how to find history of town

[dirty detector]

does anyone here know of some sites i may be able to get info from? i live in alton rhode island (not alton jones) anyway this is a fairly old mill town with a lot of woods surrouding it theres even a swamp behind my house. ive lived here for 35 yrs and cant remember seeing anyone detecting the area. ive seen bottle dumps people have dug up but i know of others that maybe were not seen as i lived in the woods as a kid! any advice or ideas would be great. thanks bernie.

 

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[jeff of pa]

I have to agree with Free, Library or Historical Society.


? What County?

alot of Pirate activity in Rhode Island. particularly Newport Co.

 

[hollowpointred]

the libraries. i say libraries because you should check more than one. try the county library the state library if you have a university nearby check thier library. in most towns the historical society has a library and also people that have a deep knowledge and passion for the history of the area.look at old newspapers on micro film. check dates that directly follow holidays to start,( the 5th of july, the day after memorial day, etc) there could be stories about where the picnics and celabrations were. try the library of congress website www.loc.gov
i have just begun to really get into finding the good stuff and these are some of the things i have learned about the topic so far. i havnt found anything old yet, but i am not going to stop untill i do!! hope this helps some.

 

[stoney56]

Not just the historical society but the local geneology society, as they love to tell of stories about their ancestors. Also check with the local newspaper as they sometimes run the occasional column in the society page on town history.

 

[dirty detector]

thanks for all the replies! im going to take a ride to the library during the week and get some more info. for the time being i did get some info on the net. iits pretty neat the church described is almost across the street from my house and myrtle grove (now called the pine grove) is about a 3 minute walk in the woods behind my house! so its definatly time for some detecting. heres the link if you want to read about alton.

http://www.chariho.k12.ri.us/cms/champlin/research/alton.htm

 

[stoney56]

8) link. Notice the key words Grove. Usually means a picnic area or meeting place. It's one of the things you should look for when driving around checking out areas. Look at the name of streets, something like ------- Grove or Church Street. Just something I read a long time ago.