Love Built Hearthside

USPA NEWS - You pick up this unknown book and as you read each character's story, the origins of your own home town starts to get unmasked. Thoughts churn in your mind, we´re all somehow connected. How? Embark on a journey through time with a historian like Kathy Hartley President of Friends Of Hearthside House

1810: Love Built Hearthside

Nestled by a warm cozy fireplace on a chaise with a throw across your legs you pick up this unknown book and begin the adventure its author chose. As you read each character's story the origins of your own home town starts to get unmasked. Thoughts begin to wheel in your mind, “I never knew that this place was so exciting.“ We are connected to so many people and places around the world. How is this possible? Embark on a journey through time with a historian like Kathy Hartley President of Friends Of Hearthside House during one of Hearthside House´s many events or at an open house and the answers quickly become much clearer. Information call (401) 726-0597 www.hearthsidehouse.org

Many writers have taken the well traveled road telling similar stories of Hearthside House Museum. Take a journey with me to discover the mystery and heart behind the history of this beloved relic. The Hearthside´s slogan tells the first tale that began this property´s adventurous timeline, “The House That Love Built.“ This journey is an exploration in the condition of ones own heart. Only the brave should voyage through. Those whom are faint of heart should hold fast to courageous individuals that have left a positive mark influencing our future. If need be, due to the lack of survivors, locate a historian or docent to guide you through these portals of time.

Stephen Hopkins Smith was a hard working farmer. He was dedicated to the ideals of family. Around 1810 he purchased a lottery ticket that would change his life forever. That ticket won him $40,000, which equates to about $8.6 million today. There is speculation that not long after he allegedly began courting a prominent Providence socialite. She expressed her dream to have an opulent home in a beautiful place that others would envy. His love for her set him on a mission to fulfill her dream and marry her.

So, from 1810 to 1814, during their courtship, he built this exquisite home here in Lincoln. After four long years his labor of love was finally finished. Upon completion Stephen brought his lady love to the property. Sadly she rejected Stephen and the home when she saw the wilderness and how far it was from her family, friends and shopping. Brokenhearted Stephen and his brother George moved into the house Ripley´s calls, “Heartbreak House.“

Have you ever encountered a piece of history revealed to you in person? Our parents, grandparents and even great grandparents would regale us with tales of their childhood, most of us brushed them off as cool stories. However, when you begin to search through old photos, letters, telegrams, ship manifests, names of people from each story, and our family trees... all the supporting facts start floating to the surface. As we gather these facts, each new truth takes shape and form developing a completeness to the stories told.

Once these facts begin to hit home you find yourself searching passionately for more. What are they not telling us? What details are missing? How are these things connected? What do they all mean? Question after question leads you to the next piece of this mysterious puzzle of life. All at once reality hits you, the answers are in the trails we leave behind. Now history comes alive! People, places, events, technologies, they all mean something. We all mean something.

In your story, do you know each of the lives you have touched? How have your actions shaped the outcome of not only your life but the lives of those around you? Here is a challenge; before you finish reading - watch this video AmazingLife247. I promise it will make reading on more powerful. Perhaps it may even alter the way you live. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2x_Fl3NQVd4 Quite often we have no idea what impact we have on the lives of others.

Looking at life only as a day to day struggle to survive we miss the most important reason we are alive. If we look at life as a gift to share with others an even greater mystery comes alive within us. A magnificent thing happens when this powerful tool is leading the way you view yourself and the way you view others. It is not self-serving, jealous of others or controlling. It is simple, pure and life changing. What is this mysterious component? “Perfect Love.“ All of our lives are connected. How will you choose to use love in your gift.

The tireless efforts of Mrs. Kathy Hartley, president of Friends of Hearthside, and her faithful crew have restored this national treasure to its original glory. Over the years funds have been raised to maintain Hearthside House, and to further the array of both established as well as newly innovated programs. These programs have offered a uniting of community through historical facts, entertainment and education. Merging the Hearthside´s past with the legacies of its owners and visitors, the caretakers of this treasured place are able to make these stories come alive using history to reveal the mystery behind this spectacular gem.

Mrs. Hartley has brought Hearthside House to life by adeptly telling the stories of those that passed through this monument. Recently, by connecting some of those puzzle pieces, she found a slice of history directly relating Hearthside to the 1904 World´s Fair in St. Louis, Missouri. The 1904 World´s Fair boasted a replica of Hearthside House, notably called the Rhode Island Building. Once she learned of this connection, it was apparent that now was the time to bring a semblance of the Greatest International Exhibition of 1904 to Rhode Island.

Hitting the ground running, she and her docent team began contacting historians of the 1904 St. Louis World´s Fair. After gathering all the information and artifacts that pertained to the 1904 Fair they formulated a plan on how to make the event possible. On July 12, 2015 their dream became a reality. It would seem that each time Kathy learns of a new fact pertaining to this monument it further solidifies Hearthside´s historical significance in America.

For more information about Hearthside House tours and events call (401) 726-0597 or visit www.hearthsidehouse.org to view their season schedule