The latest in a series of columns by 'The Town Crier,' celebrating Little Compton's 350th anniversary this year:
During the nation’s Bicentennial in 1976, Little Compton chose to celebrate …
This item is available in full to subscribers.
Please log in to continue |
Register to post eventsIf you'd like to post an event to our calendar, you can create a free account by clicking here. Note that free accounts do not have access to our subscriber-only content. |
Are you a day pass subscriber who needs to log in? Click here to continue.
The latest in a series of columns by 'The Town Crier,' celebrating Little Compton's 350th anniversary this year:
During the nation’s Bicentennial in 1976, Little Compton chose to celebrate in many ways. Having just had a whiz-bang celebration the year before for the town’s 300th birthday, the Little Compton ’75-’76 committee was still on a high, and forged ahead for another year!
One of the most lasting projects from that celebration was the installation of the colonial style streetlights around the Common. (By the way, Little Compton has the only designated common in Rhode Island. Named and laid out in 1677, it consists of a triangle (now called Pike’s Peak) containing a town green, the Old Burying Ground, and the United Congregational Church).
These lights, replicas of the originals, were made possible by a grant from Bird and Sons, Inc., and donations from various citizens and organizations. Twelve lamps were spaced around the Common, with three others located on town or private property near the Common. Lamps were dedicated to Lester Wilbur, Katherine McMahon, Maggie Bodington, Nancy Almy, Pardon Brownell, Fred Smith, Arthur Snell, Richmond Elwell, Robert Whitmarsh, Warren G. Atwood, David and Dorothy Brayton, Lloyd Parsons, Mr. and Mrs. George Wyatt, Leonard Colt, Alice Bullock, and Edward Davenport.
The lanterns were fabricated by Maurice Fiola, a sheet metal worker (whitesmith) employed by the Metal Works at Tiverton Four Corners. Everything was crafted by hand, with tools that might have been used to fashion similar lamps in the 1800s. Air bubbles in the glass also make the lanterns look more authentic.
On July 4th, 1976, at 6:30 p.m. a lamp lighting ceremony was held at Pike’s Peak to dedicate the lanterns. Little Compton’s own former lamplighter, Richmond Elwell, was there to do the honors. Rich explained that as a schoolboy in 1915, lightning lamps on the Common was not that easy. He would have to carry the kerosene lamps (there were nine at that time) to his little work shed by the Village Improvement Society. He would trim and fill the lamps, then carry them back to place inside the glass enclosure. He was instructed to put only enough kerosene in each lantern to burn until midnight (This way it was never necessary to have anyone put OUT the lamps). If the lamps occasionally lasted beyond that time, citizens would complain about wasting money — and commented that “people should be in bed by that time anyway!”
Rich would climb the ladder with one lamp, flip open the door, place the lamp inside, turn it on, latch the door, step back to see if it was burning properly, climb back down the ladder, and proceed to the next lamppost. The last of the original lanterns anyone can remember being on the Commons was at the Brownell House, and that was removed over 90 years ago.
The late Carlton Brownell, Little Compton’s premier historian, once noted that during the 17th and 18th centuries, outside lightning was not the responsibility of the town. If there was any outside illumination, it was done by private citizens. The only exception was during town meetings when all citizens living around the commons would place candles in their windows. Outside lighting did not become common practice until gas came into being as fuel.
Rich Elwell was born in Little Compton on Dec. 17, 1901, the son of John Elwell and Amy Patience (Royce) Elwell. He attended the stone schoolhouse on Long Highway, and, because of a hearing problem, went to the Rhode Island Institute for the Deaf for a year to learn to lip read (there were no hearing aids at this time).
Rich had many jobs in his lifetime — working on a dairy farm for $15 a month, and working for the State of Rhode Island on the road crews when everything had to be done by hand. He helped to build the Acoaxet Club in Westport, and he was greenskeeper there for 10 years. He then started a dairy farm which he worked for about 30 years. He also worked at the Sakonnet Golf Club and cut and delivered wood to the Little Compton area. Rich died on Aug. 28, 1976, just a few months after lighting his last lantern.
Many of us remember The Browns singing “The Old Lamplighter” in 1960, music by Nat Simon and words by Charles Tobias — “He made the night a little brighter, wherever he would go, the old lamplighter of long, long ago.”
The village of Adamsville followed suit when in 1989 the Adamsville Historical Association presented similar lamps to the town of Little Compton. Funds for these lamps were provided by a grant from the Rhode Island Preservation Commission, multiple fund-raisers, and generous donations from citizens. The lamps were dedicated on July 3, 1989, when long time Adamsville resident John Hart switched them on for the first time.
These lamps were donated in memory of William Athington, John “Wes” W. Borden IV, Lloyd Case, Walter and Blanche Cook, Tom Moriarty, Waldo Hainsworth, Martin Walton Hopkinson, Herman, Maude and Nellie King, Olive R. Kneeland, Clair Simmons Manchester, Eleanor Gray Rosinha, the Town of Little Compton, Sara Ann Walsh, and to the friends of Abraham Manchester’s Restaurant.
NOTE: The town of Little Compton is currently restoring the lamps, and their wiring, to ensure the lamps will be lighting the Common and the village of Adamsville for many more years to come.