by JHS | Nov 24, 2021 | 2021 Articles
Thanksgiving is a time to gather and feast with family and friends while pondering past blessings, and archives of the Jamestown Historical Society reveal many of these such good fortunes. A worn document titled “Thanksgiving at the Homestead” chronicles the holiday...
by Stephanie Amerigian | Nov 23, 2021 | Events, Newsletters
Our Fall 2021 Newsletter is now available for download. Don’t miss the committee reports of all the things that we’ve been working on while at home. And take a look at the donations that made over the past year, we value everyone’s efforts to keep...
by JHS | Nov 23, 2021 | JHS in the News, Library Exhibits
The JHS library exhibit for November displays a collection of boxes designed for many different uses. A tiny round ceramic snuff box used in the 19th century contained powdered tobacco. A pinch sniffed from the back of the hand would give an instant nicotine rush. A...
by JHS | Nov 4, 2021 | From the Collection
In May of 1776, the Americans hastily built an earthwork battery in a large field on the west side of the Beavertail peninsula on Conanicut Island. British diarist Frederick Mackenzie later described the fortification as a “Battery or Redoubt with 4 embrasures” facing...
by JHS | Oct 26, 2021 | Events, JHS in the News
Abel Franklin gravestone carved by William Stevens, of Newport, RI. c. 1758 Have you ever walked through a cemetery and wondered about the people buried there? Where they came from? What they did? Whether any descendants are still in the area? A Cedar...
by JHS | Oct 19, 2021 | JHS in the News, Library Exhibits
Over the years, Jamestown has had three golf courses: the Conanicut Golf Club (1895-1904), Jamestown Golf and Country Club (1902-present), and the Beaver Tail Country Club (1926-1944). The October exhibit in the JHS library display case shows the layout of the two...
by JHS | Oct 19, 2021 | 2021 Articles
Golf became popular in the United States in the late 1880s and Jamestown’s summer residents were among the earliest enthusiasts. In 1893, Mary and Ellen Macauley who summered in “Mist” on Racquet Road, Brooks Stevens, and D.C.W. Falls began the process that would...
by JHS | Oct 4, 2021 | From the Collection
The early 1840s in Newport saw the rise of the “estate era” in gardening. Large tracts of land were purchased by people of means wanting to display their wealth by surrounding their estates with European style landscaping. In order to maintain these lavish gardens...
by JHS | Oct 4, 2021 | JHS in the News, Library Exhibits
The September exhibit in the JHS library display case features Jamestown’s many resort hotels and the room keys they used. The earliest full-service hotel was the Bay View, opened by William Knowles, one of the last sail ferry captains, in 1882. The Gardner (where...
by JHS | Sep 13, 2021 | Events
Because of restraints of the COVID pandemic, this year’s members fundraiser was a combination of a cocktail party held on August 26 at the lovely 1927 Sarah Cresswell cottage, which had been recently restored and beautifully landscaped, and guided tours of three of...
