author
Alice Brayton
1878–1972
A New England local historian and preservation-minded writer, she turned family papers, regional stories, and Rhode Island history into books with a strong sense of place. She is also closely linked with Green Animals in Portsmouth, the famous topiary garden she made her permanent home.
1 Audiobook
Trading in Scrabbletown
by Alice Brayton
About the author
Born in 1878, Alice Brayton spent much of her life connected to coastal New England, especially Portsmouth, Rhode Island. She later settled at the family estate that became known as Green Animals, where she helped shape and preserve one of the region’s best-known historic gardens.
As a writer, she focused on history rooted in real places and documents. Her books include George Berkeley in Newport, The Burying Place of Governor Arnold, and Trading in Scrabbletown, a work built around early nineteenth-century shop papers and local family history.
Brayton died in 1972. Her work still stands out for its quiet curiosity and for the way it preserves small but vivid pieces of Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts history.