The Preservation Society of Newport County is a private, non-profit organization

Non-profit organization

Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...

 based in Newport

Newport, Rhode Island

Newport is a city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States, about south of Providence. Known as a New England summer resort and for the famous Newport Mansions, it is the home of Salve Regina University and Naval Station Newport which houses the United States Naval War...

, Rhode Island

Rhode Island

The state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, more commonly referred to as Rhode Island , is a state in the New England region of the United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area...

. It is Rhode Island's largest and most-visited cultural organization. The organization's mission is to preserve the architectural heritage of Newport County, Rhode Island

Newport County, Rhode Island

-National protected areas:* Sachuest Point National Wildlife Refuge* Touro Synagogue National Historic Site-History:Newport County was constituted on June 22, 1703, as one of the two original counties of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. As originally established, Newport...

, including those of the Bellevue Avenue Historic District

Bellevue Avenue Historic District

The Bellevue Avenue Historic District is located along and around Bellevue Avenue in Newport, Rhode Island, United States. Its property is almost exclusively residential, including many of the mansions built by affluent summer vacationers in the city around the turn of the 20th century, including...

. Its fourteen historic properties and landscapes — seven of which are National Historic Landmark

National Historic Landmark

A National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance...

s, and eleven of which are open to the public — form a complete essay of American historical development from the Colonial era through the Gilded Age

Gilded Age

In United States history, the Gilded Age refers to the era of rapid economic and population growth in the United States during the post–Civil War and post-Reconstruction eras of the late 19th century. The term "Gilded Age" was coined by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner in their book The Gilded...

.

The Preservation Society is led by CEO Trudy Coxe

Trudy Coxe

Gertrude M. "Trudy" Coxe is an American environmental activist who is the current CEO of the Preservation Society of Newport County and the former Secretary of Environmental Affairs in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts....

.

History

The Preservation Society of Newport County was founded in 1945 by a dedicated and concerned group of Newporters led by Katherine and George Warren to save Hunter House from demolition

Demolition

Demolition is the tearing-down of buildings and other structures, the opposite of construction. Demolition contrasts with deconstruction, which involves taking a building apart while carefully preserving valuable elements for re-use....

. For a brief time they were known as the Georgian Society until they changed their name to the Preservation Society of Newport County.

Properties Open to the Public

• Arnold Burying Ground
  Arnold Burying Ground
  Arnold Burying Ground is a historic cemetery on Pelham Street in Newport, Rhode Island that is burial place of Rhode Island Governor Benedict Arnold, the ancestor of traitor Benedict Arnold....
  
  , founded 1675
• Hunter House, built 1748-1754
• Kingscote
  Kingscote (mansion)
  Kingscote is a Gothic Revival house museum in Newport, Rhode Island built in 1839. Kingscote was one of the first summer "cottages" constructed in Newport...
  
  , built 1839
• Chateau-sur-Mer
  Chateau-sur-Mer
  Chateau-sur-Mer is the first of the grand Bellevue Avenue mansions of the Gilded Age mansions in Newport, Rhode Island. It is now open to the public as a museum...
  
  , built 1852
• Chepstow
  Chepstow (mansion)
  Chepstow is an Italianate house museum located at 120 Narragansett Avenue in Newport, Rhode Island, US. Built in 1860, Chepstow originally served as an early summer "cottage". Currently, the Preservation Society of Newport County owns the property.-History:...
  
  , built 1860
• Green Animals Topiary Garden
  Green Animals Topiary Garden
  The Green Animals Topiary Garden, located in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, is the oldest and most northern topiary garden in the United States. The estate overlooks the Narragansett Bay. It contains a large collection of topiaries including eighty sculptured trees...
  
  , built c.1860
• Isaac Bell House
  Isaac Bell House
  The Isaac Bell House in Newport, Rhode Island, also known as Edna Villa, is one of the outstanding examples of Shingle Style architecture in the United States. It was built during the Gilded Age, when Newport was the summer resort of choice for America's wealthiest families.-History:Isaac Bell, Jr...
  
  , built 1883
• Marble House
  Marble House
  Marble House is one of the Gilded Age mansions of Newport, Rhode Island, now open to the public as a museum. It was designed by the architect Richard Morris Hunt, and said to be inspired by the Petit Trianon at Versailles . Grounds were designed by noted landscape architect Ernest W...
  
  , built 1888-1892
• The Breakers
  The Breakers
  The Breakers is a Vanderbilt mansion located on Ochre Point Avenue, Newport, Rhode Island, United States on the Atlantic Ocean. It is a National Historic Landmark, a contributing property to the Bellevue Avenue Historic District, and is owned and operated by the Preservation Society of Newport...
  
  , built 1893-1895
• The Elms
  The Elms (mansion)
  The Elms is a large mansion, or "summer cottage", located at 367 Bellevue Avenue, Newport, Rhode Island, in the United States. The Elms was designed by architect Horace Trumbauer for the coal baron Edward Julius Berwind, and was completed in 1901. Its design was copied from the Château d'Asnières...
  
  , built 1898-1901
• Rosecliff
  Rosecliff
  Rosecliff, built 1898-1902, is one of the Gilded Age mansions of Newport, Rhode Island, now open to the public as a museum.The house has also been known as the Herman Oelrichs House or the J. Edgar Monroe House....
  
  , built 1899-1902
• Rovensky Park
  Rovensky Park
  Rovensky Park is an historic park at the corner of Bellevue Avenue and Rovensky Avenue in Newport, Rhode Island, USA....
  
  , built 1852

Former PSNC Properties

• White Horse Tavern
  White Horse Tavern (Rhode Island)
  The White Horse Tavern, constructed before 1673 in Newport, Rhode Island, is one of the oldest tavern buildings in the United States. It is located on the corner of Farewell and Marlborough streets in Newport.-History:...
  
  , built in 1673 (restored by the PSNC in 1952, but now privately owned and operated as a working tavern)
• Malbone Castle and Estate
  Malbone Castle and Estate
  Malbone, a Gothic-style castle and National Historic Place originally built in 1741 . The estate is one of the oldest privately owned estates in Newport, Rhode Island. The estate once served as the country residence of Colonel Godfrey Malbone of Virginia and Connecticut...
  
  , built 1849, bequeathed to the PSNC in 1978, later sold to the Leach family

Board of Trustees 2008-2009

• John G. Winslow, Chairman Emeritus
• Pierre duPont Irving, Chairman
• Donald O. Ross, Treasurer

• Vice Presidents
  • Mrs. A.L. Ballard
  • Mrs. Edwin G. Fischer
  • David P. Leys
  • Keith W. Stokes
  • Paul L. Szapary

• William W. Humphrey, Jr.,Assistant Treasurer

• Mrs. A. Theodore Stautberg, Jr., Secretary

• Mrs. Richard I. Burnham,Assistant Secretary

External links

• The Preservation Society of Newport County Official Web Site.
• The Preservation Society of Newport County: an introduction from Magazine Antiques, April 1995.