Hell’s Half Acre
New England Legends Podcast
Jeff Belanger
4.8 • 951 Ratings
🗓️ 18 January 2024
⏱️ 18 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In Episode 332 Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger hike into the woods of West Greenwich, Rhode Island, to explore what’s left of Hell’s Half Acre. This small section of forest was once home to taverns and gin mills full of fights, gambling, murder, and more. This was once the Red Light District of the old New London Turnpike. Today a cellar hole and the story are all that’s left.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Well, this is a pleasant enough trail through the woods here in West Greenwich, Rhode Island, Jeff. |
| 0:08.0 | It is. It's pretty flat and wide. I mean, you know, not very challenging. |
| 0:12.0 | But you could almost drive a car down parts of this trail. |
| 0:14.8 | Or, at the very least, a horse and buggy. Ah, okay. I'm guessing that we're someplace often forgotten and this used to be some kind of a road perhaps yeah that's exactly it and not just |
| 0:25.1 | any road one of the nation's first interstates and I'm telling you Ray for two |
| 0:30.1 | beer-swilling good-time guys like us this is exactly the place we'd want to be if it was, you know, about 180 years ago. |
| 0:37.0 | Oh? |
| 0:38.0 | Though it's all woods and trails now, back then right around here, there were taverns full of drinking, fights, gambling, debauchery, and more. |
| 0:46.2 | So much so that the land has forever earned the nickname, Hell's Half Acre. |
| 0:50.4 | Hey I'm Jeff Belander and welcome to episode 332 of the New England Legends podcast. |
| 0:57.8 | And I'm Ray Ojier. |
| 0:58.6 | Thanks for joining us in our quest to chronicle every legend in New England, one story |
| 1:02.2 | at a time. |
| 1:03.0 | Did you know most of our story leads come from you? |
| 1:05.0 | Well, this one did. |
| 1:06.0 | Thanks to Chris O'Connor for reaching out to us after a recent hike to the area. |
| 1:10.0 | If you've got a story you think we should check out, please reach out to us any time through our website. |
| 1:14.6 | And a quick reminder that our 2024 zombie prom is coming up Saturday, February 17th at the |
| 1:20.4 | Doubletree Hilton in Milford, Massachusetts. |
| 1:22.4 | Tickets are just 25 bucks if you get them ahead of time. at the Doubletree Hilton in Milford, Massachusetts. |
| 1:22.6 | Tickets are just 25 bucks if you get them ahead of time, |
| 1:25.2 | and all profits go to benefit Community Harvest Project. |
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