Photo: Raime, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Hannah Robinson was born in 1746 into one of the wealthy planter families of the Narragansett country. Her father, Rowland Robinson, owned a large farm in what is now South Kingstown and Narragansett.
Her story has been told in South County for more than two centuries. As it is usually told, Hannah fell in love with a young teacher, Peter Simons, whom her father thought unsuitable. Rowland forbade the match, and Hannah eloped.
An unhappy ending
The marriage did not go well, and Hannah fell ill. Her father eventually relented and brought her home, but she died in 1773, still in her 20s. The story became a local legend about a father’s pride and a daughter’s loss.
The tower
According to the tradition, Hannah used to watch for her sweetheart from a rocky high point on what is now Tower Hill Road, with wide views over Narragansett Bay.
The state built an observation tower near the spot in the 20th century. The Hannah Robinson Tower lets visitors climb above the trees for views of the bay, Jamestown and the coast. It sits at a small state park pull-off on Route 1 and is a common stop for drivers heading to the beaches.
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