National Register of Historic Places - Rhode Island Historical ...
National Register of Historic Places - Rhode Island Historical ...
National Register of Historic Places - Rhode Island Historical ...
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DIPS }orm ‘0-900-. MII No 1024-00111<br />
CII? E .p, l0-Ji-Il-I<br />
United States Department <strong>of</strong> the Interior<br />
<strong>National</strong> Park Service - For NI’S us, only<br />
<strong>National</strong> <strong>Register</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Historic</strong> <strong>Places</strong><br />
Inventory-Nomination Form -<br />
Continuation shet 57<br />
Item number 8<br />
and Bluff Avenue, two cross streets Plympton and<br />
street along the bay shore Bay Street . The map<br />
dwellings, including one used as a hoarding house,<br />
a school house built 1852 . - The houses were all<br />
residents. Four decades after its beginning as a<br />
was still a hotel resort, with no seasonal summer<br />
received<br />
- date entered<br />
Larkin<br />
shows six<br />
-the Dick<br />
owned by<br />
v a c a tion<br />
cottages<br />
Page 4<br />
connected to a<br />
hotels; eight<br />
ens House; and<br />
the year - round<br />
spot, Watch Hill<br />
The first dwelling designed and- huilt specifically as a summer resi<br />
dence was put up for Connecticut Governor James L. Howard <strong>of</strong> I-hartford, on<br />
land west <strong>of</strong> the Watch Hill House. Some <strong>of</strong> the exis ti ng year-round houses<br />
were subsequently-purchased for use as summer homes -such as the Pitch<br />
House, bought by Mrs. 3. P. Harvey now partly destro yed hy fire, and<br />
Albert W. Crandall’s house, occupied hy Governor Jul ius Catl in- -and a Few<br />
seasonal cottages were built. - Extensive development however, was hampe red<br />
by the lack <strong>of</strong> available building sites. Most land in the village was<br />
held by the hotel owners, who were reluctant to sell lots to enable the<br />
construction <strong>of</strong> houses that would block their sea vi stas . Immediately<br />
northeast <strong>of</strong> the vil lage , a section <strong>of</strong> the former George Foster homestead<br />
since sold out <strong>of</strong> the family and known as the Everett Farm, ran across<br />
the neck from the hay to the ocean, blocking the natural expansion <strong>of</strong> the<br />
village up the neck.<br />
in 1886 three Cincinnati businessmen, Lyneas Norton, Jacob S. Burnet<br />
and Walter St. John Jones, joined together to purchase the Everett Farm.<br />
These gentlemen, commonly known as the Cincinnati Syndi ca-te , hired M.D.<br />
Burke, a land- surveyor from their Ohio home town, to suhdivide the P v crc t t<br />
estate into house lots. The plan that Burke drew included 101 lots rang i ng<br />
from 4891 to 160,000 square feet, disposed along winding streets ar I’ an g e d<br />
to harmonize with and capi talize upon the rolling terrain. In the t’ords<br />
<strong>of</strong> a promotional text published by the syndicate:<br />
This estate, which has so long retarded the growth <strong>of</strong><br />
Watch Hill,.. .has recently been purchased for the express<br />
purpose <strong>of</strong> division into cottag e sites, <strong>of</strong> dimensions,<br />
situation, and prices to suit a 11 tastes. Persons <strong>of</strong><br />
very moJrate means -and econonnni cal biah its may now ciii oy<br />
the.. .ocean<br />
tile n..realthy<br />
air and scenery at Watch hill .1 in common w i th<br />
line average lot- s ze ml- tile Nverett Farnn snmhd i ‘V I 5 1111 Va 5 a p pi iN i ni to I<br />
35,000 square. feet, just under one acre. A number <strong>of</strong> purchase rs bought<br />
adjoining<br />
eight <strong>of</strong><br />
lots to ensure adequate space<br />
the lots were sold in the first<br />
for their r eq u i reIn ei t 5 Thi rty<br />
six months after tine p Ia t t. I ng <strong>of</strong><br />
the farm, but construction followed slowly. About tlnirty-thre e houses were<br />
erected on the Everett tract by 1895, not al 1 by the original purchasers<br />
See Continuation Sheet P 58