Holmes' Wharf, was a great place for business; on it stood Carter's cooper's shop, Monroe's block-maker's shop, Graftin's sail-loft, and over that a rigging loft. Bowen's ship-yard. John Collin's wharf and store; he was engaged in successful trade until the war, when the British destroyed his property, one house excepted. During the war, 17 buildings were destroyed on Bridgestreet. It will, no doubt, appear quite novel to the reader to be made acquainted with these facts, when contrasted with present appearances. But in no section of the town, at that day, was there want of employment. It was the great commercial mart, and merchants resorted there, to trade and traffic, as well as to enjoy the hospitality of the inhabitants, which was then un bounded. HENRY COLLINS, ESQ. Henry Collins, deserves to be recorded with gratitude and respect. He was a native of Newport, and born March, 1699. He was educated in England, and on his return to his native country, adopted the profession of merchant, in which he was for a time eminently successful. He was a man of cultivated taste, and fond of literature-he animated and encouraged kin dred spirits, and in 1730, with several associates, formed a literary and philosophical society in Newport, which was the first that was ever formed in the colony, and probably was one of the earliest in America. This society afterwards comprised many of the prominent men in the colony, and some in Massa chusetts and Connecticut. He is said to have been the projector of the plan for a Library Association, in Newport, for which purpose he gave the valuable lot of land on which the edifice of the Redwood Library waserected, and was for many years one of the directors of the Institution. He was a munificent patron of the arts, and by his patronage to Smybert, Alexander, Tocke, &c., we are indebted for many valuable paintings of the ancient Patriarchs, which are still to be found in Newport. |