Hearthside House

Hearthside House is a stone mansion built around 1810 on Great Road in Lincoln, Rhode Island, now a historic house museum run by the Friends of Hearthside. It opens for guided tours on scheduled dates each month from March through December, and by appointment for groups; general admission is $12, $5 for ages 10 to 17. It has a direct link to Lincoln Woods State Park: RI DEM's history says the state's Metropolitan Park Commission met at Hearthside when it voted to go ahead with developing the park.

Visiting Hearthside

The Friends of Hearthside say the house and its sister sites are not open on a regular schedule, only on the dates on their published calendar, so check it before you go. On scheduled weekend days, tours start every hour on the hour and last about an hour, and the last admission is an hour before closing. Costumed guides lead you through three floors, from the parlour fireplace to the Colonial kitchen, where home-baked treats are often served, and up to the attic, where weavers once worked the looms.

Admission

• Adults: $12
• Ages 10 to 17: $5
• Members: free for general tours, with discounts on special exhibits and events

A Hearthside ticket on a general tour day also covers the other Great Road Heritage Campus sites, reached by shuttle van.

Accessibility and Parking

Hearthside has a ramp at the front door; inside, accessibility is limited to the first floor. The museum says parking is limited to the house's driveway, with accessible parking at the back by the ramp. Do not park in the small lot in front of the silos. On event days a signed grass lot opens across the street, and more parking is two driveways along at Chase Farm Park and the Hannaway Blacksmith Shop.

The House and Its Families

The Friends of Hearthside call the house the jewel of Great Road. It was the home of Stephen Hopkins Smith, and DEM's history dates it from 1810. Smith, the museum says, bought the bell of the British frigate HMS Guerriere, captured by the USS Constitution in the War of 1812, and hung it at his butterfly factory across the road. Later owners included Simon E. Thornton, whose 1873 wake the museum re-creates each October, and its last resident, antique-car collector E. Andrew Mowbray, who drove his 1922 Rolls-Royce as a chauffeur in The Great Gatsby, filmed in Newport in 1973.

Where Lincoln Woods Began

DEM's history of Lincoln Woods records that the Metropolitan Park Commission held its meeting at Hearthside and voted there to develop Lincoln Woods, which officially began on Abraham Lincoln's birthday, February 12, 1909. The Friends of Hearthside date that vote to 1908. Either way, this house on Great Road is where Rhode Island's first state park was set in motion. See the park's history.

Annual Events

The museum's calendar changes every year, but some programmes return:

• Afternoon Tea on the second Saturday in May, which the museum says sells out early.
• Gone But Not Forgotten: Victorian Mourning Customs each October, when the house is draped in black.
• Old Fashioned Christmas, with the rooms dressed for the season and candlelight tours.

The Great Road Heritage Campus

Hearthside anchors a group of historic buildings on Great Road, built in 1683 as the main road on the west side of the Blackstone River: the Hannaway Blacksmith Shop (1880), Pullen's Corner Schoolhouse (c.1850) and Moffett Mill (1812), all set against Chase Farm Park. The quarter-mile Moshassuck River Historic District along Great Road is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Pair It With the Park

Lincoln Woods' main entrance is off Great Road (Route 123). Spend the morning at Olney Pond or on the trails, then cross to Hearthside on a tour day. Check park hours and parking.