This Rhode Island Historical Marker is the first marker of a 33-stop walking tour through Wickford Village in North Kingstown, Rhode Island created and placed by Historic Wickford, Inc. (HistWick). It can be seen in Updike Park at the corner of Brown Street and Main Street. It reads across the top, from left to right:
Wickford Walk
Travel back in time and discover historic Wickford Village through our self guided walking tour
HistWick
Preserving and Celebrating Historic Wickford
Along the left side:
Why Wickford is Special
An Historical Overview
The village of Wickford was established on 1709 by the Updike family as a real estate venture focused on attracting shipbuilders to the area. It has survived through periods of ebb and flow and has entered the 21st century as an extraordinarily unique village.
Wickford possesses one of the largest collection of owner-occupied Colonial and Federal period homes in the nation. At its center sits the oldest Anglican Meeting House in the northeast, and at the entrance to Wickford Harbor stands the oldest wooden lighthouse in America. Wickford’s Historic District was placed on the National Register in 1974.
Wickford is an authentic place, largely unchanged by time, shaped by a unique set of circumstances: a vibrant native Narragansett heritage, a tradition of ship building and maritime enterprise, a longstanding connection to the arts, and a location which provided a primary access point to nearby Newport during its “Golden Age”.
Along the right side:
Wickford Walk
Walking down the streets and lanes of Old Wickford is like stepping back in time, Its streets are lined with an outstanding collection of homes dating from the 1770s to the 1840s as well as several Victorian era buildings. There really is no place like it.
A series of historical markers, similar to this one, have been placed at nearby locations to explain different elements of the village’s history.
Featuring original works by local artists, the markers are listed below and on the adjoining map. A timeline identifies the many significant dates in our history.
Following the Wickford history trail will help you understand how Wickford came to be the place it is and will also shed light upon larger stories that shaped the history of not only the village, but all of New England.
This project was produced by members of Historic Wickford, Inc. and has been made possible through the support of the Rhode Island Foundation, the Town of North Kingstown, and the generosity of the contributing artists.
In the middle, a hand-drawn map, originally created in 1964 and re-created in 2016, denotes a dozen areas where the historic markers are placed among the village.
Five illustrations that accompany other markers run along the bottom edge. And, finally, between the map and illustrations is a timeline which covers the years 1524 to 1939:
1524 - Verrazano arrives & interacts with the Narragansetts
1600 - Narragansett The People of the Small Point
1616 - 7 - Plagues ravage the native peoples
1620 - Pilgrims land at Plymouth
1636 - Roger Williams banished to the Narragansett Country, Canonicus & Miantonomi grant him land for trading post
1637 - Richard Smith sets up residence
1643 - Roger Williams begins 6 years residence
1651 - Williams sells out to Smith
1675 - King Phillips war ends 40 years of peaceful coexistence
1709 - Ten Rod Road, a livestock drivers turnpike, set up to help supply the English Colonies, opens
1711 - First shipyard, first permanent home in the village
1737 - Lodowick Updike dies, leaving unsold lots to daughters
1770 - 1836 - Main Street The Grand Highway
1770 - 1850 - Black History
1770 - 1920s - Women’s History
1800 - Textile industry begins in South County at Lafayette
1800 - Old Narragansett Church moved to village
1800 - Washington Academy, first institution of higher learning in RI, outside of Providence, opens
1800 - 1860 - Academy Cove shipyard and seed farm
1805 - First Bank opens on Main St
1815 - Great Gale damages village; Elam Street Bridge ruined
1816 - Brow St Bridge Built
1837 - Railroad lines span North Kingstown
1870 - 1920 - Gateway to Newport, story of RR & Steamship Co.
1880s - 1938 - Pleasant St oyster industry / Cornelius Island
1925 - Hussey Bridge Built
1938 - Hurricane damages village
1939 - Construction begins at US Navy Base, Quonset
For more information, visit the HistWick Wickford Walk web page.