Local historian (and ex-skinny-dipper) leads tour of old 'swimming hole'

By BETH HURD

When

His sister Lillian (Newman) Thresher recalls sneaking down to the quarry with her sister to peep at their older brother, now 84, and his friends playing.

The location of the swimming hole is a quarry, off

"Mr. Newman came knocking at my door to ask about it – how could I say no?" said owner Marion Lisker, who, with her son Adam, has owned the eight acres of land surrounding her home for the past 11 years. A right-of-way also goes through the property – a former "horse and buggy path" that runs parallel to Route 44, Putnam Pike.

The swimming hole is better known to historians as "Bear (or Bare) Rock Ledge Quarry," the place where the columns of the Providence Arcade were quarried and carved in 1827.

A pile of unused quarry rock lies nearby, drill holes still clearly visible.

Geologists estimate the rock to be at least 570 million years old, "part of the Esmond Igneous Suite," commonly known as Esmond granite. The hole is estimated to be 40 feet deep and is now home to koi goldfish.

The Arcade has six columns on each facade, facing Westminster and Weybosset Streets. Thirteen columns were cut in all, each weighing 12 tons, measuring 24 feet in length and 3 feet in diameter.

In 1828, Joseph Olney agreed to haul the "monoliths" from the quarry in Johnston to Providence. Olney hired local wheelwright J. N. Smith to build a special "low-gear Brobdingnagian cart with oversized wheels," and is said to have "strengthened Olneyville Bridge," before using 12 yoke of oxen to pull the granite. The columns, cut at quarryside by a master stonemason from Boston, were hauled, one by one, to Providence, a distance of five miles.

The twelfth column was broken during the move and a 13th one had to be cut. The broken one was later purchased to mark the grave of a Fields family member in North Burial Ground.

One of the columns supposedly had a small defect, which Olney's son, Joseph Jr., filled with a soapstone plug that he whittled, initialed "J.O.J" (Joseph Olney Jr.) and dated. It is the only evidence of the makers and can be viewed on the easternmost column on the Westminster side.

Best known as the "first enclosed shopping mall in the United States," the building was designed by architects Warren Russell and James Bucklin in the Greek revival style, with ionic columns; some called it "the eighth wonder of the Western frontier."

A highly romanticized account from the "Sunday Tribune," dated August 1919, said 40 yoke of oxen were required, as well as "barrels of West India rum to inspire the teamsters." The article continues, quoting noted historian James N. Arnold, the "experiment was so costly that it was never duplicated, but paid the arcade's owners handsomely."

A likely more realistic account, written by James J. Scanlan, M.D. in 1992 reads, "The transportation of the columns from Pine Hill to Providence took on the festive air of a Roman spectacle...The horns of each ox were festooned with gaily colored ribbons and the parade route was crowded with throngs of eager citizens who knew they were witnessing a scene never before seen in the western world." He describes the route from Pine Hill to

Sal Avella, owner of Apple Valley Minerals Shop in Esmond, recalls visiting the site many years ago.

"My friend's mother remembered seeing teams of horses and wagons pulling the granite down the hill," he said.

For other locals, the site’s greatest appeal to the area was still as a swimming hole. David Wood, formerly of Graniteville, now living in Glocester, also has fond memories. His father, he said, had also swam there as a boy.

"We used to leave Graniteville School at lunch – when you could do that – and we'd go swimming," he said. "We had a rope swing. A friend of mine swung into the water from the rope swing one day and landed on a stolen dump truck just under the water; he was lucky he wasn't killed."

The truck had to be removed with a tow truck.

Newman passed around photocopies of the area's history to the gathered group on the tour. Relating something that happened 180 years ago, he quoted some of the passages from memory. But it is his own memories from 75 years ago, not those from any history book, that make him smile.

"This was our swimming hole, kids came from miles around to swim, even skinny-dip," said Newman. "When the girls came we all jumped in the water," he added with a laugh.