What’s Out There® Newport County Newport County, RI Welcome to What’s Out There Newport County, Russell Pope, who designed the allée at Redwood Library organized by The Cultural Landscape Foundation and Athenæum. Vernacular landscapes too reveal the and The Preservation Society of Newport County, character of Aquidneck Island: Agricultural landscapes such with support from national and local partners. as Prescott Farm reveal stories of subsistence, Fort Adams and Miantonomi Memorial Park display the importance of This guidebook provides details about the fascinating history Newport’s strategic military positioning, and the Common and design of many of Aquidneck Island’s most significant Burying Ground and God’s Little Acre are testament to equality landscapes. Please keep and enjoy this guidebook for future in death. Overlooking Narragansett Bay, the Cliff Walk—a excursions into the remarkable landscape legacy of Newport, centuries-old trail used by fishermen—is now a National Middletown, Portsmouth, and Jamestown. Recreation Trail constituting a public right-of-way across Newport County is, by no exaggeration, one of the most private property. And Queen Anne Square, a Postmodernist extraordinary places in the United States. In his Proposed landscape recently designed by Maya Lin, commemorates Improvements for Newport written in 1913, Frederick Law the lives of Newport’s residents and sits comfortably amidst Olmsted, Jr., son of the designer of New York’s Central Park, National Historic Landmarks and historic districts. reported: “I am surprised and pleased to find in how large a measure Newport retains the picturesque charm which, What’s Out There Newport County dovetails with TCLF’s Web- based What’s Out There, the nation’s most comprehensive Photo by Charles A. Birnbaum with its climate and its harbor, won for it that distinction as an agreeable place of residence which forms the main basis searchable database of historic designed landscapes. The of its prosperity.” Calling attention to the natural scenery of database currently features more than 1,700 sites, 10,000 Newport’s distant views across dramatic topography to the images, and 900 designer profiles.What’s Out There is shores and open water, Olmsted was equally impressed by optimized for iPhones and similar handheld devices, and now the intimacy of the city’s narrow streets and buildings, the includes What’s Nearby, a GPS-enabled function that locates intricacy of its parks and gardens, and the magnificence of its all landscapes in the database within a 25-mile radius of any majestic tree canopy. given location. The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF) From its establishment in 1639 and the emphasis its founders On behalf of The Cultural Landscape Foundation, I appreciate your interest in What’s Out There Newport County and I hope TCLF provides the tools to see, understand and value landscape architecture and placed on personal, political, and religious freedoms, Newport has set itself apart. Over the centuries, Newport grew from you will enjoy experiencing Aquidneck Island’s unique and its practitioners in the way many people have learned to do with buildings and an agrarian and mercantile economy, developed into a unparalleled landscape legacy. their designers. Through its Web site, lectures, outreach and publishing, TCLF locus of industry and tourism, and became the home of a broadens the support and understanding for cultural landscapes nationwide to world famous collection of architecture and gardens. Many Sincerely, help safeguard our priceless heritage for future generations. of Newport County’s landscapes such as Green Animals learn more at tclf.org and Chateau-sur-Mer benefitted from lifelong residencies of immigrant gardeners. Still others were the product of designers such as Frederick Law Olmsted, Sr. who developed Charles A. Birnbaum, FASLA, FAAR Rough Point, Horace Trumbauer at The Elms, and John PRESIDENT AND FOUNDER, THE CULTURAL LANDSCAPE FOUNDATION 2 The Cultural Landscape Foundation www.tclf.org 3 a mpanoag Tr ail Barr . ing t on on . Osamequin Bike Path r Bird Sactuary Meadow Rd y. ve Federal wams Rd Lincoln New Ave. So Riv . arren Ri er amp W W . w ashington Rd et St S iddle Hw k Rd M Maple Ave. Barrington ar M Birch . St. Nayatt Rd. arren Child A W d a Frank m lin R d. Nayatt P St. o Burrs Ver i non Pt. n Hill Park t St. Seymour Touisset Marsh K Wildlife Refuge M St. ic a k emuit Rumstick Rd i n S t . R ive Rumstick Tupelo St. Bristol r County Pt. H . o Club Beach Rd p e M MASS. S Rd t etacom Gibson . Bike Path Ave. Touisset Gooding R.I. 114 A Asylum . ve Chestnut St . Ave. Hopeworrth 136 Colt State Park . Providence Pt. Rd M d. R R y r oppasquash r Homestead P Fe Common Fence Pt. Prudence Island Main Eagleville d. R BRISTOL. Roger Williams Souza Rd Potter’s University . Cove Hog Island 24 114 ish •• Anthony F Island Fort Barton Park Boyd Ln. Highland W illow Ln. Rd . rmarsh Bulga Rd Nanaqu Gould 77 Island k Prudence PORTSMOUTH et R Island Sandy d. Island Point C T or F r ans •• y’ er s Rd. r y TIVERTON po Ln. r Hedle t y et R ow d. Sap ve. Bay Island A Park Dyer Stingham Escobar Island Farm Rd. Conanicut Pt. Neck Rd . d. R . E . ain d. d e Rd e R R M 138 E ight Ro r ho est Nonquit S Fogland W iddle . Pond St Glen Rd . M Pt. d East East Union test Neck W ca 114 d. ay n Gr R Pu een Ln. nt Rd. Fogland Sandy Poi ain M . ➌ R . d. d . d R R •• n i Browns a hore S M O lipha h t n r t East East Main Rd o Ln. Ln. N Harold E. Watson Ver MIDDLETOWN Reservoir razzano W M 77 T apping Rd i Jamestown t c B Coddington h ridge eckham e P M Pt. l l Rough Point, photo by Mary Funderburk Eldred Av s e. ain •• . r e e v . A A B R ➋ Coddington v Conanicut quidneck er i d w . k Lane . Hw o d y. R Island el l l R Young Family i e List of sites y Farm W h Coasters 138 Av t r V Harbor A o alley e. e. ve N Island . End Av ⓮ Green Ave. JAMESTOWN ➒ Bellevue Avenue Historic District ⓴ Redwood Library and Athenæum Dutch Island 138a Thir Aquidneck Dutch Pell e. onnet S Harbor 138 B R ridge outh Island Av d Beach Rd d ➊ Beavertail Light . ➓ Kay Street / Catherine Street / Old Beach •• Touro Park and Old Stone Mill Sak C radise radise Road Neighborhood ➋ Watson Farm A ommons Rd •• Touro Synagogue National Historic Site JAMESTOWN ve Pa Indian . LITTLE . ⓬ ➏ ⓫ Chateau-sur-Mer •• Trinity Church Fort Getty COMPTON MIDDLETOWN Municipal ➓ W Friends . ⓬ Common Burying Ground and Island Cemetery •• Queen Anne Square ⓲ ➍ est Main Meeting House Park Jamestown 138a ➌ Prescott Farm Newport d. amp Harbor Memorial ⓳Blv Sw ⓭ Fort Adams Ferry d. Purgatory Mac ➍ St. George's School R PORTSMOUTH ➒ Chasm ⓮ Miantonomi Memorial Park k tail e rel Co ➎ Paradise Valley •• Green Animals er ⓱ Easton Pt. ⓯ Portuguese Discovery Monument av Ft. Wetherill v e ⓭ Be State Park ➏ Norman Bird Sanctuary •• Greenvale Vineyards ➎ Wa Salve Regina ⓰ Rough Point d NEWPORT ⓫ rren n University . la •• Is Sachuest Pt. Rd St. Mary's Episcopal Church ck t lo B in ⓱ The Elms Pt NEWPORT om ➑ fr r Po ➐ . rk a i P tt ➐ Cliff Walk ⓲ Washington Square Historic District ro BRISTOL er P o Sakonnet t y rr e ➑ Ballard Park ⓳ Memorial Boulevard •• Blithewold Mansion, Gardens & Arboretum F ⓰ ⓴ •• •• •• •• 4 The Cultural Landscape Foundation www.tclf.org 5 ➊ ⓯ Sakonnet Pt. Lands End Brenton Pt. Newport County The Landscape Heritage of Newport, Rhode Island Eden of America “[T]he island is The landscape of Newport is dramatic and seductive. 30 Newport commissions. Among the notable landscapes Rugged cliffs, windswept meadows, and parks dotted by of the period are Chateau-sur-Mer, with its superb collection exceedingly pleasant rare trees mingle with European parterres and fountains. of trees (1852), the model estate and chicken farm at and healthful, and the The blend of these disparate elements of untamed nature Vinland (1883), and Frederick Law Olmsted Sr.'s Morton women beautiful… and highly cultivated gardens gives the city its unique Park (1893). A new spirit in landscape design arrived in the and distinctive character. Perched at the picturesque tip mid-1890s, when Beaux-Arts classicism ushered in axial Travelers, with of Aquidneck Island, scenery and social life have shaped formality and spatial structure, found in Italian Renaissance- propriety, call it the the cultural landscape of Newport for inspired palaces and French châteaux the past three centuries. The colonial rising along the cliffs. Terraced parterres Eden of America.” quarter hugs the west facing harbor, appeared at The Breakers (1895) while — Jedidiah Morse, while the summer colony of the The Elms (1901) displayed Italian American nineteenth and twentieth centuries Baroque style fountains and French Geography; or A View of the sought out ocean views from the fields, Neo-classical garden pavilions. Present Situation of the United States of America (1789). cliffs, and rocky coastline to the east and Since Newport was a place to both see south. As the acknowledged “Queen of and be seen, champions and critics Resorts,” nineteenth century Newport offered both praise and blame. In The attracted the nation’s leading architects, American Scene (1907), Henry James Watercolor by Ron Henderson landscape architects, and decorators, expressed his deep disappointment who made the town a veritable that the gentle island of his youth had World wars and economic depression brought decline Today, with many organizations tending to the care of the laboratory of design.