Round and Round They Go

After maintaining and improving the Rocky Point property for over fifteen years, William Winslow, the park’s founder, decided to sell the park to Byron Sprague, a local entrepreneur intent upon turning the Point into an upper class shore resort. Shore resorts had become increasingly popular among middle class citizens looking to emulate the vacation styles of the upper class. During the mid to late nineteenth century, resort communities like Saratoga Springs, Niagara Falls, and Newport gained popularity among the upper class. The wealthy clamored to experience Saratoga’s mineral springs, which were imbued with cleansing and healing properties. The “infirm” and “ill” were brought to the springs to drink and be refreshed by the naturally carbonated water. Though not infirm, wealthy businessman and the leisure class also came to drink from Saratoga Springs. Convinced of the water’s ability to cure all maladies and ailments, the upper class drank from the spring to wash away the dirt, grime, and pestilence that inhabited the cities. Further, a stay at Saratoga Springs allowed the wealthy to refresh and revive themselves before their return to work. Saratoga Springs enjoyed financial and critical success after the Civil War, while Newport had been a popular destination since the late eighteenth century. Though not blessed with a healing mineral spring, the sea breezes and salty air of Rocky Point were said to help revive and invigorate even the most haggard of businessman or infirm member of the upper class. Niagara Falls too offered those wealthy individuals a break from the city, providing refreshing breezes, pure water, and the inspiring beauty of nature.

In an effort to emulate the wealthy, the nineteenth century’s budding middle class strived to find shore resorts that would allow them to enjoy health benefits from nature and respite from the urban environment and work. While wealthy resort destinations like Newport, Rhode Island and Saratoga Springs, kept the middle class out, new, less fashionable shore resorts in New England, New York, and the Midwest accommodated the vacation needs of this aspiring leisure class and survived as a result of middle class patronage. Lake George, Cape Cod, and the White Mountains developed as middle class resorts from the 1860s to the 1880s. “Watering holes,” akin to the springs at Saratoga, claiming to have healing, restorative properties, became extremely popular among the middle class. The heavy demand for these resorts brought about the development of bay and seaside areas. An article in Century Magazine attested to the prevalence of shore resorts and hotels, exclaiming, “Summer hotels are everywhere. They form an almost continuous line along the coast of New England and the Middle States.”

Rhode Island businessmen recognized the growth in middle class “vacationing” and catered to their desires by building accessible shore resorts along Rhode Island’s coast. Smith’s Palace on the Cranston-Providence city line was likely the first resort on Narragansett Bay and was advertised as early as 1843 as a resort location. Later, Rhode Island resorts like Watch Hill and Narragansett Pier boasted spacious hotels and appropriate, middle class entertainment. A mineral spring and the Vue de l’Eau hotel in East Providence attracted middle class patrons and their parties in search of refreshment and relaxation. These Rhode Island shore resorts offered respectable rates and accommodations for middle class Americans in search of vacation resorts. News of these vacation areas quickly reached perspective visitors as distant as New York and the Midwest bringing increased numbers of bay vacationers to Rhode Island.

When Byron Sprague became the owner of Rocky Point in 1865, he immediately made expensive changes to the property in order to accommodate potential long-term, middle class vacationers. Over his four years as owner of the Point, Sprague spent over $300,000 dollars on improvements and modifications. Principally, Sprague built a large, three story, four hundred person, elegantly decorated hotel on a hill that overlooked the bay. The hotel, or “summer residence” as it was advertised, featured “a broad piazza surround[ing] the lower story, and a large, square cupola surmount[ing] the centre of the roof, affording a wide view in every direction.” The hotel instantly attracted short-term vacationers and summer residents from nearby Providence as well as from locations as distant as Chicago, Denver, and New York. For example, in a single night, 20 June 1878, guests from Cincinnati, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Ward, Massachusetts slept at the hotel. It remained full throughout the summer. While he only managed the resort for a brief time, Sprague’s modifications to the Point’s attractions would be regionally recognized in The New York Times and the Boston Globe for the next two decades.

Rocky Point’s reputation as a well-kept shore resort only grew. In fact, popular publications like The New York Times and Harper’s Monthly took notice of the Point’s recent improvements and developments beginning in 1872. These publications encouraged middle class vacationers to leave the city and journey to Rhode Island to enjoy the scenery, fresh air, and relaxation that the Point provided. Guidebooks and the national press helped spread the word about new resorts and vacation destinations to potential customers. Articles published in the New York Times featured the Point at least twice seasonally until 1900. One Times’ writer, describing the Rhode Island shore resort on August 3, 1873, explained that while the Point was not a summer residence, it was a suitable vacation destination.

The Point is not a watering-place in the common acceptation of the term. It will never interfere with Newport or Long Branch, for it has no beach, and can boast no surf. It would never enter the mind of a man to go to Rocky Point with his family for the season. A single day with the clams is a rare treat, but to make the Summer one continual clam-bake is more than mortal stomach can endure. The people who come here are those who have but a day at their disposal, and it is safe to say that no other locality is, upon the whole, possessed of so many attractions, and capable of furnishing such a variety of entertainment.

From Rocky Point: The Head-Quarters of Clam-Bakes New York Times, August 3, 1873.

Local newspapers also promoted the new resort to prospective Rhode Island visitors. An article that appeared in the Republican Herald on 22 June 1872 described the pleasant differences between the state’s Rocky Point and other popular shore resorts and vacation venues, taking pride in the unique aspects of their resort.

No true Rhode Islander who is alive to the distinctive beauties of his own State needs to be told that Rocky Point for the last few years has presented agreeable features hardly equaled by those of any summer resort in the Union. Its beach is not equal to Newport’s; it is not near a mighty metropolis like Long Branch; it wants the springs of Saratoga, yet a day passed at our local place presents a combination of charms which no one of them excels.