Southern Thames Street Survey
Under the direction of associate professor Dr. Catherine
Zipf, students enrolled in a special topics course carried out one of the
largest and most important survey and evaluation projects in Newport. The
survey resulted in the designation of the Southern Thames Historic District, a
sprawling collection of more than 900 properties ranging from the 18th to 20th
centuries. Property owners in the district are now eligible to apply for the
Historic Homeowner Tax Credit, which supports historically appropriate
restoration to exteriors.
Click here for a PDF file of the Southern Thames Street
report.
Kerry Hill Survey
Known over time as the School
Lands (1763-1800), New Town (1800-1850) and Kerry Hill (1850-present), the
Kingston Avenue study area represents one of the earliest enclaves of free
African Americans in Newport. This project, directed by associate professor Dr.
James Garman, seeks to identify and place into historical context surviving
buildings and landscapes related to African-American experiences in the
post-Revolutionary War, Antebellum and Gilded Age periods.
The Kerry Hill survey represents
the first systematic study of the establishment, settlement and survival of
this important neighborhood, set on a windswept hillside on the northerly edge
of the colonial city, and the first effort since the 1970 Rhode Island Historical
Preservation and Heritage Commission survey to identify significant
architectural and historical associations in the study area.
Click here for a PDF file of the Kerry Hill report.
Future Projects
Future publications in the Neighborhoods of Newport
series are part of the program’s new strategic plan. Students and faculty have
collected information on the Swamp neighborhood north of Van Zandt Avenue, on
designed landscapes in the Ochre Point-Cliffs neighborhood and on an area
informally called the Top of the Hill, ranging from Gould Street north to
Malbone Road. The program hopes to publish two new contributions to the
Neighborhoods of Newport series by the spring of 2012.