Most structures c. 1870. 215–225 Shady Lea Rd.
Shady Lea was a small arm of the Rodman family's paternalistic North Kingstown textile operations. Charles Rodman's mansarded mansion (c. 1870) still stands at the entrance to this tiny textile community, and mill housing lines the lane. Tucked into a hollow beside the stream at the end of the road is the mill itself, some of which dates from the eighteenth century—a low and spare building, modestly towered, part brick, part clapboard. The diminutive scale of Shady Lea and the survival of many of the auxiliary mill buildings set it apart. Although small operations such as this were typical of rural Rhode Island from the late eighteenth century on, few survive. Though in dilapidated condition, this continues in manufacturing.