Drownville

Drownville. Harvest from the Land and Sea. , A family of shipbuilders, seafarers, and farmers, the Drowns settled in Bristol and Warren before the American Revolution. In the late 1700s, Jeremiah Drown began buying land in Barrington, and, in 1833, his son Alfred purchased 16 acres here with a house, barn, and corn house. The family also owned other sizeable parcels in the area that became known as "Drownsville" (later called West Barrington)., Starting in 1855, the Providence, Warren, and Bristol Railroad made three stops in Barrington, including one in Drownville. Anticipating a new wave of residents, businessman Henry Staples bought farmland adjacent to the downs in 1868, platted it, and started to sell house lots from First through Sixth Streets. In the ensuing years, several families, including the Blounts, moved to Drownville to begin oystering in the Providence River. Oysters were shipped by train to Providence, Boston, and beyond., In the early-twentieth century, farmland that had grown hay and grains for feeding livestock was sold for residential subdivisions. Potatoes, corn, onions, asparagus, broccoli, strawberries, and apples continued to be harvested from market gardens and orchards. Farmers, like Mr. Jencks on Lincoln Avenue, sold fresh local produce from their horse-drawn wagons, farm stands, and barns., After the 1938 hurricane, the railroad trestles between Providence and Bristol needed so much work that passenger service never returned. Freight trains continued to run until 1976. Eventually, Drownville Station fell into disrepair and was torn down. Between 1986 and 1992, the East Bay Bike Path was built on the old railroad bed. In 2005, through the efforts of the Barrington Preservation Society, the Alfred Drown Road section of once bustling Drownville was listed in the National and State Registers of Historic Places., [Captions:] , The Drownville Railroad Station, shown in this postcard was located just south of this sign. The Barrington United Methodist Church, built in 1875, is still in use today and is pictured on the far right.,

"Yup, you'd think that train would be on time once in a durn while!" , , Alfred Drown, a member of a prominent land-owning family in West Barrington, was a farmer who became Drownville Station Manager. Drown would storm away when a train was late, a constant source of amusement for locals. , From Anderson et al, Barrington Two-Hundredth Anniversary, 1970..

, Brothers F. Marshall and Charles Jencks sorted apples at their family farm on Lincoln Avenue since 1900. This farm, which was part of Drownville, was later sold to a developer who built Roberta Parck Plat., A promenade once existed along the waterfront on Appian Way. July 4, 1902 photo.