Hopkinton: Pawcatuck River Country

Hopkinton sits in the far southwestern corner of Rhode Island, incorporated in seventeen fifty-seven and named for Stephen Hopkins, who would later sign the Declaration of Independence and serve as governor of the colony nine times. The Pawcatuck River drains through the town southward toward Westerly and the sea. In the eighteen hundreds the Arcadia Manufacturing Company and several smaller mills worked the river, producing woolen goods.

Ashaway, a village within Hopkinton, became famous for one product: Ashaway Line and Twine, founded in eighteen twenty-four, which made braided fishing lines and later racquet strings used by professional tennis players worldwide. The company is still in operation, one of the oldest continuously running manufacturers in Rhode Island.