Watch Hill is a resort town from way back. I was last
there in the mid to late 1960's . It has changed a lot and
yet hasn't changed at all. Being there, I felt liberated
from the city and liberated from winter in a way I had not
hitherto experienced this summer.
Watch Hill Inn
Lunch on the deck at the
Watch
Hill Inn. Wood grilled pizza with sun dried tomatoes,
mushrooms, red bell peppers, broccoli, lots of good stuff.
Flamingly queer waiter who was extra extra nice to us when
he noticed I was wearing Nancy's PrideFest '95 cap.
I think I got a little sunburned, despite the hat.
So what was I doing borrowing Nancy's hat when I have a
collection of baseball caps to rival Imelda Marcos' shoe
closet? Umm, all of them were at my house. Not a one was in
the car. This is not like me. I wear caps less than I used
to because I was afraid the nieces were being traumatized by
their embarrassment at my looking like a boy. They were
always telling me I look like a boy and telling me to "take
that hat off Aunt Janet!" So I only wear a hat when I really
need one - which I did on Sunday. So after lunch, we browsed
the tourist shops until I found a really nice cap with a
wave logo on it and the legend "Watch Hill, Rhode Island".
Speaking of baseball caps, I have one that says JPL Jet
Propulsion Laboratory on it. Appropriate for viewing the
Mars
photos, eh? It was given to me by the sales guy who had the
JPL
account when I worked at
MASSCOMP. I forget
exactly what wonderful thing I had done for JPL, but the
salesman extracted a reward from them for me. The cap is red
with white letters. Kinda neat. I doubt they still have any
MASSCOMP hardware at JPL anymore - this was back in ancient
times as was most of my career!
What's a nice used book shop like this doing in a block
of tourist shops selling t-shirts and shells varnished in
colors they don't come in in nature?
Excellent nautical section. Excellent Rhode Island
history section. Lots of books on oceanography - even a
couple of Paul Watson's books about the Sea Shepherd. A
marvelous collection of stuff about the 1938 hurricane (the
defining event in Rhode Island history).
Unfortunately, the better the used bookstore the more
violently allergic to it I am. Dust and mold in the specific
combination they occur in at used book dealers are my worst
allergens. I coughed a lot and had to leave without buying
anything. David Bookstore once told me how to stabilize the
book decay using a bread box and dessicant, but I don't
remember the exact procedure and I don't think there's a
bread box big enough to enclose the whole store!
The carousel at Watch Hill is adorable. Little horses
suspended from the top of the carousel rather than on poles
so they swing outward when they go around. Kids only
unfortunately - the horses are small. We watched kids
happily grabbing for the brass ring and begging their
parents for just one more ride.
Ninigret
In the park overlooking the bay, there's a statue of
Chief
Ninigret holding two fish. It's not labeled so I'm not
sure how we were supposed to know it was Ninigret. We found
out from the old picture post cards at
Book &
Tackle. I asked Nancy if Rhode Islanders were supposed
to just recognize Ninigret . She didn't know. I started to
wonder if Massachusetts people would recognize an unlabeled
statue of Massasoit.
However, as it turns out, the model for the Ninigret
statue was someone from Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show in
Paris:
"The statue was modeled in Paris by the
American sculptress Enid Yandell, and cast by Alexis Rudier.
The commission was received at a time when Buffalo Bill's
Wild West Show was playing in Paris, so the sculptress was
able to procure a real Indian from the troupe for her
model". - Rhode Island, A Guide to the Smallest State
No word on whether the model looked at all like Ninigret.
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