Rhode Island

It is usual in introducing any discussion of Rhode Island to start by pointing out that it is the smallest of the United States. As historic sites are concerned, however, Rhode Island outclasses many other states that dwarf it in physical size, and there are several reasons why. It was among the earliest to be established as a colony. Because of its port facilities Rhode Island was almost immediately involved more intimately in world affairs than were the other colonies. It prospered quickly as a maritime colony, making its fortune during the Anglo-French wars of the colonial era and being particularly sensitive to Britain's efforts after 1763 to reverse the policy of "salutary neglect" of the Navigation Acts. Rhode Island was therefore more closely attuned than other colonies of British America to the economic and political issues that led to the Revolution. Thus Rhode Island was the scene of the earliest instances of overt resistance to British authority: in 1765 a mob in Newport burning a boat of the British ship Maidstone that had been impressing sailors; in 1769 the destruction of the British revenue sloop Liberty at Newport; in 1772 the Gaspee Affair (see gaspee point).

In the field of art Rhode Island also reached gigantic stature, as any student of American architecture, cabinetmaking, silverware, and decoration can assure you. The tradition of excellence has survived, evidence including the fame of the Rhode Island School of Design (see providence) and the state's many outstanding art museums and programs of historic preservation.

Recreation and tourism being a major industry in Rhode Island, state and local agencies publish an abundance of literature for visitors. Schedules and entrance fees (if any) of all major points of interest are published annually by the Rhode Island Tourism Division in their booklet Rhode Island Travel Guide. This agency also distributes the official highway map. The address is 1 West Exchange Street, Providence, R.I. 02903. Other sources of information are identified below.

Battle of Rhode Island Sites

Battle of Rhode Island Sites, island of Rhode Island. The French Alliance was ratified by Congress in the spring of 1778, a large fleet under Admiral d'Estaing moved across the Atlantic, and Patriot hopes for a swift conclusion of the Revolution ran high. Newport had been a major enemy base since the British occupied this strategic place in December 1776. In the summer of 1778 it was held by a relatively small garrison of about three thousand troops under General Robert Pigot, supported by a small fleet. Congress proposed that a combined operation be undertaken to liberate Newport.

This turned out to be one of the most spectacular fiascos of the American Revolution, botched from the start by the undiplomatic attitude of General John Sullivan of the American army, the supercilious attitude of the French toward their provincial allies, the genius of the Royal Navy for frustrating French naval designs, the undependability of the Patriot militia, and bad luck. But the interesting operation involved some of the most famous names of the American Revolution: Nathanael Greene, John Hancock, Lafayette, James Mitchell Varnum, John Glover, Christopher Greene (with a newly raised regiment of African Americans who distinguished themselves), and one of the greatest admirals ever produced by the French, Pierre André de Suffren de Saint Tropez (1729–1788). "Had he been alive in my time," said Napoleon of Suffren, "he would have been my Nelson."

The plan for the combined operation against Newport was for the French fleet to enter the Middle Channel on 8 August, running the British defenses on Jamestown Island and in Newport. The night of 9 to 10 August, Sullivan would cross from Tiverton with his veteran Continentals and a large contingent of militia raised for the campaign. Early the next morning d'Estaing was to land several thousand of his men for operations ashore, then bombard British fortifications as Sullivan moved south to capture Newport. The Allies had overwhelming odds, and it looked like a sure thing.

A preliminary attack by Suffren on 5 August with two frigates destroyed the little British fleet in the East (or Sakonnet) Channel. The French admiral managed to throw the British into such a panic that they ran aground or scuttled their eight warships and several transports. D'Estaing proceeded successfully according to plan, but things then started going wrong quickly. Instead of waiting for the prearranged time to cross over from Tiverton, Sullivan advanced his schedule by some twelve hours because the British had evacuated their positions on the north end of the island. He did not bother to inform d'Estaing in advance of this improvisation, and as the French admiral was adjusting himself to this modification of the plan, word came that a British fleet was heaving into sight.

D'Estaing reembarked the sick he had landed on Jamestown (Conanicut) Island and headed to sea. Although the French fleet was about a third stronger than that commanded by Admiral Richard ("Black Dick") Howe, d'Estaing spent twenty-four hours maneuvering for the attack. Then came a forty-eight-hour storm of record-breaking magnitude that made both admirals devote their full attention to keeping their fleets afloat. British seamanship proved superior, as usual, and as soon as the gale ended, two of their fifty-gun ships attacked crippled French ships of much greater strength. Howe intended to renew the attack on 14 August but found that his fleet had suffered too much damage, so he withdrew to New York.

The French returned to Newport on 20 August but refused to land the men who were supposed to support the Americans in the land attack on Newport. The next night d'Estaing sailed for Boston to make repairs. Sullivan and his officers signed an intemperate letter of protest, and Lafayette rode to Boston to argue unsuccessfully with d'Estaing to come back.

Sullivan's troops had preserved their morale and momentum despite the first French withdrawal and the storm, but when news of d'Estaing's final departure became known the militia deserted in large numbers. The evening of 28 August, Sullivan started withdrawing from the siege lines he had established around Newport.

East and West Main Road today follow the roughly parallel roads that existed in colonial times and that were the two main axes of military operations as Pigot marched out of Newport to pursue Sullivan. While the main body of the Patriot force headed for Butts Hill, delaying actions were conducted along West Main Road by Colonel John Laurens and by Colonel Henry Beekman Livingston on East Main Road. First contact was made along the line of today's Union Street (see below), with Pigot's leading elements pushing on to Turkey Hill on the west and Quaker Hill on the east. This is roughly the line of today's Cory Lane and Hedley Avenue. Sullivan's troops counterattacked to drive the British back in confusion to this line when Pigot's forward elements tried to push on toward Butts Hill.

The British then closed up to prepare for a final assault, moving first from Quaker Hill, being repulsed by the brigades of Glover and Varnum, then shifting their main effort to the west. But Sullivan was able to move his reserves to meet the latter threat. After making three assaults, the British on this front restricted their efforts to gunfire and waited for reinforcements from Newport. Christopher Greene's newly raised African American regiment (which numbered 197 men at that time) distinguished itself in standing fast against three determined attacks by Hessians. The state awarded freedom to any slave who enlisted in the regiment.

During the night of 30 to 31 August the American army slipped away, not a day too soon because five thousand fresh British troops from New York reached Newport on 1 September and the French fleet was still at Boston. John Glover's Marbleheaders ferried most of Sullivan's troops to Tiverton; the heavy baggage and some troops used Bristol Ferry.

SURVIVING SITES

The Butts Hill Fort, one of eighteen Revolutionary War forts on the island of Rhode Island identified as late as 1896, was where Sprague Street now joins East Main Road (R.I. 138) in Portsmouth. A hill now identified by its crown of power lines and a storage tank was first fortified in 1777 by the British, who abandoned it when d'Estaing's fleet forced the Middle Passage on 8 August 1778. Sullivan's troops hastened to occupy it the next day, fearing that the British might change their minds and come back. The Americans enlarged the fort and made it their base for the subsequent advance south toward Newport. As mentioned above, it was the key to the final American defenses before evacuating the island. This site is part of the Newport County Military Heritage Trail. Open daily dawn to dusk. For more information on this site, contact the Portsmouth Historical Society, phone: (401) 683-9178.

Quaker Hill, to the south astride East Main Road (R.I. 138), is an area that preserves some vestige of rural charm on the verges of commercially exploited areas. Still standing and easy to spot at Hedley Street and Middle Road is the Friends Meeting House, in use since about 1700 by the Quakers and occupied during the Revolution by troops of both sides. This, of course, is the "Quaker Hill" of the eighteenth century, and the place from which the right wing of the British army made its unsuccessful efforts in August 1778 to storm Butts Hill.

About 2.3 miles farther south on East Main Road at Union Street is the former Christian Sabbath Society Meeting House, where the first contact was made between the advancing British troops and the delaying force of Colonel Livingston on 29 August 1778. The house is now the home of the Portsmouth Historical Society. It is still a picturesque spot that provides a view to the east over open fields and over the Sakonnet River to Tiverton and Little Compton. Near the church building, now a museum of the Portsmouth Historical Society, is a small structure dating from about 1716 that is said to be the nation's oldest surviving school building. Long used as a farm building, it stood originally at the eastern end of Union Street before being moved to its present location.

On West Main Road in the Portsmouth area are several surviving landmarks of the Battle of Rhode Island mentioned above. The Memorial to Black Soldiers, in honor of the first African American regiment to fight for the United States, is at a point where high-speed traffic precludes stopping. It is plotted on the official highway map of Rhode Island just west of the fork of R.I. 114 and 24 and marked by a flagpole that can be seen at some distance. The monument is at the place where Christopher Greene's troops made their successful stand against the Hessians. Less than a mile north on R.I. 114, at Willow Lane, is a parking area and scenic overlook on Lehigh Hill. From here you can safely observe several landmarks of the battle just described. To the south are Turkey Hill and the Memorial to Black Soldiers. To the east is Butts Hill. In the opposite direction is the Middle Passage, up which the French fleet advanced to support Sullivan and where the British later sailed to deliver supporting fire for Pigot's attack on 29 August. According to local tradition thirty Hessians were buried in a common grave after being killed in the latter action. The bodies have never been found, but "Hessian Hole" was long a local landmark. According to the WPA Guide it is off Cory Lane. Other authorities say it is off Willow Lane in low ground near an old frame house visible from Lehigh Hill.

Down Willow Lane from Lehigh Hill are many old houses and family burial grounds. The site of Arnold's Point Fort, occupied by the Patriots in August 1778, is at the end of an unimproved road that passes the Kaiser cable-manufacturing plant. The latter is built over the old coal mines that long were an important economic feature of this part of Rhode Island.

Bristol Ferry Fort was in the vicinity of the Mount Hope Marina east of the present Mount Hope Bridge, where vestiges of the Revolutionary earthworks were visible until recent years.

Retracing the route south on R.I. 114 toward Newport, you will find several surviving landmarks of the Revolution. At 1596 West Main Street (R.I. 114), 1.4 miles south of the intersection of Cory Lane and Hedley Street, is a frame house of saltbox design painted turquoise that is said to have been used by Lafayette in August 1778; it will be to your left (east) as you drive south toward Newport. About a mile farther south, as you crest the hill near the junction of Union Street near Mail Coach Road, is the site of Redwood Farm. Rows of trees here to the left preserve the image of the few old prints of the Battle of Rhode Island that feature this long-gone land-mark where the action against the British left flank started on 29 August. Only in the last few decades have the Revolutionary War earthworks disappeared from this vicinity.

Overing House (1730), a plain, two-and-a-half-story frame structure used by General Richard Prescott until his capture by American raiders there in July 1777, is now the center of the Prescott Farm. The Newport Restoration Foundation purchased and restored the 40-acre farm and offers a number of education programs and nature trails. Phone: (401) 849-7300. The Overing House is privately owned.

Green End Fort, built in 1777 by the British as the eastern anchor of their land defenses of Newport and figuring in the siege of 1778, is also covered separately.

Block Island

Block Island. When Verrazano discovered this island in 1524 he reported that it had "about the bigness of the Island of the Rhodes." He named it Luisa, for the mother of his patron, King Francis I. After exploration by the Dutchman Adriaen Block in 1614 it was known as Block Island (although he named it Adriaen's Eylandt). According to Samuel E. Morison the name Rhode Island was given to the colony because of Roger Williams's mistaken notion that Verrazano had been referring to Aquidneck Island rather than Block Island when he compared it to the famous island in the Aegean (European Discovery of America: The Northern Voyages, p. 303).

Dominating the eastern entrance to Long Island Sound, Block Island was a well-known place in the naval operations of the American Revolution. The defeat near here of five Continental ships under Admiral Esek Hopkins by a single British frigate shortly after midnight on 6 April 1776 is often called the Battle of Block Island.

Strategic location, moderate climate, productive soil (although in sparse quantity), and an abundant supply of fresh water from about 365 ponds made Block Island a popular place with privateers during the Colonial Wars. It was a refuge for deserters and criminals during the Revolution. Only its lack of harbors until modern times (the first completed in 1878) protected the islanders from serious war damage.

Now served by automobile ferries and airplanes, Block Island is a popular summer resort and artist colony. Tourist attractions include the spot where the first white settlers in 1661 are believed to have landed, Indian burial grounds, and scenery that has been compared with that of islands off Ireland and Scotland.

(Block Island Chamber of Commerce. Website: www.Blockisland.com; phone: (800) 383-2474. Block Island Historical Society, Box 79, Block Island, R.I. 02807.)

Bristol

Bristol. Long a key point on the route between Newport and Providence (see bristol ferry sites), this old port town was bombarded by the British in October 1775 and raided in May 1778. Many historic houses remain standing, including the one used by Lafayette during his detached service as commanding general of two veteran Continental army brigades during the summer of 1778 (see battle of rhode island sites). The colonial houses, marked with their date of construction and the names of owners, are the major attraction of the present city. The Herreshoff House (c. 1790), 142 Hope Street, has a fine collection of eighteenth-century furniture that includes cabinetwork of Newport's Goddard and Townsend. The Art Museum on Wardell Street and the Historical Society and Preservation Museum at 48 Court Street have important exhibits. Phone: (401) 253-7223.

But Bristol is perhaps most outstanding for its anthropological associations. The skeleton of an Indian found near Mount Hope inspired Longfellow's poem "The Skeleton in Armor" (under newport, see Old Stone Mill). The Bristol area was headquarters for King Philip (Metacom), who was killed near Mount Hope in 1676 after his Narragansett Indians had lost the Great Swamp Fight (19 December 1675). Brown University's Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology, 300 Tower Street, near the intersection of Metacom Avenue (R.I. 136) and Tower Street, is noted for its materials pertaining to the American Indian and other cultures. Phone: (401) 253-8388.

(Bristol Historical and Preservation Society, 48 Court Street, Bristol, R.I. 02809. Phone: (401) 253-7223.)

Bristol Ferry Sites

Bristol Ferry Sites, Portsmouth. Near the present Mount Hope Bridge between Bristol and Portsmouth the remains of the earthworks erected in February 1776 were visible as recently as 1940. They have since disappeared, and their location around the Mount Hope Marina is not marked. The ferry was established in 1680. Its service was disrupted during the Revolution but then resumed until 1865, when the railroad from Fall River to Newport was opened. (See battle of rhode island sites.)

Butts Hill Fort Site

Butts Hill Fort Site. Seebattle of rhode island sites.

East Greenwich

East Greenwich, Kent County. At the eastern end of Forge Road overlooking the Potowomut River is a granite marker on the site of the forge operated by the family of Nathanael Greene. His birthplace, a large frame house built in 1684 and much remodeled, is in the vicinity. In the yard are several large anchors made at the ford. The armory of the Independent Company of Kentish Guards is on Pierce Street. Chartered in 1774 as the Kentish Light Infantry, this militia unit rejected Nathanael Greene as an officer because of his stiff knee, but he suffered the rebuff and joined as a private. The next year Rhode Island commissioned him a brigadier general to lead the three regiments raised by the state; about a month later he was appointed a brigadier general in the Continental army, and he went on to become one of the most successful troop leaders of the Revolution. At 57 Pierce Street is the restored home of General James Mitchell Varnum, who was made colonel of the Kentish Guards when these fastidious fellows rejected his friend Nathanael Greene in 1774. An honor graduate of the first class of what became Brown University and a highly successful lawyer on the eve of the Revolution, Varnum went on to become an outstanding brigade commander. He took part in the Battle of Rhode Island and is credited with advocating the organization of the African American unit that performed so well in that action. After leaving the army in 1779 he served in Congress (1780 to 1782 and 1786 to 1787) and was appointed judge for the Northwest Territory. In bad health when he reached Marietta, Ohio, in June 1788, he died a few months later at the age of forty-two. The Varnum House is a two-story structure built in 1773 as a town house. With particularly handsome paneling, period furnishings, carriage house, and a garden, the house is owned and administered by the Varnum Continentals and serves as a public museum. It is open June through August. Phone: (401) 884-1776.

The Kent County Courthouse at Main and Court Streets was built in 1750 and enlarged about 1805. The Kentish Guards remain an active historical organization, and they are located in the Kentish Guards Armory at 1774 Armory Street.

Fort Barton Site

Fort Barton Site, Tiverton. On the bluff commanding Howland's Ferry at Tiverton a fort was commissioned on 28 June 1777 and named Tiverton Heights Fort. Its first commander was Major William Barton, who had been there only a week when he undertook his famous raid to capture General Richard Prescott. (For the story of this operation and biographical notes on Barton, see prescott farm restoration.)

Renamed Fort Barton, this was General John Sullivan's point of departure for the ill-fated operations that culminated in the Battle of Rhode Island (see battle of rhode island sites). His ten thousand troops used Howland's Ferry in their advance, and most of them came back this same way in their withdrawal. Fort Barton was lightly held thereafter.

A local committee somewhat restored the site, which was formally opened in 1970. Traces of the old works may be seen in a park and scenic overlook. A newly constructed observation tower provides a fine view, and the park offers 3 miles of nature trails. Fort Barton is on Highland Road at Lawton Avenue and is open daily from dawn to dusk. Phone: (401) 625-6700.

Gaspee Point

Gaspee Point, about 7 miles below Providence on the west side of Narragansett Bay. The "Gaspee Affair" of 1772 was one of the first overt acts of American defiance to British authority. Lieutenant Dudingston had showed more personal interest than the local citizens thought was necessary in commanding the armed revenue schooner Gaspee in Narragansett Bay. There is evidence also that he permitted his crew to steal cattle and cut fruit trees for firewood. On 9 June 1772 he was in hot pursuit of Captain Thomas Lindsay when he ran aground after trying to take a shortcut through the shallow water off a spit of land then called Namquit (now Gaspee) Point. Lindsay proceeded to Providence, arriving at about 5 p.m., and informed his friend John Brown that the Gaspee would be stuck until high tide refloated it again around 3 a.m. Word was spread that volunteers who cared to join in destroying the hated vessel should rally at Sabin Tavern. Principal instigators of the adventure were John Brown and Captain Abraham Whipple, the latter being given command of the sixty-four men who departed in eight longboats from Fenner's Wharf around 10 p.m. (Under providence see "Sabin Tavern Site.")

The watch called out the alarm as the longboats came close to the Gaspee. Dudington and his crew attempted to defend their ship but were overpowered after a hard hand-to-hand fight. The prisoners were taken ashore and put under guard, the Gaspee was set on fire—virtually destroyed when the flames exploded the powder stored aboard—and the raiders then rowed back to Providence and dispersed.

A royal commission was appointed to identify the leaders, but after sitting for almost three weeks it could find nobody who knew anything about the affair. John Brown was arrested on suspicion but released for lack of evidence. It was believed that suspects might be taken to England for trial, and the Gaspee Affair loomed large in Patriot minds as they turned toward open rebellion.

Gaspee Point cannot be visited, the historic portion being in private hands with a security guard preventing access, but you can see it from several points on the north side of Passeonkquis Cove. A highway marker is on Narragansett Parkway where it makes a right-angle turn just south of Pawtucket. The official highway map shows a state picnic grove in this area, and the street map shows Gaspee Point Drive leading to the water's edge. The tip of Gaspee Point is submerged at high tide, which local mariners knew but the British revenuer obviously did not. Serious visitors to the historic spot may therefore want to go armed with the appropriate United States Coast and Geodetic Chart (number 278).

Greene (Nathanael) Homestead

Greene (Nathanael) Homestead, 50 Taft Street, Anthony Village, town of Coventry. Nathanael Greene built this handsome frame house in 1770 while managing his family's ironworks in Coventry. When he returned at the end of the Revolution to untangle his personal financial affairs, he lived here while dividing his time between Rhode Island and Mulberry Grove Plantation in Georgia. The substantial white house of fourteen rooms has been carefully restored and furnished in the period of General Greene's residence by the Nathanael Greene Homestead Association. It is open from 1 April through 31 October on Wednesdays and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Sundays from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m., and by appointment. Phone: (401) 821-8630. (Greene's birthplace is still standing near East Greenwich, not far from the marked site of another forge established by his family.)

Green End (Bliss Hill) Fort

Green End (Bliss Hill) Fort, Middletown. Earthen ramparts of the fort built by the British in 1777 remain standing in a little neighborhood park of about half an acre. The site is of interest not only as one of the few Revolutionary War fortifications to have escaped urban development on Aquidneck Island, but also as a historic landmark that helps the visitor relate the present landscape to old maps of the Newport defenses. Green End Fort was the eastern anchor of the British works protecting Newport from land attack. It was the point against which the Americans under Sullivan directed their siege works from Honyman Hill in the operations covered under battle of rhode island sites. (Honyman Hill was just to the northeast of Bliss Hill, separated by the tip of Green End Pond.)

The site is plotted on the official highway map of Rhode Island, and is difficult to find. Starting from the junction of R.I. 138 and 114 at about the center of the boundary between Newport and Middletown, drive east on Miantonomi Avenue. On the northwest corner of Green End Pond and Miantonomi Avenue is a 7-foot-high granite marker identifying the historic landmark. From the encircling ramparts there is a fairly good view across Green End Point toward Honyman Hill to the northeast.

Newport

Newport. Fine natural harbors, favorable climate, and strategic location made Newport a major commercial center of colonial America within a few decades of its settlement in 1639. By 1650 the advantages of bypassing Boston and trading directly with the West Indies were realized. Newport quickly became one tip of the Triangular Trade, which had various forms but was basically a matter of using New England shipping in trade between America, England or Africa, and the West Indies. Principal cargoes were colonial raw materials such as fish, lumber, and flour; English manufactured goods; slaves from West Africa; and sugar, molasses, and rum from the West Indies. Thus the slave trade was one major source of the wealth evident today in Newport's surviving colonial mansions. Another was privateering: Newport was the smuggling center of the North American colonies from early in the eighteenth century until 1775. Violation of the Navigation Acts became the major maritime enterprise as the colonies moved toward revolution.

Prosperity and the great natural beauty of the site made Newport a cultural center. "In no spot of the … colonies was there concentrated more individual opulence, learning, and liberal leisure," wrote a distinguished native son of the period prior to the American Revolution (Dr. Benjamin Waterhouse, quoted in Lossing, I, 639n). The first golden age came from the great fortunes amassed in the Triangular Trade during the period 1739 to 1760. Some of the finest craftsmanship of the eighteenth century, much of it surpassing Old World models, was produced in Newport by men drawn here to execute lucrative commissions for the resident merchant princes.

During the Revolution Newport naturally came in for special attention from British authorities. A small fleet under Captain James Wallace controlled Narragansett Bay from the outbreak of hostilities until driven away in April 1776 by Patriot shore batteries. A large expeditionary force under General Henry Clinton took Newport in early December 1776, and the British garrison occupied the city until late October 1779. Then came the French expeditionary force of some four thousand troops commanded by the Count de Rochambeau and a powerful supporting fleet under Admiral de Ternay, which arrived in July 1780 and remained about a year.

But the British bottled up the French fleet in Newport until the end of August 1781 (when it broke out to take part in the Yorktown Campaign). Newport therefore was neutralized as a port during the Revolution, having no opportunity to continue the activities that had been so profitable in earlier wars, and suffering great material damage from the British occupation. A mass exodus had started in 1775 in anticipation of British occupation (see Stiles House, below).

Having grown from 7,500 in 1760 to 11,000 in 1775, Newport's population dropped to 5,300 in 1776. The city recovered from the effects of the Revolution very slowly, its population in 1870 being no larger than in 1770.

Newport's misfortune in never recovering commercially from British occupation and the subsequent blockade during the Revolution is today's good fortune from the standpoint of historic preservation. An estimated 350 colonial structures have survived, and these are in an area mercifully spared by a subsequent generation of wealthy Americans who built their ostentatious "cottages" during Newport's second age of affluence. Over the last decade efforts have been made by Revolutionary War historians to purge the popular myth that the British burned and ransacked cities during their wartime occupations. Except for peripheral war damage, no sustained efforts by the British to destroy city infrastructure can be proven. The destruction of colonial houses and other sites have been more the result of poor upkeep, post-Revolutionary War development, and city fires. Newport has more colonial buildings standing than all other American cities combined. The city is also unique for never having had a major fire, which is no doubt the main reason for the city's abundance of colonial structures.

Restoration programs have had to cope with nineteenth- and twentieth-century economic development; consequently, Newport is not Colonial Williamsburg. For the visitor with intellectual curiosity about eighteenth-century American life and historic preservation, however, there probably is no more rewarding a place than Newport.

The three major forces of restoration at work are recent creations. Oldest and perhaps most important is the Preservation Society of Newport County, founded in 1945. The major historic landmarks of Newport are exhibited under its auspices; the Society publishes a quarterly, the Newport Gazette, and an annual schedule of hours and fees for the buildings open to the public. The Preservation Society of Newport is located at 424 Bellevue Avenue, and has an informative website, www.newportmansions.org, that gives details on sites that it manages. Phone: (401) 847-1000. Operation Clapboard was conceived in 1963 and was operated until 1970, primarily to assist owners in restoration of colonial homes; it has proved to be more successful than expected. The Newport Restoration Foundation, located at 51 Touro Street, was founded in 1968 by Doris Duke, a lifelong summer resident. It collects funds for buying and restoring old houses, hoping to rent these to suitable tenants or make them into museums. Phone: (401) 849-7300. (Prescott Farm Restoration is one of its projects.)

All of the important architectural attractions of Newport are outlined in a variety of publications obtainable through the Newport Historical Society or at its bookstore located on 82 Touro Street. Website: www.newporthistorical.org; phone: (401) 846-0813. The standard authority is The Architectural Heritage of Newport, Rhode Island, 1640–1915, by Antoinette F. Downing and Vincent J. Scully, Jr. (Cambridge University Press, 1952; [Reprinted] Clarkson N. Potter, 1967). Newport is one of the five cities studied by Carl Bridenbaugh in his classic two-volume work on urban life in America from 1625 to 1776. First published in 1938 and 1955, these books were issued in paperback by the Oxford University Press in 1971. They are Cities in the Wilderness: The First Century of Urban Life in America, 1625–1742 and Cities in Revolt: Urban Life in America, 1743–1776. Dealing with Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Charleston, and Newport, they are as fascinating for the intelligent general reader as they are indispensable to the serious scholar. Both of these books are hard to come by; a reader's best chance is in public libraries. In many ways they were superseded by the research of Gary Nash and his students in the later twentieth century.

Below, in alphabetical order, are Newport sites associated with persons or events of the Revolution. Only a brief indication can be given of what to look for in Newport's embarrassment of historical and cultural riches.

Bannister House, 56 Pelham Street. Also known as the Prescott House because the British commander used it, this large, gambrel-roof house was built around 1751. It was one of several owned by John Bannister, a prosperous merchant. In the nineteenth century it was home to the well-known African American painter Edward Mitchell Bannister. It is currently a Bed and Breakfast; phone: (401) 846-0059.

Bowen's Wharf, off Thames Street. This is one of the few remaining wharf complexes where eighteenth-century structures survive. A group of citizens stopped plans for demolishing these. Bowen's Wharf serves Newport as a thriving plaza of shops and restaurants.

Brenton's Point (Fort Adams). Fortification work was started here in May 1776 by Patriots to defend the entrance to Newport Harbor. When the British invaders approached in December of that year, the works were abandoned as untenable. The British burned their barracks on the point when they withdrew from Newport in October 1779. After the French arrived nine months later, the site was fortified to some extent, but not until 1793 was construction started on Fort Adams (dedicated in 1799 and named for President John Adams). The fort fell into disrepair in the years following, but reconstruction of a sturdier granite fort began in 1824, lasting until 1857. Today Fort Adams is owned by the state, and it leases it to the Fort Adams Trust, which serves as steward for the 20-acre site (the fort's parade is 6 acres). Fort Adams is open to the public daily from mid-May through October from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Phone: (401) 841-0707.

Brick Market, Thames Street at the foot of Washington Square. One of the few surviving business structures of colonial America, the last work of Newport architect Peter Harrison (probably the country's first professional architect), this National Historic Landmark has a number of other distinctions. It is one of the country's first buildings to have open arcades (later enclosed). The ground floor was intended for use as a market, and the two upper floors (one of them since removed) were used for dry goods stores and offices. All rentals and profits from the building, a civic project of the Proprietors of Long Wharf, went to the town treasury for a public granary. After the Revolution a printing office was housed in the upper floors, which were used from 1793 to 1799 as a theater. In 1842 the building served as the town hall, and from 1853 to 1900 it was Newport's city hall. The Brick Market was built in 1762 to 1763, its details completed in 1772, the third floor removed in an alteration of 1842, and complete restoration (to its present two-story, enclosed-arcade condition) done during the period 1928 to 1930. Owned by the city, it serves as the Museum of Newport History, which is operated by the Newport Historical Society; the museum is open erratically; phone: (401) 846-0813. Brick Market Place is the name of the surrounding area, which includes a plethora of modern shops.

Colonial Burial Ground, Farewell Street. With tombstones from as early as 1660, this cemetery contains the graves of many Revolutionary veterans. There is also a segregated African American section traditionally called "God's Acre." The Burial Ground is a National Historic Site and is open from dawn to dusk.

Fort George Site, Goat Island. A British fort here was one of those that d'Estaing's fleet had to run by in entering Narragansett Bay in August 1779 (see battle of rhode island sites). Fort Liberty was a Revolutionary War work on Goat Island, presumably the American name for what the British called Fort George. The work disappeared when a naval storage facility was built on the island. Efforts were made to locate the lost site, but as of 2005 there are no visible remnants of Fort George. Goat Island succumbed to unbridled development pressure in the early 1970s, leaving it replete with the effects of modern commercialism.

Fort Greene Site, now Battery Park, between Washington Street and the harbor. A temporary gun emplacement was built here overnight as part of the successful efforts to drive the flotilla of Captain James Wallace from Newport Harbor in April 1776. Fort Greene does not figure as one of the important fortifications of the city, but Battery Park provides an exceptionally fine view of the harbor.

Friends Meetinghouse, 30 Marlborough Street. Dating from 1699, it is the oldest surviving house of worship in Newport and probably the oldest Quaker meetinghouse in America. This structure was once distorted by nineteenth-century additions but is still of great interest. On this site in 1717 John Farmer read one of the earliest antislavery statements in America, for which he was expelled from the meeting. In 1773 the Quakers meeting here voted to oppose slavery and disown those who continued to own slaves. Bequeathed to the Newport Historical Society in the early 1970s, this active organization undertook painstaking efforts to restore the Meetinghouse to its original (1807) appearance. This authentic replica of a Quaker meetinghouse is open to the public on a limited schedule during the summer and by appointment; phone: (401) 846-0813.

Hunter House, 54 Washington Street. A stately mansion of two-and-a-half stories, beautifully restored and furnished with a priceless collection of Goddard and Townsend furniture, the Hunter House is considered one of the finest colonial homes surviving in America. It was built between 1748 and 1754 by Jonathan Nichols, Jr., deputy governor of Rhode Island. Admiral Charles de Ternay, commander of the fleet that escorted the French expeditionary force of Rochambeau to America, died in the house on 15 December 1780 and is buried in the cemetery adjacent to Trinity Church (see below). William Hunter, whose name the house bears, was ambassador to Brazil but more famous locally for marrying the Quaker girl down the street in the Robinson House (see below). A National Historic Landmark, the Hunter House is owned by the Preservation Society of Newport and may be visited by contacting them. Website: www.newportmansions.org; phone: (401) 847-1000.

King Park, North Wellington Avenue, overlooking the harbor. A monument at the west end of this park marks the place where French troops under Rochambeau landed on 12 July 1780 to start their eleven-month stay in the city. The park has a handsome statue of Rochambeau.

Long Wharf Site. A street of this name, extending from America's Cup Avenue southwest to the end of Washington Street, is the only vestige of the busy wharf around which Newport's most lucrative trade centered from about 1685. The cove, long since filled in, extended north from the wharf to what is now Bridge Street, and the Long Wharf had a drawbridge giving access from the harbor to the back doors of the craftsmen's shops and homes on Bridge Street (first called Shipwright Street). The Proprietors of Long Wharf, incorporated in 1702, sponsored many important community services, including construction of the Brick Market (above).

Naval War College Museum, 686 Cushing Road. Devoted primarily to the history of naval warfare and the naval heritage of Narragansett Bay, with exhibits on the American Revolution. The Museum is on the grounds of the Naval War College and open to the public year-round on Mondays through Fridays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and on weekends from June through September, noon to 4 p.m. Phone: (401) 841-4052. Public access is through Gate 1 of the Newport Naval Station.

Newport Artillery Armory and Military Museum, 23 Clarke Street. The handsome stone building dates from 1835, the work of the mason who built much of Fort Adams (above), but the Newport Artillery of the Rhode Island Militia, founded 1741, survives with headquarters here. It is generally accepted as the oldest active military organization in the United States after Boston's Artillery Company. The museum contains uniforms, accoutrements, and military artifacts, and is open Saturday from May through October, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and by appointment. Phone: (401) 846-8488.

Newport Historical Society and Sabbatarian Meeting House, 82 Touro Street. One of the three connecting buildings here is the meetinghouse erected in 1729 by a congregation of Seventh-Day Baptists. Particularly fine carving is to be seen on the rail of the pulpit steps. The other two buildings house important collections of pictures, furniture, costumes, marine items, Indian relics, and other objects associated with the history of the city. The Society has added an important local history and genealogy library, and is open Monday through Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and Saturdays, 9:30 a.m. to noon. Phone: (401) 846-0813.

Old State House (Old Colony House), Washington Square. A National Historical Landmark since 1962, this brick assembly house was built in 1739 to 1742. Designed by Richard Munday, it was Newport's first brick building. A gambrel roof topped by a balustraded deck and cupola, a carved wooden balcony above the wide central entrance, and the sandstone trim of the red brick facade give architectural distinction to the historic building. From the balcony came official proclamations of the death of George II, the accession of George III, and the passage of the Declaration of Independence. In 1774 the first law prohibiting the importation of slaves was passed here. In 1776 the first medical lectures in America were given in the council room by Dr. William Hunter. British and French forces used the building as a hospital and barracks, causing considerable damage. In the single huge room of the ground floor are twenty-six flags of the colonial period. On the second floor is a portrait of Washington by Gilbert Stuart. The Historical Society manages the site and the state owns it. Tours are conducted from mid-June until the end of August, Thursday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., and by appointment. Phone: (401) 846-0813.

Old Stone Mill, Touro Park. This picturesque stone tower in the center of Newport was built for a windmill in about 1675 by Governor Benedict Arnold, great-grandfather of the Continental general and traitor. Mythmakers, however, pretend that it was put up by vikings or, later, by Portuguese explorers. Open year-round, dawn to dusk.

Pitts Head Tavern, 77 Bridge Street. A handsome structure that evolved from a much smaller one built in 1726 on Washington Square, where as the very successful Pitts Head Tavern it played host to Patriot, British, and French officers during the Revolution. It has been moved twice. Now a two-and-a-half-story, gambrel-roof, center-chimney frame house, Pitts Head Tavern is one of the finest restorations of an early Newport house. It is privately owned.

Redwood Library and Athenaeum, 50 Bellevue Avenue. Designed by Peter Harrison, this Georgian adaptation of a Roman temple dates from 1748. Of wood rusticated to resemble stone, it has been called the first example of Palladian architecture in the English colonies. Harrison built the library to house the books of a philosophical society, and Ezra Stiles (see Stiles House, below) was its librarian for twenty years. Today it has a valuable collection of books and early-American paintings, including six by Gilbert Stuart. A statue of George Washington is displayed in front of the building. A National Historic Landmark, it is one of the oldest libraries still used in America. This site closed for renovations in 2005 and is slated to reopen upon completion of the project.

Robinson House, 64 Washington Street. The Quaker Tom Robinson bought this house in 1760 and expanded it to a simple but handsome two-and-a-half-story, gambrel-roof frame residence. During the billeting of the French the viscount de Noailles lived here and became a devoted friend of the Robinsons. (The viscount was Lafayette's brother-in-law, an outstanding combat leader in the siege of Yorktown, and was selected by Rochambeau to be the French peace commissioner to work with John Laurens in negotiating the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown.) The Robinsons were considerably less well disposed toward their neighbor at 54 Washington Street when he married a daughter of the family outside her Quaker faith (see Hunter House, above). The Robinson house has remained in the Robinson family and currently (2005) is privately owned. Furnishings include items bought from John Goddard, another neighbor now better known as one of the finest cabinetmakers in colonial America. (John Goddard's house stands at 81 Second Street.) Another treasure is a Sèvres tea service sent by de Noailles to his hostess from France.

Second Congregational Meeting House, 15 Clarke Street. Designed by Cotton Palmer and built in 1733, this structure has suffered from Greek Revival and Victorian modifications. It has long since ceased to be used as a church, and efforts are being made by a local group to buy it for restoration. Ezra Stiles came to Newport in 1755 to be minister of the church, living in the parsonage across the street now known as the Stiles House (see below). During the British occupation the church was used for barracks, and the pews, pulpit, and fixtures were destroyed during this period. The building was sold to the Baptists in 1847. It was recently converted to condominiums.

Stiles House, also known as the Henderson House, 14 Clarke Street. Ezra Stiles (1727–1795), famous colonial scholar and author of a valuable diary, lived here for more than twenty years (1755–1776) as minister of the Second Congregational Church across the street. The two-story, gambrel-roof house was built about 1756 as the parsonage and is now on the National Register and run by the city as a sanatorium. Fear of British occupation caused a mass exodus from Newport long before any soldiers actually landed. In October 1775 Stiles noted in his diary that "three quarters of my beloved Chh (sic) & Congregation are broken up and dispersed." Five months later he left with his family and household goods. In 1778 he became president of Yale College, but his Newport parishioners held him in such high esteem that he remained technically their pastor until May 1786.

Touro Synagogue, 72 Touro Street. America's oldest synagogue, this was designed by Peter Harrison in 1759 and completed in 1763. The austere exterior cloaks one of the finest and most ornate interiors in the country. The synagogue is a National Historic Landmark open to the public and still conducts services, although it is closed for renovations through 2005.

Trinity Church, Queen Anne Square. Richard Munday built this outstanding colonial church in 1725 on the simple lines of Christopher Wren's examples in England, although it has since been somewhat altered. The church sits on two city blocks wherein all the buildings were cleared in the 1970s to create Queen Anne Square. The site earned a bicentennial dedication by Queen Elizabeth. The adjacent cemetery has the graves of Admiral de Ternay (who died in the Hunter House, noted above) and the chevalier de Fayelle (one of Lafayette's aides-de-camp). It is a National Historic Landmark and offers a number of musical performances in addition to religious services, its organ being widely admired; phone: (401) 846-0660.

Vernon House, 46 Clarke Street. The original part of this handsome Georgian frame house dates from the early 1700s. It was probably enlarged in 1759 by Metcalf Bowler when this wealthy merchant owned the house. (Modern research has revealed that this great "Patriot," chief justice of Rhode Island in 1776, was one of General Henry Clinton's informers. See Carl Van Doren, Secret History of the American Revolution, pp. 127-29, 235, 429.) In 1773 the house was bought by William Vernon, who served in Boston as president of the Eastern Navy Board from April 1777 until the end of the Revolution. The British used the Vernon House during their occupation, after which it became the quarters of the count de Rochambeau. Washington stayed here during the second week of March 1781. The two-story house has a hip roof and captain's walk, fine interior trim and stairs, curious murals of Chinese style under some paneling, and a rusticated exterior attributed to Peter Harrison. A National Historic Landmark, it is privately owned.

Wanton-Lyman-Hazard House, 17 Broadway. Newport's oldest house (built 1675) and one of New England's finest specimens of Jacobean architecture, this National Historic Landmark has been carefully restored and furnished by the Newport Historical Society. Rhode Island's last royal governor, Joseph Wanton, owned the house until his death in 1781, after which it was confiscated. Later it was returned to descendants who had been on the winning side. Of architectural interest are the steep roof and its plastered cornice; behind the house is a small colonial garden. A back room on the second floor served as slave quarters. Tours are available from mid-June through the end of August, Thursday to Saturday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Phone: (401) 846-0813.

Warren House, 62 Washington Street. Once known as the Henry Collins House, this two-and-a-half-story, gambrel-roof house was built about 1736 and later enlarged. It was owned by a wealthy Loyalist, George Rome, confiscated during the Revolution, and used briefly by Gilbert Stuart's wife and daughter. The French naval artillery headquarters was in the building while Admiral de Ternay's fleet was blockaded by the British in Newport. The admiral's headquarters were a few doors away at the Hunter House (see above). Warren House is privately owned.

White Horse Tavern, Farewell and Marlborough Streets. America's oldest tavern, built 1673, was has been restored by the Preservation Society. It is privately owned.

Tourist information is available from the Newport County Chamber of Commerce, 45 Valley Road, Middletown, R.I. 02842. Phone: (401) 847-1600. The most important sites open to the public are shown under the auspices of the Preservation Society of Newport County, Washington Square, Newport, R.I. 02840. Another source of current information on schedules and fees is the annual Rhode Island Tourist Guide, listed previously at the beginning of the chapter.

Newport County

Newport County comprises the three towns on the island of Rhode Island (Newport, Middletown, and Portsmouth), Jamestown (Conanicut Island), Little Compton, and Tiverton. More than twenty forts existed in this region during the course of the American Revolution, their locations known as recently as 1896 when Edward Field published Revolutionary Defences in Rhode Island. Only three are plotted on the official highway map as points of interest as of this writing: Butts Hill Fort (see under battle of rhode island sites), Green End Fort, and Fort Barton Site in Tiverton. In the undeveloped southern tip of Conanicut Island (Jamestown) extensive remains of Beaver Head Fort have been found in a lonely spot where trees are growing from earthworks in the middle of a field. Beaver Tail Fort has disappeared, but Beaver Tail Lighthouse stands on the site. The area is remote and picturesque. Vestiges of other Revolutionary War works undoubtedly survive unmarked throughout Newport County. The Newport County Chamber of Commerce is a primary information source.

Portsmouth

Portsmouth, Newport County. At one time the village of Portsmouth (established 1638) was the most important one in Rhode Island, but it was soon eclipsed by Newport and Providence. It has many historic landmarks (see battle of rhode island sites).

Prescott Farm Restoration

Prescott Farm Restoration, 2009 West Main Road (R.I. 114) near Union Street, Middletown. Easy to spot on the east side of the highway is the large, two-and-a-half-story, gambrel-roof, red frame house that has been known since the Revolution as the Overing House (c. 1730). The house was the country estate of Henry Overing. Its present name comes from a once famous episode of the Revolution, the capture here in 1777 of the thoroughly detested commander of the British occupying forces in Newport.

Richard Prescott (1725–1788) was an experienced professional soldier before coming to Canada in 1773 as brevet colonel of the Seventh Foot. He first became unpopular with American Patriots because of his harsh treatment of Ethan Allen after the latter's capture near Montreal on 25 September 1775. Prescott was himself captured less than two months later when he tried to escape from Montreal (see montreal under Canada). By this time he had the local rank of brigadier general, and in September 1776 he was exchanged for Major General John Sullivan, who had been captured in the Battle of Long Island, New York, about a month earlier. In December 1776 Prescott reached Newport with the large force under Sir Henry Clinton that occupied the island. He stayed to command the reduced garrison holding Newport and in this capacity alienated the Americans by his high-handed and contemptuous conduct. The night of 9 to 10 July 1777 he was kidnapped from his country headquarters, the Overing House, by forty raiders under the leadership of Major William Barton.

Commanding the fort at Tiverton that now bears his name (see fort barton), he learned that General Prescott was quartered in the Overing House and that his small guard there might easily be surprised. General Charles Lee, considered by many at this time to be second only to Washington as a Patriot military leader, had been captured at Basking Ridge, New Jersey, by a British patrol under similar circumstances. Barton thought it would be a great triumph to take Prescott and give Congress a general to exchange for Lee. Leaving Tiverton in boats on 4 July, Barton spent several days moving slowly through Mount Hope Bay recruiting volunteers. He visited Bristol and Warren (his home) before reaching his final assembly area across the bay at Warwick Neck. On 9 July the raiders crossed the bay, landed near their objective, and surprised the general in his bedroom. Prescott was taken back to Warwick and held in the Daniel Arnold Tavern, where the final plans for the operation had been made. (Portions of the old tavern are believed to be incorporated in the house standing on the site.)

Barton became a national hero, and his exploit lifted Patriot morale at a time when this was especially needed. Prescott was exchanged in due course and continued to serve in Newport, commanding a brigade in the Battle of Rhode Island and eventually succeeding General Pigot. In October 1779 he evacuated his garrison of about four thousand troops to New York, ending the occupation of Newport. Barton was promoted to lieutenant colonel four months after his famous exploit, having meanwhile been voted thanks by the state and national governments and been given a sword by Congress. When Lafayette visited the United States in 1824 to 1825 he found that Barton had been held a prisoner for fourteen years for refusal to pay a judgment on land he had acquired in Vermont. Lafayette paid the claim; Barton returned to Rhode Island from Danville, Vermont, and died about six years later in Providence. Prescott was a lieutenant general for six years before his death in 1788.

Developed by the Newport Restoration Foundation, this site was opened in 1972. Six of the eleven buildings on the site were brought in from other locations to protect them from urban development. One of the houses here has been moved from the Bristol Ferry Road. The windmill is from Lehigh Hill. Henry Overing's house is on its original site. (See battle of rhode island sites.) The farm site is open Monday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Phone: 401-847-6230.

Another "Prescott House" is at 56 Pelham Street in Newport, where it is now known as the John Bannister House. This was the house Prescott used in town during the British occupation.

Providence

Providence, Providence River, Providence County. When Roger Williams was banished from Massachusetts for religious nonconformity in 1636, he founded a settlement in the wilderness and named it in commemoration of God's providence. The place is now the second-largest city in New England, but the name is still Providence. Although it was the first settlement in what is now Rhode Island, Providence was overshadowed by Newport until about 1770. But the vigor of Providence's leaders and the advantages of being better situated for land communications with the interior (while having the advantage of being a port only 27 miles from the sea) gave this city the lead over Newport even before the latter was rendered hors de combat by the Revolution. Newport never recovered; Providence never stopped growing.

Whereas this may be applauded on the grounds of progress, much of historic Providence has been leveled in the last two centuries. Nothing remains of the nine forts in the area of Providence identified in 1896 by Edward Field in his Revolutionary Defences in Rhode Island.

The historic portion of the city lies on the east bank of the river (Exchange Street Exit of I-95). Within a half-mile radius of the First Baptist Meeting House (see below) are more than two hundred well-preserved old houses and public buildings of architectural or historical importance, or both. The Providence Preservation Society, located at 21 Meeting Street, publishes an architectural guide, PPS/AIAri Guide to Providence Architecture. Phone: (401) 831-7440.

Rhode Island's colonial heritage of fine craftsmanship and excellence in the arts has been continued into modern times. The famous Rhode Island School of Design, opened in 1878 and now covering more than a city block, is largely responsible for the high standards. Many of the attractions in Providence—houses, museums, and libraries—pertain to the period following the Revolution. Some of these are covered by the Providence Chamber of Commerce's website at www.provodenceri.com. Phone: (401) 421-7740. The following paragraphs are restricted to sites associated with people and events through the eighteenth century.

Brick School House, 24 Meeting Street. The Providence Preservation Society now occupies this structure built in 1769 as a school (on one floor) and a place for town meetings (on the other floor). In 1770 it was the temporary facility of what became Brown University (see below). Munitions were stored in the school during the Revolution, after which it became, in turn, one of the country's first four free public schools (1800), a school for African Americans (before the Civil War), and the first of the country's "fresh air" schools (1908).

Brown (John) House, 52 Power Street. Now the home of the Rhode Island Historical Society and a house museum of ten rooms furnished with a priceless collection of Rhode Island cabinetmakers' work, plus exhibition rooms depicting the history of the state, the John Brown House is one of the country's finest examples of Georgian architecture. It was designed by Joseph Brown in 1786 for his brother John. The latter (1736–1803) is remembered for his leading role in the Gaspee Affair (see gaspee point) and for the prominent part he and his famous brothers had in public affairs. John and his brothers had much to do with relocating Rhode Island College (later Brown University) from Warren to Providence. He laid the cornerstone of University Hall and performed valuable service for twenty years as treasurer of the institution. The John Brown House is a National Historic Landmark. The Rhode Island Historical Society can be found on the internet at www.rihs.org; phone: (401) 273-7507.

Brown University and University Hall. At the end of College Street, the campus covers a large area of downtown Providence in the historic section east of the river. Rhode Island College was chartered at Warren in 1764. In the intense rivalry between Providence and Newport that came to a climax just before the Revolution, the victory of Providence in winning selection as the new site for the college was decisive. (This is the opinion of Carl Bridenbaugh, who touches on the Newport-Providence rivalry in his Cities in Revolt, pp. 11, 53, 222, 264, and 378. See newport.) Renamed Brown University in 1804, this is the seventh-oldest college in America and still one of its finest. Buildings include the Annmary Brown Memorial with its valuable collections of books (some incunabula dating from 1460) and paintings, the John Carter Brown Library, the John D. Rockefeller, Jr., Library, and the John Hay Library. Directly associated with the period of the Revolution is University Hall, a National Historic Landmark. Built in 1770 as the original "college edifice" to accommodate twenty-five students, it was designed by Joseph Brown and probably patterned on Princeton's Nassau Hall. The college had been located temporarily in the Brick School House (see above). Between 1776 and 1782 the building was used by American and French troops as a barracks and hospital, suffering severe damage. Since its reconstruction in 1940 University Hall has housed administrative facilities.

First Baptist Meeting House, 75 North Main Street. The tall, slender spire of this church, one of the most remarkable public buildings in New England (and a National Historic Landmark), is in the center of an exceptionally rich collection of American architecture that spans close to three centuries. Roger Williams founded the congregation in 1638, making it the first Baptist organization in America. The existing church was designed by Joseph Brown, prosperous merchant and amateur architect, who used as his primary source material the Book of Architecture by James Gibbs. Started in 1774, construction was completed and the church dedicated in May 1775. Since that time it has been used for commencement ceremonies for Brown University, and it is still a place of religious worship, with guided tours following Sunday services. The Meeting House was rededicated in 1958 after being completely rehabilitated and restored. Phone: (401) 454-3418.

French Barracks, Billets, Campsites, and Graves. Americans seem to have an inordinate interest in houses occupied by Frenchmen. Four such places will be found today on Main Street. The Morris Homestead (1750), North Main Street at Rochambeau Avenue, once stood in the lower corner of a great field "of cold, wet land, rough and rocky," as Lossing described it as late as 1848. In this field the troops of Rochambeau camped for about two weeks in November 1782 before continuing to Boston (thence to the West Indies). A memorial is at Summit Avenue and Brewster Street. The Morris house is opposite the North Burial Ground, where many French soldiers were buried. Some of these graves undoubtedly date from the French encampments of 1781 (see below) and 1782. The Joseph Russell House, 118 North Main Street, was built by this China merchant in 1773 and occupied at one time by the chevalier de Chastellux. Best known today for his valuable Travels in North America, the latter was a major general in Rochambeau's army and a principal figure in Franco-American military cooperation during the years 1780 to 1782. Interiors of the Russell House have been moved to museums in Brooklyn, Denver, and Minneapolis, but its handsome external features remain. The Joseph Brown House (1774), 50 South Main Street, was designed by the distinguished amateur architect responsible for Providence's finest colonial structures (above). Joseph Brown's spacious, three-story brick house had been made available to Rochambeau's officers as quarters. Having survived the Revolution, it was for 128 years occupied by the venerable Providence Bank. At 312 South Main Street is a house that was the billet of Count Axel de Fersen (1755–1810). This young Swedish nobleman, persistently identified despite lack of solid evidence as "a lover of Marie Antoinette," had left the French court to be Rochambeau's aide-de-camp in America. In 1791 and 1792 he had a leading role in the unsuccessful attempts to organize the escape of the French royal family from Versailles. French troops were quartered in the Old Market House and, as previously mentioned, in University Hall of Brown University. One of their camps in the march from Newport to Yorktown is in a run-down area on Pine Street just west of the junction of I-95 and I-195. From here the troops marched to the campsite near Potterville.

Hopkins (Esek) House, 97 Admiral Street. This frame house of about 1750 was the home of the first commander in chief of the Continental navy, Esek Hopkins (1718–1802). Younger brother of Stephen Hopkins (see below), Esek had no qualifications for his task other than political influence. He was suspended from command in March 1777 and formally dismissed in January 1778. The partially furnished house is the property of the city and is currently (2005) undergoing renovation.

Hopkins (Stephen) House, Benefit Street at 15 Hopkins Street (its third location). A charming little red house enclosed by a wooden fence and bearing a large bronze plaque, this was the home of the biggest man in Rhode Island during the Revolution. Stephen Hopkins (1707–1785) started as a farmer and surveyor but went on to become chief justice of the colony, governor for ten terms, member of the Continental Congress, and signer of the Declaration of Independence. The oldest part of the simple two-and-a-half-story structure dates from 1707, with additions made in the period 1742 to 1755 and the most recent restoration in 1927. Furnishings include a bed used by George Washington, who was a guest of Hopkins in 1776 and 1781. The property belongs to the state and is open from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Wednesday and Saturday. Phone: (401) 421-0694.

Old Market House, Market Square. A marketplace here in colonial days was also the center of political activity. The surviving market house, now part of the Rhode Island School of Design, was completed in 1774. The third floor was added in 1797 by the local Masonic lodge. In 1939 the building was restored to its appearance of the last century.

Old State House, North Main Street between North Court and South Court Streets. Completed in 1762 to replace one that had burned, this was where the General Assembly met until 1900. (From 1776 to 1900 the assembly held its sessions in various county seats, usually meeting in Providence in January.) This remarkable structure has been the home of the Rhode Island Historical Preservation and Heritage Commission since 1975.

Pendleton House and Collection, 224 Benefit Street. Works of cabinetmakers John Goddard and Job Townsend and a fine collection of silver are exhibited in one room devoted to Rhode Island. The house is a replica (1906) of an early dwelling and was built to display the Pendleton Collection of colonial American decorative arts. It is part of the Rhode Island School of Design Museum. Open Tuesday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; phone: (401) 454-6500.

Prospect Terrace, Congdon at Cushing Street. Visiting Providence in the 1840s, Benson J. Lossing commented on "the fine view of the city and surrounding country" as he "passed … along the brow of Prospect Hill" toward the site of the French encampment of 1782 "on the western slope of the northern termination of Prospect Hill" (Pictorial Field Book of the Revolution, I, p. 624). Prospect Terrace is a vestige of this hill in downtown Providence. The view has changed but is still remarkable. What Lossing called the north end of Prospect Hill is a built-up area east of Old North Burial Ground. (See French Barracks, Billets, Campsites, and Graves, above.) At Prospect Terrace is Leo Friedlander's gallant statue (1939) of Roger Williams.

Rhode Island Black Heritage Society, 460 Aborn Street, traces the history of African Americans in Rhode Island from the seventeenth century on, including information of the First Rhode Island Regiment. Open Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Phone: (401) 751-3490.

Sabin Tavern Site and "Gaspee Room." A building on the northeast corner of South Main and Planet Streets has a recently restored plaque indicating the site of Sabin Tavern (1763). Here volunteers assembled for the famous raid on Gaspee Point in 1772, making their final plans in the tavern operated by Joseph Sabin and leaving in boats from nearby Fenner's Wharf. The staircase and much of the tavern's interior woodwork are in the so-called Gaspee Room. This room was reconstructed when Sabin Tavern was demolished during the last century, but is not the one in which the plotters met in 1772. In 1980 the local DAR gave the building to the Rhode Island Historical Society, which sold the building to a private entity in 1983. It is now an apartment house. Winterthur Museum, near Wilmington, Delaware has much of the paneling from the "Gaspee Room" of Sabin Tavern.

State House, 82 Smith Street. A gigantic building of white marble overlooking the city from a hill north of Civic Square, this structure of 1902 contains valuable relics of the Revolution. These objects are moved around from time to time, and it may be necessary to make inquiries at the information desk as to their location if you visit the building. In the Senate lobby is the original charter granted to the colony in 1663 and effective until the present constitution was adopted in 1843. (A copy is in the John Brown House.) In the rotunda are the only two surviving regimental flags of Rhode Island's Continental army units. The governor's reception room on the second floor has a full-length portrait of Washington by Gilbert Stuart (one of the best of many), and Nathanael Greene's field desk, sword, and other items associated with this major figure of the Revolution. Open Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., except holidays; phone: (401) 222-2357; website: www.state.ri.us/.

Smith's Castle

Smith's Castle,: U.S. 1 near Wickford. On the site of a trading post burned during King Philip's War, this house was built in 1678 using timbers of an earlier structure. The two-and-a-half-story, barn-like building is believed to be the only one surviving where Roger Williams preached to the Indians. Completely restored, it has furnishings of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and a garden of the latter period. Smith's Castle also features a museum shop and guided tours. Website: www.smithcastle.org; phone: (401) 294-3521. The site is 1.5 miles north of Wickford on U.S. 1 at Cocumscussoc.

Stuart (Gilbert) Birthplace

Stuart (Gilbert) Birthplace, near Saunderstown. Between scenic stretches of U.S. 1 and 1A is the restored and furnished house in which the painter Gilbert Stuart was born in 1755, about four years after the little frame house was built by his father. The site, a National Historic Landmark, includes the restored and working snuff mill operated by the painter's father. It is open to the public from April to October, Thursday through Monday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Phone: (401) 294-3001.

Gilbert Stuart (1755–1828) studied in Newport and worked in London (as a pupil of Benjamin West), Dublin, and Paris, achieving great success as a portrait painter during the years 1775 to 1793. Returning to his native country to escape his debts, he is best known today for his two portraits of Washington and the many replicas of these he subsequently executed. He did portraits of Presidents John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, John Quincy Adams, and many other prominent people, including Generals Henry Knox and Horatio Gates. Stuart's grasp of character and his technique make him one of the great portrait painters of his time.

Waterman Tavern and Adjacent Campsite

Waterman Tavern and Adjacent Campsite, near Potterville. A day's march west of Providence, this was a much-used campground during the Revolution. In an area rapidly being built over are depressions in the ground where wells and fireplaces once served the village of sod huts. Across the road on the north side is Waterman Tavern. Rochambeau and his officers stayed here on at least one occasion when their troops were marching through. The site is about 0.7 mile east of Potterville on Town Farm Road.

Whitehall

Whitehall,: Middletown. Rescued by the Colonial Dames and beautifully restored along with its garden, this ancient frame house of 1729 had fallen into such disrepair that it had become a barn. The two-story house with hipped roof and central chimney was the home of George Berkeley during the three years he spent in Newport (1729–1731). The philosopher and Anglican dean stimulated the cultural development of Newport before moving on to Bermuda. Whitehall is 2 miles southeast of Middletown on 311 Berkeley Avenue at the head of Paradise Avenue. Furnished in the period of Dean Berkeley's occupancy, it is operated by the Colonial Dames and included among the houses of Newport shown by appointment during the months of June, July, and August under the auspices of the Preservation Society. Phone: (401) 846-3116.