Katharine or sometimes Catherine with a nickname of Caty was born Katharine Littlefield, the 3rd child and first daughter of John and Phoebe (Ray) Littlefield on the Island of New Shoreham now known as Block Island on December 17, 1753. Little is known of her childhood but it is presumed she attended the town school and the Baptist meetinghouse. When her mother passed away, she came to live with her aunt Catherine (Ray) and uncle William who became the Governor of Rhode Island and was a third cousin of Nathanael. Under her aunt's guidance, Caty (or Kitty) learned all the social graces of her day. She was a delightful and animated woman who came to demand respect of the great men of her day by her courage and charm. In July, 1774 when she married Nathanael in her uncle's mansion on Division Street in Warwick, she was 19 and he was 32. The wedding was officiated by the Baptist minister, Elder John Gorton. Two years later in 1776, there began a succession of five children born to the Greenes. Their names were George Washington (1776), Martha Washington (1777), Cornelia Lott (1778) pictured below in a real photo taken ca. 1854, Nathanael Ray (1780) and Louisa Catharine (1784).

The first winter of the Revolution when smallpox raged in Boston, Caty opened the Coventry Homestead as a hospital for soldiers recovering from the illness but four men died at the Homestead. Officers wives often visited the encampments during the winter. While staying with Nathanael the winter of 1775, Caty met the Washingtons and they became lifelong friends. Caty's witty and vivacious personality made her a popular hostess. Her ability to learn and speak French endeared her to General Lafayette. She continued to serve her countrymen by following the troops to many major battles. She was well known for her hospitality throughout the eight long years of war.

After the war they moved to their southern plantation known as Mulberry Grove. Upon the death of Nathanael in 1786, Caty was left at age 30 with five small children. In 1790 she married for a second time to Phineas Miller who had been a tutor for the Greene children. On a return from a visit to New York, she met a man named Eli Whitney. Caty became aware of Eli's ingenuity and persuaded him to turn his talents to devising a machine that could separate the seeds from the raw cotton. In 1793 he invented the "cotton gin" which was the machine that could do this job. Whitney had financial troubles and Caty came to help him by pledging her entire financial resources.

By 1800, she was forced to sell Mulberry Grove and the family relocated to a mansion known as "Dungeness" on Cumberland Island off the coast of Georgia purchased by Nathanael as a gift to Caty before his death. Caty lived as Dungeness until her death on September 2, 1814 ad age 59 years. She was buried there on her estate.

Built by Nathanael in 1770, the "Homestead" as it historically has been known, was originally called "Spell Hall" as it was indicated in one of Nathanael's letters. Constructed on the hillside, the site chosen for the Homestead was well sheltered on the west by natural woods. The land to the front sloped eastward as a terrace to the Pawtuxet River. Originally the house overlooked a broad area of open woodland meadow. The building is a well preserved 18th century structure of simple, yet refined design. Originally the site had 83 acres but at the time of the 1919 sale to the Homestead Association, it had been reduced to 13 acres of open space and woodlands. The 2 & 1/2 story structure is typical of it's time in design. Around the 1870's, the front door area was Victorianized with a bracketed hood and double window door. During the early 1920's, an 18th century door with appropriate trim was attached to the opening making it look as it would have in Nathanael's time. During the 1870's a fire started that burned up to the second floor in the vicinity of the door.

The two main floors of the home each consist of four rooms on either side of a central hall. The rooms on the first floor are dining room, parlor, library and kitchen - each having a paneled fireplace. The completely intact interior was first restored in the early 1920's with the establishment of the building as a museum. A second major restoration was accomplished in 1990 showing from then on a more correct perspective of the house when the Quaker family lived there. An extensive paint analysis was accomplished in the 1990 restoration giving now the earliest colors used throughout the 18th century home. The rooms on the second floor are what we feel they would have been there in the 18th and 19th centuries. The first bedroom on the right as you ascend the stairs might have been used by Nathanael and later his brother Jacob. The room diagonally across the hall might have been used by Jacob Varnum Greene, the son of Jacob and the bedroom on the right is decored Victorian style with wallpaper and lace curtains since the occupant, Elizabeth Margaret who was the daughter of Jacob Varnum, lived until 1899, the Victorian era. The fourth room is used now as a museum shop.

When Nathanael and Caty moved from Coventry, the house was purchased by Nathanael's brother Jacob. He and his wife Peggy continued to live there until they died and the same was true of the next two generations. Upon the death of Elizabeth Margaret, the property was inherited by the children of her first marriage, Patience and Harris Inman. In 1915 the home was sold out of the family. Showing great concern for the property, four members of the Kent County Chapter of the Rhode Island Sons of the American Revolution purchased the property in 1919, restored it and gave it the name we know today as the Nathanael Greene Homestead. the first caretaker, actually lived in the house but by 1935, a caretaker's cottage was built and is used to this day.

---

---

---

---