Naraganset (spelling)

[BOOFHAST]

I decided to shoot down to Point Judith for some pictures the other day and i came across a structure near the northern most part of Scarboro beach. Beach ends, theres a storm wall, stone structure (looks like a house), beer bottles (must be a favorite of the locals)...any thought on this one? also, there is a stone structure further down Ocean Drive on the left (heading toward N Kingstown) looks to be on private property and it looks to be another old stpne house...any thought on this one as well?

[skully]

Yeah, I know what you are talking about...
The old foundation/shell of a building at the eastern end of Scarborough beach.  I've always wondered that myself.  Don't know.

What I do know is that a good chunk of Narragansett was once owned by a very wealthy man.  This man constructed many strange structures on his property.  It has been documented that this was due to his intense interest in "spritualism".  Check out Witches Altar in the weird section.  This was just one small thing that we have documented from his property.

I plan on doing a full "research" effort (much like I did with Charlestown Nuclear)regarding this property and it's weird objects and buildings scattered around sometime this coming fall.

[cobalt]

o yea, i saw that a few weeks ago and wanted to check it out, but there were too many people on the beach, it looks kinda like an old church

[Kabli]

What I do know is that a good chunk of Narragansett was once owned by a very wealthy man.  This man constructed many strange structures on his property.  It has been documented that this was due to his intense interest in "spritualism".  Check out Witches Altar in the weird section.  This was just one small thing that we have documented from his property.

Skully, I tried the link to the Witches Altar doesnt work. Has the topic been moved to another section? If not, do you mind reposting what you've learned about this eccentric weathy man.

[Megster]

I think that's a leftover bad link to essays from the site before the site crash. 

Skully and Dakiel wrote some kick ass essays about some RI locations that I know I'd love to see again too...

...and thanks for resurrecting this topic, I've wondered about that stone structure at Scarborough too LOL

[Kabli]

Skully/ Dakiel: Any chance those essays are still around? Is this guy the same one who kidnapped a girl from the Caribbean and made her his wife? (He later killed her and buried her remains inside the walls of his home. They were found when the home was remodeled.)

I've always wondered about it as well. My wife has good photos of it, no idea where they are though.

[Dakiel]

Skully/ Dakiel: Any chance those essays are still around? Is this guy the same one who kidnapped a girl from the Caribbean and made her his wife? (He later killed her and buried her remains inside the walls of his home. They were found when the home was remodeled.)

I've always wondered about it as well. My wife has good photos of it, no idea where they are though.

I will look for the essay, you look for the photos of the dead chick in the wall.

[Dakiel]

Found the charlestown nuclear essay, still looking for the other.


    Background

    Rhode Island, the "Ocean State". The state, well known for its 100 miles of shoreline and beaches, is not well known as being host to the first and only deadly nuclear accident at a commercial fuel facility in US history. This facility was located in Charlestown, only 10 minutes from Rhode Island's breathtaking beaches. Although the buildings are gone, it leaves behind cold remnants of a dangerous era and deceptive past.

    The Scoop

    I heard stories about this place from my grandfather who delivered oil to this place during the mid 1960's. The place was constructed in 1964 in quiet, peaceful place known Wood River Junction in Charlestown, RI. The location was seemingly prime for Un*ted Nuclear Company- open space with little population, abutting rail lines (although nuclear materials were not supposed to be transported via rail), a major power grid is a couple hundred feet away, and a future highway, Route 95, was but minutes away. Interestingly enough, the land also is adjacent to Narragansett Indian tribal lands.

    An Unfortunate Circumstance

    It was Rhode Island's governor John H. Chafee (also former Senator, and father of now-senator Lincoln D. Chaffee), who called the installation of this facility for 'government business' in Charlestown, "A trememdously exciting thing for us here in Rhode Island." in 1964. Little did he know that this site and the company that would be recorded in the history books. It's not just a story of nuclear energy and handling (both of which I believe is necessary for our existance) but one of deception and waste.

    Little could be said about the fuel-fabrication facility until something happened there in July of 1964. It happened to a man named Robert Peabody. Yvonne Abraham from the New York Times (May 3, 2000) reports:

                On July 24, just a few months after he started, Peabody was pouring what he thought was diluted uranium solution into a mechanical mixer when he saw a blue flash.

                The solution was far more concentrated than he thought, and the mixer too big for safety; so much uranium was now in one container it reached critical mass and reacted, knocking him to the floor, splashing him with radioactive liquid.

                Four minutes later, he was vomiting, with severe stomach cramps, a headache, and no control of his bodily functions, according to a medical report. Coworkers wrapped him in blankets and he was rushed to a hospital. There, he grew worse quickly: his chest and arms swelled and his gold wedding band had to be sawed off, over his objections.

                "Somebody put the bottle in the wrong place," Anna Peabody said her husband told her when she arrived at his bedside. She stood at his pillow, holding his hand, before doctors warned her to stand at the foot of the bed, away from the most directly affected parts of her husband's body, she recalled.

                Robert Peabody died 49 hours after that first blue flash.

                ...The Peabody [family] received the box of [Mr. Peabody's] remains but refused to hold a funeral, believing it impossible that it could be his ashes...

                All of this is little consolation for Robert Peabody's family, left alone with their suspicions all these years: that Anna Peabody's unprotected visit to her husband's bedside made her sick with three kinds of cancer; that the signed commendation from President Lyndon B. Johnson, which hangs on her living room wall, means that Un[ ]ted Nuclear was conducting government business on the site; that Robert Peabody's remains are being kept somewhere by the government.

    Shutdown

    Un*ited Nuclear Coporation closed the Charlestown plant in 1980, after it recieved some attention from a much larger accident at Church Rock, New Mexico in July of 1979. UNC owned a dam that was holding radioactive uranium tailings. The dam broke open and released 93 million gallons of liquid wastes and a reported 1,000 tons of solid wastes into the Little Puerco River, a major waterway for washing and watering livestock in this desert region. Luckily, the area was not highly populated and for this did not attract much attention as the Three Mile Island accident that occured 4 months earlier. UNC ended up removing 3,500 tons of contaminated sediment from the river. Unfortunately, the water was still contaminated and had irreversable effects: the Little Puerco River flows into the Colorado River, which feeds Lake Mead where Los Angeles gets some of it's drinking water. Hmmm...

    Today

    In 1980 the UNC began a multimillion-dollar, 10-year decontamination of the site. The buildings were removed and the ground was plowed. Around this time (1980-1982) Governor John Chafee recieved a request from the Un*ted Nuclear Company and a bid to store high-level radioactive waste at this site. We can only assume that this request was denied (more information necessary) but we do know the following that could affect people and animals near the site:

        1) RI's DEM site indicates that the area that stretches from the primary location to a nearby Brook, Meadow Brook, is rated a Ground Water Classification class of "GAA-NA". This class, which can be read about here, is described as follows:

            Non-attainment areas are those areas that have pollutant concentrations greater than the
            groundwater quality standards for the applicable classification. The Director shall designate such groundwater as
            "non-attainment" in the following manner: GAA Non-attainment (GAA-NA), GA Non-attainment (GA-NA), or
            GB Non-attainment (GB-NA)


        Source: RI DEM

         

        2) A recent State of Rhode Island land planning document, found here, states:

            Charlestown: The Town of Charlestown has three sites designated for industrial
            use, two of which are fully occupied. The remaining site is the former location of
            Un*ted Nuclear on Narragansett Trail, measuring 1,100 acres in total, of which nearly
            all are vacant. All but five acres are developable, those acres being excluded by a R.I.
            Department of Environmental Management monitoring agreement because of
            residual contamination.

         

        3) Justin Huxol, a Brown University student doing his undergraduate thesis in environmental studies, conducted an online public survery from 7 February 7th to March 21st, 2001 and extracted the following serious and plausible concerns from residents:

                      #
                        As a Soil Scientist during my work years, a site like this frighten me. Society, unfortunately, has to deal with the impact of poor land management. This I believe is one that falls in the category. Too costly to change or repair, I suspect.
                        Clean up and change to openspace with trails. This would make a nice canoe/camping area.
                      #
                        I worry that this site is not completely clean from the nuclear accident. I've read that there is a load of radioactivity that is slowly working downstream. What is the status of this is?
                      #
                        This might be a good site for any recreation type activities provided it was safe for human activity
                      #
                        Finish cleanup, public access and trails for hiking
                      #
                        The cleanup was completed years ago and the area tested and deemed safe for the public. This would make a nice addition to Charlestown's Park Department.
                      #
                        None, This site is nearly perfect. This is a 1000 acre site and the photos you've used are not at all representative of the site. Survey takers who do not know this site may judge it by the pictures which make it look like a gravel pit.
                        This site could be suitable for some well planned industrial park type of development, as something has to be made available so this type of development is not so piecemeal, could be landscaped to keep the eyesore level to a minimum, and would develop a business tax base.
                      #
                        I worked at UNC in the early 80s. I was one of the last two Nuclear Security Guards as the building was being shut down. This is a large open site with excellent State Maintained Road access. Site is suitable for small Local airport.
                      #
                        This is a toxic site! We should be more concerned with the quality of groundwater in half the town because of Un*ted Nuclear's location!
                      #
                        I would want to know that it is safe for certain activities before making a decision.
                      #
                        Clean it up

    The final piece of information we have is that the Nuclear Regulatory Commision declared the site safe in October 1995.

     

    InsaneBunkers Goes Insane-Nuclear
    As you can imagine, it was tempting to go out and investigate this location, especially after we heard about the story and DEM's findings. I wish not to glorify or media-ize the death of someone, my goal is just to relay some historical hush-hush information. Condolences go out to Peabody family.
    There was something in the back of my head that said, "You could die in 10 years from visiting that place". I felt OK knowing that at least I could bring an instrument to help us when we go, a Geiger counter, a gift from my father. It works and is calibrated. It should be good enough for detection of high-level radiation. I must admit that I don't know enough about rads and radium to understand what we were going to read on the meter, all I knew that if I set it on the lowest scale and watch it, we would have the best chance of seeing any radiation activity.
    I (Skully) scouted the place in August. The I did not venture in very far, I was not prepared and just taking a causal ride to the beach that day. Also, the mosquitos were vicious I can remember! This first trip was the basis for more research as shown in this webpage. I must admit that the site itself physically is not that exciting, no structures exist, just remnants of a secret government facility. I took a few photos and left.
    The second trip was the full exploration of the area. I came with Dakiel and his not-so-young younger brother. We were fully prepared: DV Cam, Maps, Dig Cams, Geiger counter, thick boots, and leatherman. This map shows our travel:

    We did not pick up anything on the Geiger counter. The only thing we noticed that the needle rose from about 1 to 2 over the course of leaving it ON (2 hours?). It seemed to be a linear thing so I figure it is just the old electronics heating up.

    We started at the car which was parked at the 'locked gate'. Curious enough, the gate shouldn't be locked, it shows up on maps as a public road. We walked past the two northerly gates with the "In case of emergency" signs on them. Although they do not mention a company, the phone number tracks back to Un*ted Nuclear Corporation. We ventured past the gates and onto the main open space. We noted that grass did not like to grow on most of the land. The only things standing were some fencing and a bunch of lightposts. Notably, the old gate still had some security hardware attached including a solid door in the fence.

    Venturing on, we found some very bare spots on the site location and placed the Geiger counter near. Not a single blip. We continued to walk toward the outer perimeter of the fencing. We then noticed that we were inside a series of fencing, in our case, in inner fence. Dakiel and Bro ventured on towards the outer fence, I continued to walk the perimeter. I found another security exit and a dead animal's head nearby. The fence seemed to go on and on through some brush so I decided to catch up with Dakiel.

    Dakiel was in the middle of making an important observation. Look above at the map. See the green area? This is the UNC site location. The yellow area to the right (looks kind of like a north-easterly explosion) is the bird santuary. Dakiel found a series of signs warning people of the nesting and not to walk on this land. This is curious. I'm not qualified to answer this but, a bird sanctuary without any trees? And, why does this land look exactly like the nuclear site land? Was this filled also? Did Chafee grant UNC permission to dump in this location and use the guise of a bird sanctuary to keep people off so they would not venture into danger? We wonder....

    Lastly, we walked a couple miles though the sandy trail and sand pit. There is nothing noteworthy here. It appears that lots of off-road vehicles enjoy this area. We left for the day with photos of nothing wildly exciting except the feeling inside that somethings occured here that some folks would probably like to forget.

     

    Enjoy the photos. We have some video also. Interested?

    References

        NucNews - October 2, 1999
        http://www.nucnews.net/nucnews/1999nn/9910nn/991002nn.htm

        Family Still Bears Scars of a Nuclear Death
        http://www.bazley.net/archives/UNCdeath.html

        Caufield, Catherine (Avail at Amazon)
        Multiple exposures: chronicles of radiation age
        1989, Harper and Row, NY

        Justin Huxol, Undergraduate Thesis in Environmental Studies
        http://www.envstudies.brown.edu/thesis/2001/huxol/final/sitefindings/uncf.htm
        See also: http://www.envstudies.brown.edu/thesis/2001/huxol/final/sitefindings/uncf1.htm

        Unnamed Land Planning Document, State of Rhode Island
        http://www.planning.state.ri.us/ed/Idlu/Pt4.PDF

        THE SENATORIAL PAPERS OF JOHN H. CHAFEE, PROVIDENCE OFFICE, 1962-1999
        URI Library
        http://www.uri.edu/library/special_collections/registers/chafeesenate/correspondence.html

        State of Rhode Island, Department of Enviornmental Management
        Geo-Data Viewer, Env Maps
        http://www.state.ri.us/dem/maps/index.htm

        State of Rhode Island, Department of Enviornmental Management
        Division of Groundwater and Individual Sewage Disposal Systems
        Rules and Regulations for GROUNDWATER QUALITY, Last Amended Aug 1996
        http://www.state.ri.us/dem/pubs/regs/REGS/WATER/GWQL8-96.PDF

     

[Dakiel]

PS skully gets credit for all above research and info.

[Megster]

Thank you for posting that!  That was the one I wanted to see again but of course now my curiosity is piqued by the Narragansett one that I probably didn't read (gasp) because I...probably didn't know where Narragansett was...but now I go there all the time! lol

[CarbonCavi]

Very good reading!

[Hellion1027]

Now that's some crazy shit, who would've thought?  I've never heard about that til now, great essay!