By Arline A Fleming
Artifacts related to the facility are sought in advance of the organization’s November celebration.
SOUTH KINGSTOWN — Had Mrs. John Newbold Hazard, a century ago, come upon a bevy of barefoot yoga students practicing enlightened walking on the graceful lawn of Peace Dale’s Village Green, she might have gasped in wonder.
Toes bare and extended, gripping the cool earth, these yoga students might have made the benevolent Mrs. Hazard hold her lacy hankie to her lips while she took in the image of bare feet in public. But then, given her inquisitiveness and foresight, she might have stopped to find out more about this class based in the same Peace Dale Office Building where village women took domestic science classes during her turn-of-the-century era.
Augusta Hazard so supported the women of Peace Dale that she recognized the need for a second location where they could gather to focus on classes in furniture-making, dressmaking, textile work and other helpful skills. So she funded the construction of the Neighborhood Guild, beginning in 1908.
At its dedication in September 1909, the building was described as “beautiful and commodious,” and it was dedicated not only to Mrs. Hazard’s husband, but also to the people of the village.
One hundred years later, the Guild’s heritage will be celebrated on Nov. 16 from 2 to 5 p.m. with a special open house, which is being planned by the South Kingstown Parks and Recreation Department, said Director Andrew Nota.
He envisions the event as also serving as a reunion.
“It will be a time to reconnect,” he said, “for people to come back and reunite.”
In anticipation of that, Nota said, the department is seeking Guild-related artifacts and memorabilia, photographs and recreational items, for a one-day display that weekend. He hopes local residents will come forth with their personal collections.
They are in special need of items from the 1950s and 1960s.
In researching Guild history, Nota noted that though the facility has “evolved with society, there are still services being offered that were originally offered a century ago. This was one of the only buildings in town with running water,” at the time, and so women would arrive to bathe in the morning, and the men in the afternoon.
“People still come here to shower,” Nota said.
HAD THE LOCAL women mentioned an interest in yoga those many years ago, Mrs. Hazard perhaps would have supported that interest, too.
With almost 2,000 classes held at the Guild each year, interests indeed reflect both the past — with sewing, cooking, knitting — and the present, with yoga finding a major niche on the listing schedule.
The department has partnered with the Yoga School of South County to offer the classes under the direction of Richard Toohey and Rose Russo. Coincidentally, they are held in the location of the Guild’s first classes, the basement of the 1858 Peace Dale Office Building.
The yoga classes, much like the domestic science classes of a century ago, come in a variety of topics. Recently, Russo and Toohey launched a new semester of “Yoga and Walking,” which started in the basement headquarters of the office building and extended onto the village green, which was also a dream of Mrs. Hazard’s.
“How you carry yourself is pretty much a lifestyle choice,” said Toohey, who recommends walking barefoot more often than not. “We’ve destroyed our feet by wearing shoes.”
Toohey takes the class outside, in bare feet, to the cool autumn grass and a location snug between the two stone buildings.
“Be in the present moment,” he tells his students. “Get lost in the act of walking.”
THE YOGA and walking class will continue into next month, and is listed in the fall catalogue alongside tennis, watercolor, drawing, cartooning, karate, and dozens of other offerings.
All this, Nota says, makes this building exactly what it was intended to be: A place for the people, as it was a century ago, when mill workers went there to find a visiting nurse, or do their laundry, or take a bath or shower, or find an apartment. It also had a gymnasium for emerging athletes, and a stage, for potential actors. Both are still in place.
In 1940, the Hazard family transferred the deed to the building to the town and established a recreation commission.
Said Nota: “They had a vision far beyond their years.”
To contact the Neighborhood Guild, 325 Columbia St., Peace Dale, call (401) 789-9301 or check www.southkingstownri.com/parksrec
Richard Toohey of Narragansett teaches a yoga class. To his left are Karen Hodges of Wakefield and Judith Samson of West Kingston. The Providence Journal / Frieda Squires
The playground at the Village Green, with the Neighborhood Guild in the background. The Providence Journal / Steve Szydlowski
Originally published by Arline A Fleming, Journal Staff Writer.
(c) 2008 Providence Journal. Provided by ProQuest LLC. All rights Reserved.
Comments