Watch Hill Historic District
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Watch Hill Historic District
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Watch Hill Harbor
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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 |
| MPS | Lighthouses of Rhode Island TR (AD) |
| NRHP Reference # | |
| Added to NRHP | September 5, 1985 |
Watch Hill is an affluent coastal village and census-designated place in the town of Westerly, Rhode Island. It sits at the most-southwestern point in all of Rhode Island. It came to prominence in the late 19th and early 20th century as an exclusive summer resort, with wealthy families building sprawling Victorian-style "cottages" along the peninsula. Watch Hill is characterized by the New York Times as a community "with a strong sense of privacy and of discreetly used wealth," in contrast with "the overpowering castles of the very rich" in nearby Newport. Today, it is best known as the backdrop for the Ocean House, the only Forbes Five-Star and AAA Five Diamond Hotel in Rhode Island.
The area was occupied by Niantic Indians in the 17th century. European colonists used it 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; 1880's The Flying Horse Carousel, the oldest operating suspended-horse carousel in the United States and a National Historic Landmark; and the 1916 Olympia Tea Room.
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, then was closed down 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 were left behind and remain there to this day, offering tunnels and underground rooms to explore. Occasionally at low tide, some of remains of the Battery Connell can be seen.
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