Friday, February 21, 2014

Driving Around Central Falls



For my class, I was asked to participate in a Scavenger Hunt of the Central Falls Communities. Below are some of the interesting facts that I found and a few pictures that I took:

(2)  The oldest non-profit organization that serves the Latino community is Progreso Latino since the 1970s. It also is the home of the only food bank within Central Falls. Progreso Latino also has programs to help the Central Fall’s residents with citizenship, housing, and adult education.

(4) Even though the city is only 1.29 square miles, there are many schools within Central Falls. There is one pre-k school, three elementary schools, one middle school, and one high school. Outside of the public school system, there is also St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Academy, which is a Catholic private school located in Central Falls.

(8) There is a local post office in Central Falls. It is located off of Dexter St, which seems to be the main street in Central Falls, and only minutes from the high school.

(9) The fire station and the police station are located in the same building, and around the corner from the high school. I would assume that there is protocol for the fire station when handling emergencies, but we were not able to talk to a fireman during our drive.



(12) During the Scavenger Hunt, I notice there were many public parks. Due to the snow though, I was not able to find all the names for the parks. One park that we did spend some time at was Jenks Park, which is located behind the high school. Below is a picture of one of the entrances that we found to the park.

(15) Tiffany and I visited the Moshassuck Cemetery where we found a Civil War Monument. One the monument it states, “Erected by the Town of Lincoln as a Tribute to the Bravery of her Sons in the War of the Rebellion 1861 – 1865”. It was incredible to find such a vast history in such a small town in Rhode Island.
 
(17) As we drove around Central Falls, I found that a lot of the restaurants located in Central Falls were Mexican cuisine. Occasionally we would see a Chinese restaurant mixed into the Mexican restaurants. One interesting thing to note about the restaurants in Central Falls is that I rarely saw a fast food or chain food restaurant. It goes to show the small businesses that the town offers and also how residents of the town must support themselves.

(19) We also visited the Adams Library in Central Falls. Due to the weather, the library was closed when we visited. While doing research online I found that the library offers events such as story time, weekly movies in the auditorium, and also anime and manga clubs.

(24) There are three professional baseball players that are from Central Falls. They are Charley Bassett (played from 1884-1892), Max Surkont (played from 1949-1957), and Jim Siwy (played from 1982-1984). 

(30) One other interesting thing that we found during are drive around Central Falls was Chocolateville, or the Chocolate Mill Overlook.  The original Chocolate Mill was one of North America’s first water powered chocolate mills and its creation even pre-dates the well-known Slater Mill in neighboring Pawtucket. The Overlook is located on the Blackstone River in Central Falls approximately where the original mill was before it was severely damaged by a storm and later demolished. To learn more about the Chocolate Mill, you can go to the link posted here: http://www.chocolatemilloverlook.com/


I found this assignment to be highly enlightening in learning about a town that I previously knew nothing about. Even though the weather was barely cooperating with Tiffany and I, we still were able to drive around the town and learn a lot. Despite the fact that Central Falls is so small, it is a highly populated area. I wonder… Do the residents know about the history that their town contains? Even though I did not get to look into all of the topics on the Scavenger Hunt worksheet, I will still be researching them to learn more about the history that the town has to offer.

4 comments:

  1. I liked seeing where you and Tiffany went that was different from where
    Jodi, Michelle, and I went. We didn't find the post office or go into the cemetery. Reading other peoples scavenger hunts certainly makes me realize more about how much is packed into the small city.

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  2. I agree Elizabeth, it is amazing how different each scavenger hunt really is for a city only one square mile. The fact that each person found something different in the city is amazing.

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  3. I like the point you raise about whether or not residents are aware of the history Central Falls contains. After I finished doing the scavenger hunt, I reported my findings to two residents of the city. Neither one of them were aware of the majority of the things I was able to locate and learn about throughout the city. I talked to students also, who told me that they never realized there was a face on their high school above the entrance of the building. I even lived here in the past and was still not able to identify off hand the majority of questions on our list. It was very interesting to find all the hidden treasures in this small city.

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  4. Sadly i do not believe many of the residents know the history of the city. Having lived in Central Falls and gone to school there I can tell you the history of the city was never really taught to me. Related to that point, I had no idea the chocolate mill even existed. Wish i had known before. I bet that is something that many many people do not know. (im going to go get some chocolate now).

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