by Peter Fay | May 25, 2023 | 2023 Articles, Jamestown History Articles
Dinah Battey, of Jamestown, 20, married her husband in 1711. Six days after her wedding, on the sailing ferry home from Newport, the boat capsized, and she tragically drowned. Little was more dangerous in Colonial Rhode Island than crossing the bay in ferries. Family...
by JHS | May 14, 2023 | Events, Newsletters
Our Spring Newsletter is now available for download. We had a busy winter with many major preservation projects getting underway. Enjoy our photos and descriptions of all our planned and past activities. Also listed are all the new donations made over the past year....
by JHS | May 1, 2023 | From the Collection
In 1927, construction of a beach pavilion, a town facility, began. The pavilion was designed by Ralph G. P. Hull (1885-1941), a local Jamestown building contractor. The 272-foot-long pavilion opened in July 1928. It was originally situated on the Sheffield Cove or...
by Rosemary Enright and Sue Maden | Apr 27, 2023 | 2023 Articles, Jamestown History Articles
Most of the Portuguese immigrants who came to Jamestown at the turn of the 20th century were from the Azores, an archipelago in the mid-Atlantic about 900 miles off the Portuguese coast. Many of these immigrants spoke of their homeland as the Western Isles rather than...
by JHS | Apr 1, 2023 | From the Collection
A view looking south In the halcyon days when Jamestown was a summer resort, visitors stayed in hotels and cottages for weeks at a time. One of the premier hotels was the Thorndike (sometimes spelled Thorndyke). It was located where BankNewport is now. In 1879, Mrs....
by Rosemary Enright and Sue Maden | Mar 16, 2023 | 2023 Articles, Jamestown History Articles
A wedding photo of Joseph Perry and Margaret McMenamin from June 1941. Standing behind them, from left, are the best man, Henry Serpa, Margaret’s father, Patrick McManimen, and the maid of honor, Annie McManimen. In 1880, more than 80 percent of the people living in...
by JHS | Mar 5, 2023 | JHS in the News, Library Exhibits
The new exhibit mounted by the Jamestown Historical Society in the mini-exhibit case in the foyer of Town Hall features licenses and license applications from the JHS collection. The earliest application, from May 24, 1760, is a handwritten application from William...
by JHS | Mar 1, 2023 | From the Collection
For over 100 years Fort Dumpling stood at the southeast tip of the main part of Conanicut Island looming over 85’ granite outcroppings that dropped to the sea. Erected in 1798, Fort Dumpling was a massive elliptical stone tower measuring 180’ by 81’ and was built on a...
by Peter Fay | Feb 25, 2023 | 2023 Articles, Jamestown History Articles
Remington Farm, residence of enslaved Orman Remington; and Eldred Farm, residence of his enslaved wife and children. Orman Remington was enslaved at Gershom Remington’s farm, which is now Watson Farm, on North Road. He was the only known slave in Jamestown’s history...
by JHS | Feb 14, 2023 | Events
“Walking Hand-in-Hand with the Past at Watson Farm” Wednesday, February 22, 7 pm Sign up for this FREE presentation by Historic New England’s Jane Hennedy, by clicking below: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_4cm2jmxkSq6jy_X7nrn94g After...
