Bottom Line: A historical building housing a lovely gift shop and exhibits about local history…read more I really enjoy a local museum so during a brief visit to the area I visited the Newport Historical Society Museum and Shop. The building itself dates back to 1762 and once served as a market, dry goods storage and granary, among other things. Today the bottom floor houses a nice gift shop and the second floor consists of the museum. The museum exhibits start with the history of the native people that inhabited the area and then cover different aspects about the people, businesses and past times of Newport. The museum exhibits combine original artwork and historical artifacts with documentary films. Also, there was helpful object labels throughout the museum. Museum admission is donation based and the employees were friendly. The museum is located in downtown Newport so we parked in a public lot a few blocks away.

Outstanding guided tours. We arranged for a private tour focused on colonial Newport. Our guide was…read morea retired professor, actor and an expert. Could not have been better!!

I feel deeply embarrassed that I lived for two years in Attleboro and never visited this Museum…read more Better late than never. I visited recently to see the exhibit: Adorned. The exhibit featured jewelry from ancient Mesopotamia to today with several ancient Egyptian and Roman pieces, Coptic textiles, Egyptian and Roman cosmetics containers and beautiful sketches from an unknown 20th century jewelry designer. Excellent interpretations of the history of the jewelry were provided by students from Wheaton College. This exhibit combined a number of my favorite things including jewelry, art and history. I spent almost two hours focusing on everything and taking photos. My only minor complaint is that some of the glass boxes housing the art and jewelry were scratched and damaged which made it hard to take photos and even see some details. If anyone is looking for more of a reason to donate, this would be it. The gift shop is also stellar and had lots of nice items for an art lover as well as some local pieces and jewelry. Apparently, they also offer classes and events. They were also super nice about returning my phone call when I called and left a message inquiring about the exhibit and whether reservations were required. Admission is by donation. Suggested $3.

A place that makes me proud to be from the 'Boro! A museum, a community center, and a place to take…read moreart classes. Admission to the exhibits is typically free/by donation. The museum has one major space that rotates fairly frequently--it seems like there's something new every month. The major annual events are a flower show and an art auction, and the museum showcases lots of great local artists. I love going to the opening receptions, where I can look at the art while enjoying wine and cheese. The museum has a small but very cute gift shop, with totally reasonable prices! (Ex. I got a cute little Xmas ornament this year for less than $2). A lot of the stuff is made by local artists.

What an amazing place of history which dates back to the 1600s. History comes alive with a great…read moredocent staff which will bring the entire scope of the grounds alive. Do not miss out

Paine House Museum has seen a lot of history. The present group of volunteers has done much to…read morereorganize the displays and restore the property. First, the barn has been cleared out and lots of tools found within. A lathe found among the detritus has been restored and the original business sign hung-up on the building. You can also view two old fire-apparatus found in the barn that are now stored in the Mruk fire building next door. This building is on property gifted to the Town of Coventry by the last house owner and was recently sold back to the museum to create a Fire museum. Also found in the barn, and now in the house basement, is a huge, working loom! One of the volunteers, a member of the RI Spinners Guild, demonstrates on the loom and sells items produced in the museum gift shop. She has so much knowledge about spinning and weaving. Tours are offered Friday and Saturday, 10:00am - 2:00pm May through October. Public events are hosted through the year including free movies on the lawn in the summer and market days once a month featuring a variety of vendors. Some events include reenactors including the spinners guild, soldiers and bands. Check their website for details.

We were strolling around the neighborhood and stumbled on this museum and show. Met by a very…read morepleasant greeter, we were asked to consider a donation which we gladly did! Bright, small, and intimate, we took a moment to enjoy the art shows. What I discovered was sketch books throughout that you are encouraged to use. I, who have no talent, even enjoyed a few moments of introspection and doodled. My wife, who is very talented, did the same! It's a worthwhile place to visit and support.

Beautiful, intimate art museum with great artists and programs. I particularly enjoyed the…read moremeditation hour they have on Friday mornings, so wonderful. Would highly recommend!

Hello from Gatlinburg TN Smoky Mountains Park.. I'm originally from Portsmouth RI and I lived a few…read moreblocks away from the farm and I visit every time I come back home to see my friends..I highly recommend visiting..It has the Oldest School house in USA too

I have been driving past here my entire life and seeing as this whole COVID thing has us doing more…read moreoutdoorsy things close to home, we decided to stop in and check it out. The windmill was really cute, the property was very well groomed and the flower gardens were lovely. There were little foot bridges as well as a nice big duck pond! Glad we stopped and checked it out!

Benefit Street is a nice little walk and The Shunned House is a sweet little surprise. What I like…read moreabout The Shunned House is that you would have NO CLUE that this house was significant amongst the others in the surrounding areas. The armory down the street stands out a lot more than the lil house that HPLovecraft wrote about. Still it's a great side trip that will only take seconds out of your day if you are in or around the colleges in the area. This is obviously a residence and they have since named the house after someone but you can see the wall that used to be used as the front of the house and the descriptions stand strong in Lovecraft's writing. No big deal but I liked being there and seeing it.

I was going to write about this curiousity, but I realized I couldn't do any better than what…read morebrought me in the first place: "The house was--and for that matter still is--of a kind to attract the attention of the curious. Originally a farm or semi-farm building, it followed the average New England colonial lines of the middle eighteenth century--the prosperous peaked-roof sort, with two stories and dormerless attic, and with the Georgian doorway and interior panelling dictated by the progress of taste at that time. It faced south, with one gable end buried to the lower windows in the eastward rising hill, and the other exposed to the foundations toward the street. Its construction, over a century and a half ago, had followed the grading and straightening of the road in that especial vicinity; for Benefit Street--at first called Back Street--was laid out as a lane winding amongst the graveyards of the first settlers, and straightened only when the removal of the bodies to the North Burial Ground made it decently possible to cut through the old family plots. "At the start, the western wall had lain some twenty feet up a precipitous lawn from the roadway; but a widening of the street at about the time of the Revolution sheared off most of the intervening space, exposing the foundations so that a brick basement wall had to be made, giving the deep cellar a street frontage with door and two windows above ground, close to the new line of public travel. When the sidewalk was laid out a century ago the last of the intervening space was removed; and Poe in his walks must have seen only a sheer ascent of dull grey brick flush with the sidewalk and surmounted at a height of ten feet by the antique shingled bulk of the house proper. "The farm-like grounds extended back very deeply up the hill, almost to Wheaton Street. The space south of the house, abutting on Benefit Street, was of course greatly above the existing sidewalk level, forming a terrace bounded by a high bank wall of damp, mossy stone pierced by a steep flight of narrow steps which led inward between canyon-like surfaces to the upper region of mangy lawn, rheumy brick walls, and neglected gardens whose dismantled cement urns, rusted kettles fallen from tripods of knotty sticks, and similar paraphernalia set off the weather-beaten front door with its broken fanlight, rotting Ionic pilasters, and wormy triangular pediment. "What I heard in my youth about the shunned house was merely that people died there in alarmingly great numbers. That, I was told, was why the original owners had moved out some twenty years after building the place. It was plainly unhealthy, perhaps because of the dampness and fungous growth in the cellar, the general sickish smell, the draughts of the hallways, or the quality of the well and pump water. These things were bad enough, and these were all that gained belief among the persons whom I knew. Only the notebooks of my antiquarian uncle, Dr. Elihu Whipple, revealed to me at length the darker, vaguer surmises which formed an undercurrent of folklore among old-time servants and humble folk; surmises which never travelled far, and which were largely forgotten when Providence grew to be a metropolis with a shifting modern population." H.P. Lovecraft, The Shunned House Be mindful that this is a private residence. Please be respectful.

This is one of the most visited streets in downtown Providence. The Holiday Stroll came down…read moreWestminster Street on Dec 5th bringing music and dance to the heart of the city. Many restaurants, cafes and shops dot this street. A great place to hang during the daytime or night.

I can't believe I've been a member here for years & have yet to write a review! Yes, you heard…read moreright.. a member! This is a library that requires an annual membership to take out books from their vast collection, but the building is open to the public for browsing. In addition to many, many works of literature, the Redwood also houses an impressive collection of Newport maps and ephemera that a visiting history buff would love to see. They also offer community programming, such as classical and jazz concerts, a Shakespearean reading group, and even a Trivia Night for adults, complete with pizza and beer as part of a modest admission fee. Don't let the "members only" policy deter you from visiting! Tourists will definitely want to add this to their list, and I've known many a Newport local who's never stepped inside the Redwood, but really should. It's a truly gorgeous spot to have a peaceful respite from the hustle and bustle of the City by the Sea, and a wonderfully historic hidden gem.

This old colonial library is a beautiful piece of history here! There are so many colonial…read morepaintings hanging in the walls there, plus four from Gilbert Stewart who painted George Washington! Very interesting and very peaceful in there. It's a true work of art that goes back to the the 1740's! If you get a chance, VISIT! It is so worth it!