What Is All the Fuss About Coventry? Here Is a Start...

A quick little fact, Coventry is about 63 square miles, water covering 2.8 square miles and it takes the award for the biggest town, square footage, in the state. In 1741 some farmers petitioned the general assembly to turn Coventry into its own town, as it was part of the City of Warwick back in the day.

Some historic buildings still exist including the Nathanael Greene Homestead (1770).

My focus today is on Nathanael Greene and his history. He was a very powerful man with uncommon resolve; he was very committed to the cause and future of our country. Born in 1742, Nathanael was the great, great grandson of John Greene and Samuel Gorton, both founding settlers of Warwick, Rhode Island. Greene’s family worked as iron forgers and they didn’t believe in education. Greene was determined to be something different and he educated himself by studying math and law. Rev. Ezra Stiles, a future president to Yale University, was a mentor to Greene. In 1770, Greene moved to Coventry to take over the family owned foundry. That year he was also picked as part of the RI General Assembly and was reelected in 1771, 1772, and 1775.

Greene was a Major General in the American Revolutionary War. Although he started out at the lowest rank possible, Militia Private, after the war he was one of George Washington’s most dependable officers.  He served from 1775-1783 and fought in the following battles:

American Revolutionary War
Siege of Boston
Battle of Harlem Heights
Battle of Fort Washington
Battle of Trenton
Battle of Brandywine
Battle of Germantown
Battle of Monmouth
Battle of Rhode Island
Battle of Springfield (1780)
Battle of Guilford Court House
Battle of Hobkirk's Hill
Siege of Ninety-Six
Battle of Eutaw Springs

The family moved in 1783 from Coventry to Newport and then to Mulberry Grove. In 1786 General Greene died of sunstroke at his plantation.

There a so many memorials across the Northeast to Nathanael Greene, too many to mention. Locally you should visit his home in Coventry, The Nathanael Greene Homestead, his home from 1770 to 1776. Do you know that a large bronze statue of Nathanael Greene stands on a marble pedestal by the steps of the Rhode Island State House and that large oil portrait of Nathanael Greene hangs in the State Room in the RI State House?

Here is one of his many quotes; "Learning is not virtue but the means to bring us an acquaintance with it. Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful. Let these be your motives to action through life, the relief of the distressed, the detection of frauds, the defeat of oppression, and diffusion of happiness."

This is just one reason I am proud to say I live in Coventry!

Katina Lafazia is a Realtor for Remax Central, please email her with any questions at katinalafazia@yahoo.com.