List of the oldest buildings in Rhode Island
This article attempts to list the oldest buildings in the state of Rhode Island in the United States of America, including the oldest houses in Rhode Island and any other surviving structures. Some dates are approximate and based on architectural studies and historical records, other dates are based on dendrochronology All entries should include citation with reference to: architectural features; a report by an architectural historian; or dendrochronology
Very few Rhode Island buildings have been tested yet using dendrochronology (less than a dozen houses as of 2019),[1] and most buildings outside of Aquidneck Island were burned in King Philip's War in the 1670s. The oldest building in Rhode Island tested using dendrochronology was the Clemence-Irons House (1691) in Johnston, although the Lucas–Johnston House in Newport holds some timbers which were felled prior to 1650, but likely reused from an earlier building.[2]
List
Building | Image | Location | First Built | Notes | |
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Governor Peleg Sanford House | Newport | 41°29′27″N 71°18′47″W / 41.49077°N 71.31315°W | c. 1640s–1701 |
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White Horse Tavern | Newport | 41°29′30″N 71°18′51″W / 41.491667°N 71.314167°W | 1652; 1673 |
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Stephen Northup House | North Kingstown | 41°33′05″N 71°26′52″W / 41.551389°N 71.447778°W | c. 1660–1661 (possibly rebuilt in 1670s) |
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Newport Tower | Newport | 41°29′09″N 71°18′36″W / 41.4858°N 71.3099°W | c. 1670 | ||
Philip Sherman House | Portsmouth | 41°35′00″N 71°14′45″W / 41.58340°N 71.24577°W | c. 1670 |
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Thomas Fenner House | Cranston | 41°47′27″N 71°29′19″W / 41.790833°N 71.488611°W | 1677 |
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Edward Searle House | Cranston | 41°44′54″N 71°28′56″W / 41.748333°N 71.482222°W | 1670–1720 |
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Capt. John Mawdsley House | Newport | 41°29′03″N 71°18′44″W / 41.484167°N 71.312222°W | c. 1677–1680 |
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Smith's Castle | Wickford | 41°35′00″N 71°27′16″W / 41.583333°N 71.454444°W | 1678 |
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Clement Weaver House | East Greenwich | 41°39′32″N 71°28′37″W / 41.658889°N 71.476944°W | 1679 |
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John Bliss House | Newport | 41°29′59″N 71°18′07″W / 41.49974°N 71.30204°W | c. 1680 |
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Nathaniel Bosworth House | Bristol | 41°40′43″N 71°16′42″W / 41.678509°N 71.278333°W | c. 1683 |
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Forge Farm | Warwick | 41°38′19″N 71°27′06″W / 41.638611°N 71.451667°W | 1684 |
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Daggett House | Pawtucket | 41°53′19″N 71°20′39″W / 41.888667°N 71.344056°W | 1685 |
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Gorton-Greene House | Warwick | 41°39′55″N 71°27′35″W / 41.665179°N 71.45967°W | 1685 |
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Palmer-Northrup House | North Kingstown | 41°34′37″N 71°27′40″W / 41.576944°N 71.461111°W | c. 1685 |
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Hopelands | Warwick | 41°39′29″N 71°25′17″W / 41.65798°N 71.42135°W | c. 1686 |
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Peleg Arnold Tavern | North Smithfield | 41°59′21″N 71°32′02″W / 41.98916°N 71.53388°W | c. 1690 |
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Wilbor House | Little Compton | 41°29′43″N 71°11′11″W / 41.495278°N 71.186389°W | 1690 |
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Clemence–Irons House | Johnston | 41°50′21″N 71°29′04″W / 41.839167°N 71.484444°W | 1691 |
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Samuel Clarke House | Kenyon | 41°27′38″N 71°37′29″W / 41.46065°N 71.624775°W | 1691 |
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Eleazer Arnold House | Lincoln | 41°54′10″N 71°25′14″W / 41.902778°N 71.420556°W | c. 1693 |
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Valentine Whitman House | Lincoln | 41°55′55″N 71°27′24″W / 41.931843°N 71.456664°W | 1694 |
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Smith-Appleby House | Smithfield | 41°54′07″N 71°31′06″W / 41.901944°N 71.518333°W | 1696 |
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Wanton-Lyman-Hazard House | Newport | 41°29′27″N 71°18′45″W / 41.49084°N 71.31261°W | 1697 |
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Joseph Reynolds House | Bristol | 41°41′00″N 71°16′43″W / 41.683451°N 71.278543°W | c. 1698–1700 |
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Great Friends Meeting House | Newport | 41°29′31″N 71°18′47″W / 41.492008°N 71.31305°W | 1699 |
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Portsmouth Friends Meetinghouse | Portsmouth | 41°35′28″N 71°15′16″W / 41.591111°N 71.254444°W | 1699–1700 |
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Samuel E. Perry House | South Kingstown | 41°22′59″N 71°34′14″W / 41.38298°N 71.57067°W | 1696–1716. Foundation purportedly dates from 1661. |
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Nathaniel Daggett House | East Providence | 41°50′16″N 71°21′46″W / 41.837778°N 71.362778°W | c. 1700 |
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Perry-Carpenter Grist Mill | South Kingstown | 41°50′16″N 71°21′46″W / 41.837778°N 71.362778°W | 1703 | ||
Six Principle Baptist Church | North Kingstown | 41°35′34″N 71°29′29″W / 41.592778°N 71.491389°W | 1703 |
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Saylesville Meetinghouse | Lincoln | 41°54′02″N 71°25′06″W / 41.900556°N 71.418333°W | 1704 |
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Old Narragansett Church | Wickford | 41°34′21″N 71°26′59″W / 41.5725°N 71.449722°W | 1707 |
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Governor Stephen Hopkins House | Providence | 41°49′18″N 71°24′12″W / 41.821667°N 71.403333°W | 1708, 1742 |
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Dr. Charles Cotton House | Newport | 41°29′18″N 71°18′53″W / 41.488333°N 71.314722°W | c. 1720 |
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Peter Greene House | Warwick | 41°42′55″N 71°22′34″W / 41.715278°N 71.376111°W | c. 1720–1750 | ||
Henry Palmer House | South Kingstown | 1721 |
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Carr-LeValley House | West Warwick | 41°43′00″N 71°31′58″W / 41.71673°N 71.53283°W | 1722 |
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Phillip Walker House | East Providence | 41°49′49″N 71°21′50″W / 41.830278°N 71.363889°W | 1724 |
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Trinity Episcopal Church | Newport | 41°29′15″N 71°18′50″W / 41.4875°N 71.313889°W | 1726 |
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Antram-Gray House | Providence | 41°49′53″N 71°24′39″W / 41.83132°N 71.41071°W | 1736 |
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Captain John Warren House | Newport | 41°29′35″N 71°19′16″W / 41.49319°N 71.32108°W | 1737 |
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Gilbert Stuart Birthplace | Saunderstown | 41°31′13″N 71°26′41″W / 41.52017°N 71.44469°W | 1750 |
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Willow Dell (Weeden Farm House) | South Kingstown | 41°23′48″N 71°33′04″W / 41.39660°N 71.55115°W | 1753 |
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Rocky Meadows Farm House | South Kingstown | 1754 | |||
Henry Marchant House | South Kingstown | 41°28′49″N 71°35′47″W / 41.48039°N 71.59650°W | pre 1760 |
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Touro Synagogue | Newport | 41°29′22″N 71°18′43″W / 41.489444°N 71.311944°W | 1759–1763 |
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University Hall | Providence | 41°49′34″N 71°24′14″W / 41.826111°N 71.403889°W | 1770 |
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Jonathan Treadwell House | Providence | 41°49′46″N 71°24′33″W / 41.82935°N 71.40910°W | 1783 |
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Prudence Island Light | Portsmouth (Prudence Island) |
41°36′21″N 71°18′13″W / 41.605861°N 71.303528°W | 1824 |
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Poplar Point Light | North Kingstown | 41°34′15″N 71°26′23″W / 41.570833°N 71.439722°W | 1832 |
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Destroyed early Rhode Island buildings
Building | Image | Location | First Built | Destroyed | Notes |
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Henry Bull House | Newport | c. 1639 | 1912 |
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William Coddington House | Newport | 1640–1641 | 1835 |
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Roger Mowry Tavern | Providence | c. 1653 | 1900 |
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Arthur Fenner House | Cranston | c. 1655 | 1886 |
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John Smith House | Warwick | Before 1663 | 1779 |
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Epenetus Olney House | North Providence | c. 17th century | by 1900 |
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See also
- Henry Bull House, c. 1639 possibly oldest house in RI until demolished in 1912)
- Oldest buildings in America
- Roger Mowry Tavern, c. 1653 possibly oldest house in RI until demolished in 1900)
- Stone-ender
- Timeline of architectural styles
Notes
- ^ "Oxford Tree-Ring Laboratory - Rhode Island".
- ^ "Oxford Tree-Ring Laboratory - Augustus Lucas House - Rhode Island".
- ^ "The Colony House - Newport - RI - US".
- ^ Architecture and Town Planning in Colonial North America – Page 1036, by James D. Kornwolf, Georgiana Wallis Kornwolf (2002)
- ^ , but there is no archaeological or documentary evidence for this, but the theory has persisted since the early 19th century
- ^ William F. McNeil, Visitors to Ancient America (McFarland: 2004), 78.
- ^ "The History and Mystery of the Old Stone Mill". The Journal of the Newport Historical Society. 68 (2). 1997.
- ^ Simpson, Richard V. (2005). Bristol. Arcadia Publishing. p. 19. ISBN 978-0-7385-3921-8.
- ^ "Oxford Tree-Ring Laboratory - Clemence-Irons House - Rhode Island".
- ^ "Oxford Tree-Ring Laboratory - Eleazer Arnold House - Rhode Island".
- ^ "Oxford Tree-Ring Laboratory - Wanton-Lyman Hazard House, Rhode Island".
- ^ "Oxford Tree-Ring Laboratory - Newport Friends Meetinghouse - Rhode Island".
- ^ a b c d e f Historic and Architectural Resources of South Kingstown, Rhode Island: A Preliminary Report (PDF). 150 Benefit St Providence, RI 02903: Rhode Island Historic Preservation Commission. 1984. pp. 21, 23, 103, 109, 133, 141, 146.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location (link) - ^ "Grist Mill Repairs complete thanks to Foundation & Individual Grants". sklt.org. Retrieved 2016-02-03.
- ^ "Oxford Tree-Ring Laboratory - Walker House - Rhode Island".
- ^ "Captain John Warren House". Colonial America. Northeast Communications, LLC. Retrieved 18 August 2016.
- ^ "South Kingstown Land Trust".
- ^ Bicknell, Thomas Williams (1920). The History of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. Vol. 3. New York: The American Historical Society. pp. 1014–1025. OCLC 1953313.
External links
- Clement Weaver House - Oldest House in Rhode Island, (1679) (accessed on June 21, 2008)
- Norman A. Isham & Alber Frederic Brown, Early Rhode Island Houses:, (Preston & Rounds, 1895) (accessed June 21, 2008 on Google Book Search)
- Oldest Houses in South County, (1934) (accessed on June 21, 2008)
- Michael Mello, Providence Journal, "Dating R.I's oldest houses is part science, part art" August 21, 2005