The Haunting of the Nathanael Greene Homestead
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So we're walking down Taft Street in Coventry, Rhode Island. Yep, we are. It's a quiet residential street right near a branch of the Pawtuxet River. It is. And there was a time just a few centuries ago when this was all farmland, woods, and homesteads. Now considering now this is basically a suburb of Providence, that's tough to imagine. Yeah, I get it.

Okay, so our destination is right over there on the left. All right. I see a sign by the edge of the street. It says Spell Hall. Right. That was the original name of this historic building that dates all the way back to 1770. All right. Let's head up the brick walkway.

Oh man, this is a gorgeous old house, isn't it? It's two and a half stories. There are two brick chimneys on either side of the roof. The windows look old-time colonial. It's clearly been well-preserved over the years. It has, but there's another relic from the past that's still knocking around inside. Though it was originally called Spell Hall, it's better known as the Nathaniel Green Homestead. And we're here because they say it's haunted.

Hello, I'm Jeff Belanger. Welcome to episode 389 of the New England Legends podcast. And I'm Ray Ogier. Thank you for joining us on our mission to chronicle every legend in New England, one story at a time. Now, most of our story leads come from you, so please reach out to us anytime through our website with your local tales of monsters, ghosts, aliens, roadside oddities, or any other wicked strangeness you think we should know about. We'll go looking for the ghost of the Nathaniel Green homestead right after this word from our sponsor.

This podcast is sponsored by Talkspace. You know when you're really stressed or not feeling so great about your life or about yourself? Talking to someone who understands can really help. But who is that person? How do you find them? Where do you even start? Talkspace. Talkspace makes it easy to get the support you need.

Talkspace is here for you.

Plus, Talkspace works with most major insurers, and most insured members have a $0 copay. No insurance? No problem. Now get $80 off of your first month with promo code SPACE80 when you go to Talkspace.com. Match with a licensed therapist today at Talkspace.com. Save $80 with code SPACE80 at Talkspace.com.

Now, as we mentioned, the Nathaniel Green Homestead is a gorgeous and well-preserved historic home that dates all the way back to 1770. Yeah, that's right. Now, think about that, Jeff. We weren't even in America yet when this house was built. True. We were still an English colony. Now, they say this is haunted? They do. I guess that shouldn't be a surprise. When a house gets to be over 250 years old, there's bound to be a ghost or two knocking around. There does seem to be a connection between these great old buildings, history, and haunts. That's for sure.

All right, so here's a little more backstory on General Nathaniel Green. He was born in Warwick, Rhode Island back in 1742. He and his brothers were trained by their father as iron masters. They had an iron forge in Warwick that was doing pretty well, so they decided to open a second forge 10 miles north in Coventry.

By 1768, the Coventry Forge had grown to a point where 100 families lived nearby. Each family had members who worked for the company. Nathaniel had this homestead he called Spell Hall, built in 1770 on a hill overlooking the Patuxent River.

The home and its 83 acres of land was a castle where Green and his family could be near their business interests in town. Now, the Coventry Forge suffered a fire in 1772, but they slowly rebuilt and brought the business back to full operation. However, there was another big problem in those early days. And that is? Well, there was a lot of tension between the American colonies and England. And Nathaniel Green believed it was only a matter of time before a war for independence began.

Now, Green helped establish the Kentish Guards in East Greenwich. This was a military unit established by the Rhode Island General Assembly, and Green persuaded a British sergeant who had deserted his army to lead and train soldiers for the colonial cause. On the evening of April 19th, 1775, after hearing the news of the first shots fired in Lexington and Concord, Green mounted his horse and joined the others from the Kentish Guards in a march towards Boston.

Green served as a quartermaster general and was involved as a strategist in multiple Revolutionary War battles. He even appeared on a 1937 commemorative postage stamp alongside none other than George Washington. So one of our early rebel heroes standing up to tyranny. That's our guy. And today this homestead is haunted? That's what they say. Now let me guess, haunted by Nathaniel Green? I could see why you'd think that, him being the most famous person associated with the building, but no, he's not the ghost. At least if we're to believe the stories.

So let's head back to 1804 and visit this homestead. It's the autumn of 1804 here in Coventry, Rhode Island, and we're standing inside Spell Hall. After resigning his commission in 1783, General Nathaniel Green and his wife moved to Georgia to own and run a plantation. Green sold his house in Coventry to his brother Jacob, who now lives here with his wife Peggy and their children. One of those children is their daughter, Julia.

27-year-old Julia Green has been called the most beautiful woman in Coventry. And considering her wealthy family, and she has a Revolutionary War hero as an uncle, Julia is quite the sought-after catch.

Men have tried to win her attention and affection, but so far, everyone's fallen short. But today, another young man is going to try to win her heart. His name is Theodore Foster from Brookfield, Massachusetts. The 26-year-old Foster studied law at Brown University in Providence, graduated four years ago, and has been practicing law in Rhode Island ever since. Theodore Foster is a professor at the University of Michigan.

Though he seems destined to become a Rhode Island judge, some of his business practices have been questionable. So a lawyer trying to make his fortune? Maybe bending a few rules? Well, that's the rumor. Still, Foster is charming. That must be him at the door now.

Julia Green greets her suitor, and the two share some tea in the sitting room. Foster's charm is clearly working. Julia smiles, she laughs, she seems taken by the young man. Plus, considering their ages, she figures there isn't much time to lose. Julia's already been called a spinster by some folks in town. After a courtship, Julia and Theodore marry on December 12th. Theodore now has access to the Green family homestead and their business interests.

Being an attorney, he believes he can run things better than anyone. But he's a lawyer, not an iron worker. That's true, but business is business, right? I mean, I guess. Sort of, to some extent. That's what Theodore believes. Business is business. Besides...

He can always invest the family's money in some of his other ideas. Sure, but his track record so far hasn't been so great as far as being an attorney and investing in other businesses. Yeah, but that's because he didn't have enough capital, Ray. It takes money to make money. Now that he's in charge of the Green family business and fortune, he can make some real moves. And that's just what Theodore starts to do. He's investing their money in one enterprise after another. Hmm.

Meanwhile, back at home, the couple's family is growing. In the coming years, Julia would give birth to four sons and three daughters. But all the while, her husband, Theodore, is squandering her family fortune. While Julia tends to their children, Theodore is spending their money. Pretty soon, the Green family loses the Coventry Iron Forge because they're out of cash. The sale of the business goes towards Theodore's debts. Although Julia is getting nervous about finances, her husband tells her not to worry.

Meanwhile, Theodore sinks the family further into debt. It's now October of 1821. Theodore is taken ill, and his family is just about broke. He soon draws his last breath. He was 43 years old. His wife and children are forced to leave their family home in Coventry and move to western Massachusetts. Julia is angry at herself more than anything. She believes it's her fault for marrying a man who lost her family fortune.

Theodore is buried in a family plot in Coventry, but his grave isn't marked. And that brings us back to today.

To this day, we don't know exactly where Theodore Foster is buried. But we do know that Julia died in 1831 at age 53 and is buried in Dalton, Massachusetts, out in the Berkshires. So who do we think is haunting the Nathaniel Green homestead? Is it Julia because this was her house and she feels guilty for the fortune she lost for herself and her children? Does she blame herself? Maybe, but there's one other candidate. Elizabeth Margaret Green was born here at the homestead in 1814.

She went through three husbands who all died on her. She lost children in the house, and she would be the last of Jacob Green's line to live in the Nathaniel Green homestead. So she's also a candidate because of all the death and sadness? She is. Now, people have reported strange smells like bread baking, even though no one's cooked in the house for many decades, and they've seen shadows, and they hear noises. And while many who work or volunteer here have heard strange sounds they can't explain or seen things out of the corner of their eyes, it's really unnerving.

Imagine you're here alone and you hear someone walking around upstairs. Yeah, that would freak me out for sure. So by naming these things that bump in the night, calling it Julia Greene or Elizabeth Margaret Greene,

We give ourselves a sense of control. It's a false sense because how can we really know for sure? But still, we connect with their sadness or disappointment and speculate the reason why they may want to linger in this historic home. Plus, when you walk inside, it looks like 200 years ago. Yeah, yeah. The furniture, the decor. This place is like a time warp back to when families lived and died in here. So true. I mean, if these walls could talk, well, at the Nathaniel Green Homestead, maybe they can.

And that takes us to After the Legend, where we take a deeper dive into this week's story and, well, sometimes veer off course. Sometimes. After the Legend is brought to you by our Patreon patrons who make all this possible. We could use your help, too. With more patrons, we can do even more. They help with our hosting and production costs, travel, marketing, everything else it takes to bring you two stories each week. It's just three bucks per month. It's like buying me and Ray half a draft beer.

that we have to split. You'll get early ad-free access to new episodes, access to our entire archive of shows, plus bonus episodes and content that no one else gets to hear. Please help us out by going to patreon.com slash New England Legends to sign up. And if you'd like to see some pictures of the Nathaniel Green homestead by the great Frank Grace, click on the link in our episode description or go to our website. Click on episode 389. A nice little piece of history there. Yeah. I like that. Sure. It doesn't always have to be spooky or...

demonic or whatever, or involve witches. That's the thing about a haunting, right? So the stuff we described, smelling bread baking, that's a pleasant smell. Hearing someone walking around, they're not going to make a Hollywood horror movie about that. But imagine you're there painting. You're going to be there late at night because you're a volunteer. You go after work. It's just you. I'm going to paint this room. I'm going to do some nice touch-ups, keep this place that I love well-preserved.

You know you're the only one there. Yeah. And you hear someone distinctly walking around upstairs. That is really frightening. It's frightening without even thinking. I mean, you're judging right out of the gate. Yeah. I mean, that could be a nice ghost. Sure. And they live there. So, I mean, you're intruding on their property, their time. Right.

But they don't belong there. Yeah, I guess. I'm the only living person here. I'm painting this room and loving this building and taking care of it, and I hear someone else inside. And we've all seen too many movies that don't end well. And so you're scared because that is frightening. Even though you may be in no danger whatsoever, it's still a very frightening thing. I also was thinking about the story of Julia. I was reading an article about how the partner you choose in life

has such a profound effect on your health, your wealth, and your happiness. Oh, absolutely. So you're sharing a life with somebody, like in the truest sense. Right. So if you marry someone who just like drinks a lot, you're going to drink more than you probably would have otherwise. Right. If you marry a health food nut, you're probably going to eat a little healthier. If you marry someone who just eats a lot of junk food, you're probably going to eat worse. You know, if you marry a go-getter, you might have more money, you know, then you might be a little more of a go-getter to sort of like match that energy. Right.

So it's so important, the partners we pick, you know, especially if you're rich, don't marry someone that's going to be like, I can't wait to get that money. I got this idea. It's going to be big. Prenups. Yeah, prenups, right? That was before the days. But yeah, it really is true how much, you know, the people you live with affects everything about you.

Yeah. And, you know, it's exciting, I guess, to have all that money, marry into money and think, well, now I'm a part of that. That is part my money. Why didn't we do that? Let's do some exciting things. I know, right? Yeah.

Yeah. So, yeah, it's a weird balance. Yeah, of course. And then you don't want to discourage it with your partner. Right. So you don't want to tell him never invest in that because that's not going to work. You'd be like, oh, maybe this won't work. Right. I want you to succeed. Yeah. You're trying so hard. Maybe he wasn't such a bad guy. Right. He just had big ideas. Yeah.

maybe give him an allowance you know what i mean here's the family money i'm gonna give you this much you do whatever you want with it right you want to gamble it or invest it in something use this yeah then we still have you know the the nest egg to uh to to fall back on but that's but women couldn't speak up that really back then wasn't her money anymore once she got married that's true yeah couldn't vote couldn't own land right yeah no those that was uh before that so he could have been very much a predator yeah yeah and

And I would imagine many were back then. An attorney who's a predator? Ray, come on. Sorry. How dare you sully the good name of attorneys everywhere. Right. No, I get it. But yeah, no, it's... But the house is gorgeous. The house is... I'm sure. Beautiful, so well maintained and taken care of. Well, they knew how to build houses back then. But you also had to take care of it ongoing. Right? That's the other part of it. Because no matter how well built, it will rot. Sure. So the folks take such good care of it today, and it's...

And it's cool. It's cool to time warp, to walk in and be like, wow, this is colonial era. This is before we were America. This was a house that saw everything from talk of the revolution through...

trains through airplane flight, through space travel, through moon landings. And, you know, well, that's the movie with Tom Hanks that just came out. Did you see that? No. What is it? What was the name of it? It was from the point of view of a living room, but across the street was an old colonial home that, and they did flash back to when the actual house house wasn't there. And you just saw the colonial house. And I think it was a relative of George Washington. So there was some scenes there and then the house was built, but it was the same camera shot.

into a living room and it was about a family that grew up there and some of the other people that lived there but there was an old colonial house across the street that was there for the whole time um i forgot the name of it wow it's pretty amazing it just came out yeah all right robert zanekas oh the special effects were really cool with that one camera shot oh that's cool check that out but uh but yeah so you know the if the walls could talk yeah i mean i think any walls can talk it doesn't have to be a centuries-old building i think uh

You know, you walk into some people's home, they just got good energy. Some people are just like, oh, whatever. The house could be 20 years old, that's it. But it's got good energy. You can feel it. Yeah. You're just like, oh, this is a positive place. Other times you feel negative. You're just like, ooh, I don't like being here. I'd rather leave.

So there is definitely something to that. And then when you start to consider all the history, and then we connect. I've said a million times, I think we summon these ghosts, right? We think like, oh my God, imagine losing the family fortune, how awful you'd feel. Imagine you've gone through three husbands that had children die in this house, like

Sure, those are the sad points, but I'm sure she had a lot of joy too. She had children grow up and have birthdays and say funny things. She loved baking breads for them. Right, yeah, right, yeah. There was joy too, but we remember the tragedies, which is too bad we're so negatively focused. But when it comes to hauntings, I think that part is pretty critical to the recipe, is that we look for something scary in the past.

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