Miantonomi Memorial Park Interpretive Plan

From the Introduction: "In 2017, the City of Newport received a grant from the U.S. World War I Centennial Commission, the American Legion Newport Post 7, the Rhode Island Historical Preservation and Heritage Commission, and private donors to replace a set of bronze plaques that had been stolen from the face of one of the city's most treasured historic resources, the Miantonomi Park tower. Constructed in 1929, the 74-foot stone structure honors the men from Newport who had lost their lives fighting in the Great War. Yet it symbolizes so much more. The tower sits at the highest point on Aquidneck Island and was the seat of the famed Narragansett sachem, Miantonomi. Early European settlers placed a beacon at the summit and military troops fortified the hill during the American Revolution. It serves as a 19th century gentleman's farm, and in the 1920s, became a public park. Today, the property lies in the heart of Newport's North End neighborhood and at nearly 30 acres, is the largest public open space in the city. Re-dedication of the tower plaques prompted the city to image other ways the park could be used to interpret Newport's history. The property's military history was well known, but other subjects including Native American history, landscape architecture, geology, plant, bird and animal life had not been fully explored, and thus much of Newport's story, and in particular that of the North End, had been left untold. Opportunities to uncover and share this story seemed to abound, yet Newport needed guidance in telling the story. The Miantonomi Park Interpretive Plan is a response to this need. The goal of the plan was to provide an assessment of the significant resources and stories of the park and to determine the best ways to communicate those stories to the public. Objectives included documenting the natural, cultural, and social history of the park; assessing the existing park landscape and identifying extant historic resources; making recommendations for interpretive themes based on this history and assessment, suggesting methods for doing so." Project funding was provided in part by a Historic Preservation Fund grant to the Rhode Island Historical Preservation and Heritage Commission, administered by the State, Tribal, Local Plans and Grants division, National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior (grant number P18AF00034).

Miantonomi Memorial Park Interpretive Plan

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