NATURE · HISTORICAL MARKER
Haines Park
Barrington, Rhode Island
· One of Rhode Island's First State Parks
Nature
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Once known as the Humphrey Farm, Haines Memorial State Park, originally named the Dr. George B. Haines Memorial Park, spans fields, woods, and coastline in Barrington and the Riverside section of East Providence. Dr. Haines, a Cumberland physician who believed in the health benefits of outdoor recreation and fresh air, bought the property in 1906 and spent the summer of 1910 living on a farmstead there. Before dying of an asthma attack that fall, he asked that the land be preserved as a park for recreation and relaxation. A year later, his sister, Ida M. Haines, carried out his wish by selling 83 acres to the State of Rhode Island for one dollar, and the state later expanded the park to 101.7 acres. As one of Rhode Island's first state parks, it became a longtime destination for picnics, barbecues, baseball games, and hiking on nature trails, with early-twentieth-century visitors arriving by train or trolley and walking from a nearby stop. During the mid-1930s, under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Work Progress Administration, craftsmen built stone fireplaces throughout the park, many of which still remain, and a fireplace at a picnic site could then be reserved for 15 cents. Today the park remains a community asset, hosting numerous sporting events, supporting a busy public boat ramp, and serving since 2002 as the site of a seasonal Farmers Market.
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Barrington, Rhode Island
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