2. Location S Fr-Fj R Street & Number 582 Wapping Road Not for Publication #1 Hon
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FHR-e-300 (11-78) United States Department of the Interior Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service For HCRS use only I received Jdate entered If-;- See instructions in How to Complete National Register Forms Type all entries complete applicable sections historic and/or common Greenvale Farm; -G-r-een-v-a-re"" 2. Location S fr-fj r street & number 582 Wapping Road not for publication #1 Hon. Fernand J. St.Germain city, town Portsmouth vicinity of congressional district state Rh° de I s 1 an d code 44 county Newport code 005 3. Classification Category Ownership Status Present Use district public X occupied agriculture museum X building(s) X private unoccupied commercial park structure both work in progress educational X private residence site Public Acquisition Accessible entertainment religious object in process yes: restricted government scientific being considered yes: unrestricted industrial transportation _X_no military other: 4. Owner of Property name James and Cortlandt Parker street* number 582 Wapping Road Portsmouth city, town . vicinity of state Rhode Island Portsmouth Town Clerk courthouse, registry of deeds, etc. 2200 East Main Road street & number Portsmouth city, town state Rhode Island Historical § Architectural Resources of Portsmouth, Rhode Island: title A Preliminary Report________ has this property been determined elegible? __yes __ no 1979 X date federal state county local depository for survey records Island Historical Preservation Commission city,town 1^0 Benefit Street, Providence state Rhode Island Condition Check one Check one ~_'. excellent deteriorated unaltered _JL_ original site X good ruins X altered moved date fair unexposed Describe the present and original (if known) physical appearance Situated on a bluff on the rocky east shore of.Aquidneck Island, overlooking the Sakonnet River, 1 Greenvale Farm comprises approximately 53 acres of woodland, corn fields, marsh and meadow. 2 The property became a country seat in the- 1860s, when it. was purchased and developed by John S. Barstow of Boston, a China-trade merchant who erected a large new house, stable and barn. He kept a pre-existing farmhouse for his farmer/caretaker. Still maintained as a country retreat by Barstow descendants, Greenvale's main house, stable and old farmhouse survive. Taken together -- land, buildings and history -- Greenvale Farm constitutes one of the most interesting and well preserved Victorian rural estates in Rhode Island. Greenvale is in every sense a private -- almost .a secret -- place (figures 1 § 2). It is entirely hidden from the public highway. A narrow, unpaved lane approaches the farm, east off Wapping Road. Straight and tree-lined, the gradually descending driftway crosses another farm^ before reaching Greenvale's gateposts, deep in the woods. The lane continues to descend with the land, soon passing on the north what in the nineteenth century became the estate's farmer/caretaker's house -- a modest,.2^-story, central-chimney, 5-bay-wide, Federal-era farmhouse (figure 3). Opposite, on the south side of the road in a heavy growth of shrubbery, are foundations of a barn an'd other agri cultural outbuildings. At this point fields are visible on either side of the driftway, beyond the treeline. Farther down, on the south side of the lane, is a grassy path leading off to the stable-carriage house (figure 7). Here the land flattens out and the lane begins to turn south and, coming round a thicket and between several old shade trees, arrives at a second gate which, though evidently not closed for many years, served to separate Greenvale's farming area from the environs of the main house. The Barstow residence entrance-front faces north, and before it the drive encircles a lawn laid-out informally with plantings of rhododendrons, small trees and a pair of cast-iron settees. Upon entering the precinct of the house one first sees the water,initially through the trees, then, as one arrives at the house, in full view, across an expanse of meadow running 400 feet to the shoreside bluff. Opposite Greenvale Farm, on the east shore of the Sakonnet, is Little Compton, here little developed -- farms, woodland and clusters of summer houses on gently rolling hillside terrain. iThe eastern reach of Narragansett Bay. 2 The farm is designated lot 4 on Portsmouth Assessor's maps 65 and 67 3Until 1852 Greenvale and the farm to the west were a single 100-acre property long known as Slocum Farm. (See Continuation Sheet # 1) Period Areas of Significance— Check and justify below nrahictnrir* -jrr»honlnn\/-nrphi«;tnric COtTimUnitV DlanniPQ —— landscape architecture religion pIcllloLUIIU — science 1400-1499 archeology-historic conservation law sculpture 1500-1599 _:x_ agriculture economics literature X social/ 1600-1699 _ x architecture education military humanitarian 1700-1799 art engineering music theater A. i ouu— i oyy _ commerce exploration/settlement philosophy politics/government transportation 1900- communications industry invention other (specify) Specific dates 1864-65_______Builder/Architect Edmond Coggeshall, builde_r:. —————————————John H.Sturgis,architect Statement of Significance (in one paragraph) Greenvale Farm, as developed by John Barstow and managed by his and succeeding heirs, illuminates significant aspects of American agriculture and society. To perceive its place in our culture, one must know its history. Portsmouth was the second colonial settlement in what later became Rhode Island. A group of Boston merchants and religious individualists, exiled from the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1638, sought broadened economic opportunity and increased freedom of conscience by creating an independent community on the north end of Aquidneck Island in Narragansett Bay, outside the jurisdiction of any British colonial government. By the mid-seventeenth century a faction of the Portsmouth group had established Newport, at the south end of the island, and the lands of Aquidneck were gradually parcelled out to individual owners for agricultural use. Greenvale, in the south end of Portsmouth.,! was part of a tract east of Wapping Road deeded to Thomas Burton before 1657. Some time during the eighteenth century the Burton property was divided: the northern section became Vaucluse Farm, a country estate developed by retired English merchant Samuel Elam in the late eighteenth century and renowned for its fine gardens; to the south was the Slocum Farm, then running from Wapping Road to the Sakonnet River. It was the Slocum family who erected the Federal-era farmhouse on the property, later utilized by John Barstow to house his farmer/caretaker. The Slocum Farm was owner operated -- prosperous but unremarkable.1 In 1809 John Slocum sold the family farm to Samuel Elam of Vaucluse; Elam apparently kept it separate from Vaucluse. Elam died in the 1820s and the property was sold by his executors in 1837 to William Potter of Newport. In 1852 Potter divided the 100-acre farm into two parcels, selling the western portion to William Maxon Rogers of New York. After passing through several owners, the eastern portion of the old Slocum Farm, including the farmhouse, was purchased by John S. Barstow in August of 1864 for $15,000. 1A remarkably detailed French military map of Aquidneck Island, drawn up late in 1780 by L.-A. and Charles Berthier, shows the Slocum Farm laid out in open fields bounded by stone walls. A house stood on the site of the extant farmhouse at Greenvale; as today, an orchard was located behind the house. The map is reproduced in Howard C. Rice, Jr. and Anne S. K. Brown's The American Campaign's of Rochambeau's Army, Brown and Princeton Universities, 1972, volume 11, plates7 and 9. (See Continuation Sheet # 7) Copeland, Robert Morris, Country Life..., Boston, 1863. Floyd, Margaret Henderson, "A Terra-Cotta Cornerstone for Copley Square. Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, volume XXXII, #2, May, 1973: pp. 83-103. (See Continuation sheet #15) Acreage of nominated property apprQX 55 acres Quadrangle name Tiverton Quadrangle 1:24,000 UMT References A U.9| |3|1,3|0,8,0| 141610,015,8,01 |5|l|3|5|8|0| |4|6|0|0|5|5|0 Zone Easting Northing Zone Easting Northing 011,91 [5|1,3|5,4,0| 14,610,011,5,01 |3|1,3|0|6,0| 14,610,011,4,0 El i I I I . I , , I l.l.li,! I I I I I I I I I i Hi , I 11,1, I___I Verbal boundary description and justification The area nominated comprises all of lot 4, Portsmouth Assessor's Plat 65 (a portion is also on map 67). The farm's fields are an integral part of its character and history. Therefore, the entire farm, land and buildings List all states and counties for properties overlapping state or county boundaries is nominated. state code county code state code county code H1!. F@BTO name/title____David Chase, Deputy Director________________________ Rhode Island Historical Preservation CommissionAugust 1979 organization date street & number 150 Benefit Street telephone 401-277-2678 Rhode Island city or town Providence state fficei? The evaluated significance of this property within the state is: V __ national A state __ local As the designated State Historic Preservation Officer for the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (Public Law 89- 665), I hereby nominate this property for inclusioriinthe National Register and certify that it has been evaluated according to the criteria and procedures set fortrkby tne Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service. State Historic Preservation Officer signature GO A\ title State Historic Preservation Officer date . October 3, 1979 For HCRS use only I hereby certify that this property is included in the National Register date keeper of the National Register Attest: date Chief ef negiotration GPO 938 835 FHR-8-300A (11/78) UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR HERITAGE CONSERVATION AND RECREATION SERVICE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES INVENTORY -- NOMINATION FORM CONTI NUATION SHEET_____1___________ITEM NUMBER 7 PAGE 2 Arriving at Greenvale Farm is an event marked by surprise and delight.