Weird Island

33. CUMBERLAND LIBRARY: Wednesday, October 20 at 6:30PM

Episode Summary

Come meet me! I’ll be telling stories at the Cumberland Library on Wednesday, October 20th at 6:30PM. Check out this mini episode to learn the unique history of the Cumberland Library and its past life as a Trappist Monastery. Event Details: Wednesday, October 20th at 6:30PM Cumberland Public Library, 1464 Diamond Hill Rd, Cumberland, RI 02864

Episode Notes

Event Details:

Wednesday, October 20th at 6:30PM

Cumberland Public Library, 1464 Diamond Hill Rd, Cumberland, RI 02864

Episode Source Material:

Episode Transcription

Hey, everyone! I’m here on a Sunday with a heads up for any listeners living in Rhode Island. I will be at the Cumberland Library this upcoming Wednesday, the 20th, at 6:30 PM telling stories about all things weird and wonderful in our little state. Many of them will be familiar to you if you’ve listened to every episode, but I’ll be sneaking a new one in there. As well as sharing a little bit about myself and why I started the podcast and how I make it. So, if you’re not busy Wednesday, stop by and say hi!
I’m excited about telling stories at the Cumberland Library specifically because its kind of a cool place with its own story. And, I couldn’t just make a short episode letting you know about the speaking event, I had to share some of that story with you. So, without further ado, let me tell you about the Cumberland Library and its history as a Trappist Monastery.
The Cumberland Library hasn’t always been a library. In the 1970s, it was built into parts of other, older buildings that were standing on the land. Those buildings were the remnants of an old Monastery, called the Monastery of Our Lady of the Valley, that was occupied for nearly 50 years by a group of Trappist monks.
Now, there are lots of different kinds of monks. These were Catholic monks, and while I’m far from comfortable summarizing what makes them unique, I’ll give it a shot. So, there are more than a dozen different orders of Catholic monks. They’re both similar to and different from one another in a lot of ways, but the differences include unique philosophies, different vows, different kinds of communities, and an emphasis on different things. There are what are known as Mendicant orders, that have adopted a lifestyle of poverty, traveling and living in urban areas for the purpose of preaching and ministry, and they combine prayer and works. The list of Mendicant orders includes the Dominicans and Franciscans, so as someone who went to a Catholic and Dominican school, that sounded pretty familiar to me.
Then there are contemplative orders, which largely predate Mendicant orders and these groups are devoted to prayer rather than works. That list includes the Benedictines, the Carthusians and the Cistercians.
So, you’re probably like, okay, you did not mention Trappists at any point during that description. Well, the Trappists fall within that grouping of contemplative orders. They’re officially known as the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance, and without going into too much detail, the most striking features of Trappist monastic life are a focus on silence and a return to manual labor, especially agricultural work. Now, they don’t take a vow of silence, they can talk, but they just strongly discourage idle talk. This has resulted in the development of a unique Trappist sign language. So, you can imagine living in a Trappist monastery would be very quiet, prayerful, and you’d be expected to work in the fields, raising food to support the monastery to sell to provide income for the monastery.
Okay, so now you’ve got my super basic understanding of what life might have been like in this monastery, let’s get into the story of how it ended up here.
It doesn’t begin in this location, like you might expect. It actually starts in Nova Scotia, where this specific group of monks previously lived in an Abbey called Petit Clairvaux. Well, in 1892 the Abbey tragically burned down, and while no one died, the monks lost everything. But, they were tough and they started rebuilding the monastery. But then, tragedy struck again. There was another fire. As you can expect, they were starting to get pretty discouraged, and by 1898, only about 12 monks remained.
It was time for a change. The decision was made to move the monastery from Nova Scotia to the Diocese of Providence. In 1900, the small community of 12 or so made their way to New England with their livestock in tow, and established one of the very first Trappist monasteries in the US in Cumberland, RI.
The monks constructed all of the buildings themselves, and even quarried the pigeon gray granite for each building from the land surrounding the monastery. Today you can see evidence of this if you go visit and walk the trails surrounding the library. There are unused blocks of granite and abandoned quarries in the woods just off the trail.
But while the intention was to build everything from stone, they actually started with one building that was mostly wood, with a stone facade. This was intended to be temporary, and the plan was to tear this building down and replace it as they established more permanent structures. This temporary building served as the entire monastery until 1928, when other buildings were finalized and this one could serve as just the Guest Wing.
As I mentioned earlier, the Trappists were self-sufficient. The monastery had its own apple orchard and fields where they raised all of their own food. There was a shoe-making and repair shop. They had work animals, like oxen, to plow fields and move materials. And as the years went on, the community grew. Especially after WWII, when there was a resurgence of interest in contemplative life. By 1948, just about 140 monks lived in the monastery.
But, then tragedy struck, again in the form of a fire. Flames started under a staircase in the Guest House, which I mentioned was the only building that was mostly made of wood. And the flames leapt from the roof to the dormitories, where the monks slept. Fortunately, all 140 or so of the monks escaped, some jumping 20ft to the ground. Firefighters from 10 surrounding communities helped control the fire, but by the time it was extinguished, the building was destroyed.
After that, the community moved to Spencer, MA, leaving what remained of the monastery behind.
If you are able to come hear me tell stories, you’ll walk up the stairs to the 2nd floor of the library, into a hallway that was once the cloister. With its vaulted ceilings, you can definitely feel that it was part of the original monastery. The Community Room I’ll be presenting in was once the Chapter Room, where the monastic community assembled each morning and evening to deliver news and air grievances. And it was also used as a Scriptorium, where monks did their reading, studying and writing.
So, hope to see you there! And if you can’t make it, it’s still worth checking out the Cumberland Library and the old Monastery grounds, which as I alluded to earlier, are covered in great walking trails. Including one trail that leads you to what is believed to be the oldest veterans memorial in the United States, which deserves its own dedicated episode. So stay tuned for that one of these weeks.
Hope to see you Wednesday, October 20th at 6:30PM at the Cumberland Library. Details and address are listed in the show notes. Thanks for listening! Until next time!