Watch Hill, Rhode Island
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Watch Hill Historic District
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Main Street in Watch Hill during the off-season, 2008
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| Location: | Westerly, RI |
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| Area: | 629 acres (255 ha) |
| Architect: | Multiple |
| Architectural style: | Late 19th and 20th Century Revivals, Bungalow/Craftsman, Late Victorian |
| Governing body: | Local businesses and residences |
| MPS: | Lighthouses of Rhode Island TR (AD) |
| NRHP Reference#: |
85001948 [1] |
| Added to NRHP: | September 5, 1985 |
Watch Hill is an affluent coastal village in the southwestern section of the town of Westerly, the southwestern-most town in Washington County and the entire U.S. state of Rhode Island. The village is listed as a census-designated place.[2] Watch Hill Historic District is a 629-acre (255 ha) historic district in the village that is listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. Additionally, the village was listed in Lisa Birnbach's 2010 book True Prep as an acceptable summer destination for the preppy set. [3]
As a state-charted Fire District (1901), the Watch Hill area is authorized to tax residents to fund their volunteer fire department, but the bulk of property taxes go to the town to fund municipal services and schools.
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[edit] Geography
Watch Hill is situated on a stubby peninsula jutting into Block Island Sound. It includes a smaller peninsula known as Napatree Point, a 1.5-mile (2.4 km)-long sandy spit that extends west from the Watch Hill business district, and Sandy Point, which was once attached to Napatree Point. Both Napatree and Sandy Point shelter Little Narragansett Bay, which has made Watch Hill a popular harbor around which the business district has grown.
[edit] History
Once occupied by Niantic Indians in the 17th century, European colonists used the area as an important lookout point during the French and Indian War and the Revolutionary War, hence the community’s name. Some landmarks in the village include the Watch Hill Lighthouse the first of which was built in 1745, and The Flying Horse Carousel, the oldest continuously-operated carousel in the United States and a National Historic Landmark.
The Hurricane of 1938 caught Watch Hill by surprise and took a terrible toll. On Fort Road, which connected Watch Hill to the old Fort Mansfield, all the 39 houses, the Yacht and Beach Clubs, as well as the bathing pavilion were destroyed. Fifteen people were killed there alone and others survived by clinging to wreckage as they were swept across the bay to Connecticut.[4]
Several breachways were created in Napatree Point after the hurricane has passed. To this day Sandy Point, once the northern extension, remains an island. Google Earth now shows the northernmost corner of Sandy Point as being in Connecticut. The shortened Napatree Point is now a barrier beach without any roads or houses. It is open to the public, and offers great bird watching and surf casting. The community is a secluded and seasonal resort community with shopping, a golf and beach club, yacht club and public and private beaches.
[edit] Culture
The town is considered a more staid and family-oriented community when compared to glittering Newport, the better-known summer getaway in Rhode Island. [5] Bay Street in Watch Hill is lined with shops, restaurants, and businesses. East Beach and Napatree Point are the main beaches in Watch Hill.
Mansions
Watch Hill is probably most noted for its expensive mansions (most constructed during the 19th century). The waterfront was once lined with huge Victorian hotels. However, fire and hurricanes destroyed almost all during the 20th century. The two remaining hotels, The Ocean House and the Watch Hill Inn, went through major renovations during the 2000s. The Ocean House was originally opened in 1868, torn down in 2005, and reopened in 2010. The Watch Hill Inn & Annex now contains modern residential condos as well.
Fort Mansfield
One point of interest in Watch Hill is the ruins of Fort Mansfield, an old coastal artillery post situated at the end of Napatree Point. It was one of a series of such forts constructed to guard the eastern entrance to Long Island Sound as part of the coastal defense network for New York City during the [Spanish-American War]. It was in operation between 1901 and 1909. After closing over the course of several years, the land was sold in 1926, and all the government buildings were demolished during the winter of 1928-29. The three concrete gun emplacements have been left behind, and still remain there to this day.
Some of the fortified gun emplacements of old Fort Mansfield have survived and while overgrown, offers adventurers tunnels and underground rooms to explore. Occasionally at low tide some of remains of the Battery Connell can be seen. As the sea and sand shift, old weapons and sometimes artifacts from the hurricane are revealed.
[edit] References
- ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2007-01-23. http://nrhp.focus.nps.gov/natreg/docs/All_Data.html.
- ^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Watch Hill, Rhode Island
- ^ True Prep: It’s a Whole New Old World. Alfred A. Knopf. 2010. ISBN 978-0307593986.
- ^ Watch Hill In The Hurricane of September 21st, 1938" a special pictorial issue of Seaside Topics published November 1938.
- ^ Vernon, Thomas (1997). "For Elegant Watch Hill, New Faces on the Scene". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/1997/06/22/realestate/for-elegant-watch-hill-new-faces-on-the-scene.html.
Einstein - the Life and Times by Ronald W. Clark
[edit] External links
- Watch Hill Volunteer Fire Department
- Watch Hill Lighthouse
- Visit Watch Hill (Tourism site)
- The Greater-Westerly Pawcatuck Chamber of Commerce
- Town of Westerly
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Coordinates: 41°18′49″N 71°50′59″W / 41.31361°N 71.84972°W
