This wall map, created from surveys made by civil engineer, surveyor, and cartographer Henry Francis Walling (1825–1888), is the oldest known published map featuring Rehoboth’s present-day borders, which were finalized in 1812 when the western portion of the town became Seekonk. Walling grew up in Providence and worked for a civil engineer there until about 1850, when he began his own business. The first maps he published were of five towns in Bristol County, of which this is one. He went on to establish a successful map-making business in New York and later worked for the U.S. Geological Survey. The map is valuable today, for it gives us evidence of the locations of schools and businesses, as well as the names of individual property owners in the mid-nineteenth century. Like other Walling maps, Rehoboth features illustrations in the margins. Depicted are the Congregational Church in Rehoboth Village and three prominent residences: those of Lyman Pearce’s home on Pleasant Street, Benjamin Peck’s house on Water Street, and James Blanding’s home on Broad Street. Elm Cottage, as it is referred to, is the house where James’s son William Willet Blanding, a founding member of the Rehoboth Antiquarian Society, lived his whole life and collected his family’s heirlooms. Until recently, this copy of the Rehoboth map had always hung at 191 Reservoir Avenue, formerly the home of printmaker Peter Chalmers and identified in 1850 as the property of James Horton II.
FAQs
Who were the early settlers of Rehoboth Massachusetts? ›
The Rehoboth Carpenter family was one of the founding families. Among the earliest purchasers of the land that is now Rehoboth and nearby communities was the Peck family, who came from nearby Hingham, Massachusetts, initially. Joseph Peck, the brother of the Rev.
What is Rehoboth, MA known for? ›Rehoboth was the birthplace of public education in North America and still has an excellent educational system today.
Is Rehoboth MA the birthplace of public education? ›Rehoboth (whose name means “open space”) is one of the oldest towns in Massachusetts and the birthplace of public education in the U.S. The town is a mix of rural and suburban communities with many ties to nearby Providence, RI.
Who were the first families in Massachusetts? ›Pilgrims and Puritans: 1620–1629
The first settlers in Massachusetts were the Pilgrims who established Plymouth Colony in 1620 and developed friendly relations with the Wampanoag people.
The first settlers in the state now known as Massachusetts were the Pilgrims. They arrived in Plymouth on the Mayflower in 1620 after separating from the Anglican church and fleeing England, creating the Mayflower compact as the foundational set of rules for self-government in the New World.
Why is it called Rehoboth? ›According to Easton's Bible Dictionary (1893–97), "(a) well in Gerar dug by Isaac (Genesis 26:22), supposed to be in Wady er-Ruheibeh, about 32 km (20 miles) south of Beersheba." Isaac gave it the name Rehoboth, which means "open spaces".
What is the history of Rehoboth? ›Originally a site inhabited by the Nama group of Khoekhoe peoples, it was given the biblical name of Rehoboth in 1844 by a missionary who built a church there as a mission station of the Rhenish (German Lutheran) Missionary Society.
What is the old school in Rehoboth MA? ›The Hornbine School is a historic one-room schoolhouse at 144 Hornbine Road in Rehoboth, Massachusetts. Built in 1862 and operated until 1937, it is the best-preserved rural schoolhouse in the town. The school was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983, and now serves as a local history museum.
Is Rehoboth, MA a good place to live? ›Rehoboth is a small farming community not many people know about and often drive through, but it's a great town to live in for a nice quite life! Lots of woods scattered throughout the town, and various woodland creatures often roam the town.
Who is considered the father of public education from Massachusetts? ›Horace Mann is considered the father of American education. His tireless efforts to achieve education reform resulted in a Massachusetts public school system that served as a model for the nation, opening the way for all states to have some form of public education service by 1870.
What was the first school in Massachusetts? ›
Boston Latin School
On April 23, 1635, the first public school in what would become the United States was established in Boston, Massachusetts. Known as the Boston Latin School, this boys-only public secondary school was led by schoolmaster Philemon Pormont, a Puritan settler.
Archaeological excavations in Massachusetts reveal that the earliest human beings arrived here more than 10,000 years ago. Archaeologists call these earliest settlers "Paleo-Indians." They are the ancestors of today's Indigenous Persons.
Who were the primary initial settlers of the Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth colonies? ›Origin. Plymouth Colony was founded by a group of Brownists (a sect of English Protestant dissenters) who came to be known as the Pilgrims. The core group (roughly 40 percent of the adults and 56 percent of the family groupings) were part of a congregation led in America by William Bradford and William Brewster.
Who were the original Puritan colonists of Massachusetts Bay? ›Massachusetts Bay Colony, one of the original English settlements in present-day Massachusetts, settled in 1630 by a group of about 1,000 Puritan refugees from England under Gov. John Winthrop and Deputy Gov. Thomas Dudley.