Regenerating the cradle of the American Industrial Revolution
Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor

Telling the story means preserving the story 

In New England’s Blackstone River valley, telling the story of an historically significant region has also meant working to preserve the architectural record of the story, create new recreational opportunities, assist in the biological recovery of the river itself, and to gird against the pressures of contemporary development through cooperative regional planning.

The Blackstone is sometimes known as America’s “hardest working river,” and the birthplace of the American Industrial Revolution.  In the 1790s there the cottage industry of weaving was trans­formed into the highly organized, large scale, capital- and energy-intensive mass production industry of textile manufacturing.    

Partnerships and Cooperation

In 1986 Congress created the Black­stone River National Heritage Corridor to “preserve and interpret” the factories, dams, mill villages, commercial towns, cities, and rural landscapes of the valley.  At the time, the National Heritage Area program was in its infancy.  Blackstone was just the second area designated.   

The National Parks Service Commission for the area has no power to own or manage land or regulate land use.  Its only strategic tools are public education and outreach, partnerships with local governments, private business or community based organizations, and a modest budget for targeted investments.

The program’s “model of partnership and cooperation,” however, appears to be prov­ing itself.  Not only has the Commission created new programs to interpret the story of the valley, but they have helped save significant mills, farms and fields, led the effort to clean up the river, and helped prompt the first stirrings of regional planning.     

The area encompasses 18 towns and six cities in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, stretching almost 50 miles from Worcester to Pawtucket.  The Commission consists of 19 members representing cities, towns, and citizen groups throughout the area.  The Commission also operates one conventional National Park, The Roger Williams National Memorial.

Interpreting the Story

The Commission has developed a full array of brochures, maps and guidbooks providing information about the historic sites in the valley; trained volunteer interpreters; created the first in a series of wayside and traveling interpretive exhibits; and established three of four planned visitor centers/museums throughout the valley.

Their crew of park rangers, meanwhile, runs a program of guided tours on foot, by river boat and by bus; conducts a lecture series; teaches orienteering and canoeing; and helped produce a series of television programs called “Along the Blackstone” for the History Channel.

The Commission also created a system of coordinated signage to identify historic sites and aid in wayfinding.  The national heritage area legislation requires it.  But it was a challenge to negotiate the system across two states and two dozen local jurisdictions, senior planner, Nancy Brit­tain said. 

The benefits of the system however, have accrued to local residents as well as visi­tors.  “People really know the signs now,” Brittain said, and the more coherent im­age and identity the signs have created for the regions are something the eco­nomic development people find they can sell.

Fostering River Recovery

The Commis­sion has worked on many fronts to im­prove water quality and waterfront access.  The first leg of the eventual 45-mile Blackstone River Bikeway opened in 1999.  The Black­stone was recently awarded “American Heritage River” status, which comes with five years of federal aid to help restore the river and river­fronts.

The designation also allowed for creation of a “river navigator” position — someone to survey conditions on the river and work with the community to develop pri­ority issues for action on environment, economy, recreation, and historic preser­vation issues. 

Meanwhile, the Commission has also spon­sored a project to stencil warnings on storm drains against dumping as a deter­rent to “non-point” pollution from motor oil, pet wastes, fertilizer, pes­ticides and other pollutants.  Stu­dents from Woon­socket High School are also assisting with a plan for river recovery — mapping the river, identifying pollution sources, testing the waters, developing best manage­ment practices, and conducting pub­lic education. 

Preserving the Heritage

The Com­mission has joined with local partners to help save a wide range of structures and sites that express the story of the industrial river.  Key pres­ervation projects include historic mills, factories, churches, mansions, farmhouses, meeting houses, rail­road depots, stores, and theaters.

Recently, the Commission led the way in saving the historically significant and en­vironmentally sensitive Grafton Com­mon farm district -- 124 acres of hay­fields, pas­ture, wetland and woodland.  The Com­mission didn’t buy the land -- the town did -- but hired a real estate special­ist and put up $4,000 of front money to convince the local council the deal was feasible.  The $1.5 million acquisition will be offset by a compact 17-unit residential development.

Other preservation projects in the works include an effort to save the Stanley Woolen Mill.  The Commission has put  up $20,000 for a feasibility study and is work­ing with the state development au­thority, local council and industrial devel­opment agency, the Blackstone Valley Chamber of Commerce and a private de­veloper to produce a redevelopment plan.  A similar approach is being taken to res­cuing the Bell Tower Mill in Slatersville, Rhode Island.

Planning for Preservation and Growth

The Commission has also taken a role in helping the communities of the valley use planning to “balance conservation and growth.”  With the Black­stone Valley’s main limited access highway, Rte. 146, now con­nected to the Interstate High­way system from Providence to the Massachusetts Turn­pike, additional pressures for sprawl de­velopment are ex­pected.

The Commission’s 1990 management plan laid the groundwork for a response to sprawl, providing an inventory of historical resources, design guidelines and standards, an interpretive plan, a land use management plan, and an economic assessment.  The Com­mission also provides “strategic design and plan­ning” assistance on an ongoing basis to communities through­out the corridor. 

Last year, the Commission created the Blackstone Valley Institute as forum for regionwide education, discussion, and cooperative action.  The institute hosted a program entitled “A Watershed Approach to Local Land Use Decisions.” In March 2000 they held a confer­ence on “The Black­stone Valley in an Emerg­ing Econ­omy.”

Brittain says such work has produced “a heightened level of aware­ness,” in the economic development agencies and cham­bers of commerce, “that good plan­ning can mean good develop­ment.”

The National Heritage Area law re­quires  federal dollars be matched by partner dollars on a one-to-one basis.  The Black­stone commission has decided a min­imum two-to-one leverage is more appro­priate.  Over the coming ten years they intend to draw at least $10 million in part­ner invest­ments with their own $5 million authorization.

The Commission was renewed by Con­gress in 1996 for an additional ten years.  In 1997 three towns in Rhode Island, one in Massachusetts, and a large part of the City of Worcester were added to the corri­dor — at their own behest.

With the organizational infrastructure now in place — not just the Commission and the Institute but a regional visitors bureau and tourism council — the role of the Commission is expected to expand with increasing emphasis on heritage tour­ism development and marketing.

“There’s a big learning curve,” Brittain said.  “The first ten years this Commis­sion was in existence we were there sole­ly to raise people’s awareness of the his­torical significance of this area.”

But the incremental, practical approach seems to have paid off.  She says the secret is in making small successes and building on them, to get things done that allow people to feel good about themselves and the region:  “We struck when the irons were hot.  We went where there was fire and energy.”