On the western shore of Narragansett Bay, just inside of Point Judith,
stood the little fishing village of Narragansett Pier, originally
named from its ancient, sea-battered and ruined pier, built for a
breakwater in early times, which has since become one of the most
fashionable New England coast resorts, having many large hotels
spreading in imposing array along the shore. The smooth sands of its
bathing-beach look out upon Newport far over the bay and behind
Conanicut Island in front. Upon the southern border of this beach
there are precipitous cliffs against which the Atlantic Ocean breakers
dash, the last rocks on the coast of the United States until the
Florida reefs are reached. The famous Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry
was a native of this town, born in 1785, a midshipman in the war with
Tripoli, and the victor in the naval battle on Lake Erie in 1813. His
brother, Commodore M. C. Perry, born in Newport in 1794, commanded the
noted expedition to Japan in 1852-54, and concluded the treaty with
that country, cementing the friendly relations with the United States
ever since existing. The celebrated portrait painter Gilbert Stuart
was also a native of this place, born in 1755, his portrait of
Washington being regarded as the best existing. The western shores of
the bay north of the Pier are lined with coast resorts. Here is quaint
old Wickford, on Coweset Bay, which has a ferry twelve miles across to
Newport, and still exhibits the "Rolling Rock," where Canonicus and
Roger Williams are said to have signed their compact, and the old
Blockhouse built for a defense in 1641. Farther northward is the
ancient Shawomet, whither Samuel Gorton came, changing its name to Old
Warwick in honor of his friend and patron, the Earl of Warwick. It
appears that Gorton, a layman, who had a penchant for theological
disputation, made himself obnoxious to the Plymouth Puritans in the
early colonial time, and they banished him in 1637. He went to Newport
and expressed his opinions too freely, and was banished thence in
1641. Wandering to Providence, he was driven from there to Cranston,
nearby, the next year, and again expelled from Cranston a few months
later, and he finally settled at Shawomet. But they still pursued him,
and in 1643 a detachment of troops came from Boston and took him and
ten others back as prisoners, and they were tried and sentenced as
"damnable heretics" to banishment from America. Gorton sought
Warwick's protection, and the Earl sent him back to Shawomet, where he
lived undisturbed, but, after changing its name, spent the rest of his
life in publishing pamphlets attacking Massachusetts and Rhode Island,
among them being the "Antidote Against Pharisaic Teachers" and
"Simplicitie's Defence against Seven-Headed Policy." The next thing of
note occurring in Warwick was the disfranchisement, in 1652, of the
clerk of the unfortunate town on seven charges: first, calling the
officers of the town rogues and thieves; second, calling all the town
rogues and thieves; third, threatening to kill all the mares in town,
etc. In 1676 the Indians attacked and burnt it, and since, it has had
little history. General Greene was a native of Warwick, born in 1742.
In sailing up Narragansett Bay, one is struck with the universality
of the prolific crop of these waters,--the clam. Many of the
inhabitants seem to spend much of their time gathering them; men and
boys in boats are dredging all the coves and shallows for the clams,
seizing enormous numbers by the skillful use of their handy double
rakes. These people are proud of their home institution, the Rhode
Island "clam-bake," which is a main-stay of all the shore resorts, and
is considered a connecting link, binding them to the Narragansetts,
who originated it. To properly conduct the "clam-bake" a wood fire is
built in the open air, upon a layer of large stones, and when these
are sufficiently heated, the embers and ashes are swept off, the hot
stones covered with sea-weed, and clams in the shells, with other
delicacies, put upon it, being enveloped by masses of sea-weed and
sail-cloths to keep in the steam. The clams are thus baked by the
heated stones, and steamed and seasoned by the moisture from the salt
sea-weed. The coverings are then removed, the clams opened, and the
feasting begins. With appetite whetted by the delicious breezes coming
over the bright waters of the bay, the meal is relished beyond
description. There are millions of clams thus consumed, but their
growth is enormous, and the supply seems perennial. The chief of these
places is Rocky Point, a forest-covered promontory, the favorite
resort of the population of the Rhode Island capital, where the
"clam-bakes" have acquired great fame.