New hiking trail in Exeter from the Nature Conservancy

"Smallpox farm" foundation - part of
the new Cuttyhunk Brook Preserve.

The Exeter Historical Association is very excited about a brand-new trail right here in town which will have its grand opening on National Trails Day, which is Saturday June 2.  The trail is located on Sunderland Rd, and includes the fascinating remains of a property known as the "smallpox farm". Shelia will share her knowledge of the area during the inaugural hike!

Here's the press release from the Nature Conservancy:

National Trails Day Hike

Saturday, June 2, 10:00 a.m. - noon

Cuttyhunk Brook Preserve

Sunderland Road, Exeter

A new trail has opened up at the 800 + acre Cuttyhunk Brook Preserve. Come out and celebrate when The Nature Conservancy in Rhode Island will reach 60 miles of hiking trails in our state!  As we hike, we'll explore some interesting features along the way including Cuttyhunk Brook, a historic homestead, and an impressive boulder field.  Joining us on the hike will be the Exeter Historical Association who will share some history of the area.

Trail distance: 2 miles

Difficulty: moderate

Bring insect repellent, water,  sturdy shoes recommended.

Program is free.  To register contact: Cheryl Wiitala 401-331-7110 x 25 or cwiitala@tnc.org

The Lost Graves of Exeter Cemetery #19

This past weekend, a few diehard Exeter Historical Association members, along with Dory Wagner from the R.I. Advisory Commission on Historic Cemeteries,  set out to reclaim the overgrown cemetery located on the same property as the Exeter Public Library. According to the John Sterling's 1994 "Exeter Historical Cemeteries" book, the Exeter #19 Historical Cemetery only had 39 graves. But Dory, Sheila Reynolds Boothroyd, and Gary Boden  ended up finding and marking headstones and footstones of more than 30 more!

Dory and other EHA volunteers will be back out at the cemetery this Saturday, March 17th, to continue the clearing process.  Once we find all the graves, we'll notify the Historic Cemetery Commission and have them added to the official record! Come join us behind the Library building at 773 Ten Rod Rd, beginning at 10AM, and help us rewrite Exeter history!

Number 19, located just behind the Exeter Public Library on Ten Rod Rd.

Placing stakes to mark some of the  "lost" gravestones.

Sheila Reynolds-Boothroyd clearing brush.

Finding one of the buried headstones.

A close up shot of this stone shows an inscription of 1771 -
this may be amongst the oldest stones in Exeter!

Food for thought from a sign-eating tree

If your travels take you to the intersection of Purgatory and William Reynolds roads,  you'll come upon this tree. At our last meeting, several of us were discussing how fascinating it is to watch how nature tries to slowly erase our footprints - and the "sign-eating tree" is the very embodiment of this. We are reminded that all of our historical treasures here in Exeter - roads, farms, schools, cemeteries - will be hidden by nature without our deliberate efforts!

And that's what the Exeter Historical Association is all about.

Many thanks to EHA board member Gary Boden for both the picture and the thoughts!

The Smithsonian in Exeter

Our little hamlet may be getting some national attention in the coming months! Earlier this Fall, a writer for the Smithsonian Magazine named Abby Tucker contacted EHA President Sheila Reynolds Boothroyd. Abby was looking for information about poor Mercy Brown, who, as many of us know, was cast as a vampire after her death from tuberculosis in 1892. Abby recently travelled to Exeter to conduct first-hand research on Mercy, and to  meet with Sheila. They are pictured below, in the lobby of the Radisson Hotel near the Providence airport.

With Sheila's assistance, Abby has been busy doing primary-source research on Mercy and her family, pouring over census records and newspaper articles from the the 1890's. While we don't yet know when the article will be published, we're sure it will be quite interesting! Stay tuned!

You can learn a lot from a cemetery - adopt one today!

Here in Exeter, we are lucky to have time capsules of history located literally right in our own yards. There are dozens and dozens of small cemetery plots scattered all over town, and each one has amazing stories.

The Peckham Holocaust mass grave is located in the
northeast corner of Cemetery #25 (foreground, left side).

For example, did you know that Cemetery #25, at the intersection of William Reynolds and Purgatory Rds, is the location of a mass grave from a horrible fire that claimed the lives of eight people and made national news in 1839? The Peckham Holocaust was a result of arson at the home of Mr. and Mrs  Timothy Peckham, who ran a boarding house as the town "Poor Farm". The story about the fire originally ran in the Providence Journal and the Rhode Island Republican (a Newport paper) on April 17 of that year. Within one week of its publication, it was picked up by 9 other newspapers, from Alexandria VA to Brattleboro VT.

Do you have a cemetery on your land, or near your house, that you'd like to know more about? The Exeter Historical Association is starting an "Adopt-a-Cemetery" program. We'll be posting more information about this program in the coming months, but if you'd like to get started in caring for a cemetery on or near your property, contact us at exeterhistory@yahoo.com