Hearthside House Museum
Over 200 hundred years of Rhode Island's most formative history are very much alive along Great Road in Lincoln, RI. Built in 1683 as the major thoroughfare from Providence to Mendon, MA, there remains a section of the Great Road where several historic sites have been authentically preserved and are open to the public. The Great Road Heritage Campus at Chase Farm Park invites visitors to step back in time to experience what life was like in this community during its early days through guided tours, extensive exhibits, and family programs. The original blacksmith shop, one-room schoolhouse, mansion, and a rare mill from the early Industrial era are opened during the year on specific dates which are included on calendars on the website, greatroadheritagecampus.org.
Considered the jewel of Great Road, the stone Hearthside House has a storied history as the home to several families over its 200 year history. Costumed interpreters guide visitors through all three floors of the fully-furnished mansion, now an award-winning museum. Special programs such as teas, doll garden parties, Victorian mourning, wedding gown exhibit, and Old-Fashioned Christmas are some of the highlights. The Hannaway Blacksmith Shop offers demonstrations and classes in blacksmithing every weekend year round. The Moffett Mill is a rare survivor of early industrialization in the Blackstone Valley and is like a time capsule, having been left virtually untouched since its last day as a business in 1900. Lincoln's last one-room schoolhouse has opened again after 100 years, welcoming children, families and school groups between February-December with an active calendar of events and tours that feature the traditions of life in the schoolroom during the 19th century. Visitors sit at antique desks and write with a quill pen, while getting lessons from the school marm and school master. Students of the schoolhouse teach other children how to roll a hoop, or play graces during a typical recess. All are volunteers as young as 8 dressed in period costume. Featured programs include a springtime celebration and frolicking around the May Pole, Passport to the Past where kids and adults get to try out games and crafts from yesteryear, and the Christmas performance by schoolchildren as a gift to the community, just as it had once been done here.
These authentic historic buildings, all owned by the town and cared for and opened to the public by the volunteer organization Friends of Hearthside, are set upon 85 acres of the former Chase Farm, which is now a preserved public park, offering picturesque meadows and hills for a leisurely walk, picnicking, kite flying, photography, and just discovering nature. This section of Great Road is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.