Newport Restoration Foundation: Rough Point, Whitehorne House, and Prescott Farm [RI]

Description

The Foundation maintains and operates historical sites throughout Newport, including Rough Point, the Whitehorne House, and Prescott Farm. Frederick W. Vanderbilt built the English Manorial house Rough Point in 1889 on a dramatic, windswept promontory on Newport's Cliff Walk, overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. The Whitehorne House, housed in a Federal period mansion, features some of the best examples of Newport and Rhode Island furniture from the late 18th century. Prescott Farm offers the visitor a glimpse of early New England buildings and landscape. The farm buildings and land trace their origins to the early 18th century.

The foundation offers tours; Rough Point offers exhibits and tours; the Whitehorne House offers tours; Prescott Farm offers exhibits, tours, educational programs, and occasional recreational and educational events.

Herreshoff Marine Museum / America's Cup Hall of Fame [RI]

Description

The Herreshoff Marine Museum / America's Cup Hall of Fame celebrates the unique accomplishments of the Herreshoff family and the related drama of the America's Cup races. From 1863 to 1945, the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company, on the site of the present day Museum, produced the world's finest yachts. The genius of naval architect Captain Nathanael Greene Herreshoff along with the business acumen of his blind older brother John Brown Herreshoff truly built the "better mouse trap" for which the world beat a path to Bristol. Today, visitors from around the world see the nation's finest collection of yachts, all Herreshoff and many more than 100 years old. They can view the design models recording Captain Nat's design genius and see the products of his innovations. The companion America's Cup Hall of Fame is the international center for appreciation of the Cup.

The museum offers exhibits, research library access, lectures, classes, and occasional recreational and educational programs; the hall offers exhibits.

Rhode Island Jewish Historical Association [RI]

Description

The Rhode Island Jewish Historical Association is Rhode Island's oldest ethnic historic group, and chronicles the history of Jews in Rhode Island. The society works with local educational institutions in order to aid in scholarship and education regarding Jews in Rhode Island.

The society offers teaching aids, historical resources, and artifacts that can be used by teachers in the classroom. The society also offers research resources. The website offers basic information regarding the society and its resources and programs.

Little Compton Historical Society and Wilbor House Museum [RI]

Description

Wilbor House, the Society's headquarters, stands on land purchased from the Sakonnet Indians in 1673. Built by Samuel Wilbore in about 1690, the original house consisted of only two rooms, one above the other, and a cramped stairway and attic. It was typical of 17th-century New England. Today, one unusual feature of Wilbor House is that it spans three centuries and contains rooms representative of each.

The house offers tours and occasional recreational and educational events.

Astors' Beechwood Mansion [RI]

Description

This Italianate house was built in 1857 to the designs of Alexander Jackson Downing and Calvert Vaux. Purchased by the Astor family in 1881, the house was the social center for New York society during the Gilded Age. The Beechwood Theatre Company portrays Mrs. Astor's family, friends, and domestic staff at the height of the Victorian Era at the mansion. They welcome visitors to the mansion, offering a spirited interpretation of Victorian society not found elsewhere.

The site offers tours, living history performances, and educational and recreational events (including living history events).

Babcock-Smith House [RI]

Description

This early Georgian-styled mansion was built circa 1734 for Dr. Joshua Babcock, who was Westerly's first physician and a Chief Justice of Rhode Island. It was Westerly's first Post Office, and later became the home of Orlando Smith, discoverer of Westerly Granite in 1846.

The house offers tours and occasional recreational and educational events.

Preserve Rhode Island and Governor Henry Lippitt House

Description

Preserve Rhode Island operates several historical sites, including the Governor Henry Lippitt House. Built for textile merchant Henry Lippitt, his wife Mary Ann Balch Lippitt, and their six children, the house was completed in 1865 and occupied by several generations of the Lippitt family for 114 years. Over the years, the Governor Henry Lippitt family made only a few changes respecting the historic integrity of their ancestor's legacy. The majority of the family's furnishings still exist in the house.

The organization offers occasional recreational and educational events; the House offers tours.

Preserve Rhode Island [RI]

Description

Preserve Rhode Island is dedicated to preserving historic structures throughout Rhode Island. In addition to their activities as an advocacy organization, the organization currently owns five historic buildings, which are all open to the public as historic house museums.

The organization offers tours of their historic properties. The website offers visitor information as well as information regarding the organization's programs and activities.

Quonset Air Museum [RI]

Description

The Rhode Island Quonset Air Museum (QAM) preserves, interprets, and presents Rhode Island's aviation history through collections, research, education, and exhibits. The air museum educates the public in the state's rich aviation legacy and displays collections that document the contributions of Rhode Island to the growth and development of aviation and space exploration.

The museum offers exhibits, tours, and educational programs.

Slater Mill Historic Site [RI]

Description

Slater Mill is a museum complex dedicated to bringing one of the most exciting and significant periods of American history to life. Visitors to the site experience a time when an America of small farmers and craftsmen was poised to become the industrial leader of the world. In the Slater Mill itself, visitors are surrounded by vintage textile machinery bathed in the light of large windows. With expert commentary from costumed interpreters they can imagine the lives of the people—many of them children—who made the early mills come alive.

In the nearby Wilkinson Mill they can feel the throb of the great 16,000-pound mill wheel, a replica of the original wheel that harnessed the power of the Blackstone River to make the era's finest tools. Children get up close and personal with early production processes as they provide the power and operate miniature machinery in the Apprentice Alcove. In the Sylvanus Brown House they can look back to a time when spinning, weaving, cooking, and quilting were the stuff of everyday life.

The site offers a short film, exhibits, tours, demonstrations, workshops, educational programs, and occasional recreational and educational events (including living history events).