Discover 11 hidden attractions, cool sights, and unusual things to do in Middletown (United States). Don't miss out on these must-see attractions: Norman Bird Sanctuary, St. Columba's Chapel, and Prescott Farm. Also, be sure to include Boyd's Windmill in your itinerary.
Below, you can find the list of the most amazing places you should visit in Middletown (Rhode Island).
Table of Contents
Norman Bird Sanctuary
Museum in Middletown, Rhode Island. Norman Bird Sanctuary is a 325-acre bird sanctuary, nature preserve, environmental education center, and museum at 583 Third Beach Road in Middletown, Rhode Island overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.
In 1949, the Norman Bird Sanctuary was founded through a bequest in the will of Mabel Norman Cerio. The Sanctuary comprises the largest area of preserved open space in Newport County. There are 325 acres and 7 miles of hiking trails. The refuge contains hay fields, woodlands and ridges overlooking the ocean and ponds. Hanging Rock, a prominent local landmark, is located within the sanctuary overlooking the ocean. There is also a Visitor's Center and gift shop, and a 19th-century barn museum featuring displays about the wildlife for children and adults.[1]
Address: 583 3rd Beach Rd, 02842-5738 Middletown
St. Columba's Chapel
Parish church in Middletown, Rhode Island. St. Columba's Chapel in Middletown, Rhode Island, is a parish church of the Episcopal Diocese of Rhode Island of the Episcopal Church. The church is located at 55 Vaucluse Avenue, Middletown, Rhode Island. The chapel is named for the Irish-born missionary St. Columba, renowned for his teaching, healing, and miracles in sixth-century Scotland.[2]
Address: 55 Vaucluse Ave, 02842-5742 Middletown
Prescott Farm
Museum in Middletown, Rhode Island. Prescott Farm is a historic preservation of a colonial farm in Middletown, Rhode Island. It spans 40 acres, and was in danger of demolition before Doris Duke, through the Newport Restoration Foundation bought it in 1973 and began restoration of the historical site. Notable features of it include an operational windmill, British General Prescott's Guard House, a county store, and a University of Rhode Island Master Gardener project with the purpose of simulating a historical vegetable garden through careful research on what crops where grown during that time period. The farm itself is typical of the farms on Aquidneck Island.[3]
Address: 2009 W Main Rd, 02842-7963 Middletown
Boyd's Windmill
Historical place in Middletown, Rhode Island. Boyd's Windmill, also known as Boyd's Wind Grist Mill, is a historic smock mill at Paradise Valley Park on Prospect Avenue in Middletown, Rhode Island. John Peterson built the windmill at the corner of Mill Lane and West Main Rd. in Portsmouth, Rhode Island in 1810, and William Boyd purchased it in 1815. It originally had four common sails, but four more were added by the family. The mill is a timber-frame structure, octagonal in shape, and about 30 feet tall, with a rotating cap powered by eight vanes with canvas sheets. The grindstones in the middle of the mill are Fall River granite; the upper one, which is connected to the power mechanisms, rotates six times for each turn of the mill's main shaft. In 1916 Benjamin Boyd removed the original vanes and powered the mill using a gasoline engine. It is one of only two historic windmills to survive on Aquidneck Island.
The windmill was restored by the Middletown Historical Society after receiving it as a donation in 1990 and moving it to Paradise Valley Park in Middletown. The windmill is open to the public on Sunday afternoons in July, August and September.
It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2001.[4]
Whitehall Museum House
Museum in Middletown, Rhode Island. The Whitehall Museum House is the farmhouse modified by Dean George Berkeley, when he lived in the northern section of Newport, Rhode Island that comprises present-day Middletown in 1729–1731, while working to open his planned St Paul's College on Bermuda. It is also known as Berkeley House or Bishop George Berkeley House and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1970.[5]
Address: 311 Berkeley Ave, 02842-5392 Middletown
Paradise School
Museum in Middletown, Rhode Island. The Paradise School is an historic school building at Paradise Avenue and Prospect Street in Middletown, Rhode Island. It is situated on farm land which historically belonged to the Whitman family for generations, and was donated by the family to the town of Middletown. Built in 1875, it is a modest wood-frame structure, housing a single classroom, with separate entrances and vestibules for boys and girls. The roof line has decorative sawn brackets, and there is a small oculus window in the front-facing gable. The two doorways, like the windows on the sides, are sheltered by small shed roofs clad in wooden shingles.
Classes were held in the building until 1955 when it became an administration office. The Middletown Historical Society acquired the building in 1976 and was later restored and holds a small museum.
The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.[6]
Clambake Club of Newport
Country club in Middletown, Rhode Island. The Clambake Club of Newport is a historic private club at 353 Tuckerman Avenue in Middletown, Rhode Island.[7]
Address: 353 Tuckerman Ave, 02842 Middletown
Witherbee School
School in Middletown, Rhode Island. The Witherbee School is a school house on Green End Avenue in Middletown, Rhode Island. It is a small 1+1⁄2-story gable-roofed structure, with a projecting section topped by a two-story tower. There are two entrances, leading to separate vestibules, which then lead into the single classroom. The vestibule areas were altered to accommodate indoor plumbing facilities sometime before 1940. The school was built in 1907 for the town by John Coggeshall. It closed in the 1940s, and is now run by the Middletown Historical Society as an educational center.
The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.[8]
Bailey Farm
Building in Middletown, Rhode Island. The Bailey Farm is an historic farm at 373 Wyatt Road in Middletown, Rhode Island. Now reduced from more than 100 acres to about 45 acres, the farm is a well-preserved example of a 19th-century island farm. It was owned by members of the Bailey family, possibly as early as the late 17th century, into the 19th century. The original main house appears to be a mid-18th century structure that was given a significant Greek Revival treatment in the 19th century. It is a 1-1/2 story Cape style house, three bays wide, with a central chimney. The main entrance is centered on the northern facade, and is flanked by sidelight windows and pilasters, with an entablature above. The corners of the building are pilastered. A series of outbuildings stand nearby. There is a second complex of buildings on the northwest part of the property, built in the 1930s near the location of the Bailey family cemetery.
The farm was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.[9]
Dennis J. Murphy House at Ogden Farm
The Dennis J. Murphy House at Ogden Farm is a historic house at 641 Mitchell's Lane in Middletown, Rhode Island. It is a 2+1⁄2-story wood-frame structure with vernacular Queen Anne styling, built c. 1900 for Dennis J. Murphy, the son of a local farmer. The house has a cross-gable roof line, and its exterior is adorned by decorative bargeboard trim, turned columns on the porches, brackets in the eaves, and other details which typify the Queen Anne period. Its porch was originally more extensive when built, but it was damaged in the New England Hurricane of 1938 and reduced in scope.
The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2007.[10]
Hamilton Hoppin House
The Hamilton Hoppin House is an historic house at 120 Miantonomi Ave in Middletown, Rhode Island. It has been known by several names, including Villalon, Montpelier, Shadow Lawn, Agincourt Inn, and, currently, The Inn at Villalon.
The oldest part of the house was designed by architect Richard Upjohn, as was Kingscote in Newport. It was built in an Italianate style in the mid-nineteenth century and it is one of the first Italianate stick-style houses to be built in the United States. The Hamilton Hoppin House was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1996.
The house was featured on an episode of Weird Travels as the Inn at Shadow Lawn and it was claimed to be haunted.[11]