Fun Take Four: Historic Pawtucket

I had some lovely childhood friends in from out of town. Since 2 of them were "with child" I tried to think of something that would honor their condition and not ask too much of them physically. But it seems the Gods on Mount Olympus decided that last Sunday was the day to punish me for my life long hubris.

PLAN A)
take a ride on the HISTORIC Slater Mill Carousel.

What Actually Happened: the friggin Carousel is closed due to renovations till late September, renovations that include a small sign warning of lead abatement. what a wonderful combination gestating humans + lead.

all was not lost since, we did bump into a wiffle ball tournement in Slater Park


(yes that bouncy tunnel does say "strong communities")

Dagget Farm. a sleepy little petting zoo, which you are not allowed to pet the 5 grizzled animals trapped in the faux farm setting. our favorite was the fabulously chubby pig.

(this is a pony the pig was sleeping by the time i got close enough to snap a photo with my camera)

we also found this non-academic representation a dinosaur or a stumpy stumpy giraffe.


also noteworthy was the graphic design displayed at the attached snack bar.



PLAN B)
a tour of the HISTORIC SLATER MILL HISTORIC SITE, historic historic historic
I think Slater Mill is awesome, my summer reading is focused on the huge cultural change that happened because of the industrial revolution, esp. the labor history of Rhode Island and the southern slave labor that fueled all that darned technological innovation.

having said that i assumed that the tour would be an hour tops. but no no no no.
my third trimester friends were forced to stand for two hours in the August sun.
I mean we learned a lot.
but it is weird to interact with people in historical costumes who kinda go in and out of character as they feed you tid-bits of information.

this is the pre-industrial new england farm house

How to make linens.

Beat the flax.


this is what flax looks like up close.



make flax into thread on the little spinning wheel



or on the big spinning "walking" wheel


(please note the non-historic motion detector and electric wall outlet).

On to the MACHINE SHOP

the coolest thing ever. is seeing how the water wheel worked.

the water turned the wheel. the wheel turned the stick thingy that went upstairs. the stick thingy turned and turned a metal rod that went the length of the machine shop-when belts are connected to the turning thing they run the machines.






no rest for the weary.

and on to the MILL
but first lets take a moment and consider
The River that changed the world
THE MIGHTY BLACKSTONE


inside the mill we learned how to make thread from cotton. from our guide and a carved 10 year old boy.


what you should know is all the machines in the mill are killers, they killed children they pulled out their hair, tore off their limbs, decapitated them and/or just crushed them into impoverished slurry. our guide told us this and made us sad.


making thread
you take the cotton fibers and you beat the crap out of them, comb them.
and you pinch them, you humiliate them.

this machine is rad it makes shoe laces for lucky shoes.

ever wonder how come your tshirts don't have side seams? its cause they knit them in circles.


after this we were tired. we were weary. we were grateful for our clothes. our thread-filled clothes with zippers.