Our History
The lands of Mount Hope Farm – originally known by the Pokanoket name Potumtuk – are steeped in history. While we are proud of our presence on the National Register of Historic Places, it is essential that we recognize the history that came before the Royalls and the presence of heroes of the American Revolution such as George Washington. From the earliest days, the Indigenous peoples of our region lived on this land, their presence here ending in their forced removal during Metacom’s Resistance (colloquially known as King Philip’s War).
We invite you to learn more about the Pokanoket, the First People of the land of Sowams, by clicking the button below.
In the 18th century the property was the site of enslavement for at least twenty-three enslaved people who cared for the farm, its animals, and their enslavers and whose unfree labors aided in the success of individuals such as Henry Mackintosh and Isaac Royall.
In 1680, Nathaniel Byfield was one of four Boston merchants who purchased the lands known today as Bristol from Plymouth Colony, who held it as a profit of King Philip’s War (1675-1678). As the lands were divided, Byfield laid claim to what is today Mount Hope Farm. Sometime between 1702 and 1714 (Deed of Sale, Nathaniel Byfield to Henry Mackintosh. July 24, 1702. Bristol Abstract of Land Evidence, 1680-1808.) Byfield sold Mount Hope to his son-in-law, Scottish merchant and the Suriname planter, Colonel Henry MacKintosh (McIntosh, MacIntosh). Taken in July 1730, the inventory of the Estate of Elizabeth Davis, the daughter of Byfield and widow of MackIntosh, counts twenty-three enslaved, valued at £1,355, among her possessions. While no names were given, they were recorded as “9 Negro men, 1 boy; 6 Negro women, 5 Negro children, 2 Negro infants.” Their value was equal to 22.8% of her entire estate. Accounting records from a decade later and medical records spanning 1729 to 1749 identify several by name: Barsheba, Bette, “Seser,” “Dianah,” “Hector,” “Hecter’s children,” Toney (also listed as Anthoney), Joseph, Suca, Jack, Harry, Mingo, Fortune, Nanny, and Philice. Like his grandfather-in-law, Isaac Royall Jr., who married MackIntosh’s granddaughter, also named Elizabeth MackIntosh, came from a family of prolific enslavers and, in 1745, would build the house that still stands on this property. Following their marriage, Royall and his wife inherited Mount Hope Farm, those enslaved there, and a portion of the MackIntosh plantation named Fairfield, located in Suriname
The twenty-three enslaved men, women, and children who labored at Mount Hope Farm are among nearly five hundred identified enslaved, likely enslaved, or indentured African, African American, and Indigenous peoples who lived in the town of Bristol between its founding in 1680 and the year 1808. During this time, more than one hundred Bristol families – including judges, farmers, captains, and merchants – owned at least one enslaved person. Among them was Nathaniel Byfield, whose enslaved girl Rose arrived in Bristol in the Spring of 1718 at the age of thirteen. In 1689, fellow town proprietor Captain Nathan Hayman’s estate included a “negro woman” valued at £12.”
Primary source research conducted by the Bristol Historical and Preservation Society has resulted in a 56-foot-long Bristol Timeline of Enslavement, as well as a number of additional projects which seek to center the lives of those who were enslaved and their free descendants.
Research through primary source documents has resulted in the creation of “The Bristol, RI Enslaved and Free Person of Color Database” which has identified a total of 491 enslaved or likely enslaved African, African-American, and Indigenous people who lived in Bristol between 1680 and 1808.
During that period, more than 104 Bristol families, including judges, farmers, captains, merchants and founding families owned enslaved people. Using information from the images of documents which are in the database, a second layer of history was created: the mapping of where those enslaved people most likely lived or worked.
The earliest record located was dated 1689 in the inventory of the estate of Captain Nathaniel Hayman – just nine years after the town of Bristol was founded. 1718 is the document year that one of the first people mapped into the landscape was found. Enslaved by one of the original founding proprietors, Nathaniel Byfield, purchaser of the Mount Hope land, Rose most likely lived on Byfield’s estate on Poppasquash Point. Nathaniel Byfield’s daughter Elizabeth – the first of many in the family line named Elizabeth – married Captain Henry MacIntosh. In 1702 he acquires 550 acres of land known as “Mount Farm.” When she dies in 1730, the inventory for her earthly possessions includes 23 enslaved people: nine Negro men, one boy; 6 Negro women, 5 Negro children, 2 Negro infants. No names are recorded in the inventory, but later research has uncovered some of their names: Harry, Mingo, Anthony, Cesar, Hector, Fortune, Antonio, Betty, Diana, Nanny, Philice, Barsheba, Suca, and Bette. The work continues to learn more about their lives.
Nathaniel Byfield’s grand-daughter Elizabeth married Isaac Royall Jr. in 1737.
Isaac Royall Jr. built the original portion of our hallmark Governor Bradford House in 1745. A staunch Loyalist and wealthy businessman, his family homestead still stands in Medford, Massachusetts and houses one of the only free-standing slave quarters remaining in the United States. The site of enslavement for more than sixty men, women, and children, the stewards of the Royall House & Slave Quarters actively seek to preserve what is known not only about the property but those who were held there in bondage. To learn more about the Royall House, click here.
Loyalist Royall left the Boston area three days before the Battle of Lexington in 1775, and sailed first to Nova Scotia and then to England, where he died in 1781.
His Mount Hope Farm property was soon confiscated by the State of Rhode Island, with the proceeds used to pay Continental soldiers. In 1783, the land transferred to Nathan Miller of Warren, a Brigadier General and member of the Continental Congress. Soon after that, the Farm was sold at auction to William Bradford.
Mr. Bradford, a doctor and lawyer, served Bristol for 35 years. He was the last Deputy Colonial Governor serving until 1776, and first Deputy Governor of Rhode Island serving until 1778, then a member of the General Assembly. He became a United States Senator from 1793 to 1797, resigning to return to the quiet life at Mount Hope Farm, where he died in 1808. Mr. Bradford’s wife, Mary, had died in 1775, leaving him with eight children. He willed his estate to his daughter Ann.
Samuel W. Church, a wealthy Taunton and Bristol merchant, purchased Mount Hope Farm in 1837 from the heirs of William Bradford. Mr. Church developed a model farm at Mount Hope and twice expanded the Governor Bradford House. Even after moving to the Church Homestead in the Poppasquash section of Bristol in 1855 to accommodate his family of 12 children, Mount Hope Farm continued in Church family ownership and produced Indian corn, Irish potatoes and butter.
In 1916, Rudolf F. Haffenreffer II purchased the property, which by then had fallen into neglected state. The Haffenreffer family members were industry leaders in Rhode Island, owning the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company (1932-1942), Mount Hope Bridge (1931-1953), and Narragansett Brewery (1933-1965). In 1955, R.F. Haffenreffer III and his brother, Carl W., donated 220 acres of the original Mount Hope Farm to Brown University. While the 375-acre estate was stewarded by Brown University for decades, a significant portion has since been repatriated to the Pokanoket Nation. This transfer marks the return of Mount Hope—the Nation’s ancestral seat—to its original stewards, ensuring the land's sacred history is preserved by those to whom it belongs
This historic estate, once a refuge for the Pokanokets, the First People of the area, once a farm dependent on enslaved labor to benefit colonial settlers, and a superb example of “country life” in the 20th century, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977. In 1999, it was acquired by The Mount Hope Trust in Bristol, a nonprofit organization, which welcomes you today.
If you would like to learn more about our property, we invite you to take our walking tour the next time you are at the Farm. Our walking tour goes into detail about the vast history of the property, you can learn more here
We recognize that the history presented here is incomplete and we are actively collaborating with the descendants of those enslaved on this land and with historians to bring deeper context and awareness to our shared past. We will continue to draw on historical research, relationship building, the descendant community, and lessons learned from a variety of historic sites, such as the Royall House & Slave Quarters, as we aspire to reflect a collaborative, multi-vocal, and accessible narrative. We invite you to follow our journey.