Farming has played a role since the beginning…
Thomas Greene Homestead, circa 1714, on Narragansett Hill…still standing…
October 10, 1894 Newspaper Account: “An Old House”:—“The chimneys and the original part of the old house were built as near as can be ascertained, a few years after the Shannock Purchase was made of the Narragansett Indians in 1709, probably in 1714. The old Colonial building shelters quite a museum of the early and later days as well as one of the most interesting facts connected with the place that related in the history of Westerly (‘Westerly and Its Witnesses’ by Frederick Denison) and ‘Potter’s History of the Narragansett Country’, as a well founded tradition, that a bloody battle between the Indian tribes, Pequots and Narragansetts, in which the latter were victorious, was fought on the hill and its slopes, the struggle being for control of the fishing falls. As a verification of this tradition many relics of Indian warfare have been turned up there with the plow, some thirty arrowheads having been picked up on a small plot for a garden this past season”.
Amos Greene Homestead…
Samuel Clarke Farm…The Providence Evening Bulletin reported on January 30, 1956—“A collection of documents, deeds, and records, some of them more than 300 years old, was uncovered last week in Charlestown. The brown and crumbling papers were found in a chest in the attic of a home built by Samuel Clarke in 1691, in Kenyon, and they reveal the life of the settlers who carved a state out of a new continent.”
“The earliest of the papers uncovered so far is dated March 1, 1641. It is a deed signed by the marks of Anaquatum and the name of Benedict Arnold. The Indian received a “pievce of cloth’ and a hoe for ‘all my land which I had lawfully impropriated and planted near the Pawcatuck Falls….”..This was just 5 years after Roger Williams had settled Providence…
“Another deed, of seemingly greater proportion, grants ‘all the land and whole hill called Pettaquamscutt…The paper is signed by the Indian Sachems, Qusequance and Kachaaguant with their marks.
Horseshoe Falls Farm Compound…(No Longer Standing).
Original Barn built by George Herbert Clark in 1883
Housed George Perry Clark’s Champion Golden Guernsey Cows for 40 years beginning in 1932
View from the steps of former Shannock Community Hall (No longer standing)
Main Street heading west…
Carpenter Shop…
View from corner of the Horseshoe Falls Inn, no longer… standing…
Stone wall at barn; Note former Shannock Community Center in background…
“Three imported cows were purchased in 1927, the same year the farm started processing and delivering milk, which was first sold to employees of the Columbia Narrow Fabric Co., of which Mr. Clark was the owner. Later, retail routes were started in Shannock, the nearby beaches and Providence, with milk sold under the Golden Guernsey label”. Westerly Sun 01-13-1974
“The Horseshoe Falls Farm provides a rustic and rural appearance in the village and the sight of a herd of cattle being led down the winding roads from pasture to barn was a sight residents and visitors never tired of. On many occasions traffic had to be held up while the cows made their way methodically down the road to the milking stalls”. Westerly Sun 01-13-1974
Heading toward Main Street…
For greener pastures…
Over The Bridge…often holding up traffic….
To the barn and field on the Charlestown side of the river…
Modern photo showing the former Hoxie Barn heading into the village….
Horse Shoe Falls Farm…
In 1974 the Westerly Sun reported: “For 40 years the Horse Shoe Falls Farm turned out rich Guernsey milk, sometimes 500 quarts a day. It was sold to dairies in Rhode Island and Connecticut. In its heyday the farm employed eight men.”
100% Pure Bred…
Caps…
Light Cream…
Grade “A”…
Supplied villagers and nearby towns…
Ordering!…
Charges…
Regular participant…
Competition…
September 9, 1936 Newspaper report: “The Horse Shoe Falls Farm of Shannock captured six ribbons at the Essex County Fair in Topsfield, Mass., with the nine pure bred Guernsey cattle which they showed. This is the first large fair in which the Horse Shoe Falls Farm has entered any of its cattle, and they are very pleased with the results”. Proud owner George P. Clark.