Southermost School 

Thank you to the Newport Restoration Foundation and the Champlin Foundation.  Their preservation grant has helped restore the schoolhouse!

An article at https://www.spanishlanguageguide.com/9-oldest-wooden-schoolhouses-in-the-world/  places the schoolhouse as the third oldest in the WORLD.  (Click Here to download the paper “Oldest Wooden Schoolhouses in the World -2020 “)

1716:  Town authorized several schools including Southermost and Northernmost (built  near

Southernmost School

Child Street and East Main Road).  Southermost School was to be on the 3/4 acre of land donated by William Sanford. Town citizens authorized 20 pounds for construction but actually cost 23 pounds.  This figure would be around $100 in our money.

1725:   It was built in in the vicinity of present day 102 Union St.  It has simple post and beam structure.  The original frame remains intact.  To save costs it had a pony chimney which extends down part way into the building from the room.  The roof supports the weight of the chimney, so the roof sags.  It had a cellar and chimney with a fireplace which were built for the first schoolmaster, James Preston.  The maintenance and support of the school and master were the responsibility of the parents.  The Prestons had lived with James Strange and his family. When Preston became ill, the town let the family live in the cellar of the school, but they evicted them in 1729.

1746:  Widow Sarah Strange and her family had been using the Southermost School as a home and at a Town Meeting she and her family were ordered out so that the school house might be restored for use as a school again.

1800:  Sometime before 1800 the school was moved to the corner of West Main Road and Union Street.  The entry way (as you see it) was added at this time.  A stove was used for heat.

1860:  Around the time of the Civil War the Gibbs School was built and the Almy family bought the Southermost School at auction in 1863. The  School spent 90 years at Hall Farm (Lakeside) on 559 Union Street where it served as a storage and harness shed.

1952:   Hall family gave it to the Portsmouth Historical Society.

1969:   PHS restored the school house raising funds through house tours and yard sales.

2000:   New restoration with help of Champlin Grant.

2015:  A grant from the Newport Restoration foundation has helped us refresh the paint.

Inside are some original student desks along with the top of the original teacher desk.  There are also examples of the primers, copy books and textbooks students would have used in one room schools in Portsmouth.  Some of the school desks and two school bells come from the McCorrie and Bristol Ferry Schools. Entrance way has lunch pails and pegs to hang coats.

Transcript of original bill from Adam Lawton who built the school.

Work and cost for the School house

2000 foot of boards cost––––––––––––––––––08=15-6
to paynting 2 dayes––––––––––––––––––––00=10-0
to carting and going after the bords–––––––02=00-0
1000 of board nails––––––––––––––––––01=00-0
to ten sleapers amost thurty foot long and
timber for the porch and carting––––––––01=10-0
to 32 bushels of lime at 16d ye busshel––––02=2-8
To Carting Ye Lime and buying––––––––––––0=18-0
To 3 Empty hhs (hods?) to put ye Lime in––––0=6-0
To 200 of Shingle nails 1/9,200 Clabord nails––0=5-5
To 8 days work my Self & negro at 9/aday–––––3=12-0
To Getting harth Stones–––––––––––––––––––0=5-0
To Carting ye Stones & Sand and water––––––0=18-0
To 200 of Brick for ye Oven––––––––––––––––0=10-0
To making ye oven and Diging ye foundation }––1=0-0
and Carting ye Bricks – – –

By Cash Recivd of Capt Lawton (folded paper)––23=12-7
By 100 of Boards 10s

Balence Deu to me–––––––––––––––––––––––L 16=2-7

March ye 1st 1724/5 Errors Excepte

Per Me Adam Lawton

The above written acct is voted at a Meeting
the 1st of ye 1st mo 1724/5 by the free Vote of
the Town.

(transcription by Carolyn Holmes.)

Old Town Hall

Outside of the Old Town Hall  (before new siding and roof)

1840s: This structure was built near the site of the present town hall as office for town

clerk.

1895:  It was replaced by the present Town Hall. The building was then used for storage.  Building became first headquarters of the permanent fire department.

1970:  Present fire station built and Old Town Hall used again for storage and meetings.

1975:  Town offered building to the Portsmouth Historical Society and the building was moved.

Today it houses the Society’s vehicle and farm tool collection.

Old Town Hall with New Roof and Siding July 2019

In 2019 The Old Town Hall got a “new” look with a new roof and new red cedar siding.

Horse Drawn Hearse from Portsmouth

Christian Union Hearse

Whose Hearse Was It?

• In 2009 the Portsmouth Historical Society welcomed back a horse drawn hearse that had been in storage for many years. An elder member of the society thought that the hearse had belonged to the Christian Union Church whose building was now the headquarters of the historical society.
  Sure enough, a search of the church records showed that the church did indeed own a hearse. Church records from the Board meeting of March 12, 1871 indicated that: “The board unanimously recommended that Br. John T. Brown purchase a hearse of Langley and Bennett at a cost of $162 provided the sum of $200 is raised.”
• Later records from December 16, 1871 showed that it was voted that:
  “Br. John T. Brown who has the care of the hearse, be authorized to charge non-subscribers for its use, the sum of one dollar, said dollar to be added to the fund for keeping the hearse in repair.” A search of the City of Newport Directory from the early 1870s showed that Langley and Bennett was a furniture maker in Newport that also made coffins, caskets and related funeral items.  They also were undertakers.  We were confident that the hearse we had was the one that would bring deceased church members on their last journey from their homes to the church and then on to Union Cemetery down the road.
• As part of our celebration of the Christian Union Church building’s 150th anniversary, we read ALL the church records. To our amazement we found an entry in 1903 authorizing John T. Brown to dispose of the hearse and turn over the “hearse fund” that would have been used to maintain the hearse to the treasury.
• The church hearse was gone by 1903, so what hearse did we have? We knew from research that the hearse was typical of what was used in the 1870s. Newspaper accounts from 1943 mentioned the donation of a hearse to the society by Mrs. David Anthony. According to the article the hearse had been purchased years before by Asa Anthony who lived on West Main Road. H. Frank Anthony, his son, went on the trip to New Bedford with his father to bring back a used hearse.
• Why would Asa Anthony need a hearse? Newspaper articles again offer some clues. It seems that Asa B. Anthony was a coroner for Portsmouth in the 1880s. Asa Anthony would have used the hearse to transport bodies. Other articles comment that bodies remained at Asa Anthony’s home until a funeral. Ironically Asa Anthony’s home, once known as “Willowbrook” is the Connors Funeral Home today.
• We don’t have any pictures of either the Church hearse or that of Asa Anthony. We do know that that the donated Anthony hearse won prizes at Newport Gay Nineties parades in the 1940s. We are hoping to find a picture we can compare to the hearse we now have tucked into the Old Town Hall.

The Last Mail Wagon

This horse drawn mail wagon dates back to 1902 when Abner P. Anthony purchased it when a

Mail wagon ready to roll in the 375th parade.

post office opened at a house on the corner of Clearview Avenue and East Main Road to serve South Portsmouth.  Abner worked for 43 years, first delivering mail by bicycle and then by horse and wagon. Similar wagons were used throughout Rhode Island.  While well preserved, the paint on the mail wagon was a 21st century change. The dark green color visible on some interior surfaces reflects the original color.  It was hoped that these new wagons would help improve communication and mail delivery between Rhode Island’s small villages.

The Christian Union Church 

The church was founded in 1810 as the Christian Church of Portsmouth. Members met in private homes until a small meetinghouse was built in 1824 on the site of the present building. At that point they called themselves the Union Society to help unite rather than divide the Christian community.

The present structure was built in 1865 at a cost of $7,000. At that time they returned to the name of the Christian Church of Portsmouth. The basic principle was that the Bible is the word of God. The church was not part of a denomination, but members were sent as delegates to the Rhode Island and Massachusetts Christian and Congregational Conferences.

The congregation seemed open to a variety of expressions of faith.  William Ellery Channing, a noted Unitarian who lived close by, loved to talk with the church members on Sunday afternoons. Women were invited to preach. Julia Ward Howe, another neighbor up on Union Street, would come to “supply the pulpit.”

Christian Union Church

In the 1870s the pastors held open meetings at the Glen and local Methodist pastors and ministers from many denominations were present.  The governing structure of the church revolved around a board which was charged with finding and overseeing pastors and the life of the church. The officers were three Elders, two Deacons, treasurer and the clerk. The activities of the church centered around the official church committees.

The most active of the committees seemed to be Music and Social Life. The church members believed that everyone should have access to a musical education. The church had a singing school and organ lessons were given. The social life group coordinated turkey suppers and Christmas festivals at the church.            The organ was purchased in 1903 from the Emmanuel Church in Newport.

The church was an active, thriving congregation for the half century between the Civil War and World War I. It then went through a decline from which it never recovered. The last church service was held in the summer of 1937.  In 1940 the fourteen remaining members voted to give the property to the Portsmouth Historical Society. The church members recognized the church as a historic landmark in Portsmouth and they wanted the building to be used for educational or historical purposes.

Julia Ward Howe Exhibit

Julia Ward Howe’s writing desk.

On the second floor of the museum is an area dedicated to Julia Ward Howe. It includes furnishings, clothing and items that belonged to Julia when she summered in Portsmouth (1850s to her death here in 1910) at her home, “Oak Glen”, just up Union Street. When the British Broadcasting Company (BBC) came to the United States to film a documentary on Julia, this room was one of the sites they most wanted to film for their production. Julia is most famous as the abolitionist and poet who wrote the words to the “Battle Hymn of the Republic.” But Julia was active in many causes – the vote for women, establishing “Motherʼs Day,” world peace, and literacy. Many of the greatest writers of the her day came to visit her at Oak Glen.Many of the items were donated to the museum in the 1940s by Maud Howe Elliot, Juliaʼs daughter. The items reflect her various causes. Among the most precious artifacts is Juliaʼs writing desk.  At the suggestion of Juliaʼs friend – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow – the desk was built high enough for Julia to write standing up. It has since been cut down to a more normal height.  Also on view are a shawl, a hat and a lacy cap that belonged to Julia. Next to her shawl are writing implements and a note about how Julia penned her famous poem, “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” on her husbandʼs stationary in almost darkness. Other items were donated by the family that purchased Oak Glen after Juliaʼs death and may have been in the house during her time there.

A book “The Civil Wars of Julia Ward Howe”  is available at Amazon.

Native American Cup-Stone

“cupstone” (found at the water’s edge just to the East)

(Located on grounds of Portsmouth Historical Society between front corner of town hall & rear corner of church)

~ Moved from the shore on edge of water near Arnold’s Point in early 1990s

~ Others existed in Portsmouth but have been lost, one at McCorrie Point and several at Melville. All were on the shore.

~ Cup Stones are found throughout the world. They date to the same time frame as Dighton Rock.

~ They are thought to have been used as part of pre-Christian religious beliefs and rites. Some in our region have been attributed to Wampanoag Tribe.

~ The holes are not perfectly round but rounded triangular holes. Our stone has weathered over time making holes rounder and channels shallower.

~ Appearance varies in number of cups/holes symbols on the stone and the presence of connecting lines. Our stone is thought to represent the big dipper with the seventh hole weathered.

~ Researchers have not conclusively indicated if our stone is authentic. Here are the pros & cons to authenticity.

Pros

• Lines are primitive in their pecked nature
• Hole shape & depth consistent with stone in Scotland
• 1910 opinion of Washington DC anthropologist was that it was cup-stone
• 1910 examination referred to traces of 7th hole with connecting line barely visible

Cons

• Not inventoried in early Dr. Styles survey of Inscribed Stones
• First recorded in 1910
• 1910 anthropologist could not conclude if our stone inscription was Wampanoag
• Holes appear less frequently than cups
• Holes can be replicated using a cold chisel

Interested in more information:  Click on this:  Arnolds Point Stone Background Story

Battle OF RI DAR Monument

In 1910 on the 132nd anniversary of the First Battle of Rhode Island, the large granite boulder was unveiled on the grounds of the museum (then the Christian Union Church).  It, reportedly, marks the place where the first skirmish took place. It was through the united efforts of the William Ellery Chapter of Newport and the Colonel William Barton Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, that this attractive monument has been placed on the spot where so many brave men fell on August 29, 1778 at the commencement of the Battle of Rhode Island.

Download a transcription of the newspaper article from the Newport Herald of August 30, 1910. 

Talking Points for Docents on Current (Whose Home) Exhibit

Click on the pdf below for talking points for the houses.

Lay Tavern pdf

Henry Franklin Anthony pdf

Howarth Place pdf

John Sherman House pdf

Sarah J Eddy House pdf

St Pauls Rectory

pdf Union Church parsonage

Click on the blue link below for talking points on Glen Manor House, Durfee Tea House, Leonard Brown House, Greenvale, Green Animals, Prescott House, Southermost as home, Oak Glen, George Manchester Home, Willowbrook

whose home docent talking points