Pawtuxet Valley Historian Volume 14, Issue 2

Vice-President Lou Maynard introduced Robert B. Lynch, our speaker for the evening. Mr. Lynch is a well-known restaurateur, the owner of the 1795 Nataniel Porter Inn on Water Street, in Warren, RI, where he has been the proprietor since 1981. Educated in Cranston schools, he attended Brown University receiving a BA in Psychology on 1944. He served in the US Navy during WWII aboard a destroyer in the Pacific Theater. He earned a Presidential Unit Citation. After the war he worked for Textron for 4 years, Carol Cable for 4 years and Taco, Inc. for 23 years as Vice President of Marketing. He was a private consultant for 15 years.

Since 1945 Mr. Lynch has been an active member of the community serving as Colonel Commander of the Pawtuxet Rangers RI Militia for 23 years, President of the Cranston Historical Society, President of the League of RI Historical Societies, Vice-President of the Rhode Island Historical Society, Chairman of the Board of Managers of the Governor Sprague Mansion, and has served on the Board of the Cranston Historic District Commission, the Board of Children's Museums and the Board of the Cranston YMCA.

(Mr. Lynch added that a very important event took place in his life over 56 years ago...marriage to his wife, Viola. The couple has two children.)

When the Lynches first saw the Inn it was in a dilapidated condition, the victim of an arsonist. The owner had done nothing to repair the damage for at least five years. After repeated requests to either fix it up or tear it down the Warren Town Council put pressure on him to take action. It had been owned by the same man since the depression and was a rooming house for 35 years with as many as five families living it at once time. No improvements or maintenance had been done in all those years.

Meanwhile Mr. Lynch's son had moved to Warren and bought an old Federal period house a couple of blocks away. When he drove by the house on Water Street on his way to work he recognized that it was in a dilapidated condition but that fortunately no significant structural changes had been made. He went inside and found it to be a complete shambles. The fireplaces were bricked up, a ceiling had fallen down, a floor had rotted through to the cellar, doors were broken, one wall of the stone foundation had fallen in, and the roof was leaking where the fire had burned through.

In the 1700's Warren was a whaling and shipbuilding port. At that time shipwrights not only built ships but houses as well and they were expert at both. In 1750 James Maxwell, the leading merchant in town, built a cooper's shop on the lot. In 1795 Samuel Martin purchased the shop to which he attached a classic house. Today the cooper's shop is the ell of the house. With its fine detailed moldings, nine fireplaces (some of them ornamented with delft tiles), the stenciled walls, and the dentil work on the outside; the house was considered a mansion. Samuel Martin and his descendants lived there until the depression and maintained it but time changed the family situation and the house was sold. That is when the deterioration began.

Mr. Lynch bought the house and the family worked for a period of five years removing layer upon layer of paint and wallpaper, opening up the fireplaces, and rebuilding one of the chimneys. Fortunately the house had not been modified in all those years and its original architecture was still visible. One problem though was that the original windows with the small panes that were common in the 1700s had been replaced. Two of the original windows were found in the attic and with much effort were reproduced right down to the wavy, bubbly glass, which the Lynches traveled to Europe to acquire.

The ambience of the Inn is that of early New England. The candlelight and soft music, the warmth of a fireplace, and outstanding food service all add up to a delightful evening. The Inn has earned twenty different awards and been the subject of eight major stories in national publications. (It is probably one of the most carefully restored commercial restaurants in Rhode Island, the other being the White Horse Tavern in Newport.)

In Inn is also seen as a romantic spot. When the wallpaper was removed from the parlor, 1810 French wallpaper with a mural depicting the ruins of ancient Greece and Rome was discovered. It was in such terrible condition that it couldn't be salvaged. A tall fellow named Pierre Oulette, a man of 66 years of age, was hired to take the paper off and paint a copy onto the plaster of what he could see on the wallpaper. While Pierre was working, the wallpaper in the front parlor was removed uncovering stencil work from 1795. That was also in bad condition so the Lynches hired a very petite lady named Teddy to do the restoration. Pierre and Teddy got to know each other well and by the time they had finished, the "tall and the small" had fallen in love and were married.

Other romances have taken place at the Inn. When restoration began it was decided that the kitchen would be in the basement and the dining areas on the first and second floors. Since running up and down from the kitchen to the dining rooms can be quite exhausting for the waitresses, they are usually young (and very often attractive). As a result, from the time that the Inn was opened in 1987 to the present, five waitresses have married five of the chefs.

Today many restaurants are called "inns" but an inn has to have overnight rooms as well as the ability to serve meals. Most of the "bed and Breakfasts" are not inns because they don't serve any other meal but breakfast. The Lynches took three rooms which were originally bedrooms in the house, furnished them with antiques including canopy beds, and people who come to dinner can stay overnight.

For years the Inn was known as the haunted house. Mr. Lynch always assumed that it acquired that reputation because it was in such terrible condition for so long that it looked spooky. But some time later he found out that there were other reasons for its reputation. The waitresses are convinced that a ghost is in residence and that sometimes causes problems. A waitress was closing up one night and thought she saw a ghost so she hurriedly locked up and ran home. About a half-hour later Mr. Lynch received a phone call from one of the room guests who had gone out for a walk and couldn't get back in.

On another occasion Mr. Lynch thought one of the waitresses was speaking to him and asked her what she said. She told him that she hadn't said anything. He was sure that someone had spoken and she said, "Oh, I hear that all the time".

Mr. Lynch had an even better ghost story. The Lynches owned a very old house, which they restored after he got out of the Navy after WWII. It was built about 1705, enlarged in 1743 and in 1900 an ell was added. The traffic pattern is such that they leave the house by going through the ell and locking the door behind them. When they re-enter they unlock the door to the ell, go through the ell into the older section of the house and secure the door that divides the two areas with an old antique hook. A few hears ago Mr. Lynch arrived home to find his wife sitting out in the yard. She said she couldn't get into the old part of the house because it was locked from inside. He checked the door and it was bolted. While Mr. Lynch went around the house trying to find another way to get in, Mrs. Lynch went back to try the door again and it opened. People have told them that when they left the house the old antique lock may have been in an "up" position and fell into position when the door was closed. That's logical...but how did it become unhooked? Mr. Lynch said, "the Ghost did it!"

Everyone knows that the hospitality business is a difficult one. People go into it and out of it all the time. Everyone who comes in the door has his or her own specifications as to what makes a good meal. People often ask the Lynches why did they get into the business at a time when they could have retired. He answers that it is for the gratification that patrons bring when they go out the door after having had a pleasant evening enjoying a good dinner and they shake your hand and say thank you and how delighted they are to have visited your establishment.

In their desire to bring enjoyment to the public the Lynches have started holiday traditions that are unique to the Inn. At Christmas time they hold a YULE LOG Ceremony reminiscent of holiday festivities enjoyed in Europe over 300 years ago. Yards of garlands and hundreds of bows decorate every room. The guests are greeted on the steps by a troop of Colonial Militiamen outfitted in the authentic scarlet and gold uniforms of 1774. A sprig of holly is offered and the guest is shown a table. The preliminaries to the meal are presented and then about 8 o'clock the militiamen, preceded by fifers and drummers, enter the Inn carrying a huge log covered with holly and ivy. All the guest follow them to the largest fireplace where they throw their holly into the fire re-creating the time honored tradition of "burning your troubles of the past and preventing your house from burning up in the future". Most of the people, after throwing their holly on the fire, will kiss one another and then congregate in the tavern room where a "fifer" with a good singing voice leads the singing of carols. Dinner is then served. Beef Wellington or a seafood medley of lobster, shrimp and scallops are on the menu. The militiamen circulate the room and toast all the patrons from a wassail bowl.

TWELFTH NIGHT is another celebration that is unique to the Nathaniel Porter Inn. It is typically 12 days after Christmas. The festivities incorporate the Yule Log ceremony along with the re-creating of the medieval tradition when the Lord of the Manor ordered his chef to prepare the "Cake of Kings" in which a nut was dropped into the batter. When the cake was cut whoever got the piece with the nut became "Lord of Misrule" for the night along with a court of lords and ladies, crowns, scepters and proclamations. Before the cake ceremony, the chef preceded by a fifer and a drummer, parades the goose around the room. (Mr. Lynch recounted that at the celebration one year the drummer didn't show up so Mrs. Lynch, his ever-resourceful wife, provided the fanfare with a frying pan.)

The Lynches are a charming couple. It is obvious that they are well suited to the restaurant business and the reason why they have been so successful at it. Mrs. Lynch interrupted her husband several times reminding him of another anecdote he should share with us and he good-naturedly complied. They are both in their late 70's and hive decided it is time to retire. The Inn is for sale but not to just anyone. They are looking for that special someone who will continue the fine dining, the hospitality, and the traditions that have brought success and fame to the Nathaniel Porter Inn.

Close Window
Back to Meeting Picture pages
Back to Opening page
Home Page
PVHistory@yahoo.com