Excursion Views of Narragansett Bay and Block Island.

Providence, RI, 1878. During the 1870s excursion tours around Narragansett Bay were such a popular attraction that the Excursion View Company commissioned an artist to sketch the complete trip just as a passenger would see it. The drawings were transferred to lithographic stones and printed in color on a continuous roll which could be viewed in a wooden box by turning the knobs and moving the roll. This charming device uses two of these panoramic strips to take the viewer on a trip from Providence to Block Island and back again. The first scroll starts at Fox Point in Providence and travels south passing Squantum Point, Silver Spring, Pomham Rocks Light, Riverside, Sabin Point Light, Annawanscut, Nayatt Point Light, Warren, Hog Island, and Bristol. It then proceeds around Bristol Point and heads northward into Mount Hope Bay, passing Churchs Cove, to Fall River, Mass. and then southward again passing Globe Village and Bristol Ferry to Newport. The end of the first scroll shows Benton Reef at the southern tip of Newport Island and the Atlantic. The second scroll starts at Southeast Light on Block Island and travels northward along the coast to New Shorham (Old Harbor). The viewer then passes Clay Head and Black Rock, Fort Dumpling and Jamestown on the eastern shore on Conanicut Island, Rose and Goulds Islands, then around to the western shore of Conanicut Island into the West Passage heading south. Next, past Dutch Island and Beaver Tail lighthouses, Point Judith Lighthouse and north again to Narragansett Pier, Bonnet Point, South Ferry, Wickford, Quonsett Point, East Greenwich, Buttonwood, Warwick Lighthouse, Rocky Point, Conimicut Point Lighthouse, and Pawtuxet. This second scroll ends at the old Sassafras Point Lighthouse in Providence. Both strips show and identify many of the leading shoreline hotels of the day, private homes, rivers, industries, rocks, forts, and sailing vessels of all kinds. Many important paddle steamers are shown including the Bay State, Florence, City of Newport, Rhode Island, Canonicus, Bristol, Bay Queen, Empire State, and Providence. The lithographed illustration strips are in excellent original condition, as is the box and its wooden scroll turners. Back in 1970, a company named Industrial National Bank unearthed a working specimen of this rarity. They were so impressed with it that they incorporated the views into a calendar for that year. Each month displays different illustrations along the way. With these vision views, as they were called, a passenger could relive his trip around Narragansett Bay long after he had returned home. At the time, the Panorama was an exciting and elaborate souvenir but now the few existing rolls give us a fascinating look at the coastline as it appeared nearly a century ago. The calendar measures 16 x 12 ¾ inches. It is included with the Excursion View Box. Both items . Two chromolithographed strips, each 30 feet in length and 3 3/4 inches wide. Contained in a double sided glazed walnut box measuring 5 x 6 x 13 1/2 inches.