Cranston Columns & Video

It’s a new year and there’s no time like 2024 to start (or finish) the novel inside you (not Cranston)

NK’s 350th Anniversary is the time to honor those who make it great

The View From Swamptown: South County has plenty of history to see this summer

The View From Swamptown: Ten great historic places to visit in South County

The View From Swamptown: This Thanksgiving, let’s remember the first leaders of NK

The View From Swamptown: Farming and the Industrial Revolution: A tale of sheep, seeds, machinery

The View From Swamptown: Subsistence Farming and Gentlemen Farmers once ruled RI

The View From Swamptown: The Narragansett Planters were a force to be reckoned with

The View From Swamptown: From slaves to soldiers, the Roome family left a legacy

The View From Swamptown: The story of George Roome still remains relevant today

The View From Swamptown: The whole history behind Rome Point

The View From Swamptown: Cato Roome deserves to be remembered as more than a victim

The View From Swamptown: The life of Newport Philips is one worth remembering

The View From Swamptown: Newport Phillips’ story has a remarkable place in RI history

The View From Swamptown: You can’t tell the story of ‘12 Years A Slave’ without NK

The View From Swamptown: Wickford’s black mariners left their mark on history

The View from Swamptown: Riding Up Brownings Hill was a Time-Honored Part of Growing Up

350th Anniversary Speaker Series: "Setting the Record Straight" w/ Tim Cranston (2/8/24)

'End-O-Main' is a property with quite a bit of history to tell

• Many Narragansett women married into the black male slave population after the war in 1676--they assimilated into the existing slave population of the Narragansett Planters (27:00)
• Given the calendar of New England, there were months when there was no agricultural work to do so slaves in NE were taught skills and rented out, particularly male slaves--slaves were rented out to make money for their owners, trained to be stone-masons, carpenters, sailors (30:00)
• The vacant narragansett land was given to the Narragansett Planters after King Phillips war (35:00)
• Cheese was one of the main products Narragansett Planters produced (36:00)
• Slave Names in RI: Handsaw, Johnny Onion, Sam Sambo, Newport Phillips (44:30)
• Quakers sometimes purchased RI slaves and freed them (46:00)
• The last slave in RI, James Howland of Jamestown, RI, died in his late 90s. Died in 1859, a slave (1:08:30)

The View From Swamptown: The Domini Smith House is a steal for those who love history