History of Lincoln Woods

Lincoln Woods State Park is Rhode Island's first state park. RI DEM's history says Lincoln Woods State Reservation began officially on Abraham Lincoln's birthday, February 12, 1909, and the park was named after the 16th President. It was assembled by purchase, gift and condemnation from the farms and woodlots of the Olney, Arnold, Comstock and Mitchell families of Lincoln, and has grown to 627 acres ringing Olney Pond.

The First Purchase

The park began with Quinsnicket Pond. In the fall of 1908, DEM says, the state's Metropolitan Park Commission bought seventy-one acres there from the Stephen H. Smith family of Franklin, Massachusetts, for $3,000. Between 1908 and 1910 it bought 457.41 acres to make up the woods and small ponds of Lincoln Woods, and by 1918 the park covered 458 acres, most of it on the north side of Olney Pond, which by then had a small beach.

Named on Lincoln's Birthday

DEM's history records that the commission met at Hearthside, the 1810 stone mansion on Great Road, and voted there to go ahead with developing the park, which officially started on February 12, 1909, Lincoln's birthday. Hearthside is still standing and open for tours; see Hearthside House. The Friends of Hearthside give the date of that vote as 1908; this site follows DEM's date.

Why the State Built It

The money came from a $250,000 open-space bond that Rhode Island voters approved in 1906 for the new Metropolitan Parks Commission, created by the General Assembly in 1904–1905. DEM traces the idea to the Public Park Association, a volunteer group formed in the 1880s that pushed for a ring of parks round Providence to improve public health and recreation. Until Goddard Memorial State Park was given to the state in 1927, Lincoln Woods was the centrepiece of that system, the largest of the parks within six to eight miles of central Providence, linked by scenic parkways.

Mills Before the Park

DEM's history describes the land as a rugged, hilly upland strewn with giant boulders, farmed as fields and springs for two centuries. Olney Pond itself is more man-made than natural: the Olney family dammed a meadow at the east end to power a three-storey wooden thread mill built by George Olney, with worker houses and a store beside it. A second mill, the Manchester Print Works, stood on today's entrance road near the ranger booth and covered bridge. It finished cloth with colours and designs and, DEM notes, burned down twice and blew up once from a defective boiler. The park's address, Manchester Print Works Road, keeps its name.

Zachariah Allen's Woodlot

Part of the Quinsnicket land was a 40-acre woodlot belonging to the industrialist and inventor Zachariah Allen. In 1820, at 25, he began replanting a worn-out pasture with trees as a business experiment, keeping a diary and ledger for 67 years. DEM says some forestry experts consider it the first such effort in the country. Allen also founded the Factory Mutual Fire Insurance Company, today FM Global. Zachariah Allen Spring is marked on the park map.

Olmsted's Influence

DEM credits the park's original design to the influence of the famous landscape firm Olmsted Brothers. Visitors first came by trolley to the Quinsnicket station on Breakneck Hill; today they come by car.

The Park Grows

Over the century the park grew to 627 acres round the pond, with playing fields to the south, changing rooms for swimmers, a snack bar, a nature barn and park offices. DEM's history counts two freshwater beaches, 176 picnic tables, 134 fireplaces, a bathhouse, fishing and boating facilities, ice skating, three game fields, hiking trails, six miles of horse trails and three miles for snowmobiles. In 1977 the swimming area was dedicated as Frank Moody State Beach; see the beach.

Lincoln Woods Today

RI DEM's Division of Parks & Recreation runs the park, free to enter and open sunrise to sunset all year. DEM calls it one of the Blackstone Valley's greatest treasures and a popular getaway for northeastern Rhode Islanders, a short ride from Providence, Pawtucket and Cumberland. Start with hours and fees, parking and Olney Pond.