Historic New England Open House, Saturday, June 2. ??
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Each year, Historic New England opens many of its properties to the public free of charge on the first Saturday in June.?? This year most Historic New England properties are open for free on June 2, including Historic New England???s four Rhode Island properties.?? From Maine to Rhode Island, learn about the people who lived in stone-enders, urban mansions, rural estates, and working farms during free guided tours at Historic New England???s house museums.?? Hours vary from site to site.?? Learn more at Historic New England Open House
These Rhode Island house museums offer FREE tours on June 2. All tours are first-come, first-served. Unless otherwise noted, tours are offered on the hour.
????????????? Arnold House (1693), located at 487 Great Rd., Lincoln, RI?? 02865, open 11 a.m. ??? 5:00 p.m.
????????????? Casey Farm (c. 1750), located at 2325 Boston Neck Rd., Saunderstown, RI?? 02874
9:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.; last tour at 1:00 p.m.
????????????? Clemence-Irons House (1691), located at 38 George Waterman Rd., Johnston, RI?? 02919, open noon ??? 4:00 p.m., last tour at 3:00 p.m.
????????????? Watson Farm (1796), located at 455 North Rd., Jamestown, RI?? 02835
self-guided walking tours 1:00 – 5:00 p.m.
*?? Kite Flying Day at Watson Farm?? presented as part of Historic New England Open House.
Come fly a kite with us, and visit Watson Farm for a day of old-time family fun. Watch a professional kite flyer fly three kites simultaneously. Hike out to specific scenic fields set aside for this old-fashioned pastime. Follow the self-guided tour of the farm trails down to the Narragansett Bay and back and learn more about local agriculture. Grab a kite, bring a picnic lunch if you wish, and come enjoy the breathtaking views of the bay’s West Passage.
* Please call 401-423-0005 for more information about Watson Farm or Kite Flying at Watson Farm.????
Please call 401-728-9696 or visit www.HistoricNewEngland.org for more information on Historic New England???s Open House.
Arnold House (1693): In 1693, Eleazer Arnold, a major landowner, built his house along Great Road, one of the earliest roads in the colonies. Two stories high, with a pilastered chimney, the home so dominated the modest dwellings of nearby farmers that it earned the title ???Eleazer???s Splendid Mansion.????? With its massive chimney end wall, the house is a rare survivor of a once-common Rhode Island building type known as a stone-ender. The structure has sustained many alterations over the centuries. Visitors find evidence of seventeenth-century construction methods, eighteenth-century additions, nineteenth century graffiti, and the twentieth-century approach to preservation that restored the house to its present appearance. Arnold House is located at 487 Great Road.?? Arnold House is open to the public, year round, on Saturdays and Sundays.?? Guided tours are on the hour, from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., with the last tour at 4:00 p.m.?? Group tours are given by appointment.?? Please call 401-728-9696 for program reservations, to book a group tour, or for more information.
Clemence-Irons House (1691):?? Built by Richard Clemence in 1691, the Clemence-Irons House is a rare surviving example of a “stone-ender,” a once common building type with roots in the western part of England.?? Passing through a series of owners in the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries, the house had grown to thirteen rooms by 1938, when it was purchased by Henry Sharpe and his sisters, Ellen Sharpe and Louisa Sharpe Metcalf.?? The Sharpe family valued the great age of the house and recognized its stone-ender characteristics, and commissioned Norman Isham, who had directed restoration efforts at nearby Arnold House in 1920, to investigate the structure and restore the house to its seventeenth-century appearance.?? Using a combination of salvaged and new materials to recreate the original appearance of the house, Isham also commissioned furnishings made from old wood to complement the architectural reconstruction.?? Significant as one of the oldest houses in Rhode Island, the Clemence-Irons House is also important as a record of twentieth-century restoration ideas and methods. The house was donated to Historic New England in 1947.
Casey Farm (c.1750):?? This mid-eighteenth-century homestead overlooking Narragansett Bay was the center of a plantation that produced food for local and foreign markets.?? Located near Newport, Casey Farm had access to material goods imported from England, enabling its early owners to live in a fashionable manner.?? Prosperity ended with the burning of Newport during the Revolution, and the farm settled into a pattern of absentee ownership.?? Starting in the mid-nineteenth century, the Casey family began to improve the farm.?? They leased the property to tenant farmers but retained two rooms in the house for their own occasional summer use, as they had come to regard the farm as their ancestral home.?? Today, farm managers raise organically grown vegetables, herbs, and flowers for subscribing households in a Community Supported Agriculture program.?? A weekly farmers market from May to October offers products from other local farms, including meat, seafood, fruit, flowers, and artisan products.?? A guided tour includes the farmyard and cemetery, where six generations of Caseys are buried.
Watson Farm (1796): Before European settlement, Native Americans occupied Conanicut Island, clearing the land and planting crops. The resulting grasslands attracted colonial farmers for pasturing their sheep and cattle. In 1789, Job Watson purchased a piece of this rich farmland, and for the next two centuries five successive generations of the Watson family cultivated the land.?? Today, this 265-acre property remains a working family farm. Using innovative sustainable practices, the farm managers continue the tradition of pastoral husbandry, grazing Heritage Red Devon cattle and sheep on the scenic seaside pastures. The farmers produce 100% grass-fed beef and lamb and wool blankets for local markets.?? Visitors are welcome to explore the farmland on their own. By following a self-guided walking tour, visitors may explore farm fields with grazing livestock, stroll along the shore, observe wildlife, and view seasonal farm activities. The 1796 house, still used as the farmers’ residence, is not open to the public.
About Historic New England
Historic New England is the oldest, largest, and most comprehensive regional heritage organization in the nation. We bring history to life while preserving the past for everyone interested in exploring the New England experience from the seventeenth century to today. Historic New England owns and operates more than three dozen historic homes and landscapes spanning five states. We share the region???s history through vast collections, publications, programs, museum properties, archives, and family stories that document more than 400 years of life in New England.