prince "Edward's visit. 181 



— are now in a state of successful cultivation. Before they 

 were drained and improved, they would have been best desig- 

 nated as swamps, or bogs. 



PRINCE EDWARD'S VISIT. 



There is a tradition, familiar to the older inhabitants of 

 the town, that Prince Edward, afterward Duke of Kent and 

 the father of Queen Victoria, in the early part of 1794, passed 

 through Groton on his way from Canada to Boston. He is 

 said to have tarried over night at the old Richardson tavern, 

 which in its day was a famous hostelry and stood on the spot 

 where the Baptist meeting-house now stands. One account 

 says that he was kept there for two or three days by a snow- 

 storm. Converse Richardson, the landlord, died, according 

 to his tombstone, on March 8, 1794, which was only a 

 month after the Prince's visit; and this fact tends to confirm 

 the tradition that it was Mrs. Richardson who received the 

 royal guest on his arrival at the inn. A bit of gossip and 

 scandal has come down to the present time, connecting the 

 good name of a Groton maiden with that of the royal traveller, 

 which is hardly proper to be repeated here. In former years 

 I have heard it from so many different sources that I am 

 inclined to think there is some foundation for the story. 



Prince Edward had been stationed at Quebec, in command 

 of a regiment, when he received an appointment to serve in 

 the West Indies, and at once left Canada. He travelled in some 

 style, accompanied by his aids and body-guard, and crossed 

 Lake Champlain on the ice, where two of his sledges broke 

 through and were lost. He stayed at Burlington during two or 

 three days, and then left for Boston, where he arrived on Feb- 

 ruary 6, 1794. The" Columbian Centinel," February 8, says : — 



On Thursday last, Prince Edward, son of his Britannic Majesty, 

 arrived in this town from Quebec. We are told that his Highness has 

 lately been promoted to the rank of Brigadier General, and is to have 

 a command in the army in the West-Indies. 



