Miantonomi Memorial Park - Historic American Landscape Survey

HISTORIC AMERICAN LANDSCAPES SURVEY MIANTONOMI MEMORIAL PARK (TONOMY HILL) HALS NO. RI-03 Location:

State: County: City: Bounded by:

Rhode Island Newport Newport Hillside Avenue, Girard Avenue, Sunset Boulevard, and Admiral Kalbfus Road.

Central Address: 200-262 Hillside Avenue, Newport, RI 02840 USA National Register of Historic Places Listing #66 for Newport County Listed June 23, 1969 Geospatial point coordinates at approx. center of site: (Google Earth) Lat. 41. 30’ 37.6164” N Long. 71. 18’ 37.5552” W Datum: 88 feet above mean sea level (NAD83) UTM Zone 19T

Significance: Miantonomi Memorial Park is a vernacular landscape with an extensive history starting well before the Revolutionary War and spanning over 200 years. The site’s history includes a number of significant historical figures and events.

At 88 feet above Mean Sea Level, Miantonomi Park is the highest natural point in Newport. It was named for Miantonomi (also spelled Miantonomoh, Miantonomah, Miantonomo), the Chief of the Narragansett tribe from 1636 until his death in 1644.

This hill was the seat of power for the Narragansett Indian tribe until it was transferred to the English colonists in 1637. Because of the hill’s height and clear views to the coast, the colonists used this site as a lookout point and had a beacon constructed at the apex in 1667. During the Revolutionary War, fortifications were built around the hill of which some remnants are still present. The hill was occupied at varying times during the Revolutionary War by colonial, British and French forces. Historical accounts indicate that this was the site of the Battle of Rhode Island. This was a significant Revolutionary War Battle that allowed British forces to gain control of Aquidneck Island (Newport and its surrounding areas). The battle was noted for the participation of the 1st Rhode Island regiment which consisted of Africans, American Indians and white colonists. 1

HISTORIC NAME HALS NO. RI-03 PAGE 2 As a result of the hardships and destruction that Newport suffered during the Revolutionary War and British occupation, a citadel was built at the top of Miantonomi or Tonomy Hill in 1796 to provide the city with greater defenses.

This Citadel tower proved useful in providing distant views to approaching British forces in the War of 1812 and stood until 1817 when it was destroyed.

Eighteenth and nineteenth century property owners included Rowland Hazard a member of one of Newport’s original founders, Philip Caswell, partner with Rowland Hazard in an apothecary and cosmetics business (predecessor to the Caswell Massey business) and Anson Stokes, a wealthy Gilded Age banker, real estate developer and commodore of the New York Yacht Club.

The Olmsted firm under Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. described the virtues of Miantonomi Park in the 1913 report Proposed Improvements for Newport. This report included a site plan. As a result of Olmsted’s work and his urging the City to acquire the site, it was developed into a park and a war memorial was dedicated on Armistice Day 1923.

In 1925 The Miantonomi Park Commission raised funds to design and build a tower. The firm of McKim, Meade & White was commissioned as architects for the tower and in 1929 the World War I Memorial Tower was erected and dedicated. The WWI Tower lies at the summit of the park’s rocky hillside. The Tower was named an Official WWI Centennial Memorial on September 27, 2017.

Photo 1 – View of Miantonomi Memorial Tower from the southern end of the oval field atop the hillside.

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This site has significance to Rhode Island and the City of Newport as it reflects centuries of use starting with the native Narragansett Indian Tribe. Although the site is currently smaller (29.78 acres) 2 than the original colonial 700-acre estate of Godfrey Malbone, it continues to serve Newport as it is the City’s largest park. It also serves the lower-income residents in the heavily developed northern section of Newport. Miantonomi Memorial Park holds significance as a memorial landscape, a recreational open space, an historical point of interest and as a part of the newly established Newport Arboretum. The Newport Arboretum encompasses all of Aquidneck Island and has an online interactive map providing an inventory of significant trees throughout the island. The inventory of significant planted tree species at Miantonomi Park can be found at: https://www.opentreemap.org/rhodytrees/map. This is the most accurate up-todate inventory of existing trees at the park.

Citations 1 “Pines Bridge Monument”. www.Yorktownhistory.org.

Conservation Map, Aquidneck Land Trust, Annual Report Fiscal Year 2017, page 8.

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Description:

Miantonomi Memorial Park is comprised of almost 30 acres of varied landscape types including open lawn, rocky hillsides and large tracts of woodlands. It is located in the northwestern part of the City of Newport in an area surrounded by mixed single-family homes, public housing complexes to the west, north and south, and a mix of commercial and industrial uses to the east.

Overview The park is accessed by pedestrians from Hillside Avenue on the west. This road is the western boundary for the site. Recent (2017-2018) “green infrastructure” improvements along Hillside Avenue have provided rain gardens and parallel parking on permeable pavers. This parallel on-street parking provides the only parking for visitors. Vehicular access inside the park is restricted to maintenance and emergency vehicles. Park users and visitors walk through defined breaks in the low stone wall that borders the length of the sidewalk on Hillside Avenue.

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Photo 2 – View looking south along the green infrastructure improvements on Hillside Avenue which is the eastern boundary of the park.

Maintenance vehicles can access the park through a secured gate entrance near the corner of Hillside Avenue and Admiral Kalbfus Road. The gravel road from this entrance continues through the upper hillside and woodland areas. The stone pillars on either side of this gate are much shorter than those shown on the R. Clipston Sturges plan of 1923. 1

Photo 3 - View of current vehicular entrance showing two stone gateposts.

Gateposts are similar to design by R. C. Sturges, but much shorter.

Stone plaques on either side are engraved “Miantonomi Park”.

The current park size is much smaller than the original 700-plus acreage that was part of the estate owned by Godfrey Malbone, Sr., the original pre-Revolutionary

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War land owner. Through its history the size of Miantonomi has changed with additions and reductions of parcels.

The current park footprint is a result of the following land transfers.

• A land transfer (deeding) of 60 cares of the “south part of Tamani Hill Farm” to Rowland R. Hazard (Newport LE. 48:311) from a David Buffam in 1864.

• A recorded sale of about 26 acres of “Tonomy Hill Farm” from the heirs of Philip Caswell to Anson Phelps Stokes in 1881 (Newport LE 52:320) • The land evidence records of 1921 indicating that Helen Stokes sold “about 37 acres” to the City of Newport for use as a public park.

(Newport LE 111:110) • Construction of Admiral Kalbfus Highway in the 1960’s cut off the southern tip of the original Stokes parcel.

• Acquisition of parcels on the northern end of the park site from the Catholic religious order of the Sisters of Mercy in the 1960’s.

• Transfer of land in the northwest corner and northeast side of the site to the Newport Housing Authority in the 1980’s.

The landscape at Miantonomi Memorial Park includes a large open playfield of about 6 acres along the western side of the park, a tree shaded arboretum-lawn area of about 2 acres in the southwestern corner, walking trails traversing a woodland hillside (10 acres) leading to the Tower and an open oval field (4 acres), and a densely wooded wildlife area (7 acres) in the southeastern portion of the park.

Park Designs The Olmsted Brothers were the first to provide a designed landscape plan for this site. They were commissioned in 1881 by the Stokes family who sold the property to the City to prepare a report and plan for the preservation of the site as a recreational area. Their report and plan were completed in 1921. Copies of this plan and report are available at the Newport Historical Society’s (NHS) archives. 2 This Olmsted Brothers plan is noted as Job 317 Drg. 6. The note in the lower right corner of the plan states: This is the plan, accompanying the report of Feb.21, 1921 – Made originally Jan. 11, 1921, and modified in Feb. 1921 to include matters agreed on by Mr. Olmsted and R. Clipston Sturges and reported to Mr. Stokes – Feb. 18 –by F.L.O. The decisions were embodies in the Report referred to above– S.W.S to R.C.S – Feb.21, 1921.

This plan it titled “Miantonomi Hill, Newport, Rhode Island”. It is at a scale of

HISTORIC NAME HALS NO. RI-03 PAGE 6 one inch to fifty feet and notes that it is from “a survey dated September 1881 made for Olmsted Brothers.” The plan shows Miantonomi Memorial Park inclusive of its current acreage as well as an entrance at the intersection of Coddington Avenue. This entrance area was cut off from the park with the construction of Admiral Kalbus Highway. This plan is fairly general in its graphic delineation of the site. It is a master plan not a detailed landscape plan.

There is topography and the current woodland areas are shown as large woodland clumps and labelled “Undergrowth”, clear of undergrowth”.

As McKim, Meade & White had not yet been commissioned to design the tower, it is not shown, but the oval field is shown at the hilltop and there is a northsouth line that is labelled “axis of tower”. The rocky fortifications are shown as are the natural rock steps cut into these fortifications. An “old magazine” is labelled and notes are made showing the locations and directions of photographs that accompany the report.

The Olmsted Brothers plan lays out active recreation fields in the larger open field on the east side of the site. The area is labelled Playing Fields and shows two (2) softball diamonds, one football field and one baseball field. There is a formal line of trees and a “New Road” separating the baseball field from the other fields to the north. There is a hedge or hedgerow separating the baseball field from an area to the south that is labelled “Playing Field for Smaller Children – Swings-Rings- Etc.” The current park’s vehicular entrance is shown with its stone pillars on either side with the area just south of this entrance.

Labelled as “Parking Space” is a large open field with no indications of gravel surfacing. The Hillside Avenue boundary shows clusters of trees (not labelled) and a stone wall which is labelled. The southern boundary shows a line of trees and a wire fence which is labelled. There is an outline of a building shown at the western end of the parking space area but this building is not labelled and does not have the same footprint as the current restroom building.

R. C. Sturges worked with Olmsted on the report and plans and and the plan set includes a drawing of stone entrance pillars done by Sturges. 3 The two stone gate pillars are labelled as Term A and Term B. The drawing is titled “Miantonomi Memorial Park- The office of R.C. Sturgis Archt. – Job No. 317, June 14, 1923, Drg. #14. ½” scale Drg. of Terms.” The drawing shows 2 stone pillars and their footings and notes that “construction of terms will be similar in character of stone, mortar & method of laying as east & west walls.” This drawing is from the NHS archives.

The McKim Meade & White plans for the tower are available at the Newport Historical Society. This plan set includes the following: Memorial Tower Elevation, Tower Base Plan showing stairs and stair sections and elevations, inscription lunette over entrance doorway. 4

HISTORIC NAME HALS NO. RI-03 PAGE 7 The NHS archives also include a plan drawn by Elizabeth H. Burckes of Weston Mass. Her firm, Little Gardens was commissioned by the city to draw up a landscape plan for the park in 1934.

The Burckes plan shows the Tower set at one end of an oval field area. and also indicates that within this field lies an old powder magazine indicated on the Olmsted plans. There was no current observation made of this powder magazine.

Her plan notation also shows some earthworks and reads “Earth Works built during the Battle of Rhode Island”. 5 The Battle of Rhode Island was fought on August 29, 1778. The Continental Army under command of General John Sullivan abandoned their siege and withdrew to the mainland leaving Aquidneck Island to the larger British forces. There is no verification that the earthworks shown here were built during this battle, however there are depressions in the ground that were evident during site walks for this HALS documentation.

Further archaeological investigation may provide more information about these earth depressions.

There are “hatched” areas all around the oval field surrounding the Tower.

Although not labelled on the plan, these are presumed to indicate the natural rock fortifications that currently exist. The natural rock steps that were cut into these rock/ledge fortifications are labelled on the plan and are extant.

The Burckes plan shows the main entrance into the park from Malbone Road.

This entrance was eliminated when Admiral Kalbfus Highway was constructed.

The plan labels a “Marker Tablet” along the main entrance walk. This marker tabet still stands today, it being the puddingstone 6 upon which is fastened the original bronze plaque dedicating the park as a World War I memorial. The original plaque presumable removed in 1978 to avoid it being stolen like the 2 bronze plaques on the memorial tower. According to Scott Wheeler, Superintendent of Newport Buildings and Grounds, the plaques were found in storage a presumed removed. This original “puddingstone” was discovered in 2016-17 when volunteer students from Roger Williams University in Bristol, RI were removing invasive plant species.

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Photo 4 - View of puddingstone with bronze plaque. Plaque inscription reads: “Miantonomi Hill purchased by the City of Newport 1921 in recognition of the service of those who took part in The Great War 1914-1918.”

Burckes’ plan shows a number of paths and trails throughout the site. Trails are named as Upper trail, Lower trail, and Hemlock trail. There is one trail that runs on a north-south axis and which divides the more open field area on the east from the park’s more woodland area on the west. This trail is now heavily overgrown and no longer visible throughout much of its length.

The current woodland area on the west is shown on the Burckes plan as a natural woodland vegetated with clusters of trees and shrubs These clusters are noted as follows: Young Hemlocks, Pinxter Azaleas, Old Pines, Young Pines, Beeches, Rhododendron, Flowering Dogwood, Mountain Ash, Young Spruces and Pines, Young Firs and Spruces, Young Firs and Cedars, Young Cedars, Young Linden, Oaks and Beeches, White Birches, and Witch Hazel.

The current recreational fields are shown as a series of open play areas divided by clusters of vegetated picnic groves. The vegetation in this area includes clusters of Maples, Flowering Crabapples, Red Oaks, Sycamore Maples, Red Maples, Pines and Spruces, Young Pines, Young Spruces, Butternut Hickories and Scarlet Oaks. There are a number of trees labelled as “Memorial Trees” although no species are indicated.

There is currently no on-site parking at Miantonomi, but the Burckes plan shows an area labelled “Parking Space” at the southern boundary near the current vehicular entrance off Hillside Avenue. The plan also shows two shelters, one of which is in the location of the current restroom building. The Shelter labelled “with fireplace and drinking water” is no longer extant.

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Community Recreation Facilities There are active playground areas located towards the southern end of the large open field reflecting both the Olmsted and Burckes plans. The playground equipment was installed in early 2000 on treated mulch surfaces. These playground areas along with a sand volleyball area provide activities for neighborhood children. The Newport Department of Public Services also runs play activities in the open playfield during summer months. In addition, there are picnic tables and some small grills located between the playground areas and Hillside Avenue.

Photo 4 - View looking north on Hillside Avenue shows park pedestrian entrances with a picnic grove and playgrounds in the background.

Vegetation The Newport Arboretum is a special initiative of The Newport Tree Society (NTS). The NTS was founded in 1987 by concerned citizens who recognized the fact that Newport’s urban forest was aging and ailing. This decline in trees initially was seen among the trees that were planted within Newport’s many Gilded Age estates but it was also evident in other parts of the city, including Miantonomi Memorial Park. The focus of the NTS is to catalogue as many of the city’s trees as possible and create a citywide arboretum with long-term goals for urban reforestation.

The NTS has initiated a four-part program that includes: 1. The Newport Tree Walk – a series of 1-miles tree walks on pocket maps that highlight some of Newport’s finest specimen trees. http://newportarboretum.org/home/programs/newport-tree-walks/ 2. Tree Identification Tags – through volunteers trees across the city are

HISTORIC NAME HALS NO. RI-03 PAGE 10 tagged with common and Latin names and key identifying characteristics.

Some of the trees in Miantonomi Memorial Park’s southeastern corner have been tagged. All of the trees within the park’s meadow area have been identified online in Newport’s Open Tree Map website. At “Search

by Location” simply type in Miantonomi Memorial Park. https://www.opentreemap.org/rhodytrees/map 3. Planting Programs- The NTS has initiated a Specimen Tree Restoration Planting Program. Some of the trees in the southeastern part of Miantonomi Park have been planted under this program.

4. Accreditation Program – this program allows property owners to obtain accreditation as a Level 1 professional arboreta is they have 25 species or cultivars of woody plants on their site.

The following is a list of the many tree species currently identified in and around the perimeter of the playfield area at Miantonomi Memorial Park on the NTS Open Tree Map website. This is an excellent resource providing the most recent and accurate inventory of trees at Miantonomi Memorial Park and throughout Aquidneck Island. Many of these trees were noted on the 1934 Burckes plan.

Of note is a unique stand of Dawn Redwood planted just north of the vehicular access road and southeast of the sand volleyball area.

• American Basswood • American Beech • American Elm • Black Locust • Crabapple • Dawn Redwood • Eastern White Pine • English Oak • Flowering Cherry • Freeman Maple • Green Ash • Hedge Maple • Japanese Zelkova • London Plane • Mountain Silverbell • Northern Catalpa • Northern Red Oak • Norway Maple • Red Maple • Shagbark Hickory • Siberian Elm • Slippery Elm • Staghorn Sumac • Sugar Maple

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• • • •

Tulip Tree White Ash White Oak White Spruce

Photo 5 - View looking south along the open playfield showing perimeter trees and the cluster of arboretum trees at the southern end.

Photo 6 – View looking north along the open playfield showing perimeter trees and the woodland area. The memorial tower.

Vegetation of the Wildlife and Woodland Areas These areas include a predominance of pine, spruce, maple, ash and oak species with some hemlock, hickory and horse chestnut sporadically present. Many of these species were noted in the 1934 Burckes plan but presumably these trees are second generation although there are some old oaks, a maple and a hickory of sufficient trunk diameter that they could represent a span of over 85 years.

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Unfortunately, these woodland areas have become overgrown with invasive plant species including Norway Maple, Poison Ivy, Asiatic Bittersweet, Grape Ivy and Japanese Knotweed. This invasive growth has made it difficult to view the rock fortifications around the oval field and the tower. The Newport Tree Society along with the Newport Department of Public Services and the Aquidneck Land Trust are in the process of developing active programs to address management of these woodland areas. The overgrown conditions in these areas were documented in the 1990 Renovation Master Plan Report, the 2005 Management Plan by Carol Trocki and the 2017 Newport Open Space Management Plan prepared by Sasaki Associates.

Photo 7 - View looking towards Miantonomi Tower from the woodland area. The stone fortifications are visible through the vegetation overgrowth.

Built Structures Natural Fortifications The natural rock fortifications that surround the hill still exist although they are overgrown with vegetation. The stairs that were cut into these natural rock fortification are also extant. The stairs do provide direct access to the Tower area in addition to the trails. However, they also present a liability and the City is investigating a means to ensure safer access.

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Photo 8 - View looking up one of two stairways that were cut into the natural rock fortifications.

Built Structures Restrooms There is one existing restroom structure towards the southwestern part of the open field and in the location noted on the 1934 Burckes plan. The structure was closed to the public as the interior is not readily visible to police patrol and monitoring and vandals were destroying the interior. This structure was deemed unsafe by the City. The Newport Department of Public Services is planning to install a new restroom facility at Miantonomi Memorial Park. They would like to keep the footprint of this older restroom building and are considering some design options.

Photo 9 – The existing restroom facility that is closed. The City would like to save the structure and is examining design options. A new restroom facility will be built in another location that is more readily accessible to the playing area.

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Built Structures WWI Memorial Tower Fifty-six servicemen from Newport lost their lives fighting in World War I which ended in 1918. The effort to create a memorial in their honor began in January 1921 with the establishment of the Miantonomi Memorial Park Commission and plans were drawn up to purchase Miantonomi Hill and create a memorial park. The City purchased this land in July 1921 from Helen Phelps Stokes and architects R.C. Sturgis and Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. led the landscape design work. The firm of McKim, Meade & White was subsequently hired to design a memorial tower which was built in 1929. There were a number of meetings between the architects and the commission, the minutes of which may be seen in the NHS archives.

The Tower as it stands today is as per the drawings by William Kendall of the architectural firm of McKim, Meade & White. The tower footprint is a circle measuring 55 feet 6 inches in diameter. There are 6 arches within the tower’s outer wall. The arches have cast iron gates with an ornate oval design near the apex. The stone was taken from local quarries. There is a perimeter stone walk around the exterior of the tower foundation which is also stone as are the formal steps leading from the tower entrance out into the oval field.

There are bronze plaques on either side of the exterior front entrance to the tower which replaced the original ones that were stolen in 1963. 7 The plaques were recently restored as a result of funding obtained via public appeal made in 2016.

The city received funds of $8,000 for the fabrication of replacement plaques through a joint effort of the City of Newport, The Miantonomi Park Commission, the Newport Open Space Partnership (City of Newport, Newport Tree Society, Aquidneck Land Trust, Aquidneck Island Planning Commission, Newport Tree and Open Space Commission) and the American Legion, Newport Post 7. A $2,000 grant was also awarded for the new plaque fabrication through the U.S. World War I Centennial Commission’s 100 Cities/100 Memorials program in 2017. As a result of this award, Miantonomi Memorial Park Tower was named an official WWI Centennial Memorial. The new plaques were dedicated on Memorial Day 2018.

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Photo 10 – One of two commemorative replacement bronze plaques that were installed and dedicated May 2018.

There is an interior perimeter corridor or loggia just inside the tower’s outer wall and an interior wall separates this loggia from the central spiral stairway that leads to the top viewing area. An interior arched stone lunette over the entrance doorway to the stairs contains an inscription dedicated to those who died in the war. The Newport Historic Society Archives contain meeting minutes and a series of letter exchanges between the architects and the park commissioners regarding the appropriate wording for this inscription.

Photo 11 – A view along the interior loggia of the tower.

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Photo 12 (left) - View inside the front entrance to the spiral staircase.

Photo 13 (right) -The inscription in the stone arch reads. “These died in the war that we at peace might live. These gave their best, so we our best should give.�

The tower had fallen into disrepair over the years and was closed to the public.

The City and the park commission formed a partnership with the Newport Arboretum and the Aquidneck Land Trust to evaluate the needed repairs to the tower. Funding from various sources allowed restoration work to proceed and the tower was reopened to the public on selected weekend days in the summer of 2017.

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Photo 13 – Front view of restored Miantonomi Memorial Tower designed by McKim, Meade & White.

All photographs taken by Elena M. Pascarella, July 13, 2018 Citations

Newport Historical Society, Guide to the Miantonomi Memorial Park Commission Records 1919-1991. Architectural and landscape plans, 1921- ca. 1965, 1

Series IV, Flat File A, Drawer 8, Folder 1

Newport Historical Society, Guide to the Miantonomi Memorial Park Commission Records 1919-1991. Architectural and landscape plans, 1921- ca. 1965, 2

Series IV, Flat File A, Drawer 8, Folder 1

Newport Historical Society, Guide to the Miantonomi Memorial Park Commission Records 1919-1991. Architectural and landscape plans, 1921- ca. 1965, 3

Series IV, Flat File A, Drawer 8, Folder 1

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Newport Historical Society, Guide to the Miantonomi Memorial Park

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Commission Records 1919-1991. Architectural and landscape plans, 1921- ca. 1965, Series IV, Flat File A, Drawer 8, Folder 1

Newport Historical Society, Guide to the Miantonomi Memorial Park Commission Records 1919-1991. Architectural and landscape plans, 1921- ca. 1965, 5

Series IV, Flat File A, Drawer 8, Folder 1 Puddingstone, also known as either pudding stone or plum-pudding stone, is a popular name applied to a conglomerate that consists of distinctly rounded pebbles whose colors contrast sharply with the color of the finer-grained, often sandy, matrix or cement surrounding them.

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Flynn, Sean, Plaques returning to Miantonomi Park, www.newportri.com November 8, 2017 7

History:

Miantonomi Park: Historical Overview and Context Miantonomi Park is quintessentially American—in its historical significance, in the context of its designation as a World War I memorial, and in its dedication as a public space for all to use and enjoy. The chain of ownership can be documented from colonial times until the present, and the uses of the land along with the backgrounds of its owners are significant and various.

In the early 17th century, which is as far back as written records go, the property was part of the territory belonging to the Narragansett people, Indians inhabiting Aquidneck Island and surrounding areas at the time a group of English colonists who had been living in Massachusetts decided to break away and found a colony of their own in what is now Rhode Island. William Coddington “and his friends” were deeded the all of the land on Aquidneck Island by Canonicus and Miantonomi, sachems of the Narragansetts, in an agreement brokered by Roger Williams.1The group of men who became known as Newport’s founders ultimately divided the property among themselves.

The parcel of land which became Miantonomi Park contained Newport’s highest point, which the Narragansetts used as a beacon, and according to some writings was a “seat of power,” meaning perhaps that it was a place of significance where ceremonies were held.2 The elevation of the highest point in the park is about 140 feet, and the early settlers continued to make use of it as a beacon.

Whatever use the Indians made of the land, Miantonomi is a fitting namesake for today’s park. By all accounts the Narragansett leaders, Miantonomi and his uncle Canonicus, were sensible, thoughtful, and honorable men who made every effort

HISTORIC NAME HALS NO. RI-03 PAGE 19 to get along with the intruding colonists—to understand their ways and to get a sense of their cultural norms, very often in the face of deceit and treachery on the part of the English. Due to the exertions of Roger Williams and his real willingness to understand the native peoples as well as befriend them, relations between the Rhode Island colonists and the Narragansetts remained relatively stable until the Pequot War whose end resulted in Miantonomi’s ignominious betrayal and execution in 1644. In the years immediately preceding his death Miantonomi had become disillusioned, asking a close English friend, “Did ever friends deal so with friends?”3 It is important to note here that there are different iterations of the name of the area now known as Miantonomi Park. Newporters are apt to call the park and its surroundings “Tonomy Hill”,4 as an abbreviated form of “Miantonomi.”

However, Tonomy is also said to be a shortened version of “Wanemetonomy”, a name about which there is conflicting information. There are suggestions that Wanemetonomy was another Narragansett sachem after whom the hill was named, however there is little hard evidence that a Wanemetonomy actually existed—most of what we know about native Americans and their culture was written by Europeans few of whom were fluent in Indian languages—and written histories over the years as well as current data bases have only sketchy references to the name. It is also possible that the Wanemetonomy (and its variant spellings) was a place name, meaning, in the Narragansett language, “good lookout”.5 There are many historical mentions of Miantonomi or Tonomy Hill being used as a fortification, starting with speculation about how the Narragansetts used the area and moving on to more concrete information about Tonomy’s importance as a stronghold during the American Revolution. The British, having occupied Newport in 1776 after being forced out of Boston, began to strengthen the town’s defenses under the direction of General Pigot. Key pieces in these defenses were Tonomy Hill and a smaller redoubt close by to the north known as “Little Tonomy.” The two forts were the southeastern most in a chain that moved north from Tonomy to Irishes Redoubt in Middletown, and along a series of strongholds that proceeded east along the Newport-Middletown border toward batteries near Green End. In the summer of 1778, the need for fortifications became all the more dire, as the French had recently joined forces with the rebellious colonists and invasion of Newport seemed imminent. Although a hurricane initially drove off and battered the French fleet under Admiral d’Estaing, the battle was soon joined:6 On August 8, d’Estaing’s warships entered Narragansett Bay via the East Passage and engaged in a gun battle with the British shore batteries. When the fleet advanced, Pigot gave the order for all troops to withdraw from the north of the island and pull back to the British defensive line near the Newport-Middletown border.7

HISTORIC NAME HALS NO. RI-03 PAGE 20 What became known as the Siege of Newport ended more or less in a draw. The French fleet failed in its mission to wipe out their British counterparts, and the American forces under General Sullivan were forced, after a difficult and frustrating battle, to retreat from Aquidneck Island. However, the British position did not improve, as their forces had missed the opportunity for a decisive victory over the rebels. They fell back to their pre-siege position, a marooned force on the tip of an island, far from the action and running desperately low on supplies. By the end of October, 1779, after cruelly laying waste to much of what was left of the town, they were gone.8 Newport did not soon forget the hardships of the war and occupation. Its former glories were long gone, and the ruins of the town served as a harsh reminder that the town’s defenses must remain strong if it were not to be invaded in the future.

The Newport Mercury of February 23, 1796 published a notice from the Secretary of War’s report to Congress regarding the fortification of ports and harbors in Rhode Island that included the following: There have been also erected a Citadel on Tammany Hill, back of the Town of Newport, for the protection of its inhabitants…in case of an Invasion.

In 1812 war did indeed come, but this time the Americans were victorious, and Newport was spared.

The end of the 18th and the first half of the 19th century found Newport isolated and economically strapped. With no river power to turn the wheels of mills and factories, industrialization could not take hold on Aquidneck the way it did in Providence and other parts of the state. The island remained agricultural for the most part, and the land use of the Miantonomi Hill area, as we can see reflected the language of the various deeds in the chain of ownership, duly reflected this bucolic state.

Until the Revolutionary War, the land upon which Miantonomi Park is now situated was likely part of the 700-acre estate belonging to the wealthy merchant and ship-owner Godfrey Malbone,9 although there are no longer existing local records confirming where the boundaries of this property were located. As the hill itself was a fort and battlement, it may have been either given to or taken by the city as a vital defensive asset. The first existing deed referring to the Miantonomi parcel is documented in Newport City Hall’s Land Evidence office (LE 3:1). Strangely, it is the record of the sale of the “farm called Mount Pleasant” (which is what Godfrey Malbone Sr. called his estate) by John Hancock of Suffolk County in Boston, to Godfrey Malbone (Jr.) and John Malbone of Newport, dated 1784. How Hancock came to own the land which originally belonged to the father of the two men it is being deeded to, is not evident, neither is it evident exactly who this John Hancock was. It is entirely possible that he was the founding father and signer of the Declaration of Independence, but more research would have to be done in order to prove this

HISTORIC NAME HALS NO. RI-03 PAGE 21 beyond speculation. In the late 18th century John and Godfrey Malbone were embroiled in many disputes involving ownership and or damage to their many properties resulting from the war—also many records were lost or destroyed.

The entanglement of the Newport property was doubtless part of this confusion.

Godfrey and John Malbone deeded the property to William Rotch of New Bedford, Massachusetts in 1797—the deed (LE 6:375) specifically mentioning “all that certain farm or tract or parcel called Tamani Hill, situate partly in Newport and partly in Middletown…containing by estimation six hundred and thirty acres.” It is this deed that confirms what the previous deed did not make precisely clear—that the 700 acres deeded to the Malbone brothers from Hancock, includes the Miantonomi or Tonomy Hill property. The Rotches were a wealthy family who made their money whaling and the Newport property was most likely bought as a country retreat. The family leased the property to David Buffum, a Quaker preacher who lived there for many years and ran it as a working farm. 10 The property was deeded to David Buffum’s son, also called David Buffum in 1832 by William Rotch, Jr. At this point the land transfers become very confusing, indicating that perhaps there were disputes over property rights or land boundaries. However, in 1834 David Buffum Jr. deeded “Sixty acres of the south part of Tamani Hill Farm” to Rowland R Hazard (LE 48:311). Rowland R. Hazard was a member of the hugely influential Hazard family whose ancestors were original founders of Newport as well as of Rhode Island.

Rowland Hazard owned the land until 1877 and in 1850 the Hazard property on Miantonomi Hill was visited by a writer of popular history, Benson Lossing, who wrote about it in his work A Pictorial Field Book of the Revolution. Under an illustration showing a view of the hill from the north, he writes the following description: The wall’s appearance is a steep precipice of huge masses of puddingstone, composed of pebbles and larger smooth stone, ranging in size from a pea to a man’s head. It is a very singular geological formation. In some places the face is smooth, the stones and pebbles appearing as if they had been cut with a knife while in a pasty or semi-fluid state. On the top of this mound are the breast-works that were thrown up, not high, for the rocks formed a natural rampart on all sides but one, against an enemy.

Her Miantonomoh had his fort…On the top of the hill Mr. Hazard has erected an observatory, seventy feet high…and the top of the observatory commands one of the most panoramic views in the world.11 The property passed from Hazard to Philip Caswell in 1877 (LE 48:311), the deed stipulating “all that land and farm in said Newport with the improvements thereon called Tonomi Hill Farm.” Hazard and Caswell were partners in an apothecary and cosmetics business called Caswell Hazard Co. The partnership

HISTORIC NAME HALS NO. RI-03 PAGE 22 was dissolved in 1876 and perhaps the land passed to Caswell as part of this transaction.12 The heirs of Philip Caswell sold “about 26 acres and being all of Tonomy Hill Farm” to Anson Phelps Stokes in 1881 (LE 52:320). Stokes was a vastly rich, Gilded Age banker, real estate developer, and merchant who owned several properties of which this was one of the more modest. He was also commodore of the New York Yacht Club, a factor which no doubt influenced his decision to buy a place in Newport. His wife, Helen, inherited the property from her husband, and sold it to the City of Newport in 1921. This deed, LE 111:110, describes the amount of land involved as being 1,613,553 square feet, or about 37 acres.13 Helen Stokes also stipulated in the sale, that the land which she sold to the city for $13,850, was to be “used and maintained by the said City of Newport as and for a public park for the free use of the public.” In addition, within three years, the park was “to be improved and developed in substantial accordance with the present plans of the Newport War Memorial Committee and of its architect, R. Clipson Sturges.” Helen Stokes may have been inspired to engineer this project

by Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. In his Proposed Improvements for Newport, written in 1913, he extolls the virtues of Miantonomi hill, calling on the city to acquire the site: It is a beautiful wooded hill, easily accessible from every part of the city affording woodland and meadow scenery of charming quality. It is the highest land in Newport, affording opportunity for broad and impressive views over the surrounding country to the north and east…Furthermore, on this hilltop was once a fort, which lends added interest to the hill as a public holding.

Work on the park began almost immediately. It was carried out by various bodies, commissions and groups, most of whose members were volunteers. An act of the general assembly gave overall control of the park to the Miantonomi Park Commission, for many years ably chaired by Mrs. William Sims, which developed the site and dedicated it as a war memorial.14 In 1923 a bronze plaque, set into a boulder at the original entrance to the park was unveiled. It proclaimed that the park had been dedicated as a memorial to the Great War. The park, however, is the setting for the memorial—this tower. The tower was dedicated in 1929. Its design was based on the numerous circular watchtowers or beacons of fieldstone which are found along the coasts of the old world. Around the base of Newport’s tower, however, is an arcaded terrace inspired by Newport’s Old Stone Mill, called America’s most controversial structure. This tower is also crowned with a lantern reminiscent of the Pharos, the lighthouse at Alexandria, Egypt. The tower rises 78 feet 6 inches above the 150 foot

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high hill…(The tower), built from the design of McKim, Mead, and White cost $37,000. 15 Miantonomi Park has now existed for nearly 100 years. Like many such efforts, it has had ups and downs. The upside is that it definitely served the public as it was intended to do. People visited, climbed the tower, picnicked, explored and played. However, the park’s location, while attractively rural, became somewhat of a drawback as the city developed and changed. The north end was more and more cut off from the rest of the town, mostly due to poorly planned renewal projects that changed the pattern of streets and roadways and ruptured the continuity of many old neighborhoods. In addition, as the need for public housing for low income Newporters became more urgent, poor planning isolated these tenants in “projects” like Park Holm and Tonomy Hill, located just north and east of the park, where they were often “out of sight and out of mind,” along with their needs and issues. 16 By the mid-1970s, the Navy, which had been Newport’s biggest employer, was gone and the city in another economic slump. Miantonomi Park, no longer a priority, fell into neglect and came to be regarded by many as a place to avoid.

There had always been vandalism in the park, and over the years articles in the Newport Daily News tell of various incidents that happened all through the post war period. In 1963, for example, thieves stole the bronze plaque commemorating the World War I servicemen to whom the park is dedicated.17 Over the years there were several well-meant initiatives to revive the park, to clean it up and make it safer. In 1977 the city obtained Community Development Funds to make improvements to the park such as picnic tables, playground equipment, erosion protection, fencing, and new shrubs and trees,18 but until 1990 there was no real concerted effort backed by serious funding.

20th Century Reports A Renovation Master Plan was completed in 1990 by The Miantonomi Memorial Park Commission. This is a detailed report of 39 pages that provides an historical overview of the park and then analyzes the site, the recreational facilities, circulation and accessibility, security and vandalism and landscape and topography. It provides a summary of recommendations and an implementation program. Many of the recommendations have been implemented or are in process.

A Management Plan for the park was prepared in 2005 for the Aquidneck Land Trust by Carol Lynn Trocki. This management plan was prepared for a Conservation easement that was granted by the City of Newport to the ALT. This plan echoes some of the material in the 1990 Master Plan and provides recommendations for Scenic & Historic Resource Protection, Recreational &

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Educational Uses, and Wildlife Habitat Conservation.

The maintenance and long term planning for Miantonomi Memorial Park are now under the jurisdiction and care of the City of Newport in conjunction with a number of local non-profit organizations.

Citations 1. T.W. Bicknell: The History of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. (1920), 288.

2. The Miantonomi Commission, for example, in an informational handout, says that the land was “a seat of power of the Indian sachem Miantonomi…” On April 6, 1921, a history of Miantonomi Park appearing in the Newport Daily News states that Miantonomi’s “wigwam stood on the hill…”

3. J. Warren: God, War, and Providence, New York (2018) 120-122.

4. Deeds and articles over the years use other variants such as Tomini, Tammany, Tamini, and so on.

5. See F. O’Brien: American Indian Place Names in Rhode Island. https://www.scribd.com/document/299175340/american-indian-place-names-in-rhodeisland.

6. K. Walsh et al: Siege of British Forces in Newport County by Colonial and French in August of 1778. Newport (2016), 34.

7. Ibid, 11.

8. Ibid, 84.

9. Godfrey Malbone (1695-1768) was one of the most prominent and influential men in colonial Newport. He owned a fleet of merchant ships, engaged in privateering as well as in the notorious triangle trade. He financed the building of Trinity Church and supported cultural institutions like the Redwood Library. His “county estate” on what is now Malbone Road included a fabulous mansion that he famously watched burn while he and his guests finished dinner on the lawn.

10. “History of Tamani Hill”: The Newport Daily News, April 6, 1921.

11. Volume I, 636+637.

12. The two later became embroiled in a lawsuit over the use of the name of their products. See Hazard et al vs Caswell et al. https://casetext.com/case/hazard-et-al-v-caswell-et-al. Caswell remained in business in Newport, and took on a new partner, doing business as Caswell Massey.

13. The discrepancy between the 26 acres in the previous deed and the 37 contained in the deed to the City of Newport is difficult to account for without a great deal more research.

14. Miantonomi Park Renovation Master Plan (1990), 2.

15. Text from an informational handout by the Miantonomi Commission. Nd. Newport Historical Society, Guide to the Miantonomi Park Commission Records, Pamphlets and Clippings ca. 1919-1991, Series VI, Box 1, Folder 9 16. These two developments have been renovated or replaced. See “Replacing a Troubled Neighborhood in Newport.” The New York Times, February 26, 2006.

17. “Thieves Remove Miantonomi Memorial Plaque.” The Newport Daily News, August 12, 1963, 2.

18. Miantonomi Park Renovation Master Plan 1990, 3 Sources:

Bibliography

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Books Bicknell, T. W. The History of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. New York: American Historical Society, 1920.

Field, E. Revolutionary Defenses in Rhode Island. Providence: Preston and Rounds, 1896.

Olmsted, F, Jr. Proposed Improvements for Newport, Cambridge: University Press, 1913.

Stensrud, R. Newport A Lively Experiment. Newport: Redwood Library, 2015.

Walsh, K. et al. Siege of British Forces in Newport County by Colonial and French in August of 1778. Newport: Salve Regina University, 2016.

Warren, J. A. God, War, and Providence. New York: Scribner, 2018

Electronic Resources Abbass, D.K. “Tonomi Hill” Rhode Tour http://rhodetour.org/items/show/55 Murphy, Tom, Restored 100-foot stone tower in Newport open on Sundays, www.providencejounral.com/article/20150915/new/150919551 O’Brien, F. American Indian Place Names in Rhode Island, 2003. https://www.scribd.com/document/299175340/american-indian-placenames-in-rhode-island.

The Newport Arboretum of Newport, Rhode Island, Rhode Island Tree Register, https://www.opentreemap.org/rhodytrees Newport Open Space Library http://www.newportopenspace.org/library/ • 1784 Map of Newport • Miantonomi Park 1990 Renovation Master Plan • Miantonomi Park Conservation Easement • Olmsted, Frederick Law, Proposed Improvements for Newport: A Report prepared for the Newport Improvement Association, 1913. Digital copy of book from the Library of the University of Minnesota, Class 710, Book fO15p.

• Trocki, Carol Lynn, Management Plan, City of Newport/Miantonomi Park, Newport, Rhode Island, March 2005.

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Archival Materials Newport Historical Society, Guide to the Miantonomi Memorial Park Commission Records 1919-1991: • Architectural and landscape plans, 1921- ca. 1965, Series IV, Flat File A, Drawer 8, Folder 1 • Miantonomi Memorial Park photographs, 1928-1964, MS Photo Box 1, Folder 9 • Pamphlets and clippings, ca. 1921-1991, Series VI, Box 1, Folder 9 • R. Clipson Sturges correspondence, 1921, Series II, Box 1, Folder 4 Historians:

Elena M. Pascarella, RLA, ASLA – Landscape Architect Landscape Elements LLC, Warwick, Rhode Island Anne M. Benson – Historian Newport, Rhode Island July 30, 2018