Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1859-07-07
Correspondence of the Spy.
LETTER FROM FALL RIVER.

Pdkdaoket-Jiount Hope-hing Phitip-FdH
Ricer, It's Situation, Business, &c.
FALL RIVER.
In my last, which was dated at Newport,
had not room to speak of the prospects of that
place for the present watering season, which
was then just opening. Newport, if it is not
already the greatest place of resort, in the sum-
mer, for the people of leisure and those in pur
suit of health, recreation, and comfort, who
have the means, it will shortly become SO. l
understand that rooms are engaged at the pub
lie houses, and cottages and other residences
that are rented during the summer months are
taken up, to an extent never before known;
and, although large additions have been made
to the accommodations of the place since the
close of the last season, no doubt is entertained
that they will all be required for the coming
tide, which now sets so strongly toward it. 1t
is not strange that it should be so. No other
place in the country combines so many advan-
tages for summer residence. Its delicious
climate is unrivalled, the heat of summer peing
always allayed by the afternoon sea breezes, so
that the thermometer rarely indicates tenn
perature above 80 deg. The whole island is
beautiful in form, slopimg gently each way
from the nearly central ridge to the waters of
the bay; it is naturally fertile, and is highly
cultivated; its roads are excellent, and the
various drives to different parts are picturesque
and delightful in the extreme. About the
town are sundry interesting places, as "Purga.
tory" the Town Beach and Long Beach, Bren.
tons Point, Tammany Hill, Fort Adams in the
harbor, &c. Its facilities for sea bathing are of
the best kind With these and other advan-
tages in its favor, it is not strange that it should
become great central place of resort, and ac-
cordingly we find the suburbs of the town rap
idly extending in nearly all directions. Lands
suitable for genteel villas have been sold at
almost fabulous prices, and still maintain their
value. Many genteel residences, with beauti-
full ornamental grounds adjoining, have been
constructed within a few years past, and the
circle of genteel society, consisting OF families
of wealth and leisure, embracing also some of
the leading Rteruti of the country, is every
year extending, so that, at no distant period,
the older and more compact town will be en-
circled with another newer and more extern
sive, of semi-palatial residences, embowered
with trees and shrubbery, and accompanied by
the most beautiful and highly cultivated gar
dens and ornamental grounds.
The sail from Newport to this place on a
fine summers morning is very delightful, and
l enjoyed it much. For quiet beauty, the
Narragansett Bay and its adjacent waters have
long been justly celebrated. AS we leave the
town, Rhode Island stretches away to the
northward on the right, while the almost equal
ly beautiful Canonicut is on the left succeed
ed soon by Prudence, and other smaller isl
ands, while beyond, at the west on the Nara
gansett shore are several villages, their white
dwellings gittering with the reflected light of
the morning sun. Then the old and quiet
towns of Bristol and Warren are seen little
in the distance at the northward as we yeer
northeasterly and enter Mount Hope Bay, and,
after passing the north end of Rhode Island,
the high and somewhat rugged Pocasset shore,
clad with verdure and dotted with country
residences, extends on our right northward to
Fall River.
All this region is rich with the reminiscent
ces of our early colonial history Here, on
the west side of the bay, on the shores of the
peninsula of Pokanoket, rises Mount Hope,
celebrated as the residence of the famous
Wampanoag chief, King Philip, the terrible
enemy of the whites, whose bravery, skill, and
energy, about fifty years after the first settle
ment of Plymouth cost them the loss of about
six hundred souls, and, for a time, apparently
threatened the total destruction of all the Eng
fish settlements in New England. ToAaS=ks<a.
place has an added interest, in ti1 fact that if
was formerly the fresebsoldI' of nav e onco ~
tors. Would th9Htosr the recollection "n wero
h hos s sauuep IeIss 5y the knowledge that it
l, aor1 I.I : Been the property of one whose
, me-, Z Health was accumulated in the bloody,
: 5Nsfderous, and accursed African slave trade.
Fall River is situated at the head of Mount
Hope Bay, at the union of Taunton River with
the bay The eastern shore ofthe bay rises very
abruptly to height of about one hundred and
fifty feet from the water. On this activity,
and on the table land which spreads out from
the summit beyond, stands the town or rather
city of Fall River. 1t takes its not very Gu
phonious name from the stream, which, in
former days, poured its ample waters down
this declivity of one hundred and fifty feet,
tumbIing, roaring, and foaming, into the waters
below, forming one of the most romantic and
picturesque cascades in the country. But the
picturesque and romantic are all gone now
they have been offered up as sacrifice to Plu-
tus, for where the claims of Mammon conflict
with those of taste and beauty, the latter rare
ly prevail. All adown the gorge, where these
waters once rushed so wildly and madly, now
stand immense structures of granite, one sue
ceeding another, each accompanied by its
quiet little pool of water, from which the mo-
tive power is applied, entirely out of sight, to
the machinery within and, for the roaring of
the cataract, we now have the racket of the
shuttle and the hum Of the cotton picker.
The country about Fall River is hard and
rough, Astounding with immense boulders of
coarse granite of peculiar dull pinkish shade,
which split out with great facility, and furnish
hardy and strong material for building. The
view from the town, westward, embracing the
waters and shores of Mount Hope and Nara
gansett bays, Taunton River, Pappoosquash
Point, and other interesting localities, is one of
SURPRISING beauty. The business of the place is
confined almost entirely to its manufactures,
and to so much commerce as is required to
furnish the necessary supplies to them and the
resident population. The number of inhabi-
tants in 1866 was 1850, and the population
has not essentially changed since that time.
G.