Coventry Cranberry Company
You are here
Greene Company Cranberry Farm
Mid-19th c. South end of Narrow Lane. Private property
A clearing in this woodsy lane opens to the largest and oldest operating cranberry farm in Rhode Island, now owned by the Greene Company. The complex is dominated by a rectangular diked land shape that contains the bog. The stream from the bog is bridged by a fairly sizable random masonry arch topped by a cobblestone railing (perhaps the work of the same mason who worked at nearby Arnold Farm). A processing barn, built in 1890 and expanded in 1936, is the only extant historic structure on the property (others were built in the late twentieth century). The L-shaped, balloon-frame barn is built into the south-sloping bank of Roaring Brook. The north facade is one-and-a-half stories, while the south elevation along the brook is two-and-a-half stories. Cranberries from the nearby bogs were poured through chutes on the upper floor to a conveyor belt below, where they were hand-sorted, crated, and stored before shipping. The barn fell into disrepair after processing was moved offsite in the 1960s.
In 2005, the Greene Company began rehabilitating the barn, which included replacing the board-and-batten siding and wood floors, repairing the barn doors and hayloft doors, and restoring the beadboard partitions, along with installing a new shingle roof and repairing the metal cupola. This rehabilitation earned the Greene Company a Preservation Project Award from Preserve Rhode Island and the Rhode Island Historical Preservation and Heritage Commission. The Cranberry Processing Barn offers a unique glimpse into Rhode Island’s agricultural heritage.
References
Costa, Lauren. “Greene Company to Receive Preservation Award for Cranberry Restoration,” Patch, September 10, 2013.
Scofield, Jenny Fields, et al. “Hopkins Hollow Village,” Kent County, Rhode Island. National Register of Historic Places Registration Form, 2009. National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, Washington, D.C.
Writing Credits
Updated By:
Catherine Boland Erkkila (2023)
If SAH Archipedia has been useful to you, please consider supporting it.
SAH Archipedia tells the story of the United States through its buildings, landscapes, and cities. This freely available resource empowers the public with authoritative knowledge that deepens their understanding and appreciation of the built environment. But the Society of Architectural Historians, which created SAH Archipedia with University of Virginia Press, needs your support to maintain the high-caliber research, writing, photography, cartography, editing, design, and programming that make SAH Archipedia a trusted online resource available to all who value the history of place, heritage tourism, and learning.