Touisset Railroad

Information provided by Mr. Jay Bowen and another Historical Society member

This is the sign that was outside the Touisset train station

"This picture is from Pearse Rd looking at the Touisset Station which is the building just a little left of center. The house is still standing and is 727 Pearse Road; owned by John & Betsy (Green) Baker and built in 1860 and it is right next door to us. If you are familiar with the area, the photograph was taken looking north with your back at an old historic house known as “Riverby” (793 Pearse Rd). There is an intertidal creek running left to right (east to west) in the photograph’s foreground. At the time this image was taken, the railroad’s crossing of Pearse was a raised grade and the cement abutments for the trestle are still in place. If you know what you are looking at, you can see the cement staircase from the Station down to Pearse Rd; it too is still standing."

"This is the house mentioned above – “Riverby”. The MACRIS database has an approximate build date of 1740 and it is listed as the “John Brown the V house”. Our house is listed as the “Capt. John Brown IV house” with an approximate build date of 1752. It is hard to tell from a 2-dimensional picture, but Riverby is at the sharp turn in Pearse Rd as you’re heading south to Seaview Ave. Residents here call this the “creek” or “cove”."

"This picture was taken from the train station looking south toward Seaview Ave. Riverby is back from the road where it curves to the left; you really can’t discern much of the house itself. If you go past my house by maybe 150 yards, there are two cement abutments (one on each side of Pearse Rd) which supported the railroad’s crossing trestle. This picture was essentially taken from the abutment on the west side (my side) of Pearse Rd."

"Pearse Road used to be called River Road and/or Station Road. I don’t know if those were official municipal designations which later changed to Pearse. This picture was taken right past Riverby as you’re heading toward Seaview Ave (Riverby would be way to the bottom left at the road’s curve by the red structures). There is a close set of two sharp curves. Riverby is on the first curve; this picture was taken from the second curve, looking northwest toward the train station. The house in the center of the picture is 745 Pearse Rd & is still standing; it was built in 1900 according to the Swansea Assessor’s data. The little house way to the right is directly across the road from the train station which you can’t see from this picture. That little house was built by the people (Mr. Job & Mabel Davis) who used to own my house starting in c1904."

"They owned & operated a small store and ice cream place. I’m not sure of the timing for that enterprise but I suspect it started sometime around 1915."