Click on the images below to see it in our online catalog.
Early Jamestown had few trees. Sheep grazed in the meadows, stripping leaves from bushes and small trees and preventing them from growing.
Farmers plowed the open fields and harvested their crops.
Activities on the island were influenced by the open landscape.
During the Revolution, the British built a battery at the top of Shoreby Hill from which they could monitor traffic on both the East and West Passages. In an early 20th century Carr family skit about the island in 1776, a courting couple on Carr Lane watch the “glimmer of the lights on the British ships” in Newport harbor. The man then suggests, “Suppose we walk up on the hill and see the West Passage by moonlight.”
Even at the end of the 19th century as the farms were divided and summer homes dotted the shoreline, trees were rare.
The introduction of trees and planned landscapes to the town began in the late 19th century with the Jamestown Improvement Society and slightly later the park-like development of Shoreby Hill. The Improvement Society focused on making the East Ferry area – particularly Narragansett and Conanicus avenues – an attractive entry to the town. Landscaping was critical to their vision. The hotels that clustered around the ferry landing supported the effort.
The design of Shoreby Hill reflects the post-Civil War desire to escape the increasing urbanization of the country. The developers wanted to “return to nature,” but a highly regulated and controlled nature. The roads followed the contours of the land. Houses were set back 22 feet from the street. Hedges could be no more than three and a half feet high.
This growing interest in nature gave birth to many organizations, among them the Jamestown Garden Club (1912), Quononoquott Garden Club (1949), and the Conanicut Island Land Trust (1984). In 2002, the town acknowledged the importance of trees by passing the Tree Ordinance that provided for a tree warden. In 2007, the Tree Preservation and Protection Committee was formed to ensure the health and care of the town’s trees. The committee publishes a walking tour of important trees in Jamestown village.
Visit the Jamestown Arts Center through August 29 for A Celebration of Trees, an exhibit that showcases the beauty and mystery of our forests.
To view more trees of Jamestown in the JHS Collection, click here.
