THE FIRST AND THE SMALL

[Music] good evening ladies and gentlemen mrs. Jack Douglas I'm sure we all know that Rhode Island is the smallest state in the Union but let me ask you this which was the first state in the Union Virginia Massachusetts Connecticut Maine Vermont no the first to ratify the Federal Constitution and become a state was the second smallest state in America the state of Delaware now during the next 30 minutes were going to visit both of these states Delaware and Rhode Island the first and the small [Music] [Applause] Providence the capital of Rhode Island has a population exceeding 200 thousand or roughly one out of every four persons living in the state the city was founded in 1636 by a man who would be considered an extraordinary human being even by today's demanding standards Roger Williams his tolerant religious views astounded the stiff Puritans and politically he really shook them up by insisting that the land belonged to the Indians and that they should be paid for it by the colonial settlers while the inevitable happened he was banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony and with a handful of friends fled to what is now the city of Providence so named by him in gratitude of God's merciful Providence to him at his hour of need two years later Williams organized the First Baptist Church in America although this structure was built much later in 1775 it is however the Baptist Mother Church in America the new Statehouse and Providence is only a short distance from the church and this magnificent Capitol building features atop its marble dome an imposing bronze statue representing independent man in the spirit of Roger Williams a totally different kind of architecture will attract the tourists to the Rhode Island School of Design now because it is called the school many vacationers pass it by only to learn later of their mistake for how many schools feature masterpieces such as these a girl reading by Renoir the darkly handsome portrait of Bertha by Monet this is arabs traveling an exotic work by dellacroix of course the unmistakable style of Vincent van Gogh the school is also a first-rate archaeological museum and here we asked professor Thomas Morin to tell us about the Nessman mummy this mummy the body of which is wrapped and Leninist and isn't in the lower part in the case in which the body was found above is that image of an Egyptian priest named Desmond who lived about 300 years before Christ he was first discovered in the latter part of the 19th century and came to this museum in 1938 upon his arrival in Rhode Island he was x-rayed and found to be of middle age and had possibly suffered from arthritis the writing or hieroglyphics on the case indicate his family standing and or personal honours or titles the body below is surrounded with objects that may be found in a tomb such as this among the numerous other treasures here is this superb lion made of glazed tile a lion that adorned the walls of Babylon 600 years BC you'll see this and so much more at the Rhode Island School of Design the kind of school no vacationers should miss Gilbert Stewart America's foremost portrait painter was born in sunders town Rhode Island and this by the way is his self-portrait best known for his portraits of Washington Stewart painted many American greats of his time including five other presidents as we can see from these simple furnishings Stewart's parents were not people of high means his father of Scott and his mother and English woman migrated to America in 1751 four years before the birth of their illustrious son also at the Stewart birthplace you'll see what you've probably never seen before let's watch and listen come over this way please folks they'll show you a snuff mill this mortar and pestle is they snuck mill now in case you don't know snuff is made from cured tobacco leaves their ground and reground and saved and recent until the finished product is justice finest face powder al gilbert stuart's father was a snuff Miller in Perth Scotland and he came to this country where the one thought in mind he was going to build and operate a power drill and that's a waterwheel power driven snuff Bill some place here in the colonies he landed down a Newport Rhode Island he got married to a young lady down there in 1751 and they came up here to Sunnis town practically bride and groom lived right in this house and gilbert stuart's father built and installed his waterwheel right out for hours runs today put in his snuff bill and make snuff here for about 13 years from the glorious past let's return to the fun-filled present Crescent Park in Riverside is an amusement park with the usual variety of colorful attractions river boat rides flying wheels of Kitty lambs etc but perhaps the most memorable attraction is to be found once past these doors and when they say Shore dinners here they mean come hungry in season you'll dine outdoors just a stone's throw from the edge of Narragansett Bay and the meal start simply enough with a bowl of chowder but within minutes the table begins to bolt and you begin worrying about the check each time the waiter adds a dish to your table clams fish fries sweet corn lobster chowder watermelon well this the most expensive Shore dinner on the menu was 375 and thanks to thousands of dining spots like it throughout America the vacationer can always eat well at a reasonable price apart from Providence most of Rhode Island's cities and towns are small in size and population such as Bristol here which has about fourteen thousand residents and since the state is small the town's sort of run into each other with only a few miles of highway in between and this makes it easy for the motoring tourists to stop see what's worthwhile and drive on hooked Street in Bristol is famous for its old homes and especially linden place built by the great Colonel Samuel Colt who sir married Miss ethel barrymore and their daughter ethel barrymore called still lives here during the summers [Music] Ocean Drive is a nine mile circuit which offers excellent views of Rhode Island's ruggedly beautiful coastline excepting only the capital city of Providence Newport is the most famous of the states cities and towns its fame is truly international Newports fame stems from homes not nice little homes such as this but enormous lavishly furnished mansions like the Elms mansions built during the turn of the century by the very rich mostly from New York and Philadelphia the elms was built in 1901 for a Philadelphia coal magnate and was modeled after a chateau near Paris the terraces and gardens are the size of a small city park and full of fountains and statuary like most of the Newport mansions the Elms is open to the public but a small admission is charged to help maintain the symbol of a golden era once through these huge iron gates we can see the most magnificent of Newports mansions the breakers built for Cornelius Vanderbilt in 1895 in style it's similar to the 16th century Italian palaces of genoa distributed throughout its four floors are 70 enormous rooms and this building big enough to house a museum served merely as the coach room and staples for the breakers imagine that inside the staples are exhibited some of the authentic coaches which were custom-made for the Vanderbilts and their guests the breakers is situated on a rocky point overlooking the Atlantic and a paved walk hugs the cliffside once the powerful and wealthy Vanderbilt's had built their summer palaces of Newport others followed suit a Newport became the most elegant status symbol of the century Connecticut is one of numerous islands in Narragansett Bay and it can be reached quickly and cheaply via the Tulane Jamestown bridge there's also a ferry boat that makes the crossing to Connecticut and the Jamestown Island areas the old Jamestown windmill is one of several colorful attractions on the island built in 1787 as the sign indicates it was used as a community mill to grind meal from corn now the town council voted an appropriation of $500 for the construction of the mill and just how well it was made can be testified to by the fact that it still operates as well as ever before arms of the mill require 540 square feet of canvas sale and in the summer season the sails are hoisted daily to show visitors how it's done for the mechanically-minded I might mention that one complete turn of the arms is equal to eleven terms of the 3,500 pound grinding stone inside the mill the island is also the site of the third oldest lighthouse on the eastern seaboard the light can be seen for fourteen miles and its foghorns can be heard for eight miles coastguardsman Dominic carullo is the keeper of the light which allows visitors from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. what's the name of this lighthouse this is the beaver tail light station is it no lighthouse this certainly is in fact the foundation that just Angela now was the erected in 1749 it's the third oldest lighthouse established on the Atlantic coast the first was burnt down and the second was destroyed by the 1938 hurricane which exposed this foundation I like being a lighthouse keeper I've been here since 1959 I have my family with me we have have nine children and I also have an insistent assistant he is an in German they scare all the machinery at the station for recreation we do quite a bit of fishing you can catch stripe at bass in fact I've caught one weighed 44 pounds last year [Music] as I mentioned earlier there is very both service from the Jamestown Connecticut islands to the so-called mainland and Newport it's a large modern ferry capable of and willing to carry just about anything on wheels including trailers and campers it's worth the price of the crossing just to cruise Narragansett Bay [Music] we return to Newport in time to see the annual outdoor art festival sponsored by many of the town's most prominent women and in the name of art the women now most literally take over the town at least the sidewalks but it's all in a worthy cause there is no admission and it gives vacationers something to see perhaps to buy and certainly to talk about as we can see no one school of art dominates this famous sidewalk art exhibit [Music] the yacht harbor at Newport once the playground of the wall street money barons is still a mecca of the sailing fraternity boats and yachts from all parts of America and even from foreign countries come here to sample Atlantic sailing or to cruise along the islands and in waves of Narragansett Bay as one of the six New England states five of which have an Atlantic coastline Rhode Island is strongly influenced by the sea and the scene such as this is just one of many reasons why the smallest of America's States deserves consideration when you plan your next vacation the second part of our armchair vacation will take us to the state of Delaware first the message from the sponsors of our armchair vacations [Applause] our first state delaware is not a part of new england but is listed as one of the mid-atlantic states and therefore its geographic location happily combines the beauty of the east as well as the south as these gates open we will be transported back in time almost three and a half centuries to the Year 1638 in that year a band of Swedish settlers from Europe landed on a granite jutting into Christina Creek and forming a natural Wharf just as we see it today now although a Dutch settlement was attempted almost thirty years earlier that settlement perished the Swedes survived and are credited with the first permanent settlement on the shores of the Delaware in 1938 the tur centennial celebration the state of Delaware established this Memorial Park and the people of Sweden presented this monument as a gift to the people of the United States Kuch house near Wilmington built in 1649 earned a place in history when it was used by Lord Cornwallis as temporary shelter during the American Revolution in the rear of the property is an ice house now it would be loaded in winter with enough ice to last through the summer most of the house is underground here's another oldie a block house used as protection against the Indians the slit was intended for rifles in Dover the Capitol building sits rather sedately by itself and the Statehouse also in Dover dates back to 1792 but this building is a must the Hall of Records also called the archives now visitors are welcome even during business hours and once inside mr. Callahan will perform his solemn and familiar ritual the sliding doors are pushed back he flicks a light switch then slowly opens the massive steel doors of this large wall an impressive document encased in thick glass has been mounted in such a way that it can be rolled forward and this is the original Royal Charter for Delaware from King Charles ii of England to the Duke of York a charter dated March 22 1680 to the state museum in Dover gave us the chance to see early American antique furnishings that seemed to come alive with the flavor of colonial times and you'll be greeted by this well-informed receptionist hello I'm mrs. weevil receptionist at the Delaware State Museum in this exhibit depicts the furniture which was used by the early settlers the chairs are Delaware Valley that affect chairs and they are pine and maple this is considered all pine and maple room the little matching highchair here was used by the children of the family around the fireplace opening we have Delft tiles [Music] the candle stands is handmade and it is the type which was made at a blacksmith shop these portraits are of Judge Thomas irons and his wife Jeanette who were well known people around the ghovat area and they were painted in 1768 they are attributed to James claypoole this is the main building of the Delaware State Museum we have three buildings and this one was a Presbyterian Church which was built in 1790 the original church was a log house pipe on the corner and it was built in 1715 this drinking mud features a frog placed inside the mug to discourage children from drinking ale and this is a harmonic on or musical glasses it was patented in the early 1800s and the notes range from middle C to high D still in Dover this house once resounded with a patriotic anger of a man with a silver tongue and an eloquent pen it was the home of John Dickinson the lawyer who wrote virtually all of the important documents of the American Congress up to the Declaration of Independence and so history remembers him as the pennmen of the Revolution a pen man who is also a brave soldier until recent years this handsome estate was in a state of decay almost as weather-beaten as this old smoking shed but then in 1952 the Society of Colonial Dames bless of all raised $25,000 to start the restoration program which continues to this day there is no admission charge and the estate is open Tuesdays through Sundays Lewis Beach in Lewes Delaware will remind most vacationers of Cape Cod the beach is broad and clean and the swimming is excellent they fish for crabs here and so can you crabbing they call it and needless to say the bay and its waterways are ideal for both a here are more reminders of Cape Cod including this old beach house once owned by a sea captain the town of Lewes dates back to that original Dutch expedition that I mentioned earlier the settlement of 1631 and although that settlement failed Lewis proudly and justifiably labels itself the birthplace of Delaware [Music] this ancient country star delivery cart is only a part of the charm to be found in this delightful community no the people don't always dress like this only if they happen to work at Thompson's Country Store the best-known star in these here parts the reason is the Thompsons is one of the few truly old-fashioned country stores still in existence in America and the town sees to it but Thompson's remains absolutely unchanged whoa welcome to don't think I'm tree store operated by the Lewis Historical Society I'm Carol or chairman this year as you can see we try to keep the old atmosphere in the store by using the same things that mr. Thompson did when he turned over the store to the Historical Society two years ago the store was built in 1800 were placed there after and had been used as a private business until two years ago during those years the checkerboard which we still have was not used during the winter months by the local people Oh mr. Thompson would take his afternoon nap on a counter Kris were much too busy for that these days with all the tourists as you can see we have old patent medicines that had been in the store we had a coffee grinder and all the old cracker boxes that we try to utilize guys you know it's wonderful when visitors come in and say how delightful it is to share the past how does that Ken piece of candy right there a penny a piece only a penny yes are the candy in the country stores on me a penny well in that case I'll have that that and that and a piece of that and that well what more can one say about Thompson's I think the word enchanting is about as good as any and away from the cities there is great beauty here in Delaware the first state and Rhode Island our smaller state Beauty history culture tradition and just plain fun yours to have and yours to remember when you visit the first and the small several days ago a prominent newspaper columnist asked me to describe our America's Series in just a few words and I said well I call it a love affair and he said what do you mean by that and I said millions of people have joined me and falling in love all over again we have fallen in love with America I think he knows what I was trying to say I'm sure you know precisely what I mean and with that thought allow me to say thank you so much and good night ladies and gentlemen boys and girls I hope we'll meet again next week somewhere in America good night [Music] [Applause]