Portsmouth (RI)

Where my eighth-great operated a ferry in the 1600s.

The next morning (see the preceding posts below), I still wanted to see Portsmouth and Tiverton, so we motored out of town and stopped at a nice rural bakery for the obligatory sugar and caffeine fix. We walked out on the bridge near where one of the early Wilcoxes apparently ran a ferry in the mid-1600s, and explored nearby areas around Tiverton where half the Wilcox clan rooted itself long ago. On the way back to Portsmouth, we stopped at the Anne Hutchinson Memorial at Founders Brook Park. My immigrant ancestor, Edward, was a likely follower of the rebellious Puritan Ms. Hutchinson.

At 3:00 pm on Monday, we were still in Rhode Island and I needed to be at work the next morning. The ten-hour marathon drive home took us through eight states: RI, CT, NY, NJ, PA, DE, MD, VA plus DC. A tough way to finish a trip, but we had a fabulous time in RI so I can’t really complain.

It would have looked a lot like this in the 1630s.

Looking across from Tiverton toward the Wilcox farm.

Old bridge to nowhere.

Shopping for lunch.

Brayton Point, largest coal power plant in New England.

Bike path to Portsmouth.

Another war memorial, another Wilcox.

Tiverton Four Corners.

Roughly where the original Wilcox farm was.