Dracula ,” says Rondina.
DEVIL’S FOOTPRINTS, NORTH KINGSTOWN
Devil’s Foot Road in North Kingstown runs along a granite ledge known as Devil’s Foot Rock, so named for a series of indentations attributed to Satan himself. “‘Old Scratch’ is said to have left footprints in the woods near Quonset while in pursuit of a virtuous native maiden in the 1600s, and his diabolical prints are still visible today,” says Rondina. The satanic stone is located just south of Quonset Point, off Route 1.
FORT WETHERILL, JAMESTOWN
Rhode Island may not have its own monster, but a demon dog is believed to wander the grounds of Fort Wetherill — a legend that Haunted Rhode Island author Thomas D’Agostino says could date back to British occupation of the fort during the Revolutionary War. Even if you don’t run into a spooky pup on your visit, it’s creepy enough to explore the ruined World War II-era fortifications, which include underground tunnels (technically) off limits to the public.
GREAT SWAMP MASSACRE SITE, SOUTH KINGSTOWN
Some spooky spots in South County have fanciful stories, but the terror and violence that took place in the Great Swamp in 1675 was all too real. In the middle of King Philip’s War, a colonial militia descended upon a peaceful encampment of the Narragansett tribe in South Kingstown and massacred hundreds of women and children, with many more dying after fleeing into the frozen swamp. The Great Swamp Fight Monument is located off Route 2, near the site of the fortress.
The five-minute film Ghost Poachers was filmed at Fort Wetherill
THE LADD SCHOOL, EXETER
Founded as The Rhode Island School for the Feeble-Minded in 1908, the Ladd School was essentially an overcrowded prison for the mentally ill and women accused of violating the morality codes of the day. This place of misery, neglect, and murder was finally razed in 2013, but not before being used as the setting of a horror movie called Exeter . “Haunted by dark memories and an aura of hopelessness, the site remains stigmatized to this day by its past,” Rondina says.
THE NARRAGANSETT RUNE STONE, NORTH KINGSTOWN
Two rows of Runic letters, visible only at low tide, were carved into a granite boulder on Pojac Point, some say by early Norse explorers. Nobody is quite sure where the carvings originated or what they mean, although the closest translation seems to be “screaming river.” The stone was relocated for safekeeping to Library Park in Wickford in 2015.
NATHANAEL GREENE HOMESTEAD, COVENTRY
The 1770 home of Rhode Island’s foremost Revolutionary War hero is one of a handful of haunted houses that are open to the public. Rondina says supernatural phenomena have reportedly included a baby carriage that moves by itself, the smell of baking bread from long unused ovens, and the sounds of militia members preparing for battle. Not for nothing did Greene himself refer to the place as “Spell Hall.”
OLD NARRAGANSETT CEMETERY, NORTH KINGSTOWN
Church cemeteries are consecrated ground, but what happens to the unfortunate souls buried in the churchyard if the church moves away? One of Rhode Island’s oldest cemeteries can be found off Shermantown Road, with headstones dating to the 17th and 18th centuries, but the Old Narragansett Church itself was spirited off to Wickford in 1799.
THE PALATINE LIGHT, BLOCK ISLAND
According to legend, wreckers lured the Dutch sailing ship Princess Augusta onto the rocks of Block Island in 1738; the ship burned and sank, costing the lives of dozens of passengers. Some of the dead, who hailed from the Palatine region of Germany, are buried on Block Island, and an eerily glowing ghost ship is said to visit the island’s shores each winter, “eternally seeking vengeance on the descendants of the wreckers who sealed her fate,” according to Rondina.
SMITH’S CASTLE, NORTH KINGSTOWN
At least two ghosts are believed to roam the halls of Smith’s Castle — perhaps not surprising for a building that dates back to 1678. The spirit of Elizabeth Singleton, a Newport woman who fell down a staircase and died after an overindulgence in rum, is said to be buried on the property and haunts the old building to this day. The building was once owned by the family of author John Updike, who used Wickford as the fictional inspiration for his book, The Witches of Eastwick – Bob Curley, So Rhode Island , 2020
Nathanael Greene Homestead also known as Spell Hall
Smith’s Castle is one of the oldest houses in the state
Photography by Nick DelGiudice
GHOST TOURS
• Block Island Ghost Tours
BlockIslandGhostTours.com
• Ghosts of Newport GhostsOfNewport.com
• Haunted Boat Rides ProvidenceRiverboat.com
• Haunted Bristol & Warren Tours
Facebook: Haunted Bristol Tours
• North Burial Ground ProvidenceRI.gov
• Providence Ghost Tour ProvidenceGhostTour.com
• Seaside Shadows Downtown
Westerly Ghost Tours
SeaSideShadows.com
FRIGHTFUL PLACES
• Cumberland Monastery
• Hearthside House
Lincoln
• Seaview Terrace
Newport
Long before Twilight , there was a TV show called Dark Shadows (1966 to 1971) and it used Seaview Terrace (or Burnhamby-the-Sea) as the exterior for fictional Collinwood Mansion, which in turn inspired Kingston Mansion for Shaggy and the gang in the “What the Hex Is Going On?” episode of ScoobyDoo, Where Are You!
• Sprague Mansion
Cranston
• Swan Point Cemetery
Providence
EAT, DRINK & BE EERIE
• Carriage Inn
North Kingstown
• Tavern on Main
Chepachet
• The Valley Inn
Portsmouth
• White Horse Tavern
Newport
RAVEN’S EYE-VIEW OF PVD
Rory Raven is an entertainer, tour guide, and author of the book Haunted Providence: Strange Tales from the Smallest State . In these tales from his book, Raven gives a peek beneath the veil to reveal a few ghostly happenings in our fair city.
If you find yourself on Benefit Street in the middle of the night and see a man in black walking down the street carrying a walking stick, it might be the spirit of Edgar Allan Poe. Although Poe didn’t die in Providence, he visited it several times while courting the poet Sarah Helen Whitman. Perhaps he still seeks her.
A lamplighter who lived off Benefit Street had a daughter who was gravely ill, but despite her plight, had dinner waiting for him every night when he got home. One afternoon, she died, and her distraught father laid her body in a coffin under a window that looked onto the street. Weeks passed, and the authorities were called and the girl was buried. People walking the street say they could sometimes see the girl’s face in the window peering out at passersby.
One night, two janitors were working in the Nightingale-Brown House, now the John Nicholas Brown Center, on Benefit Street. One of the janitors moved to turn off the lights that illuminated the sides of a portrait, but he heard a voice that said, “Don’t turn that light out!” He didn’t.
Two ghostly residents of Power Street are a mother and daughter who died in a house fire. A second house was built on the footprint of theirs, and people say they can see the figures of the two women sitting on the steps and crying. When approached, they disappear and leave behind the scent of smoke.
A modern family that lived in the BicknellArmington Lightning Splitter House on Pawtucket Avenue reported several ghostly happenings in the home built in the late 1700s. They noted wine and liquor glasses being broken about once a month during their time in the home. Sometimes they heard them break from the other room, and once during a party, a guest had a glass knocked from her hand by something unseen. –Emily Olson
PECULIAR PROVIDENCE
WHEN A CITY HAS BEEN AROUND SINCE 1636, IT’S SURE TO HAVE SOME SKELETONS IN ITS CLOSET
Providence Athenaeum
North Burial Ground is known to host Halloween and Dia de los Muertos events
PROVIDENCE ATHENAEUM
If you work in a library beloved by both H.P. Lovecraft and Edgar Allan Poe, you have to expect the occasional haunting. Poe in particular left a significant impression, as the Athenaeum was where he courted – and was later dumped by – Sarah Helen Whitman. Poe died not long after they parted ways, and Whitman is said to have summoned his spirit in the library. Decades later, a man was found sleeping on the Athenaeum steps. When asked to move, he proceeded to yell, “The Conqueror Worm!” – the title of one of Poe’s poems – before vanishing into thin air.
DEXTER HOUSE, PROVIDENCE
This current RISD dorm was once a funeral home and morgue, where the wake of none other than H.P. Lovecraft was held. It’s also purported to be one of the earliest sites in the country where embalming was practiced, so naturally it’s just a little bit haunted. RISD students have reported the usual paranormal activity, but nothing sounds quite as terrifying as waking up in the middle of the night to find your sheets pulled tight and the indentation of a ghost sitting on the edge of your bed.
UNIVERSITY HALL, BROWN UNIVERSITY
The building that currently houses Brown University’s administration, including the university’s president, was once the entirety of the Brown campus. During the Revolutionary War, the building was used as a hospital facility for colonial and French troops; you don’t need to know much about 18th-century medicine to know that a lot of soldiers died there. Faces have been seen peering through windows at night, surveying the Ivy League quad from beyond the grave.
BENEFIT AND THOMAS STREETS, PROVIDENCE
Benefit Street is lousy with ghosts. Why? Because when the city was expanding in its early days, the bodies that had once been buried in people’s backyards had to be moved. Of course the city missed a few corpses – some things never change. Thomas Street has a few specific hauntings of note. One is in the eye-catching Fleur de Lys Studio, which is frequented by the ghost of a woman named Angela O’Leary. After her affair with a married mentor turned sour, Angela killed herself in the studio, where she had appeared as an apparition and, during renovations years ago, left handprints in the sawdust. Thomas Street is also home to a ghost who has been seen dancing in the street. Believed to be the resident of one of the street’s old boarding homes, she’s generally pleasant – the Casper of Providence, if you will. – Tony Pacitti & Julie Tremaine, Providence Monthly , 2017
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An architect connects a new home with its seaside surroundings
By Andrea E. McHugh
Him: a bachelor-entrepreneur of discerning taste who bought a plot of land in Charlestown with visions of a coastal-meets-contemporary home capable of capturing the far-off ocean views and comfortably able to host his four adult children for respites by the sea. Her: a visionary architect with an enviable international portfolio, a finely tuned eye for detail, contemporary aesthetic, and passion for sustainable design. Together, they created a sleek four-bedroom, four-bathroom home with cool vibes, a sense of place, and the embodiment of casual, seaside living through an entirely contemporary lens.
When the client first approached Sarah Jefferys Architecture + Interiors, a New York City-based boutique design firm with projects in Rhode Island and beyond, the challenge was clear. The two-acre property he bought was on a low plot of land, and while there were ocean views, they were distant and camouflaged in the wooded expanse – hardly ideal. But Jefferys, principal of the namesake design firm she founded in 2001, was unbothered by these hurdles. Instead, she identified the highest point of the acreage and creatively designed a spacious, efficient home perched well above ground level, positioned with a tilt to capture the best angle for embracing ocean vistas.
Jefferys designed the 3,800-square-foot home’s exterior to appear as though it’s floating above the land, mimicking a ship sailing on the sea. Anchored by light concrete walls on the exterior of the bottom level, the base is slightly tapered to reinforce the gravity-defying nature of the facade. Deep gray siding cradles the exterior of the second and third floors, creating depth and dimension amid the backdrop of surrounding nature, with the gray hue a nod to
classic New England salt boxes that typically pepper its shorelines. The crowning piece is a private roof deck off the main bedroom, purposefully situated to have an unobstructed sightline to Block Island. Inside, the open-plan ground floor holds the living room, dining area, and kitchen, married by white oak flooring throughout and seamlessly continuing to the kitchen cabinets. Light is reflected from every angle, amplified by white walls, a high-gloss white kitchen
Inside, white oak flooring and kitchen cabinets, white walls, and minimalist furnishings in neutral tones radiate a contemporary, airy allure parallel to the beach beyond
A floor-to-ceiling poured concrete fireplace is a nod to the captivating rocks that surround the home, forming a focal point in the living room, where a low sectional and lounge chair by Italian furniture designer Giorgio Soressi is sleek but not a museum piece – it’s meant to be lived in, to welcome all who enter. Altogether, the atmosphere is muted but modern, calming but contemporary, elegant but airy – a summation of upscale living but with a clear invitation to take off your shoes and get comfortable.
“This was an exciting project where we had the fun opportunity to introduce a modern, sculptural home in a coastal context,” reflects Jefferys. “ It’s quite unlike a traditional beach home yet still speaks to its surroundings.”
With light concrete and gray siding, the home’s facade forgoes traditional New England notions with a softened, brutalist approach and nautical elements that seemingly float in the elevated hills
Carefully curated materials and an organic color palette create a warm ocean-front retreat as luxe as its adjacent boutique hotels
Get Rhody Style
Ideas and resources for making the most of living in the Ocean State.
Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
Jefferys took cues from beachy, traditional designs throughout the Rhode Island shore, and reimagined the home with an entirely contemporary lens. Learn more at SJDNY.com
Ready for the Elements
To create the illusion that the top two floors of the home are floating above the ground, Jefferys used deep gray modern fiber cement siding by James Hardie on the exterior of the second and third floors. Engineered to resist water and humidity and to withstand worst-case weather (from hurricanes and rain storms to extreme heat and hail), the siding is forecast-friendly.
Nature vs. Nurture
Jefferys says the facade of the home forgoes traditional New England notions with a softened, brutalist approach and nautical elements, calling it an innovative approach to coastal home design in New England. She sourced lumber, decking, railings, and more materials locally from Riverhead Building Supply in Westerly.
Photography by Morten Smidt, courtesy of Sarah Jefferys Design
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Gardens Get Goth
Moody and mysterious blooms are having a moment in the sun
By Elyse Major
The term “goth” signals different things to different people. Architecture admirers may conjure images of pointed arches on churches, medieval castles, and even fanciful cottages of the gothic style, while literary buffs are sure to recall the haunting, gruesome tales of Edgar Allan Poe (a frequent visitor to the Providence Athenaeum), and musicians may hear Bauhaus’ nine-minute 1979 release, “Bela Lugosi’s
Dead.” For those who dig all things earthly and eerie, there’s goth gardening.
Unlike chaos gardens, where all kinds of plants are encouraged to grow wild, or poison paths, which is more of a witch’s formulary or potager, the goth garden focuses on dramatic flowers with dark, velvety, or intricately shaped or veined petals and leaves. Pass by sunny daisies at your local garden center and instead seek varieties where even the names are macabre, such as Black Magic
cosmos, Penny Black nemophila, and Dracula celosia. Once the planting is done, continue to layer ambiance with black gravel or dark paver pathways, and embellish the space with ornamental accents like rusted bird cages, sections of moss-covered iron gates, statuary shaped like gargoyles and angels, or broken doll parts.
“Any kind of adornments that can make a plant look a little monstrous are always fun,” begins Nicky Borden, community and
Photo (L) by Elyse Major
A dramatic bouquet of branches, stems, dahlias, rye grass, dried garlic, corkscrew willow, scabiosa, English ivy, echinacea seed heads, styled by Mapleville Farm
GETTING STARTED
Early fall is a great time to buy potted flowers and plants at a reduced rate. Let your eye guide you to dark shades of burgundy and scarlet petals, dark foliage, and fearsome fronds. Find stems, statuary, seeds, and more at these places around the state:
Alchemy-Works.com**
Cottage & Garden* , Newport
The Farmer’s Daughter* , Wakefield
The Floral Reserve , Providence
Hilltop Garden Center* , Smithfield
Mapleville Farm , Mapleville
Stamp Farms , Cranston
Veiled Crow** , Warwick
Wildwood Nursery & Garden Center* , East Greenwich
*Statuary **Witch goods
administrative director at Four Buds Floral Studio in Providence. “Whether it’s doll arms or lizard eyes glued to a little chunk of moss on a stake, we love dressing plants up for spooky season.” Last year the Wickenden Street business did a pop-up market at North Burial Ground, a 300-year-old cemetery on Branch Avenue boasting 110 acres and 40,000 gravestones. “We used our most goth plant selections! We also used creepy doll heads to create little dried
Monkshood, AKA wolfsbane, devil’s helmet, or blue rocket, is part of the Ranunculaceae family and extremely poisonous
PRACTICAL MAGIC
ADVICE FROM EMMA ECHT, FLOWER GROWER AT MAPLEVILLE FARM
“For a goth garden set in partial shade, some good options are a Postman Joyner Caladium or a Dark Star Alocasia; both are grown for their beautiful foliage and unusual dark petioles (stalks). English ivy is simple to grow in containers and can add a dramatic spilling effect. Try a Mahogany Splendor hibiscus, which is grown for its richly colored foliage with a maple leaf appearance and sturdy stems perfect for bouquets, or a Red Spike amaranth with its dark red feathery plumes. Dahlias are one of my favorite flowers for a dark, moody bouquet. There are several that come in tones ranging from deep crimson to almost black; look for varieties like Thomas Edison, Black Jack, or Kenora Macob. Red Malabar spinach, which is primarily grown as an edible vining plant, has gorgeous red tendrils and spiky black fruit clusters –they are visually interesting as well as delicious! For wet areas, corkscrew willow stays October-creepy all year round!” BensBakery.com
arrangements with our popular handmade mushroom figurines, and assembled things like ‘cemeterrariums’ with handmade mini tombstones in glass coffins,” says Borden.
Artist, author, and witch Laura Tempest Zakroff grows a mix of both poison (datura, henbane, monkshood) and pretty (foxglove, hollyhock, black petunias) in her Providence garden, which she describes as “a variety of medicinal plants and those that are purely aesthetic,” as well as being a
“feast for the senses.” An avid gardener, Zakroff grows herbs for cooking, healing, and those used in spellcraft. A standout bloom in her garden is the Angel’s Trumpet or Brugmansia. “They are among the most toxic of the ornamental plants,” she explains. Part of the nightshade family (Solanaceae), their large pendulous flowers can reach up to 20 inches in length. “Folks may wonder what I ‘do’ with such poisonous plants,” teases Zakroff. “I simply enjoy growing them.”
Laura Tempest Zakroff admires the Angel’s Trumpet in her garden
Meet Meredith Ewenson
This mindful Newport-based marketer from Chicago wants you to follow her – outdoors
By Ella Corrao & Julia Deal
What inspired you to start making content about nature, hiking, and mindfulness?
I’ve been a yoga teacher for 10 years, and mindfulness in my everyday life has become the most impactful element of my practice. I’ve always loved wildlife and nature, but it was a handful of years ago when I started taking walking meditations in nature, that I really felt a deep sense of connection and meaning by blending the two of these together. I started intentionally exploring more hikes and outdoor spaces, and then sharing those experiences and lessons that I thought would benefit others. This led me to create things like my Rhode Island Hiking Collective group and my international group hiking trips – both aimed at bringing like-minded people together outdoors in an intentional, immersive environment.
You’ve had adventures in Machu Picchu and soon Patagonia. What do you find special about hiking in Rhode Island?
My favorite part is the abundance of hikes with ocean and water views; you just don’t get that in many other places. I think Rhode Island is pretty under the radar when it comes to hiking, so it’s pretty easy to enjoy trails without crowds. For the most part, trails are clean and free of litter, which I know can be a problem in other places.
What are some of your favorite Ocean State hikes?
Cliff Walk in Newport, Norman Bird Sanctuary in Middletown, Beavertail Loop Trail in Jamestown, Rodman’s Hollow and Clay Head Trails in Block Island, Goddard Memorial State Park Trails in Warwick, Claire D. Mcintosh Wildlife Refuge Trail in Bristol, Touisset Marsh Wildlife Refuge Trail in Warren, and so many more!
When not traversing trails, what are your go-to places to eat, shop, play?
I love Nitro Bar for a hot matcha or chai latte, Tallulah’s Tacos (especially the seasonal location in Jamestown), Bar ‘Cino and La Vecina in Newport for dinner, Wag Nation for healthy dog treats for Winnie, and newportFILM for documentaries.
What does a perfect day look like for you?
My favorite way to start the day is grounded in stillness and quiet in nature. I love to go to watch the sunrise at Sachuest Point National Wildlife Refuge in Middletown. I look for wildlife, sometimes take photos, and generally just soak in the moment. As a pretty extreme morning person, my favorite part of the day is generally before most people are awake. Learn more on Instagram @MeredithEwenson
Photography by Jennifer Manville, courtesy of Meredith Ewenson
Rhody Reads
Six books by local authors sure to inspire natural wanderlust
By Hugh Minor
October is the best time to experience the natural surroundings of New England. It’s neither cooler, nor warmer: it’s all that. Whether you’re reading in the yard, on the beach, or from the comfort of your living room couch, these six books by local authors will inspire your wanderings out into the fresh, crisp air that arrives every fall.
Hit the road with the windows down and the music blasting with East Coasting by Providence-based author Christine Chitnis as your guide. Beautifully illustrated by Monica Dorazewski, the book highlights destinations both familiar and off the beaten path, from Connecticut to Canada and everywhere in between. Spoiler alert: Rhode Island lighthouses are gorgeously illuminated.
Massachusetts native Ben Shattuck’s observations on nature and life are engaging and inspiring. Six Walks: In the Footsteps of Henry David Thoreau expounds upon the travels he takes throughout New England to clear his mind. In the process, he discovers his true self, meets wife-tobe Jenny Slate, and learns more about the people and the land around him, including a bit of history from Rhode Island, both recent and long past.
In his second novel, Ordinary Bear , Rhody-transplant C.B. Bernard delves deep into what’s at the heart of grief and healing. Set on the other side of the content in Alaska and Portland, Oregon, places he called home for years, the book addresses one of the most basic human needs: hope. Written with tones of mystery and dark humor, Bernard leaves the reader reflecting on ways they’ve overcome loss and what they’ve done to recover from tragedy.
SHOP INDIE
A statewide listing of Rhode Island booksellers:
Aerial Books
Providence, AerialBooks.com*
Arc{hive} Book + Snackery
Warren, ArchiveBookSnackery
The bicycle has continued to evolve as an accessible way to explore the outdoors since it was first invented in the early 1800s. In Mile Markers , our former editor, writer, and filmmaker Robert Isenberg of Cranston presents a celebration of this traditional means of recreation with his own unique perspective. From working as a bike messenger to teaching his own son to ride, Isenberg mixes joy with humor while expounding on this vehicle’s important legacy.
Instilling in young people an interest in outdoor adventures is critical in these times when they spend countless hours scrolling and staring at screens. With Adventures at Bramble Woods , 13-year-old author Nicholas Bramble of Warwick introduces us to Mr. Nick and his close-knit group of friends who come together to restore a rustic resort. Can they make Bramble Woods thrive again like it did in its heyday? Put on your work gloves, then pick up a copy to find out.
The story of David Attenborough’s mission to save our planet is presented for younger audiences in Wild Places by Haley Rocco and her husband, Caldecott Honoree John Rocco. With his lush illustrations and her gentle storytelling, children will not only learn about the diversity of the planet but also understand the importance of preserving and protecting every single species.
Please consider patronizing your local independent bookstore when making book purchases
Barrington Books BarringtonBooks.com
BaySpray Warwick, BaySprayRetail.com*
Books on the Square Providence, BookSq.com
Brown University Bookstore Providence, Bookstore.Brown.edu
Island Books Middletown, IslandBooksRI.indielite.org
Island Bound Bookstore
Block Island, IslandBoundBookstore.com
Lovecraft Arts & Sciences Providence, WeirdProvidence.org
Martin House Books Westerly, MartinHouseBooks.com
Mary’s Paperbacks
Warwick
Paper Nautilus Books Providence, PaperNautilusBooks.com
Riffraff Bookstore + Bar Providence, RiffRaffPVD.com
Stages of Freedom Providence, StagesOfFreedom.org
Stillwater Books Warwick, StillwaterBooksRI.com
Symposium Books Providence, SymposiumBooks.com
Twenty Stories Providence, TwentyStoriesLA.com
Wakefield Books
WakefieldBooks.com
*Online sellers
Cold Brook Cafe
Restaurant
What it is:
A family-owned breakfast and lunch spot.
Where to find it:
Look for the green house at the intersection of Danielson Pike and Route 116. Parking is behind the store, but enter through the front door while the back entrance is currently being renovated. An “open” flag and sandwich board confirm you’ve arrived.
What makes it a Rhody Gem?
Love a good latte, hearty breakfast, or savory sandwich? Head to Scituate to find Cold Brook Cafe. Open seven days a week, this charming spot is owned and run by longtime local restaurateurs Elias and Beverly Najjar. To the couple, the key to running their successful cafe is consistency. “From the coffee and teas to everything [Elias] cooks and bakes with the chefs, everything comes out consistent,” says Beverly. “Every single thing is put together the right way.” The couple appreciates their hardworking staff, who serve up good vibes with each order. “It’s not always easy,” says Elias, “but you know what? We’re serving great people and we love doing it. You gotta love what you do.”
The cafe is open Monday through Saturday 7am-2pm, and Sunday 8am-1pm, so plan accordingly to visit during the Scituate Art Festival (October 12-14).
Every neighborhood has that secret, hidden, cool and unusual, or hole-in-the-wall spot that locals love. We’re on the hunt for Rhody Gems! Email Elyse@HeyRhody.com to suggest yours and we just might feature it!
by Ella
Photo
Corrao
FEATURE
Stories of Sowams
From indigenous and colonial past to the future of land conservation, a grassroots project aims to put the East Bay on the map
By Abbie Lahmers
Before there were property lines and state borders, there was Sowams, a fertile land that’s witnessed thriving civilizations since the glaciers receded 12,000 years ago, which was inhabited and named by the Pokanoket Tribe. Today this region is delineated by nine towns spread across the East Bay of Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts, but its history goes way back before being “founded.” Sowams is “the time and place where two worlds met,” which is the first of five interpretive themes laid out by the Sowams Heritage Area Project, explains project advisor Andrea Rounds. She and a steering committee comprise a concerted effort to earn the historically significant place a National Heritage Area (NHA) designation – a recognition of a region’s past and present. For Sowams, this spans indigenous and colonial origins to conservation for tomorrow.
Sachem Tracey “Dancing Star” Brown with Jacqueline “Runs Strong” McKinney performing a blanket dance at a Pokanoket Heritage Day
LOOKING BACK
Seven years ago, before the idea of a NHA project was on anyone’s mind, now-project coordinator Dr. David Weed had recently retired when he learned that Massasoit Ousamequin, the sachem or leader of the Pokanoket Tribe, would be reburied behind his house in Burr’s Hill Park in Warren.
“It’s like having George Washington reburied in your backyard,” says Weed. “I’d lived here for 30 years and never knew anything about the early history of this area. So I began asking questions.” He set out to find landmarks of the 17th century, talking with historians and members of the Pokanoket Tribe, to map out the story of Sowams on today’s landscape.
For those who never learned about Ousamequin and Sowams beyond a line or two in a history book, the land now occupied by the towns of Barrington, Bristol, East Providence, part of Providence, and Warren in Rhode Island, and Rehoboth, Seekonk, Somerset, and Swansea in Massachusetts was the setting of events that would define our nation’s origin story.
In 1621, the pilgrims and Ousamequin formed a treaty that protected the Pokanoket Tribe, who were vulnerable after suffering a plague, and enabled the English colonists to survive, learning from the tribe how to hunt and farm the land. During that time of peace, Ousamequin sheltered Roger Williams, who arrived in Sowams in 1636 after fleeing religious persecution in Massachusetts, and went on to found Providence and lay the groundwork for the separation of church and state – which ties into the committee’s third theme: freedom of conscious and the birth of Rhode Island.
But the peace treaty wouldn’t last. As more colonists arrived and encroached on the region, tribal populations were diminished by smallpox outbreaks and the loss of their homeland. The tension between settlers and indigenous tribes culminated with King Philip’s War in 1675, named after what the English called Ousamequin’s son Metacomet.
“It was devastating. It was the largest per capita fatality rate in North American history,” explains Rounds. “It became illegal for a Pokanoket to call themselves Pokanoket; they couldn’t speak the language anymore. In some ways, it was ground zero for what would become a pattern over time across our continent where encroachment occurs on native lands
INDEPENDENT STUDY
The Sowams Heritage Area Project will continue hosting community events, addressing topics ranging from freedom of religion to the King Philip’s War with talks and open discussions. Find maps, brochures, and stories of 17th century Sowams, plus news and updates about the NHA project, at Sowams.org.
Interested in getting involved?
Whether you’re an expert historian or social media guru, the project seeks a wide range of talents to make the NHA possible.
Monday, October 14 is Indigenous Peoples’ Day – watch for celebrations and educational opportunities taking place across the state.
The Pokanoket Heritage Day took place in September at Burr’s Hill Park, offering a glimpse of tribal life past and present
Sowams Heritage Area project coordinator David Weed showing a historic marker in Barrington
and indigenous peoples are subjugated.”
The second project theme deals with these consequences of King Philip’s War, and the fourth, Rounds explains, addresses the era of the slave trade that follows, acknowledging the Pokanoket who were enslaved by colonists and sent to Barbados after the war, as well as the role Rhode Island played in the industrial complex that made its fortune on the slave trade. Rounds emphasizes, “What a National Heritage Area aspires to be is a living landscape; it’s not just about the past. It’s about how you carry your legacy and your heritage and all its complexity.”
LOOKING AHEAD
Development and climate change have sculpted the region of Sowams into a place likely unrecognizable to its 17th century inhabitants. As shorelines recede with sea level rise and low-lying towns like Warren, Barrington, and Bristol are increasingly vulnerable to flooding during major storm events, it will be difficult to separate historic preservation from land stewardship going forward.
The fifth interpretive theme of the Sowams Heritage Area Project is the interplay of land and water. For the Warren Land Conservation Trust (WLCT), this means a number of things in practice, from the possibility of forming a Palmer
River Watershed Council to their groundbreaking work with Save the Bay to restore the saltwater hydrology of marshes, vital ecosystems that buffer stormwater flow and protect against flooding.
“The land itself, the environment, is an important part of the history and the story of the area,” says Rock Singewald, a steering committee member and past board president of the WLCT. One of the places the land trust protects is Sowams Meadow, “an area along the Palmer River that was farmed and used by Native Americans for thousands of years before colonists arrived,” says Singewald. “When the Pilgrims came to sign their peace treaty, this is where they came, to
The East Providence Arts Council sponsored a mural of the Massasoit Metacomet in front of the rock formation known as the Three Sisters in Watchemoket Square
Warren, just down the river from Sowams Meadows where Ousamequin’s village was.”
Trekking through the salt marshes of Hale Farm Preserve, you may encounter sweetgrass. “When you see people smudging at Native American events, that’s what they’re smudging: sweetgrass. It smells like vanilla,” says Singewald. He describes WLCT’s ongoing project with Smith College’s Botany Department. “They have collected seeds from our sweetgrass population and harvested a small number of plants. They’re propagating them to provide a seed that can be given back to the Nipmuc and Pokanoket tribes for them to plant for their own ceremonial and ritual purposes.”
The WLCT has kept the Pokanoket Tribe in the loop with their conservation goals and restoration work, acknowledging that every property they own was part of the tribe’s homeland. “These were culturally and spiritually important to the tribes because they recognize that these are life-giving areas,” says Singewald.
THE PRESENT
“I’ve discovered how difficult it is to teach history to people who don’t think they’re interested in history,” shares Weed. “We’re hopeful that having a NHA will wake up more people.” To that end, Weed created a brochure of over 50 historic sites that’s been distributed widely; he teaches multi-week lifelong learning courses and gives informal history tours of various sites, only half-joking when he says, “Give me a date and time, a topic, and a cup of coffee, and I’ll be there.”
Making space for these important origin stories in school curriculum is also a priority, beginning with the Bristol-Warren Regional School District. “Whatever we come up with there will be shared with the Barrington and East Providence schools, as well,” says Weed. “Over the next few years, we’ll see students who are exposed to this information at three different grade levels.”
The Sowams Heritage Area Project held four
community conversations last fall and this spring, presenting the broad strokes of the initiative, and, most importantly, hearing from a wide range of perspectives, from tribal members to historical societies and town planners, for their input on how best to tell Sowams’ stories. “We’re in the process of doing a feasibility study, which is really critical to the whole process of designation,” says Rounds. “It’s due diligence, making sure you’ve talked to everyone and included the community,” as well as verifying historical research with experts.
It may be years before Sowams is officially made a NHA, but the designation is just the surface. “If that doesn’t happen now or in the future, we will always be learning and listening, and we can still function as a heritage area – we can work together, build partnerships, and engage with the community as a heritage area.”
“I would say we already are a National Heritage Area,” echoes Weed. “We just need more people to know about it.”
Andrea Rounds speaking at a community conversation
Sowams Meadow in Warren
Photos courtesy of Sowams Heritage Area Project
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FOOD & DRINK
Experience | In the Kitchen | Food Trends
Skewered Success
Taste the flavors of the Middle East at a Barrington kebab spot
By Gina Mastrostefano
Hidden in plain sight in the middle of Barrington suburbia is a quaint neighborhood eatery that will make you feel like you’ve been transported overseas. Prince Ali’s Kebab is the creation of Iraqi-American immigrants Muhanad Al-Chalabi and his wife Aseel Al-Sinayyid. The couple opened the restaurant on Christmas Eve of 2019, and ever since, the duo has been graciously sharing their culture and expanding the palates of their neighbors with deliciously unique Iraqi dishes ranging from homemade spreads to rice dishes like biryani, and of course, kebabs. They offer in-house dining with a full beer and wine list, as well as take-out and even catering.
I headed to Prince Ali’s Kebab after work for a late lunch. The dining room is thoughtfully decorated with authentic decor and heirlooms that the family brought over from their home in the Middle East. Ornate copper and gold dishware cover the mantlepiece while colorful stained glass light fixtures hang from corner to corner, creating an inviting calm. There’s even a small convenience store connected to the restaurant that’s stocked with rare goods and ingredients you’ll only find at Prince Ali’s.
Falafal Wrap at Prince Ali’s Kebab
FOOD & DRINK
To experience the full spectrum of flavors, I started with the Combination Platter, which is a quartet of homemade dips including hummus, tzatziki, baba ghanoush, and cucumber salad, served with mixed pickles and a pile of warm pita bread for optimal scooping. For my main course, I enjoyed the Falafel Wrap, which was fully loaded with the trademark vegetarian fritters, tahini sauce, mango pickles, tomato, onion, parsley, and tahini. The condiments packed loads of flavor with just the right amount of spice. The owners insisted on sending out a plate of the Lamb Chops, which were cooked to perfection and served with mixed rice and vegetables.
Must-Try Items
KUNAFA ($12): Made in-house in the age-old tradition with shredded filo dough, butter ghee, lemon juice, sugar, sweet cheese, rose water, and pistachio
FALAFEL WRAP ($12): Fried homemade falafel, tahini sauce, mango pickles with tomato, parsley, tzatziki, onion, wrapped in pita bread and grilled
Learn more about getting started today in Warren or at the new West End Kitchens in Providence in 2025!
by
The unexpected star of the show was the Kunafa dessert, which I admittedly hadn’t heard of before. It came highly recommended by Aseel, so I knew it must be good – simply put, I was blown away. It’s a traditional Iraqi dessert made with shredded filo dough, butter ghee, lemon juice, sugar, and sweet cheese, covered in a crispy layer of orange dough and topped with pistachios and rose water. It’s truly something you must experience for yourself in order to appreciate the flavor. I somehow found the willpower to save some to bring home for my fiancé and he was equally impressed.
It was lovely meeting the husband-andwife duo and experiencing their culture through stories and food. It won’t be long before I find myself back in Barrington for Kunafa and maybe a few more culinary firsts.
The entrepreneur behind Rhody’s popular meal delivery service dishes about her new cookbook
By Jenny Currier Shand
Warren native Maggie Mulvena Pearson finds it ironic that her business, Feast & Fettle, which now serves over 10,000 members across six states and inspired her forthcoming The Feast & Fettle Cookbook: Unlock the Secret to Better Home Cooking , originated in her hometown. “It’s funny because as a high school student, I was like, ‘I’m never staying in Rhode Island,’ and now Feast & Fettle is deeply rooted in Rhode Island,” she says with a laugh. Feast & Fettle launched in 2016 out of Hope & Main after Pearson graduated from Johnson and Wales University in Providence. While studying culinary nutrition there, Pearson worked as a nanny for a family in Barrington. “The mom I worked for was a physician in Providence, and
she had three young children. I made them dinner every night, packed lunches every day. As someone who didn’t have kids yet, it opened my eyes to the struggles families go through.”
Pearson was managing everything food-related, from shopping for ingredients to prepping and storing meals for the week. She started branching out to see if other households were seeking help preparing meals. “I immediately got 50 replies, which made me realize this is a really needed service.”
This was in 2014, before meal kit services had gained popularity, and fully-cooked meal delivery services weren’t even on the radar. “I kept getting more and more requests from families, and I had to make a decision: do I take on more families, or do I start a meal delivery
service?” Thankfully for the thousands of families she now serves, she chose the latter. Pearson’s cookbook, which comes out on October 15, was inspired by her experience at Feast & Fettle, from members who requested her recipes. “Writing a cookbook was definitely a bucket list item for me,” Pearson explains, “but I didn’t know how to go about it. Most cookbook deals are granted to celebrities or people with hundreds of thousands of followers.” Fortuitously, she had been following another Rhode Island writer, Christine Chitnis (author of Patterns of Portugal ), on social media for years, and when Chitnis began offering coaching, Pearson jumped at the opportunity.
Pick up a copy of The Feast & Fettle Cookbook: Unlock the Secret to Better Home Cooking by registering to attend any of these book tour events this season, and visit FeastAndFettle.com to learn more.
OCTOBER 14:
Launch Party, a ticketed tasting event at Gracie’s, Providence
OCTOBER 20:
Book signing at Hope & Main, Warren
NOVEMBER 2:
Book signing at Stock Culinary Goods, Providence
Photos by Kristin Teig, styled by Catrine Kelty, courtesy of Feast & Fettle
Miso Salmon
“I had just had my second son, and Feast & Fettle was in a position where I could step away from business operations for a while to focus on writing a book. My publisher asked me, ‘How involved are you in the company? Because this is a pretty hefty commitment,’ but I was able to complete it during my maternity leave, even though it turned out to be a two-to-three year process.”
The Feast & Fettle Cookbook is uniquely organized into nine chapters based on seasoning method, from dressings and vinaigrettes to spice blends, marinades to compound butters. “It’s my ‘secret sauce’ to what we do at Feast & Fettle and how we elevate meals.”
The cookbook includes members’ favorite recipes as well as those that haven’t been seen before, and Pearson shares stories of her Portuguese background, including recipes that relate to her interest in food and cooking. She also describes the genesis of Feast & Fettle and its rise from a team of two best friends to a thriving business of over 260 employees. Pearson and her co-founding partner, Nicole Nix, have come a long way since 2016 – not least of all, both have families of their own now. The convenience of having meals (including kids’ meals) made with fresh ingredients that are hand-delivered to their door is not lost on them. “I have two kids, Nikki has two kids,” Pearson says. “Thank god such services exist.”
Feast author Maggie
Feast & Fettle founder and author Maggie Mulvena Pearson
Food Trends: Fall Hankerings
From gluten-free snacks to autumn ice cream, these specials offer all treats and no tricks
By Ken Abrams
Newport Creamery is legendary for its comfort food and award-winning ice cream, and fall brings specials sure to warm you up on brisk fall afternoons. “The Butternut Squash Soup, a spiced soup topped with marshmallow creme, diced honeycrisp apples, and scallions is a good place to start,” says business manager Katelynn Dodson. The soup pairs well with an Apple &
Turkey Croissant or the Harvest Cobb Salad, both returning to the menu this month. And then there’s dessert. “We are thrilled to present three seasonal ice cream flavors,” continues Dodson, listing Salted Caramel, Pumpkin Pie, and Grandma’s Caramel Apple Pie. Not to be outdone, the October Sundae of the Month is a Toasty Pumpkin Spice
Sundae. “It has pumpkin ice cream, marshmallow topping, hot fudge, graham cracker crumbs, chocolate chips, whipped cream, and a cherry,” adds Dodson. Fall treats also include the Oh My Gourd Oreo Trio and the Factory of Terror Collab Extreme Awful Awful. Barrington, Middletown, and other locations, NewportCreamery.com
Mainstay creamery rolls out sweet and savory fall specials
Photos courtesy of Newport Creamery
Oh My Gourd Oreo Trio
Butternut Squash Soup
You’ll scream if you miss these ice cream scoops
It’s strictly ice cream on the menu board at Clementine’s, an award-winning ice cream shop with three locations. In addition to traditional flavors like chocolate chip and Oreo, seasonal favorites were launched this fall. “We do pumpkin and apple pie at all three shops,” says owner Warren Sternberg, who runs the business with his wife Jess. “We mix up different flavors like pumpkin cheesecake, pumpkin Oreo, and maple bacon.”
The Apple Pie Sundae is also a popular treat. “We serve it in a waffle cone with ice cream, caramel topping, whipped cream, and nuts,” says Sternberg. “We also have some unique fall ice cream sandwiches with chocolate chip and pumpkin cookies made by Whisk Me Away.” All flavors are available in cups or store-made waffle cones. Sternberg advises customers to stop by soon, as the shops typically close for the season by the end of October. “We do pop-up pint sales in the winter, where we mix in some fall flavors.” Portsmouth and Middletown, Clementines.com
For families seeking celiac-friendly snacks for spooky season, May’s Gluten Free Market is here to help. “We carry items that are hard to find in traditional grocery stores – if you want it, chances are we have it,” says owner Celeste Bremer. “We’ve developed a steady base of loyal regulars. We get new visitors daily, and the response is always the same: ‘Everything is gluten-free? I’m in heaven.’ We have customers who literally cry when they walk in the door.”
The market sells a mixed bag of tasty meals and seasonal treats. “Gluten-free empanadas made by Empanada Assassin are available daily, including Apple PiePanadas and Pumpkin PiePanadas,” says Bremer. “We have a selection of baked goods, prepared foods, and sandwiches with menus changing weekly.” Fresh-baked favorites for fall include apple cider ricotta cookies, pumpkin muffins, apple spice scones, and Halloween-themed cupcakes and sugar cookies. An expansion in the works means an even larger selection coming soon. Riverside, MaysGlutenFreeMarket.com
Gluten-free Halloween treats
PIC OF THE BAY
The pumpkin patch returns to Trinity Church in Newport
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