NEWPORT, RI.- The Newport Historical Society’s research team is reinterpreting its traditional house museum, the c.1697 Wanton-Lyman-Hazard House. Instead of displaying chamber pots and rope beds, the property will open its historic doors in 2015 as Revolution House, Newport’s sole museum devoted to the American Revolution.

“We have found that our visitors are extremely interested in learning more about the American Revolution when they visit Newport. After all, in many ways, it all started here,” explains the Society’s Executive Director Ruth Taylor.

Although well-known history celebrates the Boston Tea Party and the Battles of Lexington and Concord, the first episodes of armed resistance against the British happened right in Rhode Island on Narragansett Bay.

In the wake of the Sugar Act of 1764, violence broke out when colonists took over Fort George on Goat Island, off the far end of Long Wharf, and fired cannon on the British ship, St. John whose crew allegedly stole merchandise from Newport businesses but which was also enforcing tax laws against local ships.

More violence erupted in 1765 when a long boat from the British ship the Maidstone was captured by an angry mob, dragged through the streets, and set fire in the square. This ship had been impressing Rhode Islanders into the British Navy, that is, capturing them and forcing them to serve on British ships, a common but highly unpopular practice of the British here and elsewhere.

In 1769 Newporters destroyed the British revenue sloop the Liberty. After harshly questioning the captains of two ships out of Connecticut, the Captain of the Liberty was surrounded by an angry mob of Newporters and forced to bring his crew in from the ship. Locals boarded the empty ship, cut it loose and it floated around the Point where it was stripped and burned. London protested to Rhode Island officials, but decided to let the matter drop.

Burning of the Gaspee 1772
An even more significant incident, one that some historians claim actually sparked the American Revolution, didn’t take place here in Newport but started with the departure from Newport of a packet ship, one of the ships that made regular runs between Colonial ports. This incident involved an encounter between the packet ship, the Hannah, and the British ship HMS Gaspee.

“Next summer marks the 250th anniversary of the Stamp Act Riot, the first in a series of events that eventually led to the Revolutionary War.” Stamp Act Riots occurred in Boston and in Newport, among other cities. It was during a riot begun at the Colony House in August of 1765 that patriots sacked and attempted to tear down the Wanton-Lyman-Hazard House, then home to Martin Howard, loyalist and tax collector. The NHS will celebrate the Stamp Act riots this summer with a reenactor-led public “riot” on Saturday August 23, 2014, along with other programs. Next summer, the new Revolution House will debut.

Revolution House will provide a dedicated exhibit space to showcase the important role that Newport played in the build-up to and conduct of the Revolutionary War. Innovative exhibits and displays will be installed in the house, which will use artifacts and documents from the Society’s world-class collections. The property will fill a void in the current cultural offerings throughout Newport’s Old Quarter. To learn more about the house’s history and Newport’s role in the American Revolution visit www.RevolutionaryNewport.com .

This tour season is the last opportunity for visitors to see the property as a conventional house museum. The c.1697 Wanton-Lyman-Hazard House is open for tours in May, November & December on Saturdays and Sundays from 11am-3pm; it’s open daily 11am-3pm June through October. Tours cost $8 per person and are free for NHS members.

“The Historical Society is growing,” Taylor states. “As the repository of Newport’s history, this is a natural step in expanding our mission.”