Snapshot: Inside Smithfield’s Smith-Appleby House Museum

Photograph by Bryan Baron/Double B Photography

JUST PAST THE BUSTLE OF ROUTE 295 IN SMITHFIELD, a living postcard of Colonial New England stands in a leafy oasis on Georgiaville Pond. The Smith-Appleby House was built between 1696 and 1703 on land gifted to John “The Miller” Smith, one of the original companions of Roger Williams. His great-grandson, Elisha, built the homestead seen here that would remain in the family for eight generations. In 1976, the Historical Society of Smithfield purchased the property and began the long process of restoring it to its current state. “The wind was literally blowing through the house,” says program director and retired Smithfield schoolteacher Deb Cote, who notes the home had no running water through the mid-1900s. Contrary to popular assumption, the front of the house does not face present-day Stillwater Road, but looks out on the pond, where the road’s original route carried it over a bridge in the 1700s. Over the years, the property hosted a grist mill, saw mill, blacksmith shop and even a nine-hole golf course managed by Maria Appleby, a professional golfer and the last of the Smith-Appleby family to live there. “Right up until the end, these people made a living on the farm through the generations,” Cote says. After Appleby’s death in 1959 (and that of her companion, Abbie Sargeant, four years later), the home fell into disrepair until it came under the care of the Historical Society. Today, the grounds host tours, weddings, educational programs and holiday-themed workshops as well as concerts in the summer months. “Those of us that do work the property, we love it like it’s our own,” Cote says. smithapplebyhouse.org