Witches
Altar
Current
local folklore has identified the "Witches Altar" as a place where
"satanic rituals" are performed. Officially, this unusual site
is the Antemortem Tomb of Joseph Peace Hazard, a member of one
of the oldest, wealthiest, and most eccentric families in South
County. Hazard, who never married, became a dedicated traveler,
pursuing his interests in the spiritual realm, which he detailed
in his diary. He wrote that, beginning with his first spiritual
experience in 1854, "I have ever entertained an ardent interest
in all that relates to the mysterious side of the Druids." In
the early 1880s, Hazard built a tomb for himself and monument
to his family, the so-called Witches Altar, at the northwest corner
of Hazard Avenue and Gibson Avenue near Narragansett Pier. According
to the National Register of Historic Places nomination form, Hazard
"named this area Kendal Green, after a location in England, and
marked it with engraved stone piers. The tomb is composed of eight
three-foot-tall, granite pillars arranged in a 27-foot diameter
circle with a central monument. The monument is gone, although
the base remains. . . . In his diary, Hazard remarked that only
after completing the tomb did he realize that it formed a sort
of Druid Circle. Other features at Kendal Green include a massive
L-shaped rock relocated from the coast and dubbed by Hazard 'Druid
Chair' and two granite pier commemorative monuments. All are sited
in an approximately 225-foot by 180-foot area enclosed by a drylaid
stone wall."
Text © Dr. Michael Bell |