____________________ ♦ ____________________

____________________ ♦ ____________________

____________________ ♦ ____________________

PREFACE

The Rhode Island Historical Preservation & Heritage Commission, established by the General Assembly in 1968, is charged with administering programs which help to safeguard Rhode Island's cultural heritage. To provide an overview of the physical record of this heritage, the Historical Preservation & Heritage Commission initiated historical and architectural surveys of each community in the state. The purpose of this survey is to identify and record properties of historic and architectural significance in each community. Presently, archaeological resources are treated in a separate survey effort. The surveys are designed to identify districts, structures, and sites eligible for nomination to the National Register of Historic Places, and suggest priorities for historic preservation activities.

Upon completion of each survey, a brief report is written. The resulting documentation provides essential information for local, state, and federal preservation planning.

INTRODUCTION

The following preliminary study covers the historical and architectural resources of the town of Jamestown. The report includes a description of the town's physical and social context in the first section and an account of Jamestown's historical development in the second section. The third section is a list of properties in Jamestown which are listed in or suggested for nomination to the National Register of Historic Places. At the end of the report is an annotated inventory of some properties of historical and architectural importance in the town.

METHODOLOGY

The preliminary survey of Jamestown was accomplished by driving all public rights-of-way and noting on a map each building or site of particular architectural, visual, cultural, or historic significance. Each property was then photographed and recorded on a standard data sheet which includes a physical description and notations concerning history, use, condition, and architectural style (as applicable). During the survey, the significance of each property was evaluated in a preliminary fashion. Following completion of the survey and research, a further evaluation placed properties in one of three categories: properties already on (or determined by the federal government to be eligible for nomination to) the National Register of Historic Places; properties recommended for nomination to the Register; and other properties which upon further study may be found to be eligible for the Register. Archeological sites are mentioned only incidentally in these studies to provide historical context. The major emphasis of the Jamestown survey and report is on extant historic buildings. The data sheets from this survey are stored at the office of the Rhode Island Historical Preservation and Heritage Commission, 150 Benefit Street, Providence 02903.

The Jamestown survey was begun in the summer of 1975 by James Gibbs, of the Rhode Island Historical Preservation & Heritage Commission staff. In 1980 the Jamestown survey became a joint project of the Historical Preservation & Heritage Commission and the Jamestown Historical Society. The island's historical resources were surveyed again in the early 1980s by David Chase and Walter Nebiker, and field work has been carried on occasionally since then, most recently during the summer of 1988 with Professor William Jordy of Brown University. This report was written by Walter Nebiker; David Chase wrote many of the inventory entries, particularly for those properties built after 1850. Information about the archaeological resources of Jamestown is included in some sections of this report to provide needed context, but Jamestown's archaeological sites are so numerous and significant that they cannot be treated fully here. Some modern buildings are included, again to provide context, but this report focuses on historic resources.

Research was conducted at several libraries, principally the Rhode Island Historical Society Library. Nineteenth-century were especially useful in providing information and insights about the growth and development of Jamestown Village and other parts of Conanicut. Readily available sources of information, such as town and county histories, census and other reports, gazetteers, guidebooks, and newspaper and travel accounts were examined; they provided most of the information used in this report and are listed in the bibliography.

Information especially useful to this report was provided by Mrs. Mary R. Miner in conversations, and through notes and manuscripts, published and unpublished.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The Rhode Island Historical Preservation & Heritage Commission gratefully acknowledges the contributions to the Jamestown survey and report by a large number of contributors, principally the members of the Jamestown Historical Society, which began a town wide survey in 1980 to amplify the Rhode Island Historical Preservation & Heritage Commission survey of 1975. In addition to providing additional survey sheets and photos, the Society supplied much historical information on individual properties for both surveys. Of the 160 properties recorded by Jamestown Historical Society, 112 are included in the inventory of this report. Of the several dozen buildings whose architects are identified, Jamestown Historical Society provided the information for 37.

Jamestown Historical Society members assisting in this project include Mary B. Harding, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Reynolds, Mrs. Karl B. Smith, Jr., Eleanor H. Hendry, Margaretta Potter, Linda Brodin, Anna B. Crowell, Martha Grieg, and William Burgin. The research notes of Mary Louise Haas were helpful. Sue Maden's postcard history of Jamestown, an interesting and informative account of the island that presents houses, places, and views as they appeared earlier in the century, was very helpful. The Commission thanks Elizabeth Beaumont for adding to the history of the Watson family on Jamestown; Anne Zettek for providing genealogical information on summer residents of the Ocean Highlands-Walcott Avenue area; and Walter Schroder for reviewing material on Jamestown's defenses. Dutch Island was visited through the cooperation of Jillian Barber.

The text of this report was reviewed by Mrs. Mary R. Miner and other members of the Jamestown Historical Society; Bertram Lippincott III, of the Newport Historical Society; Richard Champlin of Newport's Redwood Library; and by Lisa Pointek and Robert W. Sutton, for the Town of Jamestown. The Commission is grateful for all their contributions.

The Rhode Island Historical Preservation & Heritage Commission is especially grateful for the assistance and guidance of Mrs. Mary R. Miner on this survey report. Mrs. Miner's own work as a scholar of Jamestown history, as a leader of the Jamestown Historical Society and the Town of Jamestown, and as a leader in the preservation movement are well known. She shared her own research with the authors of this report and generously permitted them to use the results of her work. In addition, Mrs. Miner reviewed several drafts of this report, providing additions, corrections, and useful insights. Many of the entries in the inventory section of this report have been corrected, clarified, and amplified by Mrs. Miner. The authors and the Commission thank Mrs. Miner for her time, effort, and interest in this project.

Map of Jamestown, 1846, by James Stevens. This part of Steven's map, showing Conanicut Island, depicts a rudimentary road network and a few houses.

JAMESTOWN'S LOCATION AND POPULATION

Jamestown occupies all of Conanicut Island in the middle of Narragansett Bay, and is part of Newport County. Providence is about 17 miles to the north. The west passage of Narragansett Bay separates Jamestown from the towns of North Kingstown and Narragansett to the west, while the east passage is located between Jamestown and the communities of Portsmouth, Middletown, and Newport to the east. The distance across the waters of the east and west passages is generally between one-and-a-half to two miles.

The shortest distance between Jamestown and the opposite shore occurs at the Dumplings, at the southeastern end of the island, where the east passage is only six-tenths of a mile wide. This strategic site was fortified throughout much of Jamestown's history. The open waters of the Atlantic Ocean, known here as Block Island Sound, wash the rugged southern shores of Jamestown.

Conanicut is a long narrow island extending about nine miles in a north-south direction; the east-west dimension is only about a mile. The 9.7 square-mile island is comprised of two parts. The larger northern section is about seven miles long; the smaller section, about three-miles long, known as Beaver Neck, ends at Beavertail Point at the ocean. Connecting these two parts is a low-lying sand bar, about one-eighth of a mile long and about 100 yards wide.

Two nearby islands--52-acre Gould Island, in the east passage, and 110-acre Dutch Island, in the west passage--are part of the town of Jamestown. The sites of once-active military establishments, they are both uninhabited today.

In 1980, 4,028 people lived in Jamestown. The 1990 population was 4,999, a population density of 515 per square mile. The pressure of increasing population on the land continues. More than half the population lives in a cluster that extends north and south of Narragansett Avenue between the east and west passages. A secondary cluster of houses, known as Jamestown Shores, located near the Jamestown Bridge, is a densely-settled community. Former summer colonies such as Conanicut Park, Shoreby Hill, and Jamestown Shores are now largely year-round neighborhoods. Seasonal dwellings are scattered throughout the island, with the largest concentration in the Ocean Highlands-Walcott Avenue area. Their owners swell Jamestown's population during the summer months.

Agricultural Windmill Hill is one of the most sparsely-settled parts of the island. Beaver Neck and the northern part of the island, north of Eldred Avenue, until recently relatively sparsely populated, have been subject to heavy development in the past two decades.

CONANICUT'S GEOLOGY & LANDFORMS

Conanicut Island lies in the center of the southern part of the Narragansett Basin, a 60-by-18-mile lowland of gentle relief that extends from the ocean northward into Massachusetts. In an east-west direction it includes all the waters of the Bay and the adjacent shores of some mainland Rhode Island towns. The basin, estimated to be about 200 million years old, was formed during the coal age, known to geologists as the Pennsylvanian period. Into a depression, or down-folded trough, sedimentary deposits of gravel, sand, and mud accumulated on a floor of igneous and metaphoric rocks. In swampy areas, thick layers of plants were accumulated. Later, under the pressure of deep layers of sediments and folding or compression of the earth's surface, the sediments were transformed into sedimentary and metaphoric rocks--sandstone, shale, slate, and conglomerate. Plant forms were compressed with the sedimentary layers, creating the many imprints of leaves, stems, and trunks of plants that are found in the rock formations today. Thick accumulations of plants were transformed into coal. Igneous activity--hot, molten rock formed deep below the earth's surface--intruded or entered rocks near the surface, forming bands, or dikes, of varying thickness, the most noteworthy and conspicuous of which is "White Streak," a three-foot wide band in the cliffs near Fort Wetherill.

Following millions of years of geological activity, of tremendous internal forces, several vast continental ice sheets blanketed the surface of northern North America, extending south over today's Rhode Island. These thick masses of ice, moving southward at an infinitely slow pace, scoured the land over which they passed, rounding sharp hill and mountain summits and deepening narrow valleys. Vast quantities of surface material, ranging in size from enormous boulders to gravel, sand, and clay, were scooped up, then deposited in varying amounts over the land.

The ice sheet, estimated to be at least a mile thick in places, remained over Rhode Island until about 11,000 years ago, gradually melting away as the climate ameliorated. Plant life, and the animal life it nourished, reclaimed the barren land. As the forest grew, it too softened the contours of the land.

Most of Conanicut Island is underlain by sedimentary rock, mostly extremely fissile soft shales which have weathered into low hills on smoothly rounded slopes. The highest elevation on the island is only about 135 feet above sea level. There are few exposures of bedrock on the island, but at Beavertail weathering and wave action have uncovered folds of shale and sandstone and basaltic dikes. At the south end of the main part of Conanicut, where sedimentary rocks were intruded by igneous rocks (granite) and became more erosion resistant, is an area of rougher topography with low, rocky hills and a rugged shore with precipitous cliffs, coves, rocky promontories, and outlying islands, or reefs. The sea-shore interface here is, along with the rocky southern shore of Aquidneck Island, the most dramatic in Rhode Island.

The actions of past geological and glaciological forces, and Conanicut's beautiful setting in the waters of Narragansett Bay and the Atlantic Ocean, particularly along the island's southern coast, have produced a variety of beautiful natural areas, which were surveyed and described in Seavey's study of Rhode Island's Coastal Natural Areas and which have been acquired by the State of Rhode Island and included in its park system, including the Bay Islands Park.

HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT

OVERVIEW

For thousands of years before the first Europeans set eyes on the land around Narragansett Bay it was the home of Native Americans. The first contact between the bay area's native inhabitants and Europeans occurred during a brief visit by Giovanni da Verrazano in 1514. A century later the Dutch established New Amsterdam at today's New York City, then extended their sphere of influence eastward along the coast and into Narragansett Bay. Dutch Island was a place of trade for Dutch traders and Native Americans for about 20 years.

European settlers from the Massachusetts Bay Colony settled the northern part of Aquidneck Island in 1638 and in the following year started a community at Newport. Newporters leased the rich meadows on several islands in the lower bay for grazing, and sheep were introduced. In 1657 Conanicut Island and adjacent Dutch and Gould Islands were purchased from several Narragansett sachems. After Conanicut was divided among the proprietors, farms were laid out. Ferry service was established linking Conanicut with Newport to the east and the Rhode Island mainland to the west, and a road connecting the ferry landings was laid out across the island.

By 1700 Jamestown shared the prosperity and much of the way of life of the large farmers on the mainland and the residents of Newport. Conanicut's farmers and their slaves raised cattle and sheep, which, with their by-products, especially cheese, found ready markets along the east coast and in the islands of the West Indies, largely through the port of Newport. Jamestown's age of commercial agriculture continued until the onset of the Revolutionary War, when British forces abruptly shattered the island's tranquility. On December 10, 1775, a British contingent wreaked destruction along and near the ferry road and confiscated livestock. Many islanders fled to the mainland until the British occupation of Newport ended in 1779. Following the war, the island's population grew again, and Conanicut enjoyed a long period of rural tranquility.

While most of Rhode Island was experiencing the tumult of the Industrial Revolution, Jamestown, with no adequate waterway, remained an agricultural island. Although no water-powered mills were ever established on the island, strong and steady winds supplied power for a mill which ground corn into meal. With an economy based largely on sheep, much of the island remained open farmland, mostly pasture, for several centuries. The eastern ferry landing supported a small settlement, but it was scarcely more than a hamlet consisting of a tavern, a few houses, and perhaps a store (there is evidence of one dating back to 1773).

A steam ferry, which made its first run in 1873, and which replaced an antiquated, wind-powered vessel, offered a swift and reliable passage across the bay and made Jamestown readily accessible from Newport. In the same year that the steam ferry service was inaugurated, land companies platted several tracts of land in the village, near the eastern ferry landing, at Ocean Highlands--the former Cottrell farm along the southern part of the main section of Conanicut--and at Conanicut Park at the northern tip of the island, which was serviced by steamboats from Providence. Shortly before 1900 another residential development, Shoreby Hill, was platted and built. While Jamestown's landscape remained agricultural (large tracts including all of Beaver Neck were untouched by development), Jamestown was also a summer colony and recreational community, noteworthy for its fishing, its beaches, and its scenery. The village at East Ferry had grown into a small commercial center containing three large hotels, boarding houses, town hall, churches, and several stores.

During the Civil War, Dutch Island was acquired by the federal government for a military installation, and in the early years of the twentieth century, the government acquired several parcels of land in the southern part of the island and built Forts Getty and Wetherill. Fort Wetherill took part of the Ocean Highlands tract containing four cottages. Gould Island became part of the Newport torpedo station facility in 1918.

Aside from the military establishments, Jamestown's growth was slow and steady in the first half of the twentieth century. Gradual population growth did not disrupt the basic land patterns of the island, with its village, summer colonies, and farmland.

The construction of the Jamestown Bridge (since replaced) in 1940 was largely responsible for many changes on the island after World War II as newcomers from the mainland discovered Conanicut's beauty and convenience. The most intensive development occurred in the vicinity of the bridge, where many houses were constructed along the shore and on newly-platted side streets nearby. Houses were also built in other parts of the island, and farmland acreage continued to decline. The Newport Bridge, completed in 1969, made the island even more easily accessible and brought in more people, many of whom just cross the island.

Today, Jamestown is a mostly residential town. The village offers commercial employment; service jobs are available; some Jamestowners are employed in the fishing industry; and there is a small work force involved with boat yards and marinas, but there is no manufacturing on the island. Many Jamestown residents work on nearby Aquidneck or on the mainland. Seasonal residents and tourists swell the population in summer. Only a few tracts of open farmland remain; the rest of the island is covered with houses and large areas of scrubby woods which have replaced the formerly open land. Despite the relatively large increase in permanent inhabitants and other changes, Conanicut's scenery and its quiet way of life remain the island's principal attractions.

NATIVE AMERICANS

When the Narragansett sachems Miantonomi and Canonicus agreed, in 1638, to let the English colonists use Conanicut Island for grazing, the newcomers had been in Rhode Island only two years. The Indians had been there for countless generations, in the words of Pressicus, a Narragansett sachem, since "time out of mind."

Jamestown's history began thousands of years ago. Archaeologists have found Native American artifacts and other remains of early Indian settlements dating to at least 5,000 years ago. It is likely that people settled the land earlier, between 10,000 and 12,000 years ago, after the last of the glaciers melted away and well before Narragansett Bay and Conanicut Island as we know them today existed.

The cold, post-glacial climate was in some ways like modern arctic regions. The landscape was an open, treeless tundra with plants such as birch sedge, myrtle, willow, hornbeam, and grasses. Those plants provided food for animals such as caribou, bison, musk ox, mammoths, and mastodons. Although people probably did live in the Jamestown area, archaeologists have yet to discover the materials they left behind. In fact, only a few scattered artifacts from these ancient people have been found in Rhode Island, probably because much of the land available then is now underwater.

Narragansett Bay had not yet formed. Instead, a system of freshwater streams, rivers and lakes carried the glacial melt water to the coast, then located about eighty miles south of Providence. As the ice sheet melted, sea levels rose, and slowly the streams and rivers changed from fresh water to salt water. By 4,750 years ago, Conanicut Island had separated from the mainland, but was connected to Dutch Island. Jamestown did not assume its present size until sea levels began to stabilize, about 3,000 years ago.

As the climate warmed, the tundra-like landscape was replaced by a spruce forest, and by 9,000 years ago, pine, birch and alder appeared. The deciduous forest was taking root--oaks were common by 8,000 years ago, and by 5,000 years ago, an oak-hickory forest was established. Deer replaced the moose and elk; migratory fish such as shad began their yearly runs up the larger rivers.

Although food was becoming more plentiful and the climate had become temperate, the archaeological evidence of human presence is still sparse. About 5,000 years ago the modern bay with its mudflats and small estuaries had formed. After the establishment of this estuarine environment, archaeological sites become more abundant.

Archaeological sites from these years indicate the presence of fairly permanent settlements: an early village, perhaps as old as 4,500 years had been found in Middleboro, Massachusetts; on Conanicut Island, the Joyner archaeological site, along Eldred Avenue, also contains evidence of a village settlement, some of which was used 4,500 years ago; other parts were used perhaps 3,300 years ago and some as recent as 2,000 years ago. The Joyner archaeological site contained the remains of circular wigwams, fire pits, trash pits, cutting implements fashioned from white quartz and argillite, tools for grinding nuts and seeds, hearths with the remains of deer and passenger pigeon, and stored caches of finished tools, paint stones and other objects used in village life.

The Joyner site is part of a large area on the island, extending south from Eldred Avenue (perhaps extending north of Eldred), to Narragansett Avenue that contains many important archaeological sites. Part of this area, the Jamestown Archaeological District was entered on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984. Within this district are other examples of Indian settlements including house remains, shell middens and human burials.

The largest documented Indian cemetery in New England is located in the Jamestown Archaeological District. The modern village of Jamestown has grown up around and within this large Indian cemetery; the boundaries of the cemetery remain unknown. Called the West Ferry archaeological site, the cemetery contains cremation burials dating to at least 3,300 years ago; also present are more recent Narragansett Indian interments dating to the 1600s, and quite probably earlier.

The presence of human burials in the same place for such a long period provides archaeological punctuation to Pessicus's statement in 1644 that his people had lived in the area since "time out of mind." It also suggests why the Narragansett sachems Scuttop and Quequaquenuit were incensed at colonial assertions in the 1650s that the land had been sold to the colonists. To these sachems the land had not been sold, rather the colonists had simply been granted rights to use the land, rights that the Indians believed had been abused.

Archaeological sites are also plentiful outside the area between Eldred and Narragansett Avenues. Shell middens have been found around the island, generally close to the shore line; other Indian burials have been reported as well.

Conanicut Island has been the location of several archaeological projects that have made significant contributions to our understanding to the Native American history of the island, in particular, and southern New England, in general. The Jamestown Library includes the Sydney Wright Memorial Museum, the repository for Narragansett Indian and European artifacts recovered from Narragansett graves in the 1960s by archaeologists from Harvard University. The skeletal remains were reburied by members of the Narragansett tribes in 1972, in one of the first reburial ceremonies in the United States. Now, discussions are underway with the Narragansetts to determine the best way to care for the grave artifacts. The library also provides a place for occasional lectures and discussions about the island's archaeology. With the preservation and study of Jamestown's important archaeological sites, the island will continue to contribute to our knowledge of the past.

JAMESTOWN'S SETTLEMENT

The first recorded European contact with Narragansett Bay occurred during the 1524 voyage of exploration by Giovanni da Verrazano. Although he was probably the first European to see the Bay, his visit did not have lasting consequence. Ninety years later the Dutch sent a fleet of ships on an exploratory expedition to America. One, commanded by Adrian Block, sighted Block Island in 1614, and either Block or Captain Hendricksen, on a second voyage in 1616, explored Narragansett Bay. From their base in New Amsterdam the Dutch carried on a considerable trade with Native Americans, much of it with the Wampanoags, principally in the Warren River. In 1636 or 1637, Abraham Pietersen, acting for the West India Company, purchased the island of Quentenis (now Dutch Island), which was used by the Dutch as a trading post for about 20 years.

The Dutch traders were interested principally in furs, and they established no colonies or settlements in this area. The first settlers of Rhode Island were religious dissidents from the Massachusetts Bay Colony. After the establishment of a settlement at the head of the bay at Providence in 1636 a colony was started at Pocasset (now Portsmouth) at the northern end of Aquidneck Island in 1638. In the following year, some of the Pocasset residents moved to the southern end of Aquidneck Island and began a small settlement at Newport. Under the leadership of William Coddington and John Clarke, the Newport founders in 1637 were given title to much of Aquidneck Island, as well as "the marsh or grasse" on Conanicut Island and the other islands in the bay (except Prudence), by the Narragansett sachems Canonicus and Miantonomi.

The lands bordering Narragansett Bay produced a fruitful bounty. Their rich silt loam soils were fit for general farming and apple orchards and excellent for grazing. Conanicut and Dutch Islands, as appendages of Newport under the agreement with Canonicus and Miantonomi, were used as grazing land for several decades after 1639. The first animals introduced by the Newporters were sheep. Sheep raising was initiated on a large scale in the early 1640s; by the mid-1650s there were thousands in Rhode Island.

In 1656 a company of more than 100 men agreed to purchase Conanicut Island, and in 1657 Cashasaquont, then the chief sachem of the Narragansetts, deeded to William Coddington, Benedict Arnold, and about 100 other buyers Conanicut and Dutch Islands; in the same year, Koshtosh, another sachem, sold today's Gould Island to Thomas Gould.

Conanicut Island was surveyed by Joshua Fisher, and a plan was drawn in 1657. Forty-eight hundred of the 6,000 acres were divided among the various purchasers, known as the proprietors; 260 acres were designated for a town plat, with 1-acre house lots; 20 acres were set aside for an artillery ground, a place of burial, and a prison house; and a 4-rod-wide road was drawn across the island. Land was also made available for other highways. Although the artillery ground was proposed, it probably was not actually created at this time.

Land was allotted to the proprietors in proportion to their investment in the purchase. Benedict Arnold's 1,411 acres were the largest share. Most of his land was in the southern part of the island. When the proposed town plat never materialized, one quarter of the proposed village land (260 acres) was also acquired by Arnold. Other large landowners in the original purchase were William Brenton (805 acres), R. Smith (378), R. Carr (285), William Coddington (240), and Caleb Carr (120).

Many of the original investors sold their rights to others at the drawing of lots, so their names never appeared on the plat map, only the names of the permanent buyers. Dutch Island initially remained undivided, to be used in common for pasture.

For many years after the beginning of settlement, the Narragansett Bay area enjoyed agricultural prosperity. Many early settlers were husbandmen who came from agriculturally progressive counties of England. They learned from the Indians the skill and knowledge of cultivating native crops, principally corn, peas, beans, and pumpkins. Within a few years of the founding of Newport, the rural economy was characterized by a commercial agriculture based largely on an extensive system of grazing, breeding, and fattening of livestock. Sheep were the most important animals, but dairy cattle were also important, producing milk, butter, and cheese. Beef cattle became more important, probably after 1660, when beef became a leading meat in the Rhode Islanders' diet. By 1664 a royal commission report declared Narragansett Bay to be "the largest and safest port in New England, nearest to the sea, and fittest for trade." The report also noted that the best English grasses and the most sheep were found in the colony.

During King Philip's War, when conflict between the Wampanoags and white settlers resulted in widespread destruction in southern New England, Conanicut and other islands remained fairly safe. After hostilities ceased, some Indians came to Conanicut and gave themselves up to the authorities for protection; others were taken into Jamestown families as servants. Narragansett Bay, after the war, supplied sheep to farmers in other parts of Rhode Island and the other colonies which had suffered during the war, resulting in an expansion of pastureland.

Jamestown was incorporated as a town in 1678 and was named in honor of Prince James (later James II), son of Charles II of England. Its citizens adopted for a seal a shield with a green field surmounted by a silver sheep. At incorporation, the new town's population was 150.

By the late seventeenth century, Jamestown, like the Aquidneck Island towns and the Narragansett Country (in South County), had already attained a measure of prosperity and a way of life unrivaled in New England. A 1690 account of the region declared that Rhode Island was justly called the "Garden of New England" for its fertility and pleasantness. It was an excellent country for raising sheep and horses, and the islands being surrounded by the sea were free from the dangers of bears, wolves, and foxes. The colony's inhabitants, who lived in relative plenty, sent horses and provisions to Barbados and the Leeward Islands and great numbers of oxen and sheep to Boston.

Several Conanicut landowners, in addition to acquiring material wealth, were prominent in the affairs of the colony. Benedict Arnold was the first governor of the colony under the 1660 charter of Charles II. Caleb Carr, one of the original Conanicut proprietors, also served as a colonial governor.

Many of the early settlers brought their Quaker faith with them from Newport. By 1684 they were holding meetings in private residences on Conanicut.

Town services were also evident in the late seventeenth century. Ferry runs between Newport and Jamestown started at an early date, at least by 1663; by century's end, several ferries were operating. In 1698 Nicholas Carr was instructed to build a town pound to hold stray animals.

By the end of the seventeenth century, Jamestown was a settled township. Its inhabitants, numbering 150 in 1678 and almost 200 by 1700, lived on farms scattered throughout the island, and were served by a road network. A road across the island, Ferry Road, probably existed in a rudimentary state.

Few of the island's earliest roads or buildings have survived in their original forms. Ferry Road may still be as wide now as it was when it was first laid out, but only a short tree-lined section near the west ferry landing gives a hint of the character of the early roadscape.

Most of the farmhouses are gone; some, like the c. 1695 Daniel Weeden House and the 1693 Nicholas Carr House, were replaced by newer structures, while many of the others were victims of fire, neglect, or old age. The Thomas Paine House, also called Cajacet, at 850 East Shore Road, erected in the 1690s, is probably the sole seventeenth-century survivor. Built as a two-story house, with a large room on each story, it was enlarged and altered at least twice in the eighteenth century, and again in 1882, in 1915, and in the recent past. Today it stands in relative isolation on a nine-acre parcel of land, serving as an interesting architectural document that chronicles the many changes brought about over the years at the hand of different owners.

AGRICULTURAL PROSPERITY IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

During the late seventeenth and throughout most of the eighteenth centuries, Jamestown's favorable location between the agriculturally prosperous Narragansett Country to the west and commercially wealthy Newport to the east was largely responsible for the economic well-being of the island. Although Conanicut's farms were considerably smaller than those of South County, the island had the same relatively mild, water-tempered climate, fertile soil, proximity to water, and tolerance of slave labor, a combination of circumstances that resulted in a period of agricultural prosperity that lasted for more than a century, from about the 1660s until the eve of the Revolutionary War.

Jamestown's economy, like that of the Narragansett country towns, was based on cattle and sheep and their by-products. Some Rhode Island dairy cows were in 1709 exported to the West Indies, but most were kept for dairy uses; they produced an excellent cheese which was shipped in large quantities to the other colonies, particularly to Boston, and to the West Indies. Butter was also exported, but in much smaller amounts. The major crop, corn, became the bread grain of the colony, and it is likely that a windmill to grind the grain was built at an early date on Conanicut.

In 1709 the island was surveyed. The town was laid out with 22 lots. A burial ground was established at this time, and it is probable that the artillery lot then came into existence. Census data for 1730 and for 1775 show a slow steady growth in the population of Jamestown. In 1730 the total population was 321. Eighty blacks, mostly slaves, comprised about one-quarter of the population. The 19 Indians counted may also have been slaves. By 1775 the island's population was 556, including 130 blacks and 32 Indians.

Newport, selected as a town site for its excellent year-round harbor, was settled by substantial families who laid the foundations for Newport's greatness. Some of these families owned land and maintained an active interest in the welfare of Jamestown as well. By the 1660s, Newporters were profiting from a lively trade in sugar, molasses, rum, and cotton from Barbados, dry goods and hardware from England, and pork, beef, peas, butter, and cheese from the local hinterland. The latter were marketed in the American colonies and the West Indies. Newport also developed important local industries--distilling, sugar refining, brewing, and the manufacture of oil and spermaceti candles. About 1730 the manufacture of candles was reportedly being carried on at Jamestown's East Ferry and was said to be a thriving business. Also on Jamestown in the eighteenth century were two tanyards and several cordwainers and weavers.

Since Newport's hinterland to the north and east of Aquidneck was within the commercial domain of Boston, its merchants relied on products from the west, especially the Narragansett Country. In 1720 some of the produce of the Narragansett plantations was coming over the Jamestown ferries to Newport. By 1720, Newport was a leading urban center of the colonies, with a population of 3,800. By 1742 its people numbered 6,200, and in 1755, 6,753 people lived in Newport. Jamestown, in contrast, had 517 inhabitants in 1755.

The establishment of ferries at each end of Ferry Road encouraged small settlements at the landings; they contained no more than a few houses near the water. To accommodate ferry travelers and to provide a public place of meeting, four tavern licenses were issued by 1701.

In 1705, according to colonial records, a watch house was in existence at Beavertail. A beacon was erected and a regular watch was set up in 1712. Threat of war with Spain resulted in the construction of another watch house at Beavertail in 1739-40. A lighthouse, only the third in the colonies, was constructed at Beavertail in 1749; it burned down in 1753 and was rebuilt in 1755.

The Quaker fellowship of Conanicut, which had been meeting in private houses, built a meetinghouse and established a burial ground along another ferry road--today's Eldred Avenue--in 1709-10. In 1734 the meeting house was moved to a new site atop Windmill Hill. Episcopal services were first conducted on the island in 1741 by the noted South County clergyman James McSparran. Subsequent Episcopal services were conducted by volunteer lay readers or visiting clergy and were held in private residences on Jamestown for about one hundred years.

Jamestown's period of prosperity and population growth came to an abrupt halt with the onset of the Revolutionary War. On December 10, 1775, about 200 British soldiers and marines landed at the East Ferry, marched across the island to the West Ferry, where they burned the ferry house and other buildings, and, on their return, burned all buildings which were easily accessible. At least fourteen houses were destroyed, and 50 cows, 6 oxen, and a number of sheep and hogs were carried off the island. In a skirmish at the crossroads of today's Narragansett Avenue and North Main Road-Southwest Avenue, the British suffered the loss of one marine and the wounding of seven or eight others. One civilian bystander, who may have been a Tory or British sympathizer, was wounded.

Many of Jamestown's residents fled to the mainland. The population decreased from 556 in 1775 to 323 in the following year. During the British occupation of Newport, from December, 1776, to October, 1779, the southern part of Jamestown was occupied almost continuously by British forces. Batteries which had been established by colonial militia at Fort Dumpling and the Conanicut Battery on Beaverneck were taken and manned by the British during their stay, and destroyed by them, along with the lighthouse, when they left.

Following the war, Jamestown underwent a slow recovery. In the 1780s a new Quaker meetinghouse was built on the site of the one it replaced. A new windmill, the third built on the island, was erected nearby on land confiscated from Tory Joseph Wanton. Across the road, a farm owned by Governor Hutchinson of Boston, another Tory, was also confiscated. In 1783 the population of about 345 inhabitants (on 47 farms) was only about a dozen more than in 1776. Most of the farms were in pasture, used to graze sheep and cows; the rest was in hay meadow (21%) and in cultivated land (10%). The town's returning prosperity is indicated by a rise in population to 507 in 1790; at that time wool, mutton, and cheese were Jamestown's major export items. Conanicut's cheese, like that of Block Island, was famous throughout the colonies.

At the end of the century, Fort Dumpling, a huge, solid, stonework elliptical tower, was constructed. Although it reportedly never saw military action, it stood as Jamestown's most imposing and romantic landmark for most of the nineteenth century.

Most of Jamestown's eighteenth-century buildings no longer exist. Some were destroyed and never rebuilt; some, like the lighthouse at Beavertail, were replaced; and yet other structures, including the William Battey House, were so changed that their original form is no longer recognizable. The few extant structures, however, are good examples of the early Rhode Island house type. They are 2 1/2-story dwellings whose hallmarks are massive interior framing, with large posts and beams joined together by pegs; a large, brick, center chimney; and a simply-framed central entry in a five-bay facade. Most are plain, functional structures lacking architectural detail and embellishment.

The Carr Homestead, at 90 Carr Lane, whose age is difficult to pinpoint with accuracy, has a transom-lighted entryway, and its small house lot still contains several fine farm outbuildings, including a corn crib. Like the Carr Homestead, the Lyman-Cottrell House, off Hamilton Avenue, is of uncertain age; a large tract of its farmland was sold more than a century ago for summer cottages. The c. 1760 Carr-Hazard House, at 30 Rub Street, has a less common 4-bay facade. It is part of the Windmill Hill Historic District, as is the 1796 Thomas Carr Watson Farmhouse, a handsome dwelling with many of its original features, including multi-pane windows, intact. The Watson House, on a 258-acre farm, with a cluster of outbuildings nearby, is owned by the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities, which protects this handsome house. Also in the Windmill Hill Historic District are three structures built in 1787: the 1-story Friends Meeting House and the adjacent windmill and miller's house. Two large, mid-eighteenth-

century farmhouses, both with outbuildings, face each other across Fort Getty Road on Beaver Neck. The Jonathan Law Farmhouse is on the south side of the road. Fox Hill Farm, with a rare (for Jamestown) gambrel-roofed residence, slopes gently down to the waters of the west passage. The small population of Jamestown's eighteenth century has left a remarkable legacy in these buildings. They are a noteworthy group, both for their architectural quality and for their ability to document life in the period of Jamestown's development as a prosperous small farming community.

Carr House, late 18th century, 90 Carr Lane.  A typical farmhouse, this house was built by a Carr and remained in the family throughout its history.  The land was in agricultural use into the mid-twentieth century.

Thomas Carr Watson House, 1796, 455 North Main Road, Windmill Hill Historic District.  This old farmhouse, set well back from the road, is the centerpiece of a 259-acre farm.  Nearby outbuildings include three barns and a chicken house.  The property was acquired by Job Watson in 1794 and remained in the Watson family until 1975, when it was given to the present owner, the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities, who maintain it as a working farm.

Fox Hill Farm, late 18th century, 994 Fort Getty Road.  This large gambrel-roofed residence is one of two old farmhouses in this small agricultural district.  Nearby are several outbuildings.

AGRICULTURAL DECLINE

For the greater part of the nineteenth century, Jamestown was a quiet, very sparsely populated town. In the first decade of the century the population numbered just over 500 inhabitants, but after 1810 it began a decline. By 1850 census takers counted only 358 people; in 1870 the town had gained only 20 people to total 378.

While most of Rhode Island (except for Newport County) was taking part in the Industrial Revolution, with textile mills and hamlets and villages springing up on numerous waterways throughout the state, Conanicut's lack of a waterway large enough to generate power to run industrial machinery excluded it from most manufacturing activity. Instead, the steady and reliable sea breezes were used to drive the large wooden blades of the island's sole windmill, whose stones ground corn into meal.

As in the previous centuries, agriculture was the mainstay of the island's economy. Pease and Niles wrote in their gazetteer in 1819 that the rich loam soil was "peculiarly adapted to grazing," and "likewise productive in grain, especially barley and Indian corn." Sheep grazing which heretofore had been very important was, in 1819, "less attended to." At that time Jamestown had 60 to 70 dwelling houses, one religious society and church, two or three schools, and one grain mill. Hayward, recording the island in 1839, paraphrased the 1819 account regarding agriculture. He considered the beautiful island, with its industrious and agriculturally skilled inhabitants, and its location, "a delightful place."

The 1850 census provides a snapshot of Jamestown at mid-century. Fifty-five hundred acres were devoted to farming. The 45 farms scattered about the island ranged in size from five to 380 acres. The largest were Daniel Watson's (380 acres) and William Weeden's (365 acres), at the northern end of the island. John Cottrell's 350-acre farm occupied the southern end of the island; it covered most of what later became developed as the Cottrell Farm and Ocean Highlands plats. At Windmill Hill was the 330-acre Robert Watson farm, one of only a few farms that have survived to the present day.

All of Jamestown's farms had a few milking cows whose milk was probably used by the farm family. Each farm also made butter (the island's production totaled 30,847 pounds), but less than half the farms converted milk into cheese (of which 23,350 pounds were manufactured). Leaders in both these dairy products were David W. Clarke, Ebenezer Tefft, Benjamin Cottrell, and John Cottrell. The farms of George C. Carr, William Briggs, and Daniel W. Watson also made a ton or more of cheese.

Swine were important both as a source of meat for the table and for their by-products. William Briggs owned 27 pigs, an unusually high number for Jamestown, which averaged five porkers per farm. The 1,122 sheep grazing the land of the 17 sheep-raising farms yielded 4,844 pounds of wool. Jonathan Lake led, with 900 pounds of wool sheared; John Cottrell was next, with 700 pounds of wool. A variety of crops was planted for man and beast. Hay was harvested on all farms, each farm bringing in an average of 18 tons. On 44 farms, a total of 11,387 bushels of Indian corn were picked in 1850, David Clarke and Jonathan Lake each harvesting 800 bushels. Only 36 farms grew Irish potatoes. The farms of Ebenezer Teft, John Cottrell, and Benjamin Cottrell, each gathered 400 bushels, about one third of the island's entire potato crop of 4,180 bushels.

Gradually, as the century progressed, services and institutions were established. In 1827 a lighthouse was built at the southern end of Dutch Island. Its poor construction, however, necessitated a replacement, and in 1857 the present structure was erected. The Beavertail Lighthouse also became obsolete and was replaced in 1856 by the present structure. Dutch Island's owner, Powell Carpenter, who unsuccessfully attempted to establish a fish works there, sold the island to the United States government in 1864, and a fort was erected. Troops were stationed on the island for a short time in the 1860s.

Educational services continued to be limited, but records indicate the existence of a stone school house in Jamestown in the late eighteenth century. In 1801 plans were made for two new schools. By 1818 there were three schools, one in the northern part, a middle schoolhouse, and one in the southern part of the main section of the island. In 1847 the Philomenian Library Association was incorporated, its books stored in private houses. The Town Council gave a small parcel of land in the southeast corner of the artillery lot for a church building, which was erected in 1833. Several years later the building was acquired by the island's Episcopalian society and it served as a missionary chapel of Newport's Trinity Church. The Baptist Society of Jamestown built a meeting house on North Main Road about 1842. This building was soon considered to be too far from the center of population and a new group--the Central Baptist Society--was formed in the village, and in 1868 erected a church on Narragansett Avenue. Services continued to be held at the old meetinghouse until 1880; later the building was sold to Episcopalians, then in 1934 sold again and converted into a dwelling.

The first building on the island constructed specifically to be a store was erected in 1829 by Isaac Carr, who carried on a trade for about 50 years. The first post office was established in 1844, with William A. Weeden, Jr., as the postmaster.

Although a few schoolhouses and churches, a post office, and a store were established in Jamestown during the first part of the nineteenth century, and even though farming was providing a livelihood for most of the island's inhabitants, perceptions of life here were mixed. Two 1860 newspaper accounts provide glimpses of Jamestown. A Providence Journal reporter noted that "around the east ferry there is a group of houses, forming a little village, running in a straggling line across the island to the west ferry. These buildings are quite unpretending, but are comfortable and in good repair." At the west ferry, which had a store, a new house had recently been erected, but in considering the island in general, the reporter considered its present condition to be "run down." In a subsequent issue of the Mercury, the author of a letter (signed only as "W") stated that the land was being exhausted by poor agricultural practices. Due to failure to manure the fields, the land was worn. But, said "W," some land was productive, and Jamestown supplied some of the best lambs in the market. Within a few years (of 1860) several new houses had been built, including a large boardinghouse. The article by the Providence Journal reporter described the character of the southern part of the main section of the island. He found: "undulating hills of rock, not half covered with soil, and not capable of producing anything more than a scanty crop of grass--just enough to keep up the appearance of verdure, and to cheat the few sheep pastured there into the belief that there was an abundance and to spare; but it requires the closest application on their part to the work of nibbling, to maintain a respectable appearance in the way of fat and wool."

Because Jamestown's population experienced a loss of 25% between 1800 and 1869, there was a limited amount of building activity. The inventory of historic resources in this report includes only about ten significant structures from this period, including two lighthouses and a town pound.

Off North Main Road, in the Windmill Hill Historic District, the c. 1802 Watson/Hodgkiss House survives as a good example of the large, early Rhode Island farmhouse. It closely resembles the nearby 1796 Thomas Carr Watson House, but the Watson/Hodgkiss House's features have been refined with a pedimented entry and splayed lintels over the windows. Part of a working farm, it has a collection of varied-age outbuildings nearby. The Tiddeman Hull House, formerly at 398 Eldred Avenue, is a small 1 1/2-story, center-chimney dwelling, which was reportedly built in 1840; if so, it is an unusually late example of its type. Several mid-nineteenth-century buildings, the 1841 First Baptist Church, at 783 North Main Road, later converted to residential use, the 1843 Meadowsweet Farm, at 191 Narragansett Avenue, and the Carr-Howland Farmhouse, at 256 East Shore Road, have all been remodeled. Thorncroft, at 175 Narragansett Avenue, built about 1860, which includes a fine carriage house on its large lot, was enlarged and improved in 1889, and has been subsequently reworked, but still retains its late nineteenth-century appearance. The Maples, at 78 Narragansett Avenue, when built as a residence in 1866, was said to have been the finest Victorian-style house in Jamestown. It has recently been enlarged and now houses professional offices, but it retains some of its architectural detailing and has the further distinction of being on the only surviving lot of the original 22 township lots laid out along the road in 1709.

The Dutch Island Lighthouse, first erected in 1827, was replaced in 1857 by a new structure. Several ancillary outbuildings were recently destroyed, leaving the white, square tower as a solitary symbol of the island's maritime history. At Beavertail, the 1779 lighthouse was replaced in 1856 by the present handsome structure. It and the dependent buildings, now under the care of the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, are in good condition today and include a museum devoted to lighthouse history.

SUMMER VISITORS AND OTHER NEWCOMERS

In 1870 Jamestown's land use pattern was essentially the same as it had been for the previous two centuries. Narragansett Avenue was the most heavily settled part of the island. Along this old road a line of houses extended from the East Ferry landing to the junction of North Main Road, and a few houses were clustered near the West Ferry landing. But the remainder of Jamestown's houses and farms were widely dispersed over the rest of the island. The southern end of Conanicut, south of Hamilton Avenue, was a single parcel of land owned by the Cottrell family, which also owned Fox Hill Farm on Beaver Neck. All of Beaver Neck contained only five houses. North of Great Creek for a distance of about two miles, houses were strung out at intervals along North Main Road, and several houses were also spread out along Eldred Avenue. The farmsteads at the northern end of the island were sited far off the road, near the shore along both sides of the island.

The last three decades of the nineteenth century, however, were among the most dramatic and exciting in the town's history, a time of profound change. While much of the town remained agricultural, four separate and distinct residential tracts were established. The greatest development occurred near the East Ferry landing, which became a full-fledged village. Growth here was mostly fueled by the construction of several large hotels and the establishment of boarding houses. A summer colony called Conanicut Park was started at the northern end of the island. Remote and isolated from the village, this development, relying mostly on steamboats for contact with the outside world, was an ambitiously planned but scarcely realized resort, attracting Rhode Islanders and other New Englanders. At the opposite end of the island, in the Ocean Highlands tract, wealthy Philadelphia families, among others, built the island's finest mansions, most perched on rock outcrops, on the high elevations and along the scenic and southern coast--sites that provided some of the most beautiful vistas in Rhode Island. At the northern edge of the village, a group of wealthy St. Louis families established Shoreby Hill, a private enclave, in the closing years of the nineteenth century.

Jennie Lippitt House/Stonewall Cottage, 1873, 1026 East Shore Road, Conanicut Park.  This picturesque residence, featuring a mansard-roofed tower and a wrap-around piazza, was built by Jennie Lippitt, whose family helped finance the Conanicut Part development.

George Taber Cottage, 1874, 1982, 921 East Shore Road, Conanicut Park.  The embellishment of this cross-gabled residence, restored in 1982, include the bargeboards, balustrades, and porch railings.

Samuel Irons House/Hendry/s Retreat, c. 1876, 14 Fairview Avenue, Conanicut Park.  This handsome Victorian house has some fine carpenterwork decorations.

Jamestown Inn, 1885, 1980s, 1076 East Shore Road, Conanicut Park.  Build be Charles Fletcher, a Providence textile manufacturer, for his summer residence; with its sweeping view of the bay, it was the most imposing structure at the Park.  In 1915 it began service as the Point View Hotel and was used as a summer hotel until 1972.  It now houses condominium units.

Ferry Services

Perhaps the most significant event in the history of the island was the introduction of a steam-powered ferry boat, an event that ended two centuries of relative isolation and rural tranquility. The first steam ferry, built by the Atlantic Works of East Boston, christened Jamestown, made the first Jamestown-Newport run in May 1873. This 79-foot long, wood-burning side-wheeler, made five round trips a day between Jamestown and Newport until 1886, when the 125-foot long Conanicut took over. The Jamestown then went into service on the west passage run. In 1896 this boat was replaced by the still larger and much faster Beaver Tail. Benjamin Pease, recalling life on Jamestown (in Recollections of a Long and Busy Life), was not the first to note that the establishment of the steam ferry "inaugurated what was destined to be the key to prosperity on the part of the worthy burghers of Jamestown's fair isle."

Up to this time, the ferry had been used principally by island farmers to market their produce and buy supplies, and by travelers going eastward or westward across the southern part of Rhode Island. The new steam ferry service, which provided relatively safe and efficient transportation to Jamestown, began the era of summer residences, a period that lasted well into the twentieth century. When the steam ferry started there were three land developments underway in the southern part of the island near the East Ferry landing--the Howland Plat, the Gardner Farm Plat, and Ferry Meadow. Two more developments--Ocean Highlands and the Bay View plat--followed soon after. By century's end, the Cottrell Farm, the Bryer Farm, and Shoreby Hill had been subdivided into house lots.

Conanicut Park

A number of other steam ferries and steamboat lines also operated on Narragansett Bay during the late nineteenth century. One route connected Wickford with Newport; another line ran boats from Providence to the southern shore. These steamer services were responsible for establishing Jamestown's earliest summer colony, Conanicut Park, at the northern tip of the island.

The Conanicut Land Company, organized in 1872, purchased about 500 acres here. Their tract was divided into more than 2,000 small rectangular lots which were platted along several gracefully curving roadways. Most of the lots went undeveloped, and a proposed park never got beyond the drawing board, but the all-important steamboat landing and a hotel were built in 1873. Four cottages were also built in 1873; in the next two years six more cottages were added. However, the depression of 1873 slowed development considerably at this crucial time, and the introduction of the steam ferry from Newport to the East Ferry landing shifted the focus of summer cottage activity to the southern end of the island. The steamers and other vessels received an aid to navigation in 1886 with the establishment of the North Light at the tip of the island. In the following year, Dr. Jernegan of Boston began building "a substantial villa" at the northwestern part of the island not far from the lighthouse, on a large tract of land. Governor Henry Lippitt purchased the buildings and land of the Conanicut Land Company at public auction in 1889; soon after, three more cottages and a farmhouse were constructed. In addition to residences and the hotel, the Providence YWCA was allowed the use of a house for its camp in 1878. The house was acquired in 1881, and named Seaside. Later, the YWCA acquired four other Conanicut Park Houses.

Soon after the start of the project, a group of investors (Daniel LeRoy of New York; Samuel Campbell of New York; John B. Palmer of Providence; A.B. Darling of New York, the proprietor of the Fifth Avenue Hotel; and W.H. Carr of New York, a clerk in Darling's hotel) purchased a tract of land just south of the Park. Caswell and Darling had plans for a hotel, but it never materialized.

East Ferry Development

The first great building boom on Jamestown began at the East Ferry, where hotels, cottages, stores, and private residences were built in the latter part of the nineteenth century, transforming the place into a true village. Near the landing, even before the advent of steam navigation, summer visitors were accommodated in private residences. Reportedly, William Champlin began keeping boarders during the time of the Civil War.

Ferry Meadow was part of the Howland Farm which had belonged to John Howland at the end of the eighteenth century. With its proximity to the East Ferry landing it was the first plat developed. Twenty acres between Union and Brook Streets were divided into 70 lots and sold. By 1873 Pardon Tucker's mansard-roof residence had been built and houses were being constructed for Philip Caswell and John Howland. John Howland put up an entirely gas-piped house partly from the proceeds of land sales, and partly from faith in sales to come. In June, 1888, no fewer than twenty houses were in the process of completion, or just completed, within view of the ferry dock, and "fully double that number were erected within the limits of the town proper during the past year," reported the Newport Mercury. By the end of the century, Ferry Meadow was the most densely settled part of the village.

Several other small housing developments were laid out in the village. The Gardner Farm Plat, comprised of several shore lots south of Ferry Meadow, was platted in 1873 by James Hamilton Clarke. West of Ferry Meadow, between Narragansett Avenue and High Street, was the Howland Plat. Nearly all of the land along Howland Avenue in this plat was sold by 1874. An 1888 newspaper account reported that most of the 60-x-100-foot lots in the Howland Plat had been sold and the area was "already a good sized village of small but neat and tasty homes." In 1875 Benjamin Bryer of New York owned the southern 85 acres of the former Isaac Howland Farm, located about one quarter of a mile north of the ferry landing. In 1884 part of this tract was developed for housing. Between 1883 and 1888 many summer cottages, ranging in cost from $500 to $80,000, were built on the island, according to the Newport Mercury, and architect Charles L. Bevins was "working night and day to furnish plans for others to be erected for the 1889 season." In 1887 the Bryer Plat was made up of the cottages of U.S. Navy Rear Admiral H.C. Wells and Medical Director David Kindleberger, Mrs. Pascal Hacker of Philadelphia, and Cory's boarding house. By 1888 several other houses were being constructed.

Joseph Wharton House/Marbella/Horsehead, 1882-84, 240 Highland Drive, Ocean Highlands-Walcott Avenue Historic District.  This massive stone-and-shingled structure, conspicuously sited on a rocky promontory along the south coast, was built by Joseph Wharton, a Philadelphian who summered in Newport before he purchased a 30-acre tract here.

The Round House, 1888, 104 Racquet Road, Ocean Highland-Walcott Avenue Historic District.  The shape of this McKim, Mead & White-designed house resembles that of old Fort Dumpling, which stood above the ocean nearby.

Altamira, 1905, 60 Racquet Road, Ocean Highland-Walcott Avenue Historic District.  Sited at perhaps the highest elevation in the district, this large shingled summer residence features a wrap-around porch that allows for views of the coastal scenery that spreads itself out below the house.

The Boulders/Louise Alexander Larned Cottage, c. 1888, 1893, 52 Newport Street, Ocean Highland-Walcott Avenue Historic District.  This shingled summer residence has a variety of architectural details.

General Patterson House/The Ramparts/Channel Bells, 1888, 27 Newport Street, Ocean Highland-Walcott Avenue Historic District.  This fine shingled house, set above Fort Wetherill , has extensive views of the bay and ocean below.

Development of the South End of the Island

South of the village and beyond the several small residential developments (that ended at Hamilton Avenue) was the vast Cottrell Farm. In 1844 John Cottrell had moved to Jamestown from South Kingstown and purchased the 200-acre Lyman Farm. Along with the 200-acre Dumplin Farm and Fox Hill Farm, the Cottrell family holdings in Jamestown totaled more than 500 acres. John Cottrell's son Frederick, who took over the farm, was more interested in business ventures than in farming. He was instrumental in organizing the ferry company, was a part owner in the Ferry Meadow Company, and, for a time, was president of the Ocean Highlands Company.

Incorporated in 1875 with George C. Carr as president, the Ocean Highlands Company acquired a 265-acre parcel "comprising the barren tract known as the Dumplings" (and also known as the East and West Dumplings, or Dumplin Farm), the southernmost part of the Cottrell Farm, fronting the ocean. The company's goal was the improvement of this part of the island for summer residences. By 1875, according to a Newport newspaper, they had begun constructing a road that would be a drive of five miles, and were planning to build a hotel and construct a wharf.

Although land in the Ocean Highlands began selling in 1875, no houses were built there until 1881, when William Trost Richards, a marine artist from Philadelphia, bought a lot and built a cottage, Gray Cliff, near the quartz dike known as "White Streak" in the cliffs along the water. Richards's high praise of Conanicut (he said that "certainly there is no place more lovely than Conanicut in all the world") encouraged fellow Philadelphians to purchase property there. Joseph and Charles Wharton and Benjamin Shoemaker built cottages in 1882; James B. Sword, another Philadelphia artist, built a house in 1883; and Philadelphians Wistar Morris and Dr. R. Eglesfeld Griffith built in 1886 and 1887. In 1887 the Newport newspaper listed at least a dozen cottage owners from Ocean Highlands.

In 1884 Walcott Avenue was extended across the Cottrell Farm; three years later the farm was platted for development. By then Admiral Thomas O. Selfridge had already purchased the southeast corner of the farm and built his cottage there.

The year 1888 was one of considerable building activity in the Highlands. Before summer, cottages were built by C.W. Larned of West Point, Mrs. Tilden of New York, and by General Robert Patterson and J.W.M. Newlin of Philadelphia. That summer the new steamer Dumplings began making regular trips between and the Dumplings.

Hotels & Boarding Houses

While large summer homes, or cottages, were being erected in the general vicinity of the landing, the immediate area of the landing site itself received the greatest attention. William H. Knowles, a Jamestown resident, built the first hotel, a 2 1/2-story, mansard-roofed structure, in 1875 near the end of Narragansett Avenue, but the period of greatest hotel growth on the island occurred during the 1880s.

The first of this new group of hotels was the Gardner House, built in 1883 near the water at Conanicus Avenue and Union Street. In 1888 16 new rooms were added, bringing the total to 54. Reportedly there were 100 rooms at a later date. Along Conanicus, just north of Narragansett Avenue, the Harbor View Inn, designed by C.L. Bevins, was erected in 1887. A short distance from the ferry landing, on Green Lane, the Prospect House, also known later as the St. James Manor and Carter's Inn, went up in 1888. It had accommodations for 50 guests.

The year 1889 was the peak year for hotel construction. In that year the largest hotels, and also the one with the most interesting history, appeared in Jamestown. The Bay Voyage Hotel was built in the 1860s in Middletown. The 2-1/2-story mansard-roofed structure was floated across the bay in 1889 and set up just north of the ferry landing. In 1890 30 rooms were added, making a total of 40 rooms. Adolphus C. Knowles, whose father had earlier built the Bay View House, moved the Ellery Ferry House, which occupied an important site at the corner of Narragansett Avenue and Conanicus Avenue, and built a massive, 4 1/2-story structure with towers and porches, and accommodations for 200 guests. The old house, moved a short distance to Knowles Court, was used for hotel employees. Another large hotel was the Thorndike (or Thorndyke), built by Patrick H. Horgan of Newport. This 4-story, Colonial Revival structure, with broad and deep verandas, contained 113 guest rooms. Its first floor housed two stores, the Jamestown Pharmacy, and an ice cream and confectionery store. Near the ferry landing, across from and contemporaneous with the Bay View Hotel, was the Riverside House, which housed 40 guests in rooms above two stores and a billiard room. The Riverside House burned in 1894 and was replaced by the Caswell Block. Further from the ferry landing, just beyond the Bay Voyage Hotel, was the Champlin House, a summer hotel with accommodations for 75 guests, run by W.A. Champlin. In addition to these large hotels, a number of other structures were erected for summer rentals, including Vinecroft and the Honeysuckles on Lincoln Street, and the Emmons, Eustis, and Peckham Cottages on Walcott Avenue.

The hotels were the primary reason for the transformation of Jamestown from an agricultural town to a summer resort. They also contributed to the introduction of modern technology and improvements in the village, which included electric street lights, water supply, and sewers. In 1899 electricity powered 200 lights, hotel shops, and three cottages at the Thorndike Hotel; in that year also part of Narragansett Avenue was macadamized. Many improvements were also realized through the efforts of the Jamestown Improvement Society, which was active in the 1890s. Similar to other groups throughout the nation, the J.I.S. concerned itself with aesthetics as well as practical matters, such as health.

Jamestown Village

Hotel growth was accompanied by the inception and growth of various services, commercial establishments, and institutions. This village growth is demonstrated by the construction, in 1883, of the Town Hall at its present site on Narragansett Avenue, replacing the old one which stood at the corner of Watson Avenue and North Road. Episcopalians erected a new St. Matthews Church in 1880 across the road from the old church, and in 1891 a new Baptist church replaced an earlier one at the corner of Narragansett Avenue and Southwest Avenue. The first Roman Catholic Mass on the island was held in the Thorndike Hotel in 1890. In 1893 a Roman Catholic church, at first a mission attached to St. Mary's in Newport, was built on Clinton Avenue. A schoolhouse that stood on Southwest Avenue was moved to the corner of the artillery lot and fitted up as a library building in 1898.

Shoreby Hill

The last major development in Jamestown during the era of steam ferry navigation occurred shortly before the end of the nineteenth century. In 1895 the Greene Farm, just north of Narragansett Avenue, remained as it had been for about two centuries. Its old farmhouse was set on a slight rise back from the east shore road, reached by a long, straight driveway, and surrounded by a large tract of farmland. But by then plans were already underway to convert this tract, also referred to as the Quaker Farm, into a residential neighborhood. The services of Ernest W. Bowditch of Boston were enlisted to landscape the large plot of ground for expensive summer residences. Plants, shrubs, and trees were planted under the supervision of forester James H. Bowditch. Sewer and water lines were installed and an interesting pattern of tree-lined roadways was laid out. In September, 1898, the first subdivision plat was recorded; by century's end Shoreby Hill had 10 houses.

Greene Farmhouse, after 1712, 55 Longfellow Road, Shoreby Hill.  This former farmhouse dates from the early eighteenth century but has seen many changes since then.  Once part of an extensive farm, it is now surrounded by the suburban-like Shoreby Hill development.  Photo courtesy of John Hopf.

Shoreby Hill Club/Jamestown Casino, c. 1989, 75 Conanicus Avenue, Shoreby Hill.  Now a private residence, this structure, with a Palladian window, twin bay windows, and a fine porch, was built on Priscilla Road as the Shoreby Hill Club.  In 1911 it was moved to this site and became the Casino.  It is now a private residence.

Charles H. Bailey House, 1898-99, 4 Hawthorne Road, Shoreby Hill.  This large, imposing house, featuring a colossal, temple-style portico, is a remarkable design contract in the midst of Shoreby Hill?s shingled informality.

Ephron Catlin Cottage, 1898-99, 24 Emerson Road, Shoreby Hill.  This large, cross-gabled Colonial Revival residence was one of the first houses built fronting on the common.  It was recently renovated to include a broad second story platform.

The Red House, 1898, 5 Alden Road, Shoreby Hill.  This shingled residence was one of the first houses erected in the Shoreby Hill development.

James Taussig Cottage, c. 1898, 11 Alden Road, Shoreby Hill.  Finely crafted with Colonial Revival detail, this cottage was the residence of one of the founders of the Shoreby Hill development.

Farming and Fishing

While the village was growing and other parts of the island were being developed for summer residences, most of Conanicut remained farmland. By 1895 there were only six properties on Beaver Neck, and as late as 1887 there was no public highway there. Travel along the neck to the lighthouse necessitated the opening of ten gates. The southern tip of Beaver Neck, the 270-acre Ocean View Plat, laid out in 1887, included nine choice waterfront lots and one inland, totaling 23 acres, all used for simple summer cottages and fishing camps. In 1889 Joseph Wharton bought the remaining 247 acres. North of Great Creek (except for Conanicut Park), little had changed in the land use pattern. The centuries-old pattern of dispersed farmsteads still prevailed. Land divisions had left many of the houses on relatively small tracts of land, not large enough to farm profitably.

In 1875 more than one half of the town's farms, comprising 5,450 acres, were in pasture. Hay fields also made up a large percentage of the farm land. Sheep were the most important animals numbering 2,054 in 1875. By 1895, however, there were only 398 of these animals on Jamestown farms. The numbers of swine, milk cows, oxen, and lambs also declined during the last decades of the nineteenth century. Only about 10% of the farmland was cultivated, devoted principally to corn, oats, Irish potatoes, pumpkins, and turnips. By-products included wool, milk, butter, cheese, cream, eggs, and poultry. There were also orchards, mostly growing apples. There were 59 farms in 1875, and only 49 in 1895; the amount of farmland was reduced by 1,315 acres in those twenty years. The island's changing land use was reported in the Providence Journal in 1887: "green fields have abounded and farmers have thrived throughout its limits, but with the influx of summer residents whole tracts of land have lost their identity as farms, and a new era in history begins."

In addition to farming, fishing provided a livelihood for some islanders. Fresh fish was the most important sea harvest; 61,000 pounds of fish were caught during the 1875 and 1895 census years. Jamestown fisherman accounted for 26,425 pounds of lobster in 1875, but only 2,000 pounds were brought to market in 1895. Other fish and shellfish were less important to the economy.

Newcomers and Population Growth and Changes

The steam ferry forever changed Jamestown's life and lifestyles. The 1875 census recorded 488 inhabitants, 110 more than five years earlier. A number of new houses were built for non-residents; many employed professional architects to build large and stylish cottages.

Between 1875 and 1880 population decreased slightly to 459 inhabitants, but by 1885 the number had risen to 576. In the decade between 1875 and 1885, the 70.9% increase in number of houses built on Jamestown was the highest for Rhode Island. More than one-third (36.4%) of the houses were recorded as unoccupied, since summer residences were vacant when the census takers made their rounds. The rapid pace of building and population growth that began in the early 1870s continued unabated thereafter until World War I.

The last decade of the nineteenth century was one of great growth; the year-round population grew from 707 in 1890 to 1,091 in 1900. The Newport Journal estimated that the island had 2,500 summer visitors in 1895. Yet much of the island, the large area between Conanicut Park and Great Creek, and Beaver Neck, remained sparsely-populated as the new century began. At Conanicut Park building activity had slowed considerably. The village and the adjacent southern part of the island continued to develop at a brisk pace, and houses were still going up in the Ocean Highlands. The threat of war with Spain, following the destruction of the Maine in 1898, meant new fortifications in Narragansett Bay, and the southern end of the main island was acquired by the government. A few houses were demolished, and a new concrete fortification was placed on the site of Old Fort Dumpling, the picturesque ruin atop a cliff commanding the narrow east passage of the bay.

The great period of building activity in Jamestown coincided with a time in our country's history characterized by a great diversity of building styles. Many building styles are represented on the island, but most of them are limited to a few examples, and even these are not usually fully developed examples of their type. The Italianate style, for example, is represented by only a few buildings; the 1870 George C. Carr House, at Cedar Hill, is a good example.

The picturesque Gothic Revival, popular at mid-century, is represented by a few Jamestown buildings. The style's emphasis on fancy decorative wooden ornament can be seen on some buildings. A few houses erected in Conanicut Park between 1873 and 1886 exhibit some features of the Gothic Revival style, such as gables trimmed with barge-boards. Perhaps the best example of the style is the 1874 Chapel House at 887 East Shore Road. The 1886 North Light also displays Gothic Revival features.

The Second Empire style was popular in the second half of the nineteenth century, and is readily identified by the distinctive mansard roof. Jamestown examples include the 1875 Howland House at 22 Old Walcott Avenue, the Caswell Cottage at 5 Narragansett Avenue, and the Bay Voyage, moved to Conanicus Avenue in 1889.

Several noteworthy houses were erected in the last two decades of the century in the popular Queen Anne style: Longwood, erected in 1886-87 at 9 Bryer Avenue, the 1897 Horgan Cottages, at 17, 19, and 23 Conanicus Avenue; and the Charles Fletcher Cottage, built in 1885 at 1076 East Shore Road in Conanicut Park (later the Jamestown Inn.)

The most popular building style in Jamestown was the Shingle Style. Houses with shingled exteriors were built at an early date in Jamestown and the wall covering material which is the principal characteristic of the style has persisted to the present.

The neighborhoods of Jamestown, especially Ocean Highlands and Walcott Avenue, are the best places in the state to see and appreciate the charm and sophistication of Shingle Style architecture. Some of the region's first big, casual shingle-clad summer houses are here in Jamestown--they are the characteristic buildings of the island and testimony to its special appeal for summer visitors.

Many of Jamestown's buildings defy easy and convenient stylistic classification, such as the 1891 Central Baptist Church at the crossroads of Narragansett Avenue, and the Movable Chapel, built as a church in 1899, and now a stationary residence at 11 Harbor Street. And, there are many structures erected during this period that, as in the past, were built as plain, functional buildings.

THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

Early twentieth-century Jamestown, accessible only by ferry, remained a quiet and charming island, with its fine summer homes and residential areas, a variety of recreational activities, and its lovely scenery, a medley of rolling farmland, rocky coast, and surrounding spacious bay and ocean. It did not experience the industrial activity common to many other Rhode Island towns. Population growth continued sporadically. The greatest increase occurred during the decade from 1910 to 1920, when the population went from 1,175 to 1,633, a gain of 458 people, but during the next twenty years, the island gained only 111 residents. Most growth, as in the preceding century, occurred in the village, especially along the side streets off Narragansett Avenue. At Shoreby Hill, about 36 houses were added to that residential community, 15 of them built between 1911 and 1916. Building activity continued in the Ocean Highlands, but not at the pace of the previous century. Only a small number of houses were built at Conanicut Park, which was past its brief heyday, and houses were erected in scattered locations throughout the island.

Recreational activities became important in the early twentieth century. A nine-hole golf course had been established in a cow pasture near the Dumplings in July, 1895, and was in use until about October, 1904. Known as Conanicut Golf Club, it was one of the first in New England (the Newport Country Club was started in 1890). In 1902 a new clubhouse was erected and links were laid out on the Littlefield farm, today's Jamestown Country Club.

The July, 1906, Board of Trade Journal declared that Jamestown, next to Newport and Narragansett Pier, was "more widely known as an attractive summer resort than any other place on the Southern New England Coast. It is considerable of a cottage, as well as a summer hotel, settlement," said the magazine article, which also said that the island was well known as the summer home of many U.S. Army and Navy officers as its nearness to Newport made it convenient for those connected with the service.

As the century progressed, Jamestown remained largely unchanged. In 1930, The Book of Rhode Island prophesied that "because of its island character, Jamestown will always preserve its quiet atmosphere." The island, with its appealing scenic beauty and its fisherman's paradise at Beaver Tail, had a highway and shaded lanes affording access to all the traveled parts of the island, a casino, an 18-hole golf course, tennis courts, a modern bathing pavilion on a sheltered shore, fine hotels, boarding houses, garages, schools, churches, and an active yacht club. Boating was one of the island's great attractions. Jamestown, concluded the account of the island, was bound to please those who "want to enjoy good health, rest, and quietness, together with good sports."

During the early twentieth century, several additional institutions and town services were added to the town, all in the village and all but one on Narragansett Avenue--the Palace Theatre, later known as the Bomes Theatre, built in 1921; the Conanicut Grange erected in 1926; the Jamestown fire station, in 1927; and a social gathering place, Holy Ghost Hall, built for a small Portuguese community in 1930. The Roman Catholic parish moved St. Mark Church to a new site on Narragansett Avenue in 1909. By this time, on the other hand, the number of Quakers on the island had declined. A 1939 newspaper account observed that there were no Friends among the permanent population. The old meeting house was open only from June to September for summer residents from Philadelphia.

In 1940 another service was provided to island residents with the opening of the Jamestown Bridge. It replaced the centuries-old West Ferry service between Jamestown and the western mainland of Rhode Island, and made the island readily accessible to automotive travelers.

In 1903 there were nine Jamestown hotels, with a capacity of 1,055 guests, most of whom could be accommodated in the Gardner House (300), the Thorndike (250), and the Bay View (200). In 1900 the Champlin House, with a capacity of 75, became a sanitarium. The original Thorndike burned in 1912, but the hotel era was still flourishing then, and a new hotel was immediately built to replace it. After World War I the hotels experienced a decline. In 1923 the Prospect House on Green Lane was torn down. The new Thorndike, after a life of only about one-quarter of a century, was demolished. The Bay Voyage and the Bay View hotels continued in use, as did a number of smaller boarding houses

Throughout the first half of the twentieth century, Jamestown's fortifications which guarded the entrance to Narragansett Bay, were improved and expanded. Work on the fortifications--the construction of permanent guns and mortar batteries--was authorized in 1890. Between about 1896 and 1906 most of Narragansett Bay's permanent batteries were installed. Fort Greble on Dutch Island was rebuilt and a battery of heavy mortars set in place. The Fort Getty site, a 31-acre tract at the northwest corner of Beaver Neck, was purchased by the War Department in 1900; fortifications were erected in the following year. Between 1898 and 1902, the U.S. Government condemned more than 61 acres of land along the coastal part of the main section of Conanicut that contained the summer cottages of William Trost Richards and three others located along the cliffs. The new fort here, named Wetherill, was started in 1902 and enlarged between 1904 and 1907. The southern part of Gould Island was purchased by the U.S. Government in 1909; in 1918 the government acquired the rest of the island for use as a torpedo station and test facility and a hanger and ramp for seaplanes was constructed at the island's south end. All of the fortifications at Fort Greble, Fort Wetherill, and Fort Getty were major components of an integrated system of fortification protecting Narragansett Bay.

Bay Voyage Hotel, 1860, 1889-90, 150 Conanicus Avenue.  This mansard-roofed structure, built in Middletown across the Bay in 1860 , was moved here in two sections by scow in 1889.  Then a 30-room addition increased its capacity to 40 bedrooms.  In the late 1980s it was renovated as time-share resort and hotel.

Narragansett Avenue view.  This photo, take in 1990, shows the variety of sizes, shapes, and styles of the building that make up the business district.  The largest building shown recently replaced the former Islander Restaurant.

Conanicut Grange, 1926, 6 West Street.  The island's grange hall, located in the village, is typical of its type in Rhode Island.  A plain, wood shingled structure, it is a late addition the state's grange halls, erected long after agriculture had ceased to be an important part of the landscape and economy.

Site of Gun Battery, 1900, Fort Greble, Dutch Island.  Shown here is one of the four large gun batteries and concrete fortifications erected on Dutch Island for the defense of Narragansett Bay.

Gun Battery, Fort Wetherill, c. 1902, Fort Wetherill Road.  The inner part of this fort, now state-owned and part of a park system, shows a circular gun platform at the right, and the openings inside the concrete works.

Fort Wetherill, Submarine Mine and Cable Facility, 1908, 1940, Fort Wetherill Road.  The eastern end of the Fort Wetherill site, at the cove, was used to store underwater cables that were strung here across a narrow part of the East Passage to the Newport shore.  The three end-gable buildings are the earliest, built between 1908 and 1911.  Above them is the site of old Fort Dumpling.  The long, one-story building at the right is a submarine mine warehouse built in 1940.

Most of the forts reverted to a caretaker status before World War I, but were reoccupied during the war, and then again became inactive. The federal government acquired more land at the old Conanicut Battery site in 1916 and 1921. This property became the site of Prospect Hill fire control station.

The final chapter in the history of most of Jamestown's military establishments was written during World War II. Within the Narragansett Bay area, protected by a network of coastal defenses, vital naval installations, such as the Navy Torpedo Station--sole manufacturer of torpedoes in the United States during the early years of the war--and various naval training activities, were operating at peak performance and expanding. In addition to underwater mines, antisubmarine nets and antiboat booms placed across the east and west passages of the Bay, the Navy installed two submarine detection loops a few miles south of Beavertail Point. The loops, consisting of 90,000 feet of magnetic cable, were connected to receiving equipment in the Harbor Entrance Command Post.

During World War II, Jamestown's forts were all reactivated. Concrete observation posts at Prospect Hill Fort were used as a communications link for a mine command operation. In 1940 a coast artillery unit was stationed at Fort Getty. Subsequently, a searchlight unit was established here, and guns were installed. During the last years of the war, a school for the indoctrination of German prisoners of war was conducted at Fort Getty. In 1941 a degaussing station (to de-magnetize steel ships) was initiated on Gould Island, and in the following year a torpedo facility, comprising several buildings, was erected.

The southern part of Beaver Neck was the scene of considerable activity during World War II. An assessment of U.S. coast and harbor defense needs made in June, 1940, resulted in the installation of major gun batteries at strategic points, one of which was the southern end of Beaver Neck, which was taken for military purposes in 1942 and named in honor of Rhode Island's Civil War General Ambrose Burnside. In addition to gun batteries, the Beaver Tail area was also the site of the Harbor Entrance Command Post, established in 1941, which was responsible for reporting and identifying all ships approaching or entering Narragansett Bay, and the U.S. Navy Radio Facility.

The fortifications and associated military buildings erected during the early years of the century have suffered mixed fortunes. Almost all are now gone, either dismantled, destroyed, or moved off the site, but many of the massive concrete bulwarks remain, especially at Fort Wetherill. These fortifications, like many others erected along America's coastline during its various wars, are important in understanding and appreciating our military history.

Soon after World War II ended, Jamestown's military establishments were deactivated, and eventually, over the course of about thirty years, given to the State of Rhode Island. At Beaver Tail, the Harbor Entrance Command Post was closed in 1945; the nearby Navy Radio Facility was declared surplus in 1978. Fort Greble was discontinued in 1947. In 1958 the fort and Dutch Island became state property. Dutch Island was the first component of the Bay Island Park system in 1974. In the 1970s Fort Getty and Fort Wetherill were declared surplus property. Fort Getty today is owned by the Town of Jamestown, while Fort Wetherill has become part of the state park system.

A number of architecturally significant and interesting residences were built before World War II. The Shingle Style continued to be the most popular building type; most of the wood-shingled houses also displayed classical details. Other popular building styles were also used but less frequently. Several new housing types were also introduced to the island during this period, the most common being the bungalow, characterized by a low pitched gable roof overhanging a porch.

Some "catalog" houses are found on Jamestown, such as two houses purchased from Sears-Roebuck Company: 409 East Shore Road (1930-31) is Sears's Alladin model; 14 Westwood Road (1917) is the Crescent model. Also on Westwood Road is a cottage built from plans published in the magazine "The Craftsman."

The island's population continued its steady growth in the post-war years. Increases were modest between 1940 and 1960, with a gain of only 523 people in those twenty years. About 600 inhabitants were added to the census rolls in the decade of the 1960s, and in the following decade the island experienced its greatest population increase ever when it went from 2,861 to 4,028 residents. This 38% population increase was the second highest gain in the entire state during the 1970s. Most of this new growth (84.9%) was due to newcomers who found Conanicut an even more attractive place to settle after the opening of the Newport Bridge in 1969.

The first Jamestown Bridge was completed in 1940, on the eve of World War II. During that conflict there was relatively little housing growth, but following the war, particularly during the 1950s, with increasing prosperity and the rapid growth of suburbs, people began moving onto the island in large numbers, many of them buying or building homes near the bridge, where a large concentration of modest-sized houses known as Jamestown Shores was established along Seaside Drive and inland side streets. The village continued its expansion, with new houses erected between Narragansett and Hamilton Avenues, and along Southwest Avenue. Small clusters of houses appeared in other areas. In the 1940s and 1950s mostly year-round houses went up in the Foley tract (formerly Wynwyc Brae) along the east shore south of Eldred Avenue.

Some of these were pre-1938 cottages rebuilt or replaced after the 1938 hurricane. Housing tracts were created in the recent past on Beaver Neck and along East Shore Road north of Eldred Avenue, these containing modest-sized houses on relatively small lots. The most ambitious post-World War II projects--East Passage and West Reach Estates--near the northern end of the island, are more akin to some of the late nineteenth-century developments; they feature curving, landscaped roads and large lots with substantial houses. Both developments, started in the 1970s, occupy land once owned by an oil company and originally meant to accommodate an oil refinery. The Newport Bridge, completed in 1969, put an end to ferry service, and, to some degree, was responsible for the island's population growth, but serves a greater role funneling through travelers across the island, especially during the summer months. The Jamestown-Verrazano Bridge, completed in 1992, replaced the 1940 bridge to the mainland.

Services, institutions, and businesses continued their evolution to keep up with the times. In 1960 a new St. Mark Church was erected for the island's Roman Catholic population and nearby, a new Episcopal church, St. Matthew's, replaced an earlier structure in 1968. A new library building, the Jamestown Philomenian Library, went up along North Main Road in 1971; in 1972 a museum for the display of Indian artifacts was added, a gift to the town from Catherine Morris Wright in memory of her husband. The village continues its role as a local shopping center. Most businesses use older buildings, but one commercial block, the Hunt Block, was replaced by a new structure in 1983-84. The nearby commercial building at the ferry landing was modernized, and the Bomes Theatre became the Bomes Theatre Mall in 1985 when its interior was remodeled to accommodate stores and a restaurant.

In the 1980s, the last of Jamestown's hotels underwent profound changes. The Harbor View Inn, built in 1887, was razed in 1984 and replaced by a condominium complex. The 1889 Bay View Hotel was torn down and replaced by another large structure in 1989. Similar in design but considerably larger than the old hotel, the new complex contains condominiums, and a restaurant. The Bay Voyage continues as a hotel but also includes time-sharing units.

Caretaker's Cottage, c. 1920, 359 East Shore Road.  This residence, with a long shed-roof dormer and a piazza across the front, is a good example of the bungalow style that popular about 1920.

Bungalow, c. 1920, 60 Grinnell Street.  One of several bungalow-style houses along the street, this one, with a long, low shed dormer across the first, has a porch formed by the low-pitched roof overhang.

Spencer S. Wood Cottage / Westwood, 1912, 20 Westwood Road.  The details of this interesting cottage derive from the Arts and Crafts movement.  The piazza has a view of the west passage and Dutch Island.

Sophia Schaus Cottage, 1926-27, 53 Standish Road.  This side view of a Shoreby Hill cottage show the roof pitch that breaks to form the front piazza and the exterior fieldstone chimney.

Bungalow, c. 1920, 37 Coronado Street.  This hip-roofed shingled bungalow features unusual porch brackets.

Haiku Style House, 1989, 204 America Way, East Passage Estates.  This unusual modern house was designed by Nikko Houses of Newport Beach, California, inspired by sixteenth-century Japanese country houses.

Jamestown Philomenian Library, 1971, 1972, 1993, 26 North Main Road.  This library, which contains the Sydney Wright Memorial Museum of Native American artifacts, occupies the site of the Clarke school, which opened in 1923.

The Hung Block, 1981, 47 Conanicus Avenue.  This 2-1/2-story commercial/residential block replaced an earlier 1-story building constructed in 1894.  The Hunt Block was designed by Ester-Burgin Partnership.

The Bay View Condominiums, 1989, 53 Conanicus Avenue.  This structure is somewhat similar in form, roof lines, trim, and tower, to its late nineteenth-century predecessor.  A massive building, Jamestown?s largest, it occupies a strategic location at the east end of Narragansett Avenue at what was a busy ferry landing.

Fred Ingerson House, 1984, 920 North Main Road.  This residence, with its shed roofs and vertical board siding, is one of several of its type in Jamestown.  It was designed Fred Ingerson for his own use.

Heflin House, c. 1980, 65 Highland Drive.  A ?modern? house, this one features a complex roof form and variously sized and shaped windows.

Richardson House, 1988-89, 305 Beavertail Road.  This modern, wood shingle-sided dwelling features multi-gabled roofs and other playful details.

SUMMARY

Jamestown today is a quiet, primarily residential community. A large part of its population lives in the village which grew up between the East and West ferries. The rest of the year-round residents are scattered throughout the island with a concentration in Jamestown Shores. There are still a considerable number of summer homes in the Ocean Highlands-Walcott Avenue area, but there is no longer any part of the island that is strictly a summer colony. Recent housing on the island has been built mostly for year-round use. Jamestown's commercial center, located for many years adjacent to the East Ferry Landing, has gradually grown westward and now includes areas to the north and south of the junction of Narragansett Avenue with Southwest Avenue and North Main Road. A sense of the town's agricultural past can still be seen in the active farms on Windmill Hill, while along the bay and ocean in the southern part of Conanicut, the concrete bulwarks of former fortifications remain in place as reminders of the town's military past. Now, as part of the state park system, they serve a peaceful and passive recreational role. Dutch Island, also once an active military establishment, is now unoccupied and is part of the Bay Island Park system.

From its beginning, agriculture was the most important activity on Conanicut, Dutch, and Gould islands. Grazing was carried on at an early date, probably soon after Portsmouth was settled in 1638. Sheep and cattle were an important part of the economy for centuries. These animals brought prosperity to the islanders until the Revolutionary War, and agriculture remained a mainstay of the economy well into the nineteenth century.

The introduction of steam-powered boats, especially the Jamestown-Newport ferry in 1873, provided relatively easy access to the island and resulted in the establishment of several land development companies which created summer colonies at Conanicut Park and at the Ocean Highlands, as well as numerous house lots near the East Ferry landing to accommodate more transitory visitors. In the late 1890s, Shoreby Hill was platted and houses were erected there.

From the 1870s until World War II Jamestown was popular as a summer resort and recreation area, providing a variety of activities. Population remained concentrated in the village and surrounding area, while the rest of the island remained in farms and was relatively sparsely populated. Following the construction of the Jamestown Bridge in 1940, and during the prosperous 1950s, Jamestown continued its evolution and growth as a residential community. Most newcomers settled in a large development created near the bridge and spreading inland from the shore, while other smaller developments were built elsewhere. The number and acreage of farms diminished slowly but gradually, continuing a trend which had become apparent before the end of the nineteenth century.

The island's scenic beauty, particularly its rugged, romantic, southern ocean shore, draws many day trippers for fishing and relaxation. Camping facilities are afforded at the old Fort Getty site; Beaver Tail is a popular fishing spot offering exciting sights, sounds, and smells of the sea where surf and rock meet; and Fort Wetherill provides a quiet setting combined with lovely vistas of cliffs, water, and nearby Newport.

Construction of the Jamestown Bridge in 1940, and of the Newport Bridge in 1969, made the island easily accessible, and transformed the formerly little-traveled Eldred Avenue and a part of East Shore Road into modern thoroughfares that served primarily to funnel vehicular traffic across the island. Hotels lost their popularity after World War II. Of the two surviving hotels, one has become a time share hotel; the other has been converted to condominiums.

The completion of the Jamestown-Verrazano Bridge in 1992 and the cross-island highway in 1995, insures the speedy flow of traffic through Jamestown's historic landscape.

While Jamestown has changed in the last three centuries, it retains a sense of the past, a rich cultural legacy of farms and farmhouses, lighthouses, fortifications, and an exceptionally rich number and variety of fine late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century houses and cottages unmatched by communities of similar size in the state. Conanicut's historic districts, structures, and sites are an important part of the town's heritage and they deserve special consideration in planning the town's future.

Newport Bridge, 1969.  Shown here from the Jamestown shore, this 11,248-foot long suspension bridge is the longest in New England.  It replaced a more than 300-year old ferry that connected the island and Newport.

Jamestown Bridge, 1940, and Jamestown-Verrazano Bridge, 1992.  This picture, taken from the west shore of Conanicut Island in April, 1992, shows the two west passage bridges standing next to each other, the old steel bridge and the new concrete span.

____________________ ♦ ____________________

THE STATE REGISTER AND THE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES

The National Register of Historic Places is the federal government's official list of properties which are significant in American history and worthy of preservation. The State Historic Preservation Officer of each state identifies properties which may be eligible for the National Register and, with the approval of the State Review Board, submits them to the Secretary of the Interior for inclusion in the Register. The National Register is an important planning tool as well as a record of the physical remains of America's past. In Rhode Island, properties listed in the National Register are also included on the State Register.

The benefits of being in the National Register include official recognition of the property's importance; eligibility to apply for federal planning and restoration grants when funds are available; eligibility for federal investment tax credits for certified substantial rehabilitations of income-producing property; and protection from the adverse effects of state or federally funded or licensed projects through a review and assessment program.

Listing in the National Register is a tool to encourage the preservation and recognition of our national heritage. The Register is not intended to hinder progress; it is a reminder that the preservation and re-use of properties which give our towns and cities their identity are part of progress. Listing in the National Register does not require the owner to preserve or maintain the property. Unless the owner applies for and receives special federal or state benefits, she/he can do anything with the property which is permitted by local ordinances. Registration does not halt federal or state projects when these are shown to be in the public interest, but does require careful consideration and planning of such projects when they call for alteration or demolition of National Register properties.

The list below enumerates Jamestown properties entered in the National Register and properties which should receive further study for possible nomination to the National Register. The list of recommended properties should not be considered final. As new research is conducted, as the town changes physically, and as perceptions of the community's history evolve, other potential candidates for the National Register may be identified.

The following is a list of districts, structures, and sites entered in the National Register in the town of Jamestown; the date of entry is shown in parentheses:

Jamestown Archaeological District (12/10/89)

Windmill Hill Historic District, Eldred Avenue and North Main Road (10/2/78)

Conanicut Battery, Access Beavertail Road (7/2/73)

Beavertail Lighthouse, Beavertail Road (12/12/77)

Dutch Island Lighthouse, Dutch Island (south end of) (2/25/88)

Joyner Archaeological Site, (RI-706), Eldred Avenue (11/1/84)

Keeler Archaeological Site, (RI-707), Eldred Avenue (11/1/84)

Conanicut Island Lighthouse, 64 North Bay View Avenue (2/25/88)

Jamestown Windmill, North Road (3/14/73)

Artillery Park (and Churchyard Cemetery), North Road and Narragansett Avenue (3/7/73)

Friends Meeting House, North Road and Weeden Lane (3/7/73)

Fort Dumpling, Ocean Street (3/16/72)

The following properties deserve consideration and further study for entry in the National Register:

Bay View Drive Historic District

Conanicut Park Historic District

Dutch Island Historic District

Fox Hill Historic District

Ocean Highlands-Walcott Avenue Historic District

Shoreby Hill Historic District

 

J. Bertram Lippincott House, 177 Beavertail Road

Beavertail Farm, 601 Beavertail Road

Fort Burnside, Beavertail Road

Carr Homestead, 90 Carr Lane

Horgan Cottages, 17, 19, 23 Conanicus Avenue

J.D. Johnston House, 32 Coulter Street

Clingstone, off Dumpling Drive

Fowlers Rock, 340 East Shore Road

Cajacet/Captain Thomas Paine House, 850 East Shore Road

Fort Wetherill, Fort Wetherill Road

Lyman-Cottrell Farmhouse/Rock Hill Farm, 83 Hamilton Avenue

Greene Farm, 55 Longfellow Road

Riven Rock, 113 Melrose Avenue

Jamestown Town Pound, North Main Road

 

Dutch Island Light, 1857, Dutch Island.  The square lighthouse tower and a small auxiliary building are all that remain of a formerly larger complex of buildings that stood here.  This tower, which replaced the first one erected in 1827, was made automatic in 1931.  Most of the buildings were destroyed after the site was transferred to the State of Rhode Island in the late 1950s.

North Light/Conanicut Point Light, 1885, 64 Bay View Drive North, Conanicut Park.  This residence, the northernmost on the island, with a scalloped bargeboard as its only decoration, served as a lighthouse from 1886 until 1983.

INVENTORY OF HISTORIC RESOURCES

This inventory is an annotated list of some of the properties recorded by the Rhode Island Historical Preservation & Heritage Commission. These properties have special significance in the development of Jamestown because they document the patterns of its development or because they illustrate the architectural history of the town. Properties are listed by road or street in alphabetical order. Those which are part of an historic area are identified with a two-letter code:

BV     Bay View Drive

CP     Conanicut Park

DI      Dutch Island

FH     Fox Hill

GI      Gould Island

OW   Ocean Highlands-Walcott Avenue

SH     Shoreby Hill

WH    Windmill Hill

The key to symbols is as follows:

*    properties entered on the National Register

**  properties recommended for further study to determine eligibility for listing on the National Register

All inventoried properties are located on the town map or on a map of an historic area. Dating of structures was determined on the basis of plaques, written material, maps, knowledge of local residents, and style and materials of construction. Unless otherwise noted, all structures are of wood-frame construction, are flank gable and are wood clapboard-sided. Buildings are named for their original owner, where known, and for later significant owners, or for their use. Some names are derived from nineteenth-century maps.