Historic Walking Tours of Narragansett Pier
South County Museum Canonchet Mansion Narragansett Indian Statue
SCM photos-jt 2009-10
Top row: late fall scenes. Second from the right is a view of wetlands, part of the Chafee Wildlife Preserve,
adjacent to Pettaquamscutt Cove Bottom row; late spring scenes. The rightmost photo is of Squaw Rocks,
believed to have been the scene of a massacre of Native Americans in or about 1675.
Canonchet Farm and Its Nature Trails
The area that now includes Canonchet Farm was used by the Narragansett Indians for seasonal cultivation,
hunting, and fishing beginning about 1000 A.D. The Pettaquamscutt Purchase of 1658 transferred vast acres
to the English settlers and by the early 1700s, the present Canonchet Farm was a small part of the holdings
of the Robinson family.
By the early 1700s, most of the land in the Pier was owned by William Robinson, a gentleman farmer who held
extensive tracts in Wakefield, Boston Neck, and Point Judith Neck. At his death in 1751, his properties were
divided among his seven sons. Sylvester Robinson was granted the Canonchet Farm on the site of the old Native
American campground, where present-day Canonchet Farm is located, while John Robinson was given the
Mumford Farm, which included much of today’s central Pier area. It was John Robinson who in the early
1780s, built the pier that eventually gave the Narragansett Pier area its name.
By about 1750, the Sylvester Robinson house was built on the farm area. Governor, and later Senator, William
Sprague purchased the Robinson land in the 1850s. Soon after he married Kate Chase in 1863, the couple
began building their summer mansion, which they named Canonchet, enclosing the Sylvester Robinson house
in a large (estimates range from 62 to 68 rooms), four-story mansion. The mansion's location was adjacent to
what is now Museum property, near the Visitors Center.
Sprague’s fortune and first marriage both came to an end in the mid-1870s. Sprague’s second marriage to a
wealthy Virginian (or perhaps West Virginian), Inez Calvert, resulted in the restoration of the mansion. In
1909 the mansion and property were sold to Sprague’s sister-in-law (and widow of his son William), Avis
Calvert Sprague Wheaton Borda. Before she could move in, the mansion burned to the ground. Avis maintained
the property as a working farm for years thereafter. The stables, now on Museum property, burned in 1950.
In 1973, the town of Narragansett acquired the 174-acre Canonchet Farm, much of it consisting of fresh- and
salt-water wetlands. South County Museum, which had been forced off its North Kingstown location because
of the expansion of Route 4, moved to the Farm in 1985.
In recent years, a trail system about 1.5 miles long has been created, half circling the museum. There are several
access points to the trails. One is from the southwest corner of the museum property, near the Living History
Farm. That is near the midpoint of the trails. Another is at the Narragansett Senior Center located near the
elementary school off Kingsown Road. The other access points are on Anne Hoxie Lane. (See map.)
Friends of Canonchet Farm is engaged in a continual effort to upgrade the trail system, remove invasive
species, and create a scenic park along the two lakes on the other side of Boston Neck Road (Route 1A) from the
Town Beach.
This volunteer group also organizes walks, guided by an expert such as geologist or an archeologist,on many
weekends throughout the year. Click on the name of the organization (above) for dates, times and other details.
Trail Map of Canonchet Farm
