Off Conanicut Island's eastern shore lies Gould Island, the third of the major islands that comprise the town of Jamestown. It was named for Thomas Gould, who purchased the island in 1657 to use as farmland. In 1858, the Maitland family bought the entire island. After 12 years, they sold it to the Homan family, also from New York, who had the esteemed architecture firm of McKim, Mead and White design them a "cottage."

During the summer of 1911, coming off their national championship, Harvard’s football team could be seen practicing on Gould Island. Harvard’s football coach, Percy D. Haughton and his wife Gwendolyn now owned the island and a Boston paper reported that the team routinely exercised there. Following the trends of the summer social scene at Newport, entertaining was part of the Jamestown lifestyle.

The Haughtons were the last private citizens to own Gould Island. With the threat of war looming, Congress authorized the seizure of land along the eastern seaboard. Torpedoes were being developed on nearby Goat Island and a more remote place was needed for storage and testing. In September 1918, the government notified Mrs. Haughton that Gould Island was being requisitioned--they had 30 days to vacate.

In 1919, construction of hangars for seaplanes and concrete piers began. The Haughton's home became barracks for marines.

Throughout the 1940s, torpedo guidance systems were tested at Gould Island. Torpedoes launched from the firing piers were followed by aircraft tasked with tracking them for retrieval. No system is perfect though, and Jamestown residents distinctively remember hearing torpedoes come up on the rocks. Camp Seaside's pier had a large warning light, which lit up when a torpedo was fired, giving swimmers time to get out of the water.

Although four of Gould Island's building were declared "historic" and worthy of preservation in 1975, the Navy demolished everything but the firing pier in 1999. Currently, the island is managed by The Department of Environmental Management (DEM) as a conservation habitat. It is scheduled for an environmental study to asses the viability of future development.

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Dutch Island, in the West Passage of Narragansett Bay, is an uninhabited, irresistible place that for decades has lured local kids across the water to camp or climb around the remains of what was once an impressive, self-sufficient, military fortification named Ft. Greble.

Named for John T. Greble, the first U.S. Military Academy graduate to die in the Civil War, Fort Greble was established as an Endicott fortification in 1897 and was part of the RI Coastal Defense. The fortifications were open-topped reinforced, concrete walls protected by sloped earthworks with large-caliber breech-loading artillery and mortar batteries.

In 1898, troops arrived and the construction of permanent housing and facilities began and continued for five years. Barracks for over 300 enlisted men were constructed as well as significant homes for officers and their families. A 12-bed Post Hospital was built in 1904, and at one point, temporary buildings housed as many as 495 men. There were two large docks, a tennis court, a commissary, a bowling alley, and a bakery that provided 280 rations daily. Letters from home were important to soldiers and a post office was established in 1910.

In the early 1900s, Jamestown was a bustling summer destination. The town boasted five resort hotels on its eastern side. On its western side, Jamestown and Ft. Greble were inextricably linked via underwater communication and power cables. The Jamestown Ferry, carrying visitors to the mainland and back, displayed a panoramic view of the impressive structures on the little island. Particularly notable were the large warehouses along the shore close to where the troops disembarked on arrival.

Two batteries at Ft. Greble remained armed at the beginning of WWII but were considered obsolete by 1942. Today, only concrete defense positions of the once powerful weapons remain. Dutch Island is currently closed to the public. Since 2015, the Army Corps of Engineers has been securing the remaining structures so that visitors may visit safely.

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Few Rhode Islanders remember the German Prisoner of War (POW) camps in RI. Fewer people realize that as they drive into Fort Getty, the stone gate posts were built by the German POWs encamped there in 1945. Ellen Brownell, a local Jamestown resident recalled, "We had prisoners at Fort Getty. I remember being out with my doll carriage going down Hamilton Avenue and a truck going by with prisoners, hollering and waving to me."

In 1945, the U.S. Army approved numerous "re-education schools" throughout the U.S. for German POWs. Five 60-day training sessions graduated 528 German POWs from the school at Fort Getty. The classes included English language, American and German history, and stressed democracy as a way of life. The prisoners were taught by academics from first-rate universities and were carefully screened, promising to help Americans in Germany after repatriation. POWs were anxious to be part of the program since they anticipated a quicker return to Germany and their families. Christian McBurney states "POWs were not allowed to stroll around town unescorted. However, they could use the beach near the school and a few residents remember seeing some of them on work details." Alcina Blair recalled two prisoners--who had gotten lost-- appeared on the front porch of her family's house on Windsor Street. "My mother and father were concerned and called the chief of police who came and got them. They were not escaping. They were lost." Only one POW, Gerhard Hetzfuss, escaped from Ft. Getty. He and his American girlfriend wanted to remain in the U.S.

In 1900, Fort Getty began as a Endicott Period Coastal Fort. By 1905, three gun batteries were completed: "Battery Tousard" with 12-inch M1900 guns on disappearing carriages, "Battery House" with 6-inch M1900 guns on pedestal mounts, and "Battery House Whiting" with 3-inch M1903 guns on pedestal mounts.

In 1948, the fort was abandoned. In 1995, it was sold to the town of Jamestown for $5,500. The purchase was narrowly passed by town residents: 159 to 114.

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Through the centuries, Jamestown's approximately 26 miles of rocky coastline have been a lure for fishermen. From the late 19th century until World War II, the southern part of the Beavertail Peninsula was primarily a private playground for outdoorsmen.

Many were guests of clubs and camps that were established chiefly for fishing. Often, these organizations came complete with a clubhouse and outbuildings, ensuring guests could fish and be comfortable at the same time.

Located several hundred yards from the lighthouse, the Beavertail Fishing Club was one of the most elaborate of the sportsmen associations. Not only did the establishment contain a clubhouse, it boasted a dining room, sleeping accommodations, and a stable.

A little less glamorous was Peckham Camp. In the 1910s, Peckham Camp consisted of seven cottages, each rented for $100 for the "season" of four months. An advertisement describes them as: "Bungalows fitted only for camp life. Most all cottages have large pleasant rooms, with broad verandas, hot and cold water, set tubs, open fire places, and are heated by steam or hot air."

The bungalows at the Peckham Camp continued to be leased each summer until the beginning of World War II. The same families returned year after year, and in some cases, generation after generation.

On Dec. 4, 1941, the U.S. Army established Fort Burnside. The 185-acre fort occupied the entire Beavertail Peninsula, including Peckham Camp, which the family sold to the government for $15,500 in 1943.

Prior to WWII, strategic Harbor Entrance Command Posts (HECPs) were built to protect US coastlines. Fort Burnside was the designated post for Narragansett Bay. Posing as a large seaside cottage, an observation building monitored all the comings and goings of military shipping, all while keeping a watchful eye to the horizon for enemy attacks. Additional structures were built to hold top-secret equipment with advanced radar. In 1945, the military installation was renamed the Naval Radio Station Newport. Over the next two decades, 25 radio antennas were erected, each connected to one or more of 30 transmitters, making Beavertail a Navy communications hub.

In 1980, the land was declared surplus and became Beavertail State Park.

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Redcoats are patrolling this fortified outcropping near Jamestown, when one sees a devil dog—black coat, with red eyes and fangs. The soldier takes such a fright that he dies two days later. Soon after, other British soldiers go insane from their encounters with the specter. Over time, people have added to this myth. Stories of dead soldiers wandering the halls are associated with Fort Wetherill, though it has never seen any combat. Ghost hunters and urban explorers still come here regularly, searching for the devil dog. Fort Wetherill fell out of use after World War II and in the 1970s became a state park After the Revolutionary War, Rhode Islanders constructed a more permanent fortification on this site, named Fort Dumpling after the way round boulders seemed to float on the surface of the water. Fort Dumpling was never used, except for target practice and as a romantic ruin by artists. During World War II, when Rhode Island was used as a base for overseeing an Atlantic minefield, the fort was again rebuilt. Fort Wetherill fell out of use after World War II and was purchased by the state of Rhode Island in the 1970s to be used for recreational purposes. In 2012, film director Wes Anderson used the state park as the setting for Moonrise Kingdom. In the film, two young lovers, a boy scout named Sam and a summer vacationer named Suzy, plot to run away to the “Moonrise Kingdom,” a secluded cove played by the bay below Fort Wetherill. Though their escape to the kingdom is fraught, the cove is as idyllic as they hoped. While on the beach, they swim, dance, listen to records, and make out. Moonrise Kingdom is a love letter to New England and its scenery. Set on a fictional island, New Penzance, the movie was filmed at several Rhode Island locations as varied as elegant Newport homes and an abandoned Linens ‘n Things store. Moonrise Kingdom is also unabashedly a Wes Anderson film, from its saturated color palette to its use of symmetry and flat, storybook planes. Like other Anderson films, it is lyrical and gentle and packs a punch all at once. It is considered by many to be his best film to date, exploring the themes of childhood, innocence, and love.

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As patrons poured into the Orpheum Theater on opening night, April 15, 1912, the celebration may have been muted by news of the sinking of the Titanic early that morning. However, these were good times for New Bedford. The city’s economy thrived on its foundation of textile production and immigrant labor, and a performance by the Five Musical Durands was soon to inaugurate a spectacular new theater in a prime location between shops and restaurants on busy Water Street in the South End.

Although known today as the Orpheum Theater, the French Sharpshooter’s Club of New Bedford—Le Club des Francs-Tireurs—constructed this building to serve as its headquarters. Formed by French-Canadian immigrants, the Sharpshooters Club was a social and paternal organization focused on competitive shooting, military-style drill teams, and marching bands.  The club hired Fall River architect and French-Canadian immigrant Louis Destremps to design the building. Destremps was familiar with the city, having worked on Saint Anthony of Padua Church (1912) in the North End and the New Bedford Car Barn (1910). Sharpshooters Hall featured a shooting range, grand ballroom, gymnasium, retail storefront at street level, and a 1,500-seat Vaudeville theater.  Destremps created a masterpiece of French Renaissance design. Enormous carved heads, representing the Greek Muses of arts and sciences, adorned the façade, along with complex bas relief detail cast in porcelain over a terra cotta base, the same technique that Destremps later used on the Star Store (1916) on Union Street in New Bedford. Above the four lower muses were ornate copper torches, which have since disappeared. Construction began in 1910 and was completed in 1912 at a cost of $110,000, about $2.7 million in 2016. The Sharpshooters didn’t operate the theater in their building, but leased it to the Orpheum chain, a booking agency that provided acts to theaters around the country. Sharpshooters Hall is the second oldest Orpheum Theater, after the Palace Theater in Los Angeles. Orpheum acts included Harry Houdini, actress Lily Langtry, and the Marx Brothers, along with jugglers, dancers, and other Vaudeville-style entertainers. With the advent of motion pictures, Sharpshooters Hall installed a projection system and treated its patrons to films like King Kong and Citizen Kane. During the Second World War, the shooting range was used to train soldiers, while the theater kept patrons distracted and informed with movies, short cartoons, and news reels. The theater itself was part of the show. The vast auditorium contained 1,500 seats and a wrap-around balcony. It was decorated with complex moldings, painted scenes on the ceiling, and intricate murals on the walls. The theater continued to operate sporadically throughout the 1950s, but closed in 1962 when the French Sharpshooter’s Club sold the entire building. A tobacco company used the building as a warehouse, and a market operated out of the back for a number of years. The theater was abandoned to face the ravages of time and neglect. Today, Sharpshooters Hall and the Orpheum are privately owned, and the building remains in disrepair. 

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“Bay Village First to Go Solar, Makes History Again!” shouts the enthusiastic headline on the New Bedford Housing Authority website. Accompanied by a video, the announcement about New Bedford’s oldest public housing project has an upbeat feel that is at odds with the mixed legacy of public housing in the city.  Built from 1939 to 1941, Bay Village consisted of twenty-two brick buildings containing 197 multifamily units with one to four bedrooms. The sprawling nature of the complex evokes the post-World War II suburban housing boom more than the tightly packed public housing “projects” that followed. In theory, early public housing provided the working poor with clean and modest housing during their inevitable rise to the middle class, and suburban-style housing provided by the government would help to ease that transition.  Bay Village replaced much older, working-class housing stock on this site, much of it dating from the whaling era. The project was supported by federal Housing and Urban Development funding as part of nationwide "slum" clearance. 115 homes and businesses were razed including Monte Pio Hall, the oldest Portuguese social club in New England, and the “Irish House,” once home to itinerant whalers and other seafarers.  When completed, Bay Village represented a step up in amenities for most of its occupants. The apartments contained indoor plumbing and more space for families accustomed to crowding into one or two rooms. There was a playground and open area for children to play. On the other hand, the construction of Bay Village destroyed an existing community, and replaced the older housing, however substandard, with far fewer units, leaving some people displaced.  Bay Village foreshadowed the destructive urban renewal projects in New Bedford during the 1960s and 70s. The New Bedford Redevelopment Authority demolished entire neighborhoods to create a waterfront industrial area to service the fishing industry and to build a highway link to Interstate 195. This highway, Route 18, eventually connected the declining industrial areas of the north and south ends of the city, passing close by Bay Village. Many longtime New Bedford residents remain bitter over the loss of 203 homes and 113 businesses, many of them historic. Route 18 created a literal divide in the city, cutting off the waterfront from the rest of the city.  Bay Village provided the means for many people to move from substandard, often dangerous housing to safe and affordable homes that are still in use—and still being improved—more than seventy-five years later. Urban renewal helped the fishing industry to grow into the largest in the country. The destruction of much of New Bedford’s historic buildings spurred the creation of a vibrant preservation movement that recalled the glory days of New Bedford whaling. In recent years, the city has taken steps to reconnect the historic downtown areas of New Bedford with the working waterfront. However, some scars will always remain. 

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In 1847, a building without precedent in New Bedford began to rise north of the harbor in a grassy field along the banks of the Acushnet River.

The building was five stories tall, of rough-hewn local granite, and about as long as the distance between streets in the older whaling center of town. A steam engine designed and built by Providence’s George H. Corliss powered ten thousand spindles, which began producing cotton goods in 1849. As the city’s first successful large-scale textile mill, Wamsutta set the standard for those that followed.

Wamsutta Mills became known for its production of top quality cotton shirting and sheeting. Business thrived, and in 1853, Wamsutta built a second mill adjacent to the first, followed in 1862 by Wamsutta 3. Production declined during the Civil War due to labor and material shortages, but the company added a fourth mill in 1870. Wamsutta 4 was powered by another Corliss steam engine, the largest of its kind in the world. When the company added Wamsutta 5, the engine doubled in size, surpassing the famous steam engine that Corliss provided to power Machinery Hall during the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia.

By 1892, Wamsutta owned seven mills and was the largest cotton-weaving factory in the world. Five years later, it operated more than four-thousand looms and employed more than two-thousand workers. By the mid-1920s, Wamsutta updated its facilities from steam power to electric and refurbished its machinery. When the Great Depression struck the nation in 1929, more than two-dozen textile mills closed in New Bedford. Wamsutta, however, managed to survive and thrive throughout World War II. The company adapted its product line to include items needed for the war effort: uniforms, hot air balloons, gas mask material, and canvas supplies.

Wamsutta closed in 1958 when the company’s owners relocated its operations and much of its equipment to South Carolina to take advantage of cheaper labor costs. In 2006, Wamsutta Mills 4 & 5 were redeveloped as loft-style apartments. Many other Wamsutta structures remain including Wamsutta 6, a weave shed, the mill pond that provided water for steam engines, and an historic ice house and weave shed.

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In early 1776, the residents of the Point neighborhood in Newport awoke to see the British frigate HMS Scarborough anchored just offshore. With the threat of war suddenly looming, the town hastily threw up a semi-circular earthwork fort at the northern end of the neighborhood on the pastureland of “Quaker Tom” Robinson.

When the British occupied Newport in December of 1776, they took possession of the earthwork and began to improve it. In December 1777, British officer Frederick Mackenzie noted in his diary that one corporal and six privates manned the fort. As the British prepared for imminent attack by combined French and American forces in 1778, they thickened the battery’s walls and installed guns. The North Battery became one of three British sea batteries designed to protect Newport from attack by water. During the aborted siege of Newport, the battery stood ready to defend its position with two 24-pound and three 12-pound cannons.

Before the British abandoned Newport and Aquidneck Island in 1779, they destroyed many of the earthworks and fortifications. When the Americans returned they went to work to repair the damage. Jeremiah Greenman, a young soldier from Rhode Island, reported in his diary entry of October 29-31, 1779: "Continuing in Newport fixing the North battery on the point which the enemy had layed almost level".

The North Battery was re-named Fort Greene in 1798 to honor Rhode Island’s General Nathanael Greene, one of George Washington’s most trusted officers. The fort was abandoned a few years later, after the construction of Fort Adams at the entry of the passage to the Atlantic Ocean. During the War of 1812, Fort Greene was again repaired, this time with a semi-circular brick wall facing the water. In 1814 – 1815, the Secretary of War granted responsibility of the fort to the Newport Artillery Company. In 1891, the Secretary of War approved use of the property as a park, and the City of Newport filled in remaining trenches and levelled the surface.

By 1905, the fort and its wall were in ruins. The semicircular brick wall was nearly destroyed and covered with water. In 1926, the War Department offered the property for sale, and former Newport mayor Frederick P. Garretson bought the site and gave it to the city. During World War II, the government purchased the site back from the city of Newport and used it for ship repair and storage, but in 1964 sold it back into private hands for commercial purposes. Local citizens banded together and raised funds to preserve the property, and in 1973 Fort Greene again became a city park, this time permanently.

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The remains of Fort Barton stand on a rise 110 feet above sea level that is capped by an observation tower offering a commanding view of Narragansett Bay. During the early years of the American Revolution, the fort occupied a strategic highpoint overlooking a bottleneck of navigable water between the Sakonnet River and Mount Hope Bay, the shortest distance between Aquidneck Island and the mainland. These narrows—connected by a series of ferries and bridges from the 1680s—were the most vulnerable part of the passage for vessels plying the waters between the upper Narragansett Bay area and the Sakonnet River to Newport and the open ocean. 

After the British occupied Newport and Aquidneck Island in 1776, Tiverton became an asylum for American sympathizers and a mustering point for Colonial forces. Construction of the fortification was a joint effort by the governments of Rhode Island and Massachusetts. On June 11, 1777, British officer Frederick Mackenzie described these efforts in his journal: “The Rebels have been busily employed in making a work on the hill above Howland's ferry where their guns have been placed all the Winter. It appears to be very extensive, and must cost them a great deal of labour, as there is little or no soil on the hill.” On June 28, 1777, the Americans erected a flagstaff at the fort and raised their colors. The following day, Mackenzie described the fort as "irregular in its figure, but very extensive. From the situation, it must be strong."

A week after the fort was commissioned, Lieutenant Colonel William Barton led a daring raid to capture British General Richard Prescott on Aquidneck Island. This exploit brought such renown that the fort at Tiverton Heights was named Fort Barton in his honor. 

During 1777 and 1778, thousands of Colonial troops—including Paul Revere and John Hancock—were assembled in Tiverton for an invasion of Aquidneck Island. During the summer of 1778, 11,000 Continental troops and militia ferried across the narrows in one of the greatest massings of American soldiers during the war. With French naval support crippled by a storm, American troops fought their way back to Tiverton under the protection of the guns at Fort Barton. After this battle, most of the soldiers departed the area, leaving only a handful of men at the fort. 

In 1923, Dr. Roderick Terry donated the site to the Newport Historical Society. During World War II, Tiverton Civil Defense erected a plane-spotting tower atop Fort Barton, and a continuous watch was maintained. A current Tiverton resident remembers her father volunteering four-hour shifts to spot enemy planes, whose silhouettes were painted above the tower’s windows. In 1968, the property was transferred to the town of Tiverton. Today, a park includes remains of the earthworks, an observation tower, and a nature walk through the woods to the east along Sin and Flesh Brook.

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In May of 1776, the Americans hastily built an earthwork battery in a large field on the west side of the Beavertail peninsula on Conanicut Island. British diarist Frederick Mackenzie later described the fortification as a "Battery or Redoubt with 4 embrasures” facing the West Passage of Narragansett Bay.

There were at least two other fortifications on Conanicut during the American Revolution: another battery at Beavertail and a battery on the eastern side of the island that later was rebuilt and named Fort Dumpling, after the shape of the rocky protrusions along the shoreline. There may have been another American battery further north on Beavertail at Sheffield Cove. These defenses, along with a battery across the West Passage on Bonnet Point, were intended to protect Narragansett Bay from British naval incursions. They failed in this role.

When the British sailed past Conanicut Battery on December 7, 1776, they were met with no opposition. The British forces occupied Conanicut and Aquidneck Island, and took control of the abandoned American defenses. The British improved most of these fortifications, including the Conanicut Battery, to defend their occupation.

When the French finally arrived on July 29, 1778, British soldiers at Conanicut Battery fired its guns at two of the French ships. American Colonel John Laurens wrote to his father that, “The Sagittaire, a ship of the line, went up the western passage on the morning of the 30th , and was fired upon by a two gun battery of 24 pounders, which the enemy had on the west side of Cononicut. The Sagittaire returned a broadside as she passed, and we discovered from the Admiral's ship an explosion at the battery, which induced us to believe that the enemy had abandoned it. … The ship received two scratches in her hull, and proceeded to her station.” Upon their departure, the British destroyed the magazines, and the abandoned fort was left to decay.

After the Revolution, Beavertail returned to agricultural uses. In 1931, the Daughters of the American Revolution erected a bronze plaque on the site, but it has since disappeared. During World War II, the military installed observation and communication posts nearby. In the 1990s a local profit group, Friends of the Conanicut Battery, secured funding to protect the site. Today the 22-acre park features trails to the World War II structures, interpretive signs, and the remains of the Conanicut Battery.

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