Looking Back: Historic Tales of Newport County (204 pages), the sixth in a series of books on local history, by Faculty Emeritus James E. Garman. The book, signed by the author, is a collection of five individual articles recounting different aspects of Newport County history. Also included are 143 historic photographic images, many from the author's collection.
The book includes articles on (1) the Portsmouth Coal Mine, (2) Tiverton's Soule-Seabury House, (3) Prohibition in this area, (4) a photo tour of Portsmouth a hundred years ago and (5) photographs of the local aftermath of the 1938 and 1954 hurricanes.
The Portsmouth coal mine functioned at Arnold's Point off and on from 1809 until 1913. There were many start-up and shut-down operations. Also included here is a brief history of the Taunton Copper Works which functioned at Arnold's Point.
The Soule-Seabury House, a large, federal style home, has stood at Tiverton Four Corners for over 200 years. The house and the Soule and Seabury families have a vast history going back to the earliest days of our history.
The family histories are chronicled in this account.
The Prohibition era (1920-1933) was a fascinating period in local history.
This account focuses mainly on the rum-running activity in the Sakonnet River and surrounding areas. It also includes the autobiographical account of a local rum-runner who used ³Herb Reed² as one of his aliases.
O.E. Dubois (c.1863-1940) was a Fall River itinerant photographer who toured the Sakonnet area in the first decade of the 20th century recording images of the local area. This article has as its focus Portsmouth in 1908. It is a tour of just what the town looked like a hundred years ago.
Photographs of the local aftermath of the devastating hurricanes of 1938 and 1954 were taken by a local professional photographer, Edith Richardson. This is a photo-essay of her work taken around Aquidneck Island in the days immediately following the storms. This collection, previously unpublished, provides a fascination look at the storm damage aftermaths.
