Join Us for the Final Ranger Walkabout on Thursday, August 28: Rain Garden at Slatersville Public Library

A rain garden is a specialized garden that collects rainwater runoff from paved areas and other hard surfaces. Rain gardens soak up the stormwater, helping to reduce runoff into storm drains or nearby bodies of water, which can cause erosion and water pollution.

Join our partners from the Blackstone River Coalition to learn about some rain gardens they have built, some plans for a new garden in Slatersville, and pick up some tips on how you can make your own rain garden to help protect the Blackstone Watershed.

Parking: Parking is available at the North Smithfield Public Library parking lot at 20 Main Street, Slatersville, (North Smithfield), RI.

Join Us for the Ranger Walkabout on August 21: Climate Change and the Blackstone Canal

Much has been said and written about our changing climate, but the actual visual impact of it is hard to see here. What can our historic structures tell us about our changing climate? What do we need to do to preserve them?

Get a better understanding of just what is happening to our climate and get a glimpse of what its impact will be to our historic landscape. 

Join Rangers Chuck Arning and Kevin Klyberg as they jointly explore the meaning of climate change and our historic structures along the Blackstone Canal towpath between River Bend Farm the Stanley Woolen Mill.

Parking: Parking is availble at the River Bend Farm Visitor Center, 287 Oak Street, Uxbridge MA.

Join Us for the Ranger Walkabout on August 14 - Slatersville: America's First Mill Village

Join a National Park Service Ranger to explore America's first planned mill village.

Learn how John Slater came to this site along the Branch River to expand the Textile Empire that his brother Samuel had begun in Pawtucket in 1790.

Slatersville is not only the first planned mill village in America, it is one of the best preserved. Almost all of the elements of the original village, from the mill, to the worker housing, the church and the company stores still remain.

Parking: Parking is available at the North Smithfield Public Library parking lot at 20 Main Street, Slatersville, (North Smithfield), RI.

Join Us for the Ranger Walkabout on August 7: Manville – A Mill Village on the Blackstone

Manville has been a manufacturing center since 1711 when Israel Wilkinson opened the Unity Furnace to produce iron. Later, it was briefly home to the largest cotton mill under one roof in America, and Manville village spanned both sides of the Blackstone River to house the 2,000 mill workers who toiled here.

Parking: The tour begins at the Manville Landing, at the foot of Manville Hill Road, Cumberland, RI, adjacent to the Blackstone River.