Day Trips

Canal Days on the Blackstone River
With wheel barrows, shovels, pick axes, iron bars, and blasting powder, a thousand common laborers, many of them Irish immigrants, hand-dug the 45 mile length of the Blackstone Canal between 1825 and 1828. They worked from dawn to dusk, six days a week and were paid $12 a month. During this day trip, you'll explore the few remaining stone sections of the canal, walk the towpaths, examine a granite lock and see what they reveal about the men who built them.
9am	America's Second Revolution Begins on the Blackstone
At the Blackstone Valley Visitor's Center in Pawtucket, view the award-winning film "Hidden in the Blackstone Valley." It tells the story of the rise and fall of the textile mill industry on the Blackstone River, and the role it played in setting the American Industrial Revolution in motion. Pick up the highly informative and detailed John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor pamphlet on the Blackstone Canal while at the visitors center for guidance as you explore the various restored sections of the canal.
10:30am	Historic Canal Walk
Take a short stroll along a restored section of the canal at the Blackstone River State Park. The scenic park-like setting of the canal belies the nearly unimaginable human labor that went into its construction 176 years ago. A small canal museum in the historic Wilbur Kelley House c.1810 is part of the visit.
12pm	Another Look at the Valley's Highway of Water
While the construction of the Providence and Worcester Railroad caused the demise of the canal after just 20 years; the canal wasn't considered a failure (except to its investors). It turned Worcester and Providence into New England's second and third largest cities and cut transportation costs between the cities in half. At River Bend Farm, a pre-Revolutionary War dairy farm - turned canal interpretive center, you can walk along a restored section of the canal towpath and canal. This is also a perfect spot for a leisurely picnic lunch overlooking the canal and watching wildlife.
3pm	Lock No. 21
There were 48 granite locks and one wooden lock on the canal. The canal trench, lock and towpath in Millville were constructed in the fall of 1827 and spring of 1828 by Irish laborers, some of whom gained their quarrying experience building the Erie Canal. The same man who engineered the middle section of the Erie Canal designed the Blackstone Canal.
3:30pm	Blackstone Gorge State Park, Blackstone, MA
End your explorations of the Blackstone Canal on a dramatic note as you see the last wild stretch of the Blackstone River in all its untamed glory from an 80-foot high perch. The park is open daily from sunrise to sunset and at times, US Park Service Ranger tours are available. Call 401-762-0440 for more information
Explore Four Centuries of History in the Blackstone Valley
9:30am	A Century-old Century Carousel
Begin your day in Slater Park, and take a ride on the restored 1898 Charles Looff Carousel - a true folk-art masterpiece. This Looff carousel is known as a speed carousel. It is the country's largest collection of Looff leaping and standing horses.
10am	"Hidden in the Blackstone Valley"
View this award winning film at the Blackstone Valley Visitor's Center in Pawtucket, RI. This film will help you understand the reason why Congress decided that the Blackstone Valley was so important in American history that it turned it into a national heritage corridor in 1986, and designated the Blackstone River an American Heritage River - just one of 14 American water-ways to have this distinction. Before you leave, pick up brochures on the Valley's ice-cream shops - you'll need it later.
10:30am	Come Discover Another American Revolution With Us
While this one may not be as celebrated, its impact was certainly just as enormous. What we're talking about is the American Industrial Revolution, and it started at Slater Mill Historic Site. During this fascinating tour, you'll see flax grown and spun into linen, a waterwheel turning 19th century machinery, discuss child labor and how this still unsung 19th century revolution changed virtually every aspect of our daily lives. Call for tour times at 401-725-8638
12pm	A Real Diner Lunch
See how good the original fast food can taste at the Modern Diner. The first diner to be placed on the National Register of Historic Places, it is a custom-built Sterling Streamliner, a type of factory-made diner made in the late 1930's and 1940's.
2pm	Chase Farm
The Butterfly garden is a focal point at this historic dairy farm in Lincoln, Rhode Island that has been preserved for its historic value and open space.