Belcourt Castle [RI]

Description

Unique among the mansions of Newport, "Belcourt," a Louis-XIII-style hunting lodge, was designed by Richard Morris Hunt, "the Dean of American architects." The 60-room summer cottage cost 3 million dollars, employing 300 skilled European craftsmen between 1891 and 1894. Today, celebrating 50 years in the Tinney Family, Belcourt Castle is home to an extensive collection of art and antiques from over 30 countries spanning diverse cultures and centuries. The collection includes 13th-century European stained glass, 10th- to 20th-century furniture from around the world, 17th- to 20th-century paintings, Renaissance armor, and a gold coronation coach.

The site offers tours.

Coggeshall Farm [RI]

Description

Coggeshall Farm is a 48-acre living history farm museum. The grounds include a circa 1790 farmhouse, a spring house, animal barns, fields, and herb gardens. The farm's animals include sheep, chickens, cats, a horse, donkeys, and goats. The museum primarily depicts late 18th-century life. The museum grounds have been worked by Europeans since the late 17th-century, and may very well have also been farmed by the Pokanoket.

The farm offers school tours, workshops, demonstrations,

Prescott Farm [RI]

Description

Prescott Farm presents Revolutionary War era rural life in Aquidneck Island, Rhode Island. The site consists of public access areas, as well as several historic structures rented to tenant stewards. Historically, General Richard Prescott, commander of the 4,000-strong British occupying force on Aquidneck Island, took the house owned by Loyalist John Overing (the circa 1730 Nichols-Overing House) as his rural headquarters. On July 10, 1777, American Colonel William Barton, under cover of darkness, led a party of 30 or more men in longboats to the farm, where they absconded with Prescott and his aid. Structures on site include the 1812 Robert Sherman Windmill; the Hicks House, built circa 1715 and now called The Country Store; the mid–1700's guard house; and the Sweet-Anthony House, built circa 1730. Prescott Farm’s kitchen and herb gardens are living laboratories that showcase period horticulture as well as contemporary gardening practices. The plant varieties grown in the gardens represent what many Aquidneck Islanders may have used for food, medicine and other utilitarian purposes in the colonial era.

The farm offers exhibits, guided tours, and educational programming.

Blithewold Mansion and Gardens [RI]

Description

Blithewold is one of the finest garden estates in New England. Visitors' explorations of Blithewold will include a dozen different gardens, specimen trees, and a 45-room English-style manor house, all chronicling a rich social history of the lives of one family over a span of more than 100 years.

The site offers tours, exhibits, educational programs, workshops, and recreational and educational events.

Fort Adams [RI]

Description

Across Newport Harbor stands the largest coastal fortification in the United States. Visitors to this engineering and architectural masterpiece can see where the soldiers lived, enter the casemates, explore the tunnel system, and climb the bastions for breathtaking views. From 1824 to 1950, Fort Adams housed generations of our soldiers, today it still stands ready for exploration.

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

Smith's Castle [RI]

Description

This 1678 home developed over decades into one of the greatest New England plantations of the 18th century. Today, Smith's Castle is an historic site where four centuries of Rhode Island history are preserved and interpreted through tours, historic reenactments, and educational programs for both adults and children.

The site offers tours and educational programs.

International Tennis Hall of Fame [RI]

Description

The Museum's galleries chronicle the rich history of tennis through interactive exhibits, dynamic videos, and popular memorabilia from historic champions and the superstars of today. Set in the original club rooms of the Casino, visitors of all ages delight in Stanford White's architectural detail as well as the state-of-the-art gallery experience. In Enshrinee hall, plaques commemorate the great players, coaches, administrators, and writers that have been inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.

The hall offers exhibits, tours, tournaments, research library access, and recreational events.

Newport Historical Society, Museum of Newport History, and Historic Sites [RI]

Description

Located in the 1762 Brick Market (designed by Peter Harrison) the Society's Museum provides the whole family with an introduction to the area's rich history and the beauty of its architecture. Visitors glimpse the lives of the people—past and present—who have made Newport one of America's most historic cities. The Society also manages several historical sites, including the 1730 Seventh Day Baptist Meeting House, the 1697 Wanton-Lyman-Hazard House, the 1699 Great Friends Meeting House, and the 1739 Newport Colony House.

The society offers tours, educational programs, research library access, and occasional recreational and educational events; the museum offers exhibits and tours; the Wanton-Lyman-Hazard House offers tours; the Great Friends Meeting House offers tours; the Newport Colony House offers tours.