Robin Hood's Barn

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Robin Hood's BarnThe barn at the intersections of Routes 1 and 4 and Tower Hill Road in North Kingstown, Rhode Island.

There are phrases and names for things that stay with us for a lifetime, whether they are appropriate or not. This is one of those stories of the barn, Robin Hood's Barn (to me) that I have waited years to photograph.

The story goes back to the mid-1960's. I was drifting around in the back of my parent's Ford Falcon Station Wagon. This was the kind of car with "three on the column." Back then, a youngster had the opportunity to play while traveling. We were on our way to Block Island. We sailed on the "Quonset" (we rode in the pilothouse as my father was logging time for his captain's license).

My parents were having a discussion about going to Newport. This was at the time before Newport Bridge opened. My father had been working on tugboats (Coastline Towing Tugboat Co. owned by Fred Bopp at the time) related to work on the bridge. He then said, "... it'll be nice, because then we won't have to go around Robin Hood's Barn to get to Newport..." My head popped up from the back seat at that moment and saw this barn off of Route 1. Forever to be "Robin Hood's Barn" to me.

When Jen (my wife) and I married in the early 2000's I saw this barn again upon returning to my native Rhode Island. Then the barn was up for sale for many years, festooned with large signs proclaiming its status. I have waited over that time and recently the sale occurred. I noticed that the signs were down as I drove our son to high school. And I finally took the photo of Robin Hood's Barn.

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