Visit the General Nathanael Greene Homestead near Providence
When you hear the name Nathanael Greene, images of the Revolutionary War probably fill your mind. But there is more to the man many regard as the most underrated general in American History.
Greene was born in 1742 in Rhode Island; of course, at the time it was a British Colony. His well-to-do Quaker father would train him as an ironmaster. He received no formal education but was an avid reader with a thirst for knowledge.
On April 19th, 1775, Greene’s fate would change with the shot heard around the world and the British firing on Lexington. Soon after the shots were fired, the legislature of Rhode Island voted to raise an army and have Greene command it. Greene quickly rose to the rank of Brigadier General and served directly under George Washington. He participated in many major battles of the Revolution, including Harlem Heights, Trenton, and Brandywine, and wintered at Valley Forge.
We fight, get beat, rise, and fight again.”
― Nathanael Greene
In the fall of 1780, Washington appointed Greene the commander of the southern theater of the Revolutionary War. With guerrilla warfare strategies, Greene would see success. Monuments at battlefields across the East memorialize Greene’s lengthy list of accomplishments during the war. You can see them at Guildford Courthouse National Military Park in Greensboro, North Carolina, the Rhode Island State House, and Savannah, Georgia, where Greene would retire as a plantation owner after the war. There is a Nathanael Greene Statue in the US. Capitol that you can see during a tour.
Those monuments are well-known and visited by tens of thousands yearly. What is lesser known is you can visit General Nathanael Greene’s Homestead.
Visiting General Nathaneal Greene’s Homestead
The historic house is at 20 Taft Street in Coventry, Rhode Island. Green built it in 1770, and it would be his family home until 1776. The home, which Greene called “Spell Bound,” is owned and operated by the non-profit General Nathanael Greene Homestead Association. It remained in the Greene family until 1899. In 1919, the association purchased the then-run-down home. It opened to the public as a museum in 1924.
Today, the homestead is open for tours seasonally. You will want to ensure they are available before you head that way, but they are generally open most weeks from spring through fall.
It’s about a half-hour drive from downtown Providence, yet most people still need to learn it exists. When we visited in the mid-morning during a summer afternoon, we spent about an hour on the grounds. The entire time, we were the only people there soaking up a little visited piece of American History.
