When Samuel Clarke was nineteen years old, he built himself a house on land his father owned on Shannock Hill. The house was small— probably only one room with a loft. He sided the exterior with wide clapboards and built the chimney and fireplace of fieldstone. At the back of the fireplace, near the baking oven, Samuel carved the year: 1691.
The Samuel Clarke house is now the oldest house in Richmond and one of the oldest in Rhode Island. In February 2019, the Samuel Clarke Farm earned a spot on the National Register of Historic Places.
John Peixinho, who has owned the Samuel Clarke Farm since 2015, is primarily responsible for obtaining the National Register designation. On Thursday, October 10, Mr. Peixinho will open the Peace Dale Museum of Art and Culture’s 2019 Fall Lecture Series by telling us about the history of the farm and describe its 17th and 18th century features, some of them rare. Mr. Peixinho will illustrate his talk with color photographs.