Day 8: First Baptist America & the Adams Family

We slept in a little later today and ended up leaving New Haven around ten. Leaving Connecticut, we drove into Rhode Island. Since this is the smallest state, in virtually no time we were in Providence. As I mentioned yesterday, Providence was my city to research and plan. Providence, a colonial settlement, was founded by Roger Williams, a Puritan from London fleeing religious persecution. He was one of the pioneers for religious liberty and fought for our right to worship according to our own convictions and not a government-mandated religion. We still enjoy the freedom for which he fought. He also founded the first Baptist congregation in the United States. In preparation for our visit, I assigned some preliminary reading for the rest of the family. Surprisingly, they agreed and all completed the 128-page book, Roger Williams: Defender of Freedom. Of course, I believe the book genuinely enriched our experience, but I’m not sure what the others would say.

Upon arrival in Providence, we drove by the state capitol on the way to the Roger Williams National Memorial Visitor’s Center. There we watched a film and talked to a very knowledgeable and informative park ranger. After talking to him and the other friendly employees at the visitor’s center, we walked through a park and down the street to the First Baptist Church in America. A guide showed us the inside of the building and shared some more history with us. The church today is still used by a congregation of about 100 people (of the American Baptist Convention.) Historically, diplomas of Brown University graduates have been awarded in the church. Today the tradition continues as students walk down the hill from the university to the church to receive their diplomas and then back to the university for the remainder of the commencement program.


We walked from the church to the Roger Williams National Memorial, a small park-like area overlooking the city that holds what is left of his remains. (This happens to mean nothing but dust from his original grave.) Supposedly, a tree root wrapped around his decaying body and “ate” his remains. Dirt from that grave was transferred to this site where a monument was erected in his honor.


Before leaving Providence, we explored the campus of our third Ivy League school, Brown University. We went to the library where one of Roger Williams’ Bibles is kept, but they would not let us see it. Please. We walked around the quad and then made our way out of Providence and on to Pawtucket, RI, where we saw the historic Slater Mill. They claim this is where the American Industrial Revolution began with the cotton industry. According to Fowler, the enterprise just “went South from there.”


On to our next state, Massachusetts! Tonight we’re staying in Quincy, MA, just outside of Boston. We drove by the Gillete Stadium of the New England Patriots on our way to the hotel. We ate dinner at a big mall and then went to see the famous Quincy sites, all involving the presidential Adams family. We saw the birthplaces of both John Adams (2nd president) and John Quincy Adams (6th president) as well as the church where both of these men and their wives are buried. We saw the Adams family homestead and garden. All very early-American.


Early in the morning we are heading into Boston and plan to be there for three days! Looking forward to being there this close to Independence Day... we hear it's a happening place this time of year!