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Since the last time I told you about Rhode Island Lance and I have had a bit of time to explore the area. Not far from our RV campground in Coventry was Nathanael Greene’s homestead, an almost forgotten part of a very important man’s life. Nathanael who? That’s what I would have said a few months ago too.

Nathanael Greene holds a prominent place in U.S. history due to his role in the American Revolution. When the war started he was a young man with no military training, by the end he was second in command to General George Washington.

Known as the “Fighting Quaker”, Greene was born in Rhode Island on June 27th of 1742. He was trained in the iron working trade by his father, an “ironmaster” and Quaker minister. By the 1760s Nathanael was in charge of his own trip hammer forge on the Pawtuxet River in Coventry. Settling in, he built a 3 story, 14 room house in 1770 on a slope overlooking his forge. In 1774 he married Catherine Littlefield and they enjoyed a couple years of domestic bliss before the war broke out.

Greene’s extensive knowledge of the military and war was from books, not experience, yet it was more than many who were fighting for the rebellion had. Washington came to think of Greene as the son he never had. In turn, Greene’s devotion to the General was sincere (he and Caty named their first children George Washington Greene and Martha Washington Greene). Eventually, the War was over and America was its own country (I just finished reading 1776 by David McCullough and it is astonishing that the Continental Army won—they were a motley crew up against the best and biggest military in the world at the time).

Greene’s service to his country was rewarded with a gift of a plantation near Savannah, Georgia (which is where we first heard of him; see our Savannah post for more). Unfortunately, Greene didn’t have long to enjoy “Mulberry Grove,” as he died of heatstroke in 1786. His death put into motion a set of events that helped propel this country through rapid change. Caty, who was left with five children to raise, hired a Yale graduate to tutor them. The graduate’s name was Eli Whitney and the rest, as they say, is history.

Amazingly Nathanael Greene’s house in Coventry still stands and can be toured. The home and about 13 acres are owned by a non-profit organization which has preserved the site. It was unreal driving up to the homestead since it is now surrounded by a relatively modern subdivision, replete with matching houses and two car garages! This small historic site is way under-visited and under-funded compared to some other Rhode Island locations, like the ones we saw on our trip to Newport.

Don’t get me wrong, we enjoyed our day wandering among the massive summer “cottages” of the super rich. But they just don’t seem to have the same historical and cultural significance as other sites. Located on the southern end of Aquidneck Island, Newport is a harbor town that was founded by Quakers and Jewish settlers in 1639. In the town’s early years it was a haven for many pirates, including Thomas Tew, the feared “Rhode Island Pirate.” The pirate years came to a close in the 1720s when many were publicly hanged.

The “City by the Sea” served as French General Rochambeau’s headquarters during the Revolutionary War. He and General George Washington met at the Old Colony House to formalize battle plans. Incidentally, in some parts of the country the child’s game of rock-paper-scissors is called Rochambeau. Instead of counting one-two-three players say ro-sham-beau. Now you know where it comes from!

The soon to be President Washington was not the only leader of the U.S. to spend time on the island. Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Teddy Roosevelt, Gerald Ford, Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy all spent various amounts of time here. Of all the men, it is JFK that had the strongest ties to Newport, after all he and Jacqueline Bouvier were married at St. Marys church on the island on 09/12/1953. While we’re on the subject, did you know that JFK worked on a cattle ranch outside Benson, AZ during the summer of 1936? It was during one of his many recuperations; he was an ailing young man who suffered not only from Addison’s Disease but back problems too. Since he was Catholic and often ill, he received his last rites four times in his life!

We did not go by St. Mary’s church, instead we spent most of our day wandering along the three and a half mile Cliff Walk. As the name implies the scenic walkway rambles along the top of the cliffs on the southeastern end of the island. Other than the natural beauty the main reason so many people tour the Walk is for the great views of the elaborate mansions. In the 1800s the town became the summer haven for the richest families in America. Public access to the Cliff Walk was contested by the wealthy landowners but the access was upheld owing to a small provision in the state constitution called “fisherman’s rights”. All coast access in Rhode Island is protected for the public for the “rights of fishing and the privileges of the shore.”

Who were these wealthy people? The Astors, Belmonts, Wetmores, Vanderbilts and Doris Duke top the list, some of the families also had winter “cottages” on Jekyll Island in Georgia which we visited a few months back (see our Jekyll Island post to read more about it). I was surprised to learn that Doris (a tobacco heiress) was a friend and patron of Louis Bromfield, the author. I found it fascinating because we have visited his estate, Malabar Farm. It is run as a working farm in the Ohio State Parks system all because of a large financial gift from Ms. Duke. Small world, eh?

The Vanderbilt mansion, The Breakers, completed in 1882 is the largest of the cottages with 70 rooms. The house is the most visited attraction in the entire state of Rhode Island! Surprisingly, some Vanderbilt descendants still summer at the estate on the private third floor where tourists are not allowed.

Many of the mansions and their elaborate grounds (some had their landscaping designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, of Central Park fame) are preserved today as a result of the efforts by the Preservation Society of Newport County. Rosecliff (where scenes from the Great Gatsby were filmed), Chateau sur Mer, Marble House and eleven other properties have been restored.

The Cliff Walk ends at Bailey’s Beach, the most exclusive beach on the island. You can’t join the members-only small sand beach with private cabanas, you have to be born into it! We didn’t want to be members anyway. For the last two stops on our tour of Newport we went even further back in time. The Redwood Library and Athenaeum, established in 1747 is America’s oldest lending library. It is not a free library but it is open to the public. The library still has over 90% of the 1,338 books of its original collection!

Our final stop is old, but no one really knows exactly how old. Most historians say the Old Stone Mill was built in the 1600s by Benedict Arnold, the first governor of Rhode Island. Yes, he is related to that other Benedict Arnold, he was his great-grandfather! Other people claim the stone structure was built by Vikings long before Columbus discovered America. As interesting as it sounds, there is no evidence to support this claim.

We needed a dose of nature after wandering in town all day so we stopped at the Sachuest Point National Wildlife Refuge. The small site, only 242 acres, was established in 1970. We walked a few of the trails where we watched people wind- and kite-surfing and we came across a few new bird species: Yellow Warbler, Common Eider, and Black Scoter. It was a lovely way to end the day.

On my own for a day, I drove over to “The Whaling City” to visit the New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park (quite a mouthful, huh?). The park was established in 1996 in two locations, New Bedford, MA and Barrow, AK. New Bedford was chosen as one of the sites because it was the largest whaling city in the world in its heyday, over 2,000 whaling voyages left from the town. The story is an important one to tell, it was the most profitable industry at the time since the products were in high demand. It was an incredibly destructive trade with over 300,000 whales killed.

Many cultures around the globe have sustainably hunted whales for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. Along the East Coast of North America, Native Americans were first documented harvesting beached whales. By the 1600s, tribes were actively involved in hunting live whales. The first whaling ship outfitted by settlers was the Manufacture in 1756. They were not hunting the whales for food, instead they were after the whale’s blubber which they would render into oil.

Early on, Sperm Whales and Northern Right Whales were the main targets. Sperm Whales had a pure, odorless, colorless oil called spermaceti found near their brains which made them the most desirable. Northern Right Whales were named by whalers who considered them the ‘right’ whales to hunt because they were slower than other species and they floated when dead. As the populations plummeted other whales including Bowhead, Humpback, Gray, and Blue were also hunted.

While the whale meat was thrown overboard, the blubber was boiled into an oil that was used for candles, lubricating oils and countless other household products. Even the baleen was valuable as it was strong, yet flexible making it good for use in corsets among other things. The 500 ships with their 10,000 crew members and their precious cargo of barrels of oil made New Bedford known as the “City that Lit the World.”

After the kill, the ships became floating factories as the blubber was rendered into oil (a process called “trying out”) and sealed in barrels. Try to imagine the stench! Each ship could hold the oil from roughly 20 whales but it was a slow business with most whalers out to sea from three to five years. Sailors had a lot of free time and they developed many hobbies, the most famous of which is scrimshaw. Scrimshaw is a carving art which utilizes whale teeth, bone and baleen. Another down time activity was making “sailor’s valentines” for loved ones back home. Any and every material went into these creations, mostly shells gathered on faraway beaches.

By the 1850s whaling had made New Bedford one of the wealthiest cities in America. But it wouldn’t last for long. Two main factors led to the industry’s demise: declining whale populations had whalers sailing around Cape Horn, up the Pacific and into the Arctic Ocean, and the successful tapping of an oil well in Pennsylvania. The last whaling ship left New Bedford in 1925.

Just a few whale related tidbits for you: Ambergris, which is formed in whale’s digestive tracts in response to irritants, is used in some perfumes, cosmetics, and vitamins. The jojoba bean, from a plant of the Desert Southwest, contains a pure oil that has replaced the need for spermaceti. Between 1920 and 1966 Blue Whale blubber was used to make margarine. Blue whales are the largest animals to have ever lived on this planet. A Blue Whale heart weighs about ¾ of a ton, the size of its blood vessels average 4” in diameter (the size of a fire hose).

Hang in there, we’re almost done, I just can’t let you go without talking about New Bedford’s most famous whaler, Herman Melville. In January of 1841 Melville, who was 21 years old, became a whaler on the Acushnet. His experience on the ship and years of living in New Bedford were the basis of his acclaimed book, Moby Dick, which was published in 1851. Believe it or not, his Leviathan was loosely inspired by a real whale, a white Sperm Whale named Mocha Dick. Mocha Dick was responsible for sinking several whaling vessels in his long life, a feat repeated by other Sperm Whales through the years. In 1820 an 85’ long Sperm Whale destroyed the whaling ship Essex, eight of the twenty sailors survived and were rescued after 90 plus days (can you say cannibalism?).

I promise this is my last whale story… In 1970 an eight ton whale floated up on a beach in Oregon. The state decided to remove the monstrosity by, you are not going to believe this, blowing it up. So, they packed it full of dynamite and it exploded—everywhere. The falling blubber crushed a car and covered the spectators with rotting whale flesh—yummy.

And just like that my Moby Dick, my whale of a tale is over. Hope you enjoyed it.

Photos: View our photographs from Rhode Island.

Notes: We stayed in Rhode Island from 05/29/07 to 06/16/2007 and also from 06/22/07 to 06/27/07.