Exhibit tells the story of Warren's Touisset

Two-day show this weekend at old Touisset Post Office

Posted 5/19/16

Separate from the rest of Warren, the Touisset section of town has always been its own place. Now, the voices of nearly a dozen of its residents and historical records seeks to tell the unique story …

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Exhibit tells the story of Warren's Touisset

Two-day show this weekend at old Touisset Post Office

Posted

Separate from the rest of Warren, the Touisset section of town has always been its own place. Now, the voices of nearly a dozen of its residents and historical records seeks to tell the unique story of Warren’s most isolated, idyllic — and swiftly changing — neighborhoods.
The Warren Preservation Society (WPS) will unveil its newest oral history exhibit: “A Place Apart: the evolving landscape of Touisett,’ this Saturday and Sunday, May 21 and 22. The exhibit tells the story of Touisset’s settlement and how it has changed over the years. It features video-based oral interviews of residents, as well as old maps, photos and artifacts spanning 140 years.
The WPS Oral History Project team (Jill Culora, Doug Hinman, Wendy Farr, Kristin MacDonald, Jane Macdougall, and Darby Pontes) have spent the past two years working on the project, which involved researching the area and recording interviews with Touisett residents –– those who live at the point, the farmers and people who have recently made Touisset their home. The exhibit will be held at the former Touisset Post Office (next door to the Touisset Community Club) at 22 Touisset Road, from noon to 3 p.m. both days. The event is free and all members of the community are welcome to attend.
At its heart, the project tells the story of Touisset through the eyes of its residents. They include:
Lorraine Gardner
Ms. Gardner, 84, and her late husband, Dan, were descended from two local farm families, the Figueiredo Farm off Asylum Road and the Gardner Farm in Touisset, part of which was sold to the Manchester Farm. Lorraine's parents met when they both worked at the Colt Farm in Bristol. When Lorraine was seven years old, her father died suddenly leaving her mother to run the farm and raise eight children.
“We weren't allowed to go down to the Point. You had to be a resident of the Point to enjoy any of their fun down there. They wouldn't even let the people who LIVED there go into the store. They were very tough on that.”
Byron Kee
Well-known farmer Byron Kee, has spent his entire 62 years living on and working the land purchased by his great-grandfather for a dairy farm in 1878. Now retired from National Grid, Mr. Kee always loved the farm and grew up with his grandfather, who was born there in 1880 and took over the farming when his grandfather was too old to do it. When dairy farming became unprofitable, the Kee Farm turned to agriculture and raising cattle.
“Going back, if you were leaving Touisset and you didn't hit it right, everybody used to put their cows across the street. You'd hit Rodrigues, you'd hit Manchester's and you'd hit us, and by the time they got here, people would be mad, because they'd have to stop for the cows to cross the street.”
Tara Kee Thibaudeau
Ms. Thibaudeau is the eldest of five Kee daughters whose children are the sixth generation to experience life on the Kee Farm. There was freedom to wander and explore and independence was learned at an early age, according to Tara. Claiming to have the best of both worlds, Tara lives near the center of Warren with her husband and children, but they are at the farm often. 
“This is just my comfort zone. You melt right back into place. It's hard to explain, but Touisset is its own entity in my mind. It's not like in town, it's its own special place.”   
Genevieve Blinn
Ms. Blinn was a city girl born in Pawtucket in 1923 who married a farm boy from Long Lane.  She and her husband, William, moved to the Blinn Farm in 1948 when Will's parents died. Will and his brother raised veal calves there for many years. Genevieve still lives on the farm along with one of her sons.
“There's something about people on the farm that they solve their own problems, because they have a good way of communication, because when you come right down to it, that's all you've got.  So you either survive it or you don't, simple as that. Right?”
John Sousa
Being with his eight children every day while he worked was the best part of farming life for John Sousa.  As was the case with other area farmers, John's parents worked at the Colt Farm before buying their Touisset land in the 1930s. John and his son now raise cattle on 10 acres of the former 60-acre dairy farm where he was born 74 years ago.
“The land down here became so valuable … like in my situation, my parents bought it and they probably paid around $5,000 for the whole farm. And when I was ready to take it over, the land value was probably worth  $300,000 to $400,000. I just couldn't afford it. And in some cases there were no children that wanted to take over the farm, so there was just no future for it. So that's what happens to farm land in the long run, it has to be sold off and subdivided.”
Ron Rodrigues
Before starting his own dairy farm in 1943, Ron Rodrigues' immigrant grandfather worked at Touisset's Coggeshall Farm. Ron, now 75, recalls a childhood driving horse and buggy around Touisset roads and enjoying 1,000 acres of playground. Ron's son lives next door and works with his father on a portion of the original farm.
“It's a shame that the farms today, the only way they can survive is planting houses. That breaks my heart to see a perfectly good field that I can remember a farmer busting his chops trying to plant and make a living on, it's all houses now.  It breaks my heart to see those things.”
Phyllis Manchester-Masteka
The Manchester Brothers' Farm was Touisset's largest dairy farm, comprising 200 acres and 100 cows when Phyllis Manchester-Masteka was born in 1948.  Phyllis' father was one of five brothers to run the farm, overseen by Phyllis' widowed grandmother. Today, Phyllis and her husband Fred still live on a portion of the property where much of the farm acreage is now permanently preserved as open space.
“When my grandfather died, my grandmother managed the farm and that's when they purchased this side of the road and they built the big, long barn and other things. This was part of a larger estate, the houses in this vicinity right here, and part of the barn, and the stone barn, and the out buildings were part of the Gardner Estate. My grandfather purchased some of it, and my grandmother and some of my father’s brothers had part of it.”
Paul Baggott
Paul Baggott was born and lived in Providence but his father worked in Warren at Country Club Cleansers, the family’s laundry business since 1927. In 1950, when Paul was three, his parents discovered Touisset.  For the next 18 years, Paul spent his summers barefoot and out of doors swimming and sailing at the Point. He fondly remembers activities at the Community Club and all the lasting friendships he made. He and his wife and family have lived year-round in Touisset since 1987.
“I would go out to this island out here, called Spar Island. And Spar Island for three years had a concession stand and a cook and another guy lived there in one little shack on this little sand island, right out here, and you could get any kind of breakfast food and you could get lunch. And on weekends there would be over 100 boats all around the island.  It was just the greatest little place.”
Cam Stevenson
Cam Stevenson's family lived in Attleboro when his great-grandmother built a summer house in Touisset Point in 1904. Since 1950, Cam, 69, has spent summers in the house, which still has no heat or indoor shower.
“We would shop in Warren, but yeah, I suppose we would say we felt separated from Warren.”
Betty MacKenzie
Betty MacKenzie moved with her first husband to Touisset Point in 1949 when she was 23 years old. Her husband's family owned a house there. The first house she lived in at the Point was the original farmhouse, belonging to Josiah Coggeshall that dated back to at least 1864. In addition to the barn which is no longer standing, Betty reports that the house had a windmill, a blacksmith shop and a carriage house.
“There were a lot of people primarily from Attleboro and Pawtucket and they kind of cloistered here. There were several Attleboro families here. They used to come by train. There was a little train station here in Touisset and then they'd take a horse and buggy to come to here. 

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