Miantonomi Memorial Park

Historical place in the United States

United States historic place


Miantonomi Memorial Park
U.S. National Register of Historic Places

World War I memorial tower on the hill at the park
41°30′39″N 71°18′37″W / 41.5108°N 71.3102°W / 41.5108; -71.3102
Area	32 acres (13 ha)
Built	1637; 387 years ago (1637)
Architect	William Mitchell Kendall; McKim, Mead & White
NRHP reference No.	69000003 ^[1]
Added to NRHP	June 23, 1969

Miantonomi Memorial Park is a public park between Hillside Avenue and Girard Avenue in Newport, Rhode Island.

The Narragansett Indians used the area around the park for hundreds of years and the park (and the hill it is on) is named after Sachem, or Chief, Miantonomi. This hill was Miantonomi's seat of power until it was purchased by English colonists in 1637. The settlers used the hill as a lookout and in 1667 built a beacon on the hill. During the American Revolutionary War fortifications were built on the hill, fragments of which still survive. In 1921, the City of Newport received the property from the local Stokes family.

Miantonomi Memorial Park's 30 acres (120,000 m²) became part of the Aquidneck Land Trust through an easement in 2005.[1]

Tower

The Park Commission built a stone tower in 1929 as a World War I memorial.^[2] On September 27, 2017, the Miantonomi Memorial Park Tower was named an official WWI Centennial memorial^[3] and will receive grant funds towards restoration and maintenance.^[4]

World War I memorial
view of Narragansett Bay from the hill

References

^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
^ "NRHP nomination for Miantonomi Memorial Park" (PDF). Rhode Island Preservation. Retrieved November 6, 2014.
^ "Miantonomi Memorial Park Tower named official 'WWI Centennial Memorial'". September 27, 2017.
^ "50 WWI Centennial Memorials set for restoration, rededication".