The Briggs-Boesch Farm and Rocky David Farm share an entwined history. Prior to 1672, both pieces of land were part of the territory of the Narragansett Tribe. After a Narragansett Tribe land purchase in 1672, both farms shared over 200 years of common ownership.
The Briggs-Boesch Farm is around 90 acres in size, is currently owned by the Town of East Greenwich and is leased to Pat’s Pastured. To the immediate west of the Briggs-Boesch Farm, on the other side of Scrabbletown Brook, lies the Rocky David Farm.
The Rocky David Farm is around 30 acres in size and is currently owned by The Gannon Family. The Rocky David Farm is a participant in the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management’s Forest Stewardship Program. The Rocky David Farm is a landlocked piece of land, whose driveway crosses the Briggs-Boesch Farm to access South Road in East Greenwich, RI. A portion of the Rocky David Farm driveway is shared with the nature trail located on the western section of the Briggs-Boesch Farm. The “sharing” of the driveway is due to their entwined history when both parcels of land were a single farm. To understand the entwined history of the two farms, one needs to look back in time.
Around 21,000 years ago, Rhode Island was buried under several hundred yards of the Laurentide Ice Sheet. The ice sheet originated in Canada, and extended out to Block Island. The ice sheet carved several mile-wide, north-south troughs into the bedrock on Rhode Island’s surface. Around 12,000 years ago, the ice sheet melted and retreated to the north. Rhode Island was affected by an intense period of glacial fluvial deposition. Boulders, rocks and silt were deposited unevenly into the granite valleys carved out by the glaciers. Rocky David Farm was blessed at this time with lots of rocks and boulders, hence the name. Once the ice sheet retreated, the sea level rose to about where it is today. A forest ecosystem developed, and ancestors of the Narragansett Tribe made their home in the area.
Downstream from Rocky David Farm, Scrabbletown Brook flowed into the Potowomut River estuary, which further flowed into Narragansett Bay. The Potowomut River had developed into a mature estuarine ecosystem, supporting a human population as early as 3,000 years ago.
Three miles to the east of Rocky David Farm, along Wickford Cove, a large gathering place for the Narragansett Tribe named Cocumscussoc began. Cocumscussoc was at the crossroads of Narragansett Bay, the north-south Pequot Trail, and Stony Lane heading west into the interior forest. Prior to 1637, the Narragansett Tribe controlled the land west of Narragansett Bay, and at least twenty-five miles inland.
By 1637, Roger Williams began visiting, and eventually purchased, the Cocumscussoc area from Narragansett member Sachem Canonicus. In 1643, Williams returned to England and obtained Rhode Island’s Royal Charter of 1644. The Royal Charter established a self-governing British colony, and the formal boundaries of Rhode Island. Williams sold Cocumscussoc, which was by then a trading post, to Richard Smith in 1651. Cocumscussoc is more commonly known as “Smith’s Castle” today. By 1672, Richard Smith owned the land from the present day Jamestown Bridge, north to Devil’s Foot Rock, which is now the North Kingstown, East Greenwich town line.
In 1672, six British colonists purchased an eight square mile tract of land from Narragansett member Sachem Anashuecot, directly to the north of Richard Smith’s land. It was known as the Fones Purchase, named for one of the six colonists, John Fones. Two years earlier however, the Rhode Island General Assembly had outlawed direct land purchases from the Narragansett Tribe, rendering the transaction invalid. In a compromise to the six British colonists, and to encourage settlement of the frontier, the men were allowed to keep small farms within the much larger original purchase.
One of the six colonists, John Briggs, was granted the land near the southwest corner of the Fones Purchase, totaling 144 acres. The southern boundary of the Fones Purchase remains to this day as the east-west running, North Kingstown and East Greenwich town line. Historians generally agree that the land west of Cocumscussoc, including the Briggs-Boesch and Rocky David Farm, was not settled by Europeans until after King Philip’s War ended in 1677. It is also estimated that the Briggs family built an initial structure, where the current Briggs-Boesch Farm main house stands today, by 1704.
John Briggs’ land, situated south of South Road in East Greenwich, RI remained in his family as a consolidated, 144 acre farm until 1832. At that time, the western part of the 144 acre farm was sold off to John Briggs’ great, great grandson David Briggs, while his father Joseph Briggs, kept the eastern part. David Briggs’ land was extremely “rocky” and could only be used for the grazing of mostly sheep and cows. The rocky landscape, in addition to its new owner, David Briggs, is where it is believed that Rocky David Farm obtained its name. Additionally, deeds after 1832 refer to the land west of the Briggs-Boesch Farm as “Rocky David”.
In 1853, all of the Briggs descendants sold their land holdings to Paul Hendricks, who once again consolidated the two properties. In 1887, Paul Hendricks sold the eastern part of the original 144 acre farm, and kept the Rocky David Farm to the west. For almost 200 years, cows and sheep dominated the agriculture of Rocky David Farm and the Briggs-Boesch Farm. By the late 1800’s, all agriculture on the Rocky David Farm stopped, every human resident left, and the forest returned.
Rocky David Farm stayed quiet until World War II, when the U.S. Navy Seabees were launched three miles away in Davisville, RI. The Seabees conducted outdoor survival training across the road at Camp Fogarty, and also on Rocky David Farm. Since most of the land along South Road was uninhabited in the 1940’s, the U.S. Navy Seabees used the forests south of South Road in East Greenwich to train their sailors. The Seabees left their mark on the land by carving their initials, and a few dates in 1944, in several still living beech trees located on the Rocky David Farm.
After Paul Hendricks sold the Briggs-Boesch Farm in 1887, the land transitioned through six owners until Donald and Teresa Boesch purchased the farm in 1954. In 2001, The Boesch Family sold the farm to the Town of East Greenwich. This tract of land is now known as the Briggs-Boesch Farm. The town of East Greenwich installed a nature trail on the property, using the pre-existing cart paths that date to the 1700’s. Hikers now can enjoy the pristine wilderness.
In 1964, The Gannon Family purchased the Rocky David Farm from Paul Hendricks’ grandson. This purchase helped “save” this beautiful forest from encroaching residential development in the area. The Gannon Family cleared out a small, contemplative meadow on the property, and currently works the land for small forest crops. The rest of the land is being protected as a nature preserve- and in this way, peace, quiet, and Mother Nature have returned to the forests located on the Briggs-Boesch and Rocky David Farm.