Bay Spring

Bay Spring. Barrington's Industrial Center.

"Campers all helped each other pitch tents, which had a big pole in the middle. The tents were up all summer long and Labor Day, down they'd come. There would be at least a hundred of them." , - Mary Clare Feeley, a summer resident of Bay Spring from 1928-1955

, During the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, a summer colony of small cottages developed in Bay Spring. The railroad brought day visitors, cottage owners, and families who rented tents in a campground (at what is now Lavin's Marina on Narragansett Avenue) to enjoy the cool breezes off the Providence River, swim, boat, fish, dig clams, gather oysters, and dance at the Bay Spring Yacht Club., Bay Spring was also Barrington's industrial center. "Annawomscutt" Mill was built in several phases between 1905 and 1914. One of the brick buildings still stands on Bay Spring Avenue, significant as the last surviving industrial structure in Barrington. Initially a knitting mill, the building later housed a factory for dyeing and finishing cotton goods. In 1911, it became O'Bannon Mill, ultimately the largest manufacturer of imitation leather in the country, primarily for the automobile industry. Subsequent owners included Collins and Aikman, producers of cotton goods such as tent material for world war two troops. In 1959, it was the town's largest employer with 325 workers., Farther west on Bay Spring Avenue was the Rhode Island Lace Works, built in 1904. Here, fine lace for items such as wedding dresses, hat veils, and curtains was manufactured for customers around the world until the factory closed in 1990. The building was demolished thereafter, making way for an assisted living facility., The brackish waters in Bullock's Cove created ideal conditions for oystering, another profitable industry. At one time there were three oyster houses there, helping to make Barrington the second largest oyster grower in Rhode Island in 1885., [Captions:] , Workers from the O'Bannon Mill pose in this 1916 photo. The brick structure, visible from this sign, is the largest industrial building remaining from Barrington, and, since 1997, has served as senior housing., Lace from Rhode Island Lace Works, Clamming was common in Bullock's Cove. Summer residents Hatti Clark and Alice Josselyn are shown circa 1910., The Bay Spring Yacht Club was built circa 1910. Vacationers and local residents played billiards and card games on the lower level; dances and stage shows were held upstairs. the building was destroyed by the 1938 hurricane.