This article needs additional citations for verification .(July 2009) |
Chepachet Village Historic District | |
Location | Glocester, Rhode Island |
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Built | 1799 |
NRHP reference No. | 71000031 [1] |
Added to NRHP | March 31, 1971 |
Chepachet is a village and census-designated place (CDP) [2] in the town of Glocester in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. It is centered at the intersection of U.S. Route 44 (a.k.a. Putnam Pike) and Rhode Island Route 102 (also known as Victory Highway and Chopmist Hill Road). Chepachet's ZIP code is 02814. As of the 2010 census, the CDP had a population of 1,675. [3]
"Chepachet" was originally inhabited by the Pequot and Nipmuc natives; the name means "where rivers meet".
Leading up to the American Revolution, the area was a hotbed for supporters of independence, and the Gloucester Light Infantry was founded in the Chepachet in 1774. During the Revolutionary War Loyalists from Newport were exiled near Chepachet, including Thomas Vernon, who recorded election celebrations in Chepachet in 1776:
This being the day for the choice of Deputies (members of the General Assembly). We are told that there is a very great resort of people of all kinds at Chepasseh, and that it is a day of great frolicking. Our landlord and his three sons are gone, having rigged themselves out in the best manner. [A] man on horseback passed by (together with many others) with a very large bag full of cakes made by Granne West (mother to the General William West) which are to be sold to the people. [4]
In 1842, Chepachet was the setting of the endgame of the Dorr Rebellion, which helped to win voting rights for non-landowners in a new state Constitution.
On 4 November 1923, horror writer H. P. Lovecraft and his fellow writer C. M. Eddy, Jr. ventured to Chepachet in search of a place known as "Dark Swamp" of which they had heard rumors. They never located it, but the region inspired at least the opening of Lovecraft's story (novelette) "The Colour Out of Space", and the setting contributed to Eddy's unfinished story "Black Noon". Chepachet is also mentioned several times in Lovecraft's story (novelette) "The Horror at Red Hook".
Since 1926, the town has hosted the Ancients and Horribles parade, an annual Fourth of July event, notable for its political statements and ribald humor.
In the 1940s, a US Navy auxiliary ship, the fleet fuel oil tanker, USS Chepachet, was named after the Chepachet River which runs through the village. The ship's bell is displayed at the seat of town government, and the ship's surviving crew had a 50th anniversary reunion in the town in 1998.
Beginning with a proclamation in 1976, May 25 is recognized as "Elephant Day". On that date in 1826, a popular elephant known as Betty the Learned Elephant from a traveling show was shot and killed while she was crossing the bridge spanning the Chepachet River. [5] A group of six "hooligans" led by Canton Smith of nearby North Scituate faced charges for the crime. [6] A commemorative plaque marks the historic location on the bridge.
The area, part of the town of Glocester, is part of the Foster-Glocester Regional School District, meaning Ponaganset High School is the only secondary school for residents of Chepachet. West Glocester Elementary, an elementary school in Chepachet, is part of the Glocester Elementary School District. The regional district is currently reviewing the Ponaganset High School & Middle School mascot, the Chieftain, as the local Native American tribe, the Nipmuc, have been asking for decades that it be changed.
Providence County is the most populous county in the U.S. state of Rhode Island. As of the 2020 census, the county's population was 660,741, or 60.2% of the state's population. Providence County contains the city of Providence, the state capital of Rhode Island and the county's most populous city, with an estimated 190,934 residents in 2020. Providence County is included in the Providence-Warwick, RI-MA Metropolitan Statistical Area, which in turn constitutes a portion of the greater Boston-Worcester-Providence, MA-RI-NH-CT Combined Statistical Area. As of 2010, the center of population in Rhode Island is located in Providence County, in the city of Cranston.
Glocester is a town in Providence County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 9,974 as of the 2020 census. The villages of Chepachet and Harmony are in Glocester. Putnam Pike runs west through the town center of Glocester into Putnam, Connecticut.
Greenville is a village and census-designated place (CDP) in the town of Smithfield in Providence County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 8,658 at the 2010 census. The CDP is centered on the village of Greenville but also encompasses the nearby villages of West Greenville and Spragueville, as well as the Mountaindale Reservoir and beach.
Johnston is a town in Providence County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 29,568 at the 2020 census. Johnston is the site of the Clemence Irons House (1691), a stone-ender museum, and the only landfill in Rhode Island. Incorporated on March 6, 1759, Johnston was named for the colonial attorney general, Augustus Johnston.
Pascoag is a census-designated place (CDP) and village in Providence County, Rhode Island. The population was 4,577 at the 2010 census. Pascoag is one of eight villages that make up the town of Burrillville.
Scituate is a town in Providence County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 10,384 at the 2020 census.
Hope Valley is a village and census-designated place (CDP) in the town of Hopkinton, Rhode Island, United States. The population of the CDP was 1,612 at the 2010 census. Hope Valley is the largest village in Hopkinton, and the town's principal commercial center. While the village of Hope Valley is located in Hopkinton, its zip code, 02832, extends into the neighboring town of Richmond.
Hopkinton is a town in Washington County, Rhode Island. The population was 8,398 at the 2020 census.
Tiverton is a census-designated place (CDP) in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States. The CDP encompasses the town center of Tiverton and the adjacent village of North Tiverton. The population of the CDP was 7,557 at the 2010 census.
The Dorr Rebellion (1841–1842) was an attempt by disenfranchised residents to force broader democracy in the U.S. state of Rhode Island, where a small rural elite was in control of government. It was led by Thomas Wilson Dorr, who mobilized the disenfranchised to demand changes to the state's electoral rules. The state was still using its 1663 colonial charter as a constitution; it required that voters own land as qualification to vote. The rebellion established a parallel government alongside the existing chartered government and wrote a new constitution for Rhode Island. Although the rebellion was crushed militarily, it forced the rewriting of the state constitution to expand eligibility to vote.
Kingston is a village and a census-designated place within the town of South Kingstown in Washington County, Rhode Island, United States, and the site of the main campus of the University of Rhode Island. The population was 6,974 at the 2010 census. Much of the village center is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as Kingston Village Historic District. It was originally known as Little Rest.
Ponaganset High School is a school of the Foster-Glocester School District, located in Glocester, Rhode Island in Providence County. The majority of high school students live in the rural towns of Glocester and Foster, Rhode Island. This is a public high school, known for its music program, AP and honors classes, as well as its CTE approved pathways; Plant Systems, Animal Systems, Materials and Manufacturing, Pre-Engineering, Music Technology, Music Performance, and Pending Programs: Computer Science and Information Technology, and Biomedical. The school's athletic teams are known as the "Chieftains," and the FIRST Robotics Competition Team is known as "5112, The Gongoliers." The principal is Renee Palazzo.
Federal Hill is a neighborhood in Providence, Rhode Island. It lies immediately west of the city's Downtown, across Interstate 95. Since the late 19th century, Federal Hill has been an enclave of Providence's Italian American community; today the neighborhood is known as Providence's Little Italy and is noted for its abundance of Italian restaurants, markets, and cultural establishments.
"The Shunned House" is a horror fiction novelette by American author H. P. Lovecraft, written on October 16–19, 1924. It was first published in the October 1937 issue of Weird Tales.
The Scituate Reservoir is the largest inland body of water in the state of Rhode Island. It has an aggregate capacity of 39 billion US gallons (150,000,000 m3) and a surface area of 5.3 square miles (14 km2). It and its six tributary reservoirs—which make up a total surface area of 7.2 square miles (19 km2)—supply drinking water to more than 60 percent of the state population, including Providence.
Nathan Fellows Dixon was an attorney and bank president from Westerly, Rhode Island. The son of Nathan F. Dixon and father of Nathan F. Dixon III, he was best known for his service as a United States representative from Rhode Island from 1849 to 1851, and again from 1863 to 1871.
Barrington Civic Center Historic District is a historic district in Barrington, Rhode Island on County Road. The district, which consists of the Barrington Town Hall, Leander R. Peck School and Prince's Hill Cemetery, is located on Prince's Hill near the center of Barrington. In 1728, Prince's Hill Cemetery was purchased and later expanded to its present size by 1898. The 1+1⁄2-story Barrington Town Hall was completed in 1888 and originally served as the seat of the town's government, library and high school. With the completion of the Leander R. Peck School in 1917, the high school moved into the adjacent building and the library used its space. The two-story Elizabethan Revival style Peck School is designed with a T-shaped plan and features a stairway to access the main entrance on the second story. The Peck School was later used by the fifth and sixth-grade elementary students before becoming the public library. Also located within the district is Wood's Pond. The Barrington Civic Center Historic District was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976 and serves as a historically significant example of civic and natural environment planning of the late nineteenth century.
Clifford Martin Eddy Jr. was an American writer known for his horror, mystery and supernatural short stories. He is best remembered for his work in Weird Tales magazine and his friendship with H. P. Lovecraft.
George Washington Memorial State Forest is a state forest on the Putnam Pike near the village of Chepachet in the town of Glocester, Rhode Island.
Gloucester Light Infantry is an active independent military organization of the Rhode Island militia that was founded in 1774 and currently serves primarily as a ceremonial honor guard and educational group. The Gloucester Light Infantry operates an armory museum behind the town hall at 33 Dorr Drive in Chepachet, Rhode Island which was the former ell of the Chepachet Elementary School.
[A]s Betty's show hit the road this time, two of the six youthful conspirators instigated by Smith, aiming from a window in the second story of a gristmill, fired on the elephant as she walked across the "rustic" span. The shots were fatal, and the six hooligans faced charges for their cruel deed