Today we went to Pawtucket which actually means waterfall in Narragansett and is one of only two Rhode Island cities that kept their native names since they were settled, the other being Woonsocket. It was first settled in 1671 but became an industrial area when Samuel Slater opened the countries first successful cotton mill in 1793. Sam Slater or Slater the traitor as (apparently) the British refer to him moved to America after apprenticing in the cotton mills in the UK, at this time trades were not allowed to emigrate and especially weren’t allowed to take their knowledge with them as despite loosing the war of independence Britain was actually was still making quite a bit of money out of the former colony as they had not transferred any of the industrial processes to the US which meant that although America could grow cotton they couldn’t process it so they had to send it back to the UK and then buy back the linen thus ensuring that the manufacturing industry in England continued to flourish. We stopped and had a tour of Slater Mill which actually ended up being a private tour as we were the only ones that turned up and it rather felt like we were all there was in Pawtucket on this Sunday morning, but it was great that we had a private tour as we were able to try out a number of things and ask as many questions as we wanted. The way the complex is laid out you start with a house that has a spinning wheel in it, then move to the Mill where all the moving parts for the cotton mill were manufactured, they still have some of the machinery linked to the water mill and I think this was the first time we have actually seen how a whole floor of machinery was driven by a single water wheel, the final stop is the wool mill which was actually staffed by Children, all the cotton processing was done by boys and girls who were about 6 or older, the ‘manager’ of the mill was actually a 12 year old boy who was responsible for making sure that production was maintained. Again they have a few machines in here that show how this processing evolved over time and allowed the Americans to create an industry. This whole area became a manufacturing hub and the river at one time had a load of mills but this has long gone. We then did a walk around Pawtucket as we had picked up a leaflet from tourist information, this took us round all the main areas of the town pointing out significant buildings, possibly the strangest building was the Summer Street Stables which was constructed for Harold F Arnold as a livery for 176 horses with first floor space for carriages and carts, second floor feed storage and hay loft while the ground floor had offices, a blacksmith shop and ladies and gentlemen’s waiting rooms. There is still evidence of more opulent times a spectacular post office and library but to be honest it really felt like a ghost town. By the time we had finished walking round it was almost 1pm so we set off for Providence which is the state Capitol of Rhode Island. We drove round for a while looking for somewhere to park then realised that on road parking was free on Sundays so we parked up by the Capitol building then went for a walk, the building is very similar to the one in Hartford although it doesn’t have a gold dome, we walked round the outside, we couldn’t go is as they don’t open at weekends, then we walked to one of the malls, which was interesting but not as busy as I expected for a Sunday. We then set off for Benefit Street which obviously had a different meaning to today as it was full of quite opulent houses and a few town houses. Unfortunately it is actually quite hot today, the car thought it was almost 90 degrees (f) and the humidity is quite high which made it quite difficult to walk round so by about 3.00 we had enough so headed back to the car and the drive back to Middletown. We stopped for some shopping on the way back and got back to the room by about 5.45 so there was time for a bit of a relax then head out for some food. As it is Sunday night everywhere is showing (American) football so we had dinner watching the Green Bay packers who won in overtime then, well fed and watered we headed back to the hotel.
