Rhode Island Historical Preservation & Heritage Commission

Rhode Island Historical Preservation & Heritage Commission A Rhode Island State Agency

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We've got an opening on our team for a RIDOT Project Review Coordinator. If you think we should talk, apply by April 27....
04/20/2026

We've got an opening on our team for a RIDOT Project Review Coordinator. If you think we should talk, apply by April 27.

Full description: tinyurl.com/4kdufsyw

If the last few days of false summer have you wanting to touch grass, consider spending your weekend helping to clean up...
04/18/2026

If the last few days of false summer have you wanting to touch grass, consider spending your weekend helping to clean up your local cemetery!

Cemetery Preservation Weeks brings you dozens of free programs to choose from between now until the end of May. Keep checking the calendar, new events are added often: tinyurl.com/mrz8xdv6

🪦APRIL 18🪦
Newman Cemetery Clean-Up
Johnston Governor King Cemetery 21 Clean-Up
Historic Hotchkiss Cemetery Clean-Up
Earth Day Clean-Up at the North Burial Ground
Clean-Up & Talk at the Tillinghast Family Burial Ground
Zebina Cool Lot Clean-Up

🪦APRIL 19🪦
Equal Rights School Tour at North Burial Ground
Honoring the Patriots of Northern RI Buried in Union Village

We're throwing the doors open, and you're invited! After almost two years of construction, we're back in the Old State H...
04/16/2026

We're throwing the doors open, and you're invited! After almost two years of construction, we're back in the Old State House. Come say hi 👋

⚓ OPEN HOUSE: May 4, 3:00-6:00 PM
Visit one of Rhode Island's earliest civic buildings, where the General Assembly severed ties with the Crown in May 1776. Now home to .

⚓ READING THE RENUNCIATION: May 4, 3:45 PM
If you can only drop by the open house for a few minutes, make it these 15 minutes. At 3:45, actor and cultural curator will read the revolutionary document that changed history in the room where it happened. At 4:00, we ring the bells -- join us!

⚓ MAY BREAKFAST: PRESERVATION EDITION: May 8, 8:00 AM
In the great Rhode Island tradition of May Breakfast, we're hosting a preservation-themed community breakfast to close out Independence Week. Come meet the staff and chat about the old places you care about. Coffee, tea, and light breakfast bites provided.

More info at preservation.ri.gov.

Tonight's full Pink Moon is bringing the atmosphere and drama to the first day of Cemetery Preservation & Awareness Week...
04/01/2026

Tonight's full Pink Moon is bringing the atmosphere and drama to the first day of Cemetery Preservation & Awareness Weeks.

Join our friends at the North Burial Ground in Providence for a dusky wander through one of the state's oldest municipal cemeteries (founded in 1700!). The Full Moon Walk meets at the Rochambeau pedestrian gate at 5:30 pm. Free and no registration needed.

A complete calendar of free Cemetery Weeks programs, including lectures, cleanups, and concerts, is available: https://shorturl.at/WYSNm

Photo credit: Stacey Burgeron, Cloud Appreciation Society

We know Rhode Island is chock-a-block with history, and a good portion of it lives in our historic cemeteries, graveyard...
03/28/2026

We know Rhode Island is chock-a-block with history, and a good portion of it lives in our historic cemeteries, graveyards, and burial grounds. And these places are just as deserving of preservation and research!

Cemetery Weeks return this April and May, with dozens of free programs. Full calendar: https://shorturl.at/M1rGZ

From the top of Neutaconkanut Hill, you can almost forget that you're still in Rhode Island's capital city. Now, this bu...
02/12/2026

From the top of Neutaconkanut Hill, you can almost forget that you're still in Rhode Island's capital city. Now, this bucolic spot, part of one of the oldest and largest public parks in Providence, is on the National Register of Historic Places.

"Neut" or "the Hill," as it is sometimes known, has been serving residents of Silver Lake and Olneyville for centuries, but the park wasn't formally established until 1903. As the metro area's population boomed, local advocates and city leaders pushed to expand public greenspace to provide recreational opportunities and a pastoral escape from urban life.

Today, Neutaconkanut Hill Park is one of 120 properties in the 1600-acre Providence Parks System, and its long history is visible throughout the park's 85 acres. Ruins of a family farm, WPA park infrastructure, the remnants of a toboggan slope, and an old Chevy Camero are all evidence of the evolving neighborhood. The National Register listing is the culmination of a decades-long partnership between the Providence Parks Department and the Neutaconkanut Hill Conservancy.

Read more about this beloved spot: https://shorturl.at/25bpl

Photos: 1. Credit to Kenneth Zirkel. 2. View from the summit ca. 1950, credit to Providence Public Library. 3. View from the summit today.

One day it's there, the next it's not. What's there to be done if a property owner decides to tear down a historic build...
02/03/2026

One day it's there, the next it's not.

What's there to be done if a property owner decides to tear down a historic building? Preservationists have a few procedural tools to push back, including municipal demolition delay ordinances. Demolition delays allow all parties time to investigate alternate solutions -- buildings can't all be saved in the end, but the delay gives communities time to respond.

Preserve Rhode Island is holding a webinar on demolition delays at 12:00 on February 11. This free training will provide an overview of demolition delay ordinances, including how they work, their key components, and Rhode Island case studies. Space is limited, with priority given to Historic District Commission members and city officials, including clerks, zoning officials, and town planners. Learn more: https://shorturl.at/39FtI

Image: Read-Ott House (1842) in Pawtucket demo'd in 2024, credit to

The 2026 CLG Grant cycle is now open! Eligible cities and towns can apply for preservation project funding now through M...
02/02/2026

The 2026 CLG Grant cycle is now open! Eligible cities and towns can apply for preservation project funding now through March 13.

Matunuck lost several historic cottages in the Browning's Beach Historic District to Superstorm Sandy in 2012, just one of the many sacrifices to sea level rise and increased storm activity. Hoping to prepare better for future losses, Matunuck recently used a Certified Local Government (CLG) Grant to survey where historic resources were most vulnerable.

CLG funds can be used to collect information, like in Matunuck -- but grants can also be applied to planning, training, historical research, public signage, and other projects. Read more about past awards and how to apply: https://shorturl.at/Ph2CF

Images:
1. Roy Carpenter's Camp Grounds and Beach (1896)
2. Browning's Beach, Alec Nunes/The Public's Radio
3. Ocean Mist, Frank Carini/ecoRI News

Copley Chambers -- a downtown rooming house that served the needs of a growing city -- is now listed in the National Reg...
01/27/2026

Copley Chambers -- a downtown rooming house that served the needs of a growing city -- is now listed in the National Register of Historic Places for its architectural and historical significance.

Built on Broad Street in Providence in 1913, Copley Chambers is evidence that urban workforce housing has been in high demand for at least a century. It's a good surviving example of a 20th-century “downtown rooming house,” which offered convenient and affordable housing for urban workers. The property was recently rehabilitated by Marathon Construction & Development using Historic Tax Credits and reopened in 2024 as housing for young adults transitioning out of foster care.

Read more: https://shorturl.at/MJrWb

It's said that New England once had approximately 250,000 miles of stone walls partitioning the landscape, a distance lo...
01/25/2026

It's said that New England once had approximately 250,000 miles of stone walls partitioning the landscape, a distance longer than the United States' coastline or enough to circle Earth nearly 10 times. Today, we think about 100,000 miles of New England rock wall survives in some form.

The Town of Cumberland is doing its part to inventory the historic stone walls within its boundaries using CLG funds. This joins efforts from , , and others to document, understand, and preserve this core feature of our landscape.

📷 Jerry Zani and the rock hounds of Cumberland

Mid-century development is finally getting the preservation treatment -- the City of Cranston is hoping to add Garden C...
01/23/2026

Mid-century development is finally getting the preservation treatment -- the City of Cranston is hoping to add Garden City Historic District to the National Register of Historic Places.

Rhode Island's second-largest city embraced suburban development after World War II, and Garden City is its crown jewel. What makes Garden City stand out, particularly in New England, is the blending of its Main Street retail with housing. Garden City’s approach is considered the first of its kind for Rhode Island, and the neighborhood, along with its accompanying lines of storefronts, quickly became a "city within a city."

After years of local advocacy and organizing, Cranston is using a CLG grant from our office to document Garden City and its history. That research will support a nomination to the National Register of Historic Places -- the nation's list of preservation-worthy sites.

Local preservationist Jenn Robinson has written extensively about Garden City. Read more: https://tinyurl.com/3mkwmd2t

Preservation projects in Cranston, Cumberland, and Newport are underway, all using Certified Local Government grants. To...
01/22/2026

Preservation projects in Cranston, Cumberland, and Newport are underway, all using Certified Local Government grants.

To qualify for Certified Local Government status, a community must have a historic district zoning ordinance and a historic district commission. We award up to $70, 000 in CLG grants each year to municipal projects that support history and heritage.

In Newport, that means the City is taking a close look at four historic structures on the old Naval Hospital campus and evaluating whether they can serve another use. The Newport Naval Hospital (1913) on Third Street permanently closed in 1997, moldering ever since, but the City of Newport has long considered acquiring the property. This study will give all parties important information about the preservation potential of the remaining buildings.

📷 1. Naval War College Museum (1955) 2. National Archives (1939-1947)

Address

150 Benefit Street
Providence, RI
02903

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 4pm
Tuesday 9am - 4pm
Wednesday 9am - 4pm
Thursday 9am - 4pm
Friday 9am - 4pm

Telephone

+14012222678

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