A Walking Tour of Wakefield, Rhode Island

By Doug Gelbert

There is no better way to see America than on foot. And there is no better way to appreciate what you are looking at than with a walking tour. Whether you are preparing for a road trip or just out to look at your own town in a new way, a downloadable walking tour is ready to explore when you are.

Each walking tour describes historical and architectural landmarks and provides pictures to help out when those pesky street addresses are missing. Every tour also includes a quick primer on identifying architectural styles seen on American streets.

A tavern and stagecoach stop were established here on the Post Road in 1745 and a snuff mill was built on the Saugatucket River by William McCoon around 1765. When mill owner Rowland Hazard changed the name of the village from McCoons Mill to Wakefield in the 1820s, supposedly after friends of his in England, the population was about 60. The industrial hamlet had almost as many businesses - a store, a carding mill, a grist mill, a saw mill and a blacksmith shop - as houses (9).

Through the 1800s the neighboring village of Peace Dale usurped Wakefield as the manufacturing center of South Kingstown and instead developed as a commercial center. Wakefield has remained so ever since and in 1966 the village center along Main Street (the old Boston Post Road) between Belmont Avenue and Columbia Street was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Our walking tour will explore Main Street and we’ll start at the top, at Columbia Street, and work our way down...

• Language: English
• Publisher: Doug Gelbert
• Release date: Feb 13, 2011
• ISBN: 9781458106544

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A Walking Tour of Wakefield, Rhode Island

a walking tour in the Look Up, America series from walkthetown.com

by Doug Gelbert

published by Cruden Bay Books at Smashwords

Copyright 2010 by Doug Gelbert

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system without permission in writing from the Publisher.

A tavern and stagecoach stop were established here on the Post Road in 1745 and a snuff mill was built on the Saugatucket River by William McCoon around 1765. When mill owner Rowland Hazard changed the name of the village from McCoons Mill to Wakefield in the 1820s, supposedly after friends of his in England, the population was about 60. The industrial hamlet had almost as many