The View From McSparran Hill

Southern New England is known as a perfect summer getaway. As the seasons change,
the groups of students renting houses transform into families getting out for the summer. The
beaches are packed from May to September, tourists block the roads, walking along the streets
barefoot, and many people arrive just to take a look at the beautiful landscape of Narragansett
Bay. During the middle of winter, its difficult to imagine the stacks of cars lining every lane of
the highway from Route 4 all the way to I-95, but that is the exact scene at the end of a long day
of tourism and beach going for the many visitors to Narragansett.
There is an attraction that catches the eye of everyone from elderly lovers to young
students escaping from their parents to spark up. The Hannah Robinson Tower stands at the top
of Bridgetown Road, located on McSparran Hill in Narragansett. A simple wooden structure, the
tower literally looks like it could have been made out of Lincoln Logs. Standing five stories tall,
the tower is the tallest point for miles around. From the very top, it is possible to see the entire
Narragansett Bay from Newport on the other side of the bay, to Providence all the way in the
center of the state.
The breathtaking view encompasses everything on the bay, including the many boats that
sail there during the summer and the other aquatic vehicles that zoom underneath the Jamestown
Bridge at breakneck speeds. Across the vast landscape of treetops, you can see the campus at
URI, the many businesses in downtown Narragansett, and all of the cars speeding down Route 4,
directly next to the towers location.
This tower has served as a spot to enjoy some Clam Cakes with a few friends, or just to
steal a kiss from someone you love. As a native, I have a lot of memories of going to the tower
as a child and observing the During the 18th century, a wealthy landowner, Rowland Robinson

Jr., lived in the area directly around McSparran Hill, then known as the community of Boston
Neck. As Boston Neck became prosperous, McSparran settled and had a family. The reason
behind the construction of the tower is actually a romantic and tragic story about the love
between a father and his daughter, and the consequences of not being able to show that love.
Hannah Robinson was Rowlands second daughter. Her life was rather ordinary, and she
was not of any particular importance in the affairs of the town or anything involving politics. As
the daughter of a wealthy landowner, she was schooled across the bay in Newport, where she
met Peter Simon, a French teacher who would steal her heart. Over the course of several months,
Simon grew to be infatuated with Robinson, and they began courting each other.
Rowland Robinson, however, saw Simon as an unsuitable partner for his daughter, as he
was at the time a poor teacher, and had a reputation for being a bit of a scoundrel. As it was said
before, he was a Frenchman. Regardless, the young lovers found a way to make it work. Many
other people in the Robinson family did not hate Simon, and thought that he was a fine teacher
and gentleman. One of the Robinson familys friends even made him a private tutor in their
house. While living in the same town Peter and Hannah began seeing each other in secret,
continuing their relationship unbeknownst to Hannahs father.
One night, however, Rowland Robinson caught Simon in the lilac bushes underneath
Hannahs window. This prompted him to put an end to the relationship, telling his daughter that
she would not be allowed to see him again. Hannah was forced to stay in the house at Boston
Neck, and was not allowed to leave for any reason.
During a ball in nearby North Kingstown, some family friends helped Hannah and Peter
escape from her fathers house, and they fled to Providence, where they settled down. Soon after
the move, they began having children, eventually having a total of 9. The family was struck by

poverty, and this soon led to tension within the relationship. Peter Simon realized that Hannah
would not get a cent of her fathers money, and began cheating on her numerous times.
It was during this time that Rowland Robinson began to feel the guilt of what he had
done to his daughter. Somehow, he got it into his head that if Hannah told him who helped her to
elope, he could forgive her and bring her back. Hannah would not go back on her word to keep
the identities a secret, and as a result, did not mend the relationship with her father. However, the
two friends who helped her to escape came forward and told her that it would be alright to tell
her father. She immediately sent a letter to her father, who rushed to Providence to get her. In the
letter, she stated that she would tell him everything upon his arrival.
The condition she was in was said to be so bad that her father audibly wept out of grief.
He forgot all about the information he had requested and immediately began getting her and her
children away from the slum they were living in. By this time, Hannah was dying from
malnutrition and starvation, though she most likely had more undiagnosed diseases upon her
death.
As a child, Hannah had a rock out on the edge of the McSparren farm from which she
could sit and watch the bay as the tide ebbed and flowed. It is said that she sat there for hours
upon hours staring out at the vast nothingness that laid before her. It was calming and comforting
for her. So it makes sense that near the end, when she had finally been brought back to her home,
the first place she wanted to go was to her rock. She picked a flower from the nearby field and
stood out on the rock, looking at the seascape she loved so much for the last time. She would die
soon after, at age 27.
Rowland Robinson was overcome by guilt and grief once again. Of all of the mistakes he
had made as a father, he would now have Hannahs grave on his property as a constant reminder

of the worst mistake in his life. A physical marker of everything he had done wrong. It was too
much for him to handle.
Soon after Hannahs death, he began construction on a tower at the top of McSparran
Hill, as a monument to his daughter. The tower stands as an obelisk even now, looming over the
hill and the rest of the state. It has been said that Rowland would climb the tower often, enjoying
the landscape, before his eventual death.
That story was first told to me during one of my favorite classes in high school. The
teacher, Dennis Sullivan, often told us stories about the creations of the construction battalion
(The CBs or Sea-Bees) on Quonset Point, or the closure of that site during Nixons
administration. He was one of those teachers who sat in the hall playing guitar for anyone who
cared, and who, if you took the time to listen, had the most interesting stories about the history of
the state. Listening to this story brought a completely new perspective to what I honestly thought
was just a kind of nice spot to go visit. I had no idea of the incredible history behind the tower,
the rock, or the view. When I went there as a child, I just thought of it as a fun spot to stop with
my family. Now, every time I approach the tower, I cant help but think
Hannahs story has aged particularly well in time. With modern day romances like
Twilight or the novels of Nora Roberts becoming so boring and by the numbers, a true story of
tragic love is a particularly interesting concept. Hannahs downfall came, not from herself, but
perhaps from her fathers actions more than anything else. In being disapproving, he lost what
was truly most important to him in the world. He paid a dear price over the issue of love, which
has been fought over by families for all time. It is a shame that at the time, the tower was all that
he had left of his daughter. In the end, I wonder if it was all worth it at all.

Today, the tower still stands, though marred with graffiti and Sharpied names of couples
and people who have climbed the tower. Every pole, every step, every plank of wood has
character. Each individual log is tagged with the names of hundreds of lovers, friends, and
families. The incredible thing about the tower is that so many people continue to visit it, even as
the trees are beginning to grow up around it. Even in the dead of night, another person could be
waiting up at the top, observing the view that soon will fade as the trees grow taller. Eventually,
the tower will be eclipsed by the landscape Hannah loved so much, enveloping the monument to
her in a forest, protecting the tower into the future. It is still maintained, and there is a parking lot
underneath the tower, so it has definitely not been forgotten, though it is mostly used as a park
and ride for the RIPTA 64 bus. During the summer, when its just late enough for the moon to be
shining over the bay, the tower is undoubtedly the most beautiful spot to gaze out on the state. It
will remain a small attraction for the rest of its life. A well-kept secret, now hidden by the
hillside.