Smith Appleby House Part 2

The oldest portion of the house dates to about 1696, built when Elisha Smith, (b.1680 – d.1766), came from Providence and constructed a single room home with a small loft, likely covered with a thatch roof. (Today this room is called the Keeping Room, and is the first stop when giving tours.) The house is said to have been a “stone-ender”, meaning, one wall was composed entirely of stone, which wasn’t unusual for the time. This stone wall contained a large fireplace used for cooking and heat. While there has been some debate in recent years as to the original house being a stone ender, the hearthstones, worn smooth by centuries of foot traffic, indicate they are original to the house. When visiting the Smith-Appleby House, stop to consider the conversations that have taken place in the Keeping Room. There people debated and discussed topics of their day such as the American Revolution, the American Civil War and slavery, as well as World Wars I and II. Elisha Smith was a farmer, and he eventually acquired 721 acres of land surrounding the present-day house. In addition to farming, he built two mills on his land. The remains of one of these mills can still be seen today at the rear of the house along the shore of Georgiaville Pond. Elisha married Experience Mowry, and together they had ten children; seven boys and three girls. As the sons got older, the land was subdivided into 100 acre parcels among them. It doesn’t appear the girls inherited any of the land. Elisha died in 1766 and was among the first to be buried in the cemetery located on the grounds of the house. film by Handyman studio 68 All information presented was independently researched and created by Handy Man Studio 68.” “This content was independently developed and produced by HMS68 “All material here was independently sourced and created by HMS68 The historic Smith-Appleby House Museum located at 220 Stillwater Road in Smithfield, Rhode Island entering building $.8.00 adults free children , membership $10.00 stay tune next videos As we more coming soon. Thank you for watching ..