RI DEM signs contract to purchase historic Burrillville property for $1.3 million

BURRILLVILLE – The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management has signed a purchase and sales agreement for the property known as Sweet’s Hill, with plans to add the 151 acre East Avenue lot to an existing recreation area, and maintain it as open space.

Rich in history and wildlife, the lot is privately owned by Rick St. Angelo of Cranston, and local efforts have been underway since 2020 to save it from potential development. Now, the state agency plans to buy the land for $1,336,500 and incorporate it with the 2,245-acre Black Hut Management Area.

“The acquisition will serve to strengthen the boundary of the management area, provide excellent recreational opportunities and protect important habitat,” notes a memo from RI DEM Director Terrance Gray to Marco Schiappa, chairman of the State Properties Committee. “The property is comprised of upland hardwood forest with stands of pine, portions of wetlands including vernal pools, and an old field with excellent pollinator habitat.”

The land was once part of a 1,200-acre farm used to produce fruits and vegetables, slaughter cattle and cut lumber. According to a history of the area compiled by Burrillville Historic & Preservation Society President Betty Mencucci, the history of the farm dates back to around 1720, when Daniel Mathewson bought large tracts of land around what is now East Avenue and Spring Lake. The land was passed down through generations and in the 1800s, it was owned by Welcome Mathewson.

Welcome’s daughter, Mary Ann Mathewson married Henry Sweet, and the couple had five children. Two of the children were Thomas and Albert Sweet, whose homes both remain on the right side of East Avenue on what became known as Sweet’s Hill. Thomas and Albert owned the farm in the 1890s, when it consisted of all the land along both sides of East Avenue from present-day Burrillville High School to Route 102, and also extended from Oakland all the way to Spring Lake.

Sweet’s Hill was one of the first dairies in the state to pasteurize milk, and had the contract to supply the State Sanatorium at Wallum Lake with fresh milk daily, Mencucci noted.

In the 1930s, the farm was called Indian Acres and was run by Thomas and Albert’s nephew, Irving Sweet. It remained a farm until the death of Liston Sweet in 1958 and in the years since, lots were sold off, houses were built, fields became overgrown and pastures became woodlands.

In April of 2020, a Burrillville resident found an artifact on the lot believed to be thousands of years old. The bannerstone, discovered by Roberta Lacey during a hike, is thought to have once been placed on staffs and used for ceremonial purposes by some of the area’s earliest inhabitants.

But the following month, the last large piece of acreage remaining of the former farm was listed for sale for $2.2 million. Soon after, the Burrillville Land Trust launched a campaign to save it from development.

This week, Land Trust President Paul Roselli noted that while the deal is not yet finalized, he’s hopeful it will be completed. Once the sale goes through, RI DEM plans to open the land to the public for recreational use. DEM’s Division of Fish and Wildlife will manage the property for hunting and trapping opportunities as well as for open space and conservation habitat.

According to Gray, the purchase will be funded with a US Fish & Wildlife Service’s Wildlife Restoration Grant, matched with money from the state’s Open Space Bond in the amount $425,250.