Saturday July 11th 10:30am
Roots & Routes is about discovering Smith’s Castle - not just as a historic building, but as a living landscape. The ‘roots’ represent both the native plants that have grown here for centuries and the deep cultural roots of the people connected to this land. The ‘routes’ are the paths walked over time — by Indigenous communities, early settlers, farmers, and visitors today. Each walk invites people to experience history underfoot, connecting nature, place, and story in a way you can only understand by walking the grounds. It’s history you don’t just learn — it’s history you experience!
Guided by Arborist Matt Largess and Public Historian Bob Geake, you will walk the trails that the indigenous peoples formed centuries ago and people still walk today.
Meet your guides!
Matt Largess is a nationally known, International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) Certified Arborist Matthew "Twig" Largess, "The Voice of the Forest," has led numerous tree walks throughout New England and beyond. An expert on New England forest history and wildlife habitat, he lectures on the connections among trees, people, and wildlife. He has been featured on television and radio, and in numerous newspaper and magazine articles. Twig, a North Kingstown native, is honored to be Smith's Castle's naturalist, located right near the home base of his company, Largess Forestry Inc.
Robert A. Geake is a public historian and accomplished author of sixteen books on Rhode Island and New England history. The author and historian has had the privilege of participating in the symposium at Valley Forge entitled African Americans in the Philadelphia Campaign and the Valley Forge Encampment of 1777-1778 sponsored by the Valley Forge National Park Service (NPS) and The Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH). He has also given his presentation In League with Liberty: The Persistence of Patriots of Color and the Formation of the Black Regiment in the Continental Line to libraries and historical societies, including the Institute of the American Revolution in Washington, D.C.
Mr. Geake served two terms as President of The Cocumscussoc Association which maintains Smith’s Castle, an historic house museum in North Kingstown, Rhode Island, and continues to serve as a Trustee, as well as the Chair of the Association’s Education Committee. He also serves on the advisory board of the Rhode Island Slave History Medallion project, and was responsible in organizing the effort to place a medallion on the grounds of Smith’s Castle.