Monday, May 20, 2024

Rhode Island???s Historic Blackstone River Valley

Suggested events for October 29-30, 2016 Weekend??

SPOOK-TACULAR FUN & EXPLORATION!

With the autumn weekend of October 29-30 featuring the ghosts, ghouls and goblins trick or treating communities and neighborhoods, consider exploring haunted aspects of Rhode Island???s Blackstone River Valley National Historical Park.

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Recognized for being the actual birthplace of America???s Industrial Revolution, Blackstone River Valley is filled with many unique places, sites and destinations throughout Northern Rhode Island telling captivating stories impacting the area???s culture.??

During the last weekend of October, come and experience some of the many happenings themed for Halloween, plus get your last chance this season to see an American Heritage River in its autumnal splendor.

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Weekend Halloween Happenings

Thursday-Saturday, October 27-29, Slater Mill Historic Site, 67 Roosevelt Avenue, Pawtucket, RI presents Paranormal Workshops, with a special focus on the famed site that became our nation???s first successful manufacturing site in 1793.

October 27-28, at 7:30 pm, both days, join paranormal investigators Carl & Keith Johnson for their presentation on their investigation of ghosts on the famed location. Saturday, October 29, at 8pm, paranormal researcher Tom D???Agostino gives a lecture and presentation of haunted places in Rhode Island and his investigation of the Slater Mill and buildings.

For tickets and registration call 401-725-8638 or go to www.slatermill.org

Saturday night, October 29, at 6 pm, St. Ann???s Arts & Cultural Center, Cumberland Street, Woonsocket, RI, offers a Halloween Party inside this famed former Roman Catholic Church building, known for its renowned Fresco art.

The event, for adults 18 and over, includes, buffet, dancing, costume party and other fun surprises.

Tickets and information are available by calling 401-356-0713 or online at http://www.stannartsandculturalcenter.org/

Also, all weekend, many local farms offer activities on their sites. One location, Seven Cedars Farm, at George Washington Highway and John Mowry Road, Smithfield, RI presents Haunted Hayrides.??

Hayrides are $10 per person, just shy of a mile long, and follow winding wooded trails spanning more than 21 acres. Concessions, a heated waiting area, and movie before nearly mile-long ride. Rides every Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Fridays and Saturdays 7-10 p.m., with last ride leaving at 10 p.m.; Sundays 7-9 p.m.

For more information call 401-837-7153

Haunted history too!

There are many legends of ghostly horrors. But, one site in Blackstone River Valley, may not only be haunted with lost spirits of the dead, it also has a background of historical significance dating over 240 years.

In Cumberland, RI, located on the grounds of the Cumberland Public Library, on Diamond Hill Road, is a monument noting the site of the 1676 Nine Men???s Misery. This incident involved the murder of nine Colonial troops in a battle with Native Americans.

This early monument to veterans, commemorates “Pierce’s Fight,” when on March 26, 1676, a party of nine colonial militiamen, under the command of Captain Michael Pierce were pursued by marauding Indians and slaughtered at the site. The Nine Men’s Misery monument in Cumberland is located in a quiet, dark, uninviting place in the woods, near a former monastery that now has been replaced by a public library. The monument???piles of stones cemented together with a cement pillar next to the stone pile, and adorned with a plaque???sits on top of a hill in what was in 1676 a swampy area.??

More information about the site and the trail leading to it are online at www.cumberlandlibrary.org

Autumn on the Blackstone

October 29-30 is your last chance this season to experience the history and natural wonders of America???s hardest working river, the mighty Blackstone River, as tours wrap up aboard the 40 passenger tour vessel Blackstone Valley Explorer.

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River tours operate from Cold Spring Park, Woonsocket, RI, with Saturday October 29 tours focused on the environment, and Sunday, October 30 tours showcasing local history and nature.

Join on this 40-passenger tour boat as it brings you along for an intriguing and relaxing 45 minute long nature cruise down the Blackstone River. Come see the beauty of our nation???s hardest working river and learn its ecology and rich history. You will hear stories of the people from the entire Blackstone Valley, and may even get a chance to see the swan, heron, hawks, and turtles that live along this renewed waterway.

Over the last 23 years, the??Blackstone Valley Explorer??riverboat has brought hundreds of thousands of people on board, both young and old, to see the Blackstone River from a fresh perspective???to learn and discover a place that was once forgotten.

Each trip is a one-of-a-kind experience for you and your family to enjoy!

Sundays tours depart hourly at 1 pm, 2 pm, 3 pm and 4 pm

Saturday tours depart 1 pm and 2 pm, with more times added based on demand.

Tickets are $12/adults, $10/children and seniors. For reservations call the Blackstone Valley Tourism Council at 401-724-2200 or go online to www.rivertourblackstone.com