Gilbert Stuart's Birthplace
The
Gilbert Stuart Birthplace is a multifaceted attraction that takes one on a journey
back in time. Not only is it a showplace for reproductions of the works of one
of America’s foremost portrait painters, it is an authentically restored and
furnished workingman’s
home and the site of the first snuff mill in America. The lovely wooded homestead
on the banks of the Mattatuxet Brook also features a partially restored grist
mill and a fascinating fish ladder. In spring the ladder is packed with migrating
herring, swimming furiously to reach the pond above the mill dam. The grist
mill houses the original fine-grained granite stones used to grind corn for
the famous Rhode Island Johnny Cakes. |
Stuart’s Birthplace is unique
because it was both a family dwelling and a place of industry. Beneath the
window of Gilbert’s tiny room rushed the diverted mill stream, pushing the
huge wooden undershot water wheel that drove his father’s snuff mill. During
restoration of the birthplace in the 1930’s, a new wheel was built, exactly
like the old one. A snuff mill used in the late 1700’s was sent from England
and installed on the exact spot of the original basement of the family home.
Visitors are fascinated by the turning wooden gears and teeth that tediously
ground tobacco into snuff for the genteel and fashionable men of New England. |
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