At times the folks at Samuel Slater Experience must feel a little like the man for whom the museum on Ray Street in Webster is named.

Their task in establishing SSE as a major area attraction may be less daunting than fledging industrialist Samuel Slater’s was in setting sail for America in 1789 at the age of twenty-one and bringing with him from his native England “trade secrets” involving cotton spinning that put his very life in jeopardy.

The assignment Barbara Van Reed, Reanna Kuzdzal, Sally Patterson, Connie Gallant and their cohorts have been given in carrying forward Chris Robert’s goal of educating the public about Samuel Slater’s importance to the area’s manufacturing legacy and to the development of the town of Webster is one they find both absorbing — and challenging — as he did his own breakout role.

Typical for Ms. Van Reed and her colleagues were the difficulties that put a wrinkle in plans at SSE to take part in Smithsonian Magazine’s 18th annual “Museum Day,” on September 17th.

 Not heeding a warning from his mentor, Jedediah Strutt, of possible dire consequences if he took his manufacturing ambitions from England to America did not stop Samuel Slater, pictured here in character in the Samuel Slater Experience on Ray Street in Webster. The rest is history.

“Are all these cars here for the museum?” I asked her, upon arriving and discovering that there was nary a parking spot to be had in any direction.

“No,” she said.

She was positioned along Memorial Drive near its intersection with Ray Street. She was trying to direct motorists into a lot behind the museum, if in fact SSE was their destination. Unfortunately, many of them were headed instead to events taking place in the Memorial Athletic Field complex.  

“Our first rodeo and no parking. I’m waiting for our sign guy to show up,” Ms. Van Reed said, of the attempt that would be made to let people know there was something else going on in the neighborhood. Meanwhile, she was doing the best she could.

Samuel Slater, of course, faced his own adversities, principal among them a warning from his mentor, Jedediah Strutt, not to betray the confidences of those in his native England from whom he had been learning textiles since he was fourteen years old.

Mr. Strutt (1726-1797) was a hosier and cotton spinner who pioneered the production of ribbed stockings—on his “Derby Rib” machine.

You will be branded a traitor, Mr. Strutt told Samuel.

The only good outcome of that alert, as it turned out, was young Sam acquiring the rhymed moniker that has stuck with him to this day: “Slater the Traitor.” Patrons of the museum will encounter the phrase at least once during their walk through the interactive exhibits, this while watching a video of Samuel Slater’s treacherous voyage across the Atlantic and hearing him having second thoughts about the wisdom of his decision to leave England.

“He was twenty-one and trapped between the old world and the new,” Sally Patterson told me, as we stood on “the ship” Sam effected his passage on.

“The boat was built in Georgia, taken apart, and rebuilt here,” Ms. Patterson said. “A Bartlett class just had their reunion here.”

Speaking of which, SSE is doing just fine in booking events, including school trips and private functions, Ms. Van Reed said.

“Our street promotion program (Welcome Webster Days) has also been amazingly popular,” Ms. Van Reed said. This has consisted of free admission for Webster residents, based on their street address.

Museum Day on September 17th is being followed by “A Night at the Museum” on Friday, October 14th, featuring “Mark and Raianne” performing “an intimate concert along the museum’s recreation of Webster’s Main St., circa 1915.” Mark and Rianna will be accompanied by their studio band of Doug Williamson on piano and guitar, Peter Hart on pedal steel and dobro, and Zack Ciras on upright bass.

  This is a free event offered by the Webster Cultural Council. Andy’s Neighborhood Center will provide a cash bar “in the lobby of the Maanexit Hotel.”

A visit to Samuel Slater Experience almost certainly means an encounter with Richard Clark, a guide whose enthusiasm for young Sam’s story is infectious.

“We make a big thing of ‘Slater the Traitor.’ Mr. Clark told me, as he warmed to the sight of another person he could enlighten.

“The George White biography of Samuel Slater, we take that as the definitive life story,” Mr.Clark said. “Sam was six-foot, two hundred pounds when he met Hannah Wilkinson, a Quaker. She passed away in 1812, on their anniversary, leaving him with six young boys. He married again, with a pre-nuptial! The lawyers must have been licking their chops.”

Docents like Richard Clark are essential to making Samuel Slater Experience worthwhile for patrons of the museum. He relishes his role. He is happy to be involved with the museum.

“I’m from Rhode Island, originally,” he said. “My family had connections to the textile industry and I was a history major in college. It was kind of in the air, if you will.”

Contact Rod Lee at [email protected] or 774-232-2999.‑