little compton historic house tour

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Little Compton Historic House Tour

September 17, 2022 @ 12:00 pm - 5:00 pm edt.

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Little Compton Historic House Tour

Featuring ten historic properties with proceeds benefiting the Little Compton Historical Society.

In addition to the tour there is Patrons’ Brunch at Wyndfield Farm from 10 am to Noon.  Admission to the brunch is $100 and includes a House Tour ticket, tour of Wyndfield Farm’s historic buildings, a delicious brunch and a complimentary copy of The Stories Houses Tell.

This ten houses on this year's tour

Head House Long Highway, Goosewing Farm Built c. 1815 the Head House is a classic New England Cape-Codstyle house at the heart of historic Goosewing Farm. For much of the twentieth century the farm provided access to nearby Goosewing Beach. The property’s current owners, the Acebes Family, have recently completed a remarkably authentic restoration of the historic house with portals allowing visitors a view of its construction techniques. They have also creatively linked the historic Cape to a similarly sized and designed contemporary addition to provide comfortable kitchen and bathroom facilities. The farm’s stone barn has been recently restored providing views of the Atlantic Ocean that extend to Martha’s Vineyard and the Elizabeth Islands. The Head House restoration is one part of an award-winning architectural preservation plan for Goosewing Farm.

Huntoon House Sakonnet Point Road Incorporating the mid-eighteenth-century Bailey farm house, the Huntoon House features a number of historic fireplaces and a graceful front staircase. Twentieth-century additions including bay windows and a sun porch provide stunning views of the landscape from every direction. A graceful allée of Linden Trees leads to the house and is complimented by several gardens, one of which includes “The Trap” the site of several weddings. In the nineteenth century the property was known as the James Irving Bailey Farm. Bailey’s poultry was famous in New York. Much of his pastureland is now the “back nine” for the Sakonnet Golf Club.

Lunt House Fort Church East Reservation Built in the 1950s using two World War II buildings from the Fort Church Army Reservation, the Lunt House epitomizes Little Compton’s long-standing tradition of repurposing buildings. A barracks and an administration building were combined to form a summer home with spectacular views of Briggs Marsh and Richmond’s Island. The property was once part of the Peleg Bailey Farm. At first simply or even hastily constructed the house was the summer home of well-known publishers Storer Lunt and Margaret McElderry. Today after significant restorations, updates and additions, it is the year-round residence of the Brownell Family.

Marsh House Warren’s Point Road Resting on land that was once part of the Tillinghast Bailey Farm, the Marsh house is another example of the creative repurposing of Little Compton’s buildings. Originally built on the nearby beach as a beach club, the club house and two rows of bathhouses were moved back from the beach to their present location in the spring of 1938 to create a summer home for Alexander and Elizabeth Philippi. That well-timed move helped the buildings escape the destruction of the 1938 Hurricane. The house remains in the Philippi family today and is a well-loved family and community gathering spot for parties and holiday celebrations. Its impressive fireplace is made from stones collected on the beach.

Number 4 Schoolhouse West Main Road Originally one of Little Compton’s ten District School Houses, the Number 4 School House has been lovingly renovated into an inviting year-round home. The property features a backyard cottage that provides extra room for guests. The Town of Little Compton acquired the property via a Sheriff’s auction and used it as a school house until 1929 when the central school opened on the Commons. It has been a private home ever since. The Number 4 School was used for grades one and two in the 1920s and several Little Compton residents can still remember attending school clustered around its pot-bellied stove for warmth.

Seabury House West Main Road One of Little Compton’s very few Victorian homes, the Albert T. Seabury House was built in the late 1880s on a farm that has been in use since the 1680s. The original farmhouse was moved to the north to make room for the Seabury House and still exists today. The Seabury House retains its original Victorian-style character and now provides a comfortable country home for the current owners. A number of furnishings displayed throughout the house belonged to the original occupants. The property includes several original outbuildings including an impressive stone barn that is now being preserved for use as a family gathering space.

Strobell-Goodrich Cottage Bailey’s Ledge Constructed in the early-twentieth century this summer cottage was the retreat of Caroline Lloyd Strobell an author and one of the three female owners of the Communist newspaper The Daily Worker. Caroline loved her quiet Little Compton home built in “The Orchard” of the historic James Irving Bailey Farm. The cottage was soon joined by two other summer homes enjoyed by Caro’s family and friends, including her nephew Lloyd Goodrich the Director of the Whitney Museum in New York City. The Orchard was often visited by relatives Frances and Albert Hackett, both Hollywood screenwriters. The three houses in The Orchard are still owned by a Goodrich family member today.

Seaconnet House West Main Road Now a large private home, often called The Palace, Seaconnet House was once an enormous hotel welcoming summer visitors to Little Compton in the 1840s. Henry Richmond deconstructed the hotel in 1863 and created the home much as we see it today. The Army took the property by eminent domain during World War II for use as officer’s quarters on its extensive Fort Church. The Richmonds were able to purchase it back and continue its use as a summer home. Shay Lynch has enjoyed the property as his family’s summer home for over forty years. The house features a dancing staircase, a sunroom addition built to resemble a ship’s overturned hull, and a “HaHa” or sunken garden.

Friends Meeting House West Main Road The Friends Meeting House was rebuilt in 1815 after a terrible hurricane damaged its c. 1700 predecessor. As they often did in Little Compton and in other early-America communities, builders reused many of the eighteenth-century materials in the new structure. The building features two separate entrances, one for women and one for men, and has a drop-down wall that creates two separate worship spaces. The separate spaces were a sign of equality and respect between men and women.

Wilbor House Museum West Main Road One of the oldest surviving homes in Little Compton, the earliest rooms of the Wilbor House were built c. 1690 by Samuel and Mary Wilbor. Additions followed in 1740 and 1860. The Wilbor House has been home to almost 100 different people since 1690 including indentured servants, school teachers, Portuguese immigrants and twentieth-century tenants. A special exhibition, The Stories Houses Tell, will be on display in the Archival Barn.

Created by Marjory O'Toole (marj...o.com) on September 9, 2015 - Wednesday - 2:09 pm (Eastern) Edited by Lee Wright ([email protected]) on September 9, 2015 - Wednesday - 7:13 pm (Eastern) Edited by Lee Wright ([email protected]) on September 9, 2015 - Wednesday - 7:13 pm (Eastern) Edited by Lee Wright ([email protected]) on September 9, 2015 - Wednesday - 7:14 pm (Eastern) Edited by Lee Wright ([email protected]) on September 9, 2015 - Wednesday - 7:17 pm (Eastern) Edited by Lee Wright ([email protected]) on September 9, 2015 - Wednesday - 7:19 pm (Eastern)

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Little Compton Historical Society

• 548 West Main Road, Little Compton, RI 02837
• (401) 635-4035

Take a tour of historic rooms from the late 1600s up to the 1940s with our docents in the Wilbor House. Learn about the history of farming and trades in our new permanent exhibition, Everyone was a Farmer. Explore the impact of Little Compton’s Portuguese immigration in Terra Nova, Vida Nova. Discover what makes Little Compton’s historic homes unique in the Special Exhibitions Gallery.  Get a preview of our buildings & grounds on our YouTube Channel

All efforts have been made to ensure the accuracy of the information on this website, however it is subject to change. Information is updated in an ongoing manner in partnership with local tourism offices, individual businesses and organizations and via a direct feed from goprovidence.com, discovernewport.org, southcountyri.com and Yelp.com.

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Little Compton Historical Society House Tour Returns

The popular event is back with access to nine unique properties.

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Architecture lovers in the East Bay know the Historic House Tour organized by the Little Compton Historical Society is a can’t-miss event this fall. Featuring nine historic properties, the tour explores the town’s rich architectural heritage, building on decades of research by dedicated staff and volunteers.

The nine properties covered by the tour include the Kempton Clark House in Warren’s Point; Manton Property Archeological Dig on Mullin Hill Road; Samuel Church Mansion in Adamsville; Sea Bourne Mary House just south of Commons Road; and the Friends Meeting House, Mill House, Brownell Farm, Wunnegin, and Wilbor House Museum, all on West Main Road. A separate ticket allows visitors to attend a lavish brunch at Dancing Oaks in Pequahonk, a historic Little Compton horse farm featuring buildings dating back to the 1600s. Several of these properties are rarely open to the public, so the tour is a chance to see inside these pieces of Rhode Island history.

One notable property to visit during the tour is painter Sydney Burleigh’s studio Peggoty, built on top of an abandoned catboat ferry salvaged by the artist – its keel sunk into dry land on the Burleigh family property. (If Burleigh’s name rings a bell, you might know him as one of the designers of the eye-catching half-timbered Fleur de Lys Studio on Thomas Street in Providence.) The unusual boat-bottomed studio with its thatched roof has been a part of the Little Compton Historical Society’s collection since 1962 and can be found on the grounds of the Wilbor House Museum.

Historical Society executive director Marjory O’Toole hopes guests will appreciate the details that make these properties so special: a panoramic view of Warren’s Point from the cupola at Kempton House, an old windmill framing structure visible inside the Mill House, and the cryptic marks scratched into wood surrounding the fireplace at Sea Bourne Mary, intended to prevent a witch from entering via the chimney. Visitors can also enjoy the Historical Society’s two long-term exhibitions, “Everyone Was a Farmer,” which explores agricultural history in the area, and “Terra Nova, Vita Nova,” covering the Portuguese community in Little Compton.

Augmenting the tour is the release of a new book by the Historical Society, The Stories Houses Tell: A Second Collection of Little Compton House Histories . The book is the result of intensive research undertaken by volunteers and staff into the Historical Society’s properties, yielding previously overlooked stories and intriguing historical tidbits about the inhabitants and worshipers. Visitors seeking more information about these extraordinary properties should consider attending the lecture “How to ‘Read’ a Historic Building,” given by Clark Schoettle, historic preservationist and executive director of the Providence Revolving Fund. The talk will be held at the Little Compton Community Center on September 1, and will also be live-streamed via Zoom.

See LittleCompton.org/events for more information.

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Fascinating Houses on Little Compton Historic House Tour

If you’re in need of a historic house fix then sign up for the Little Compton, Rhode Island Historic House Tour taking place Saturday, September 17, 2022.

Little Compton is a sleepy, rural community with a powerhouse of a historical society and loads of historic houses and history. When they offer a historic house tour it’s guaranteed not to be your average tour.

Two of the houses on this tour are tantalizingly unique. One is the Mill House – a windmill converted into a home with interior details by famed Providence arts and craft artist Sydney Burleigh. The other is the Sea Bourne Mary House which originally stood in Londonderry, NH but was dismantled in the 1800s and re-built in Little Compton.

The Little Compton Historic Society sets a theme each year and goes all in on the theme with a museum exhibit, book and presentations by experts. This year’s theme – historic houses – also includes the historic house tour.

In addition to taking the tour, you can prep for it by watching the teaser videos on YouTube . You can also read the book Stories to Tell: A Second Collection of Little Compton House Histories . The book details the histories of the houses in the 2022 house tour. There is a also an expert presentation available on YouTube called How to “Read” a Historic Building by Clark Schoettle.

You will never again be so well prepared for a house history tour!

For more details and to purchase the $50 tickets visit the Little Compton Historical Society website .

Here’s are previews of some of the houses you’ll see on the tour:

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ONCE IN A LIFETIME: Little Compton tour offers glimpse into historical homes

A rare glimpse inside several of Sakonnet’s historically significant properties is in store this Sunday at the Little Compton Historical Society’s house tour.

“I don’t use the phrase ‘once in a lifetime’ very often, but in reality, this may be a once in a lifetime opportunity to see some of these houses,” said Marjory O’Toole, managing director of the quaint seaside town’s historical society. “Each one is very different; some of them are very grand and others are charming little homes that are important because of their age and history.”

In addition to the infrequency of the tour, (every five or six years) O’Toole said as far as she can recall, not one of the eight houses has ever been open for public viewing for historical society’s main fundraiser. In addition to the private properties, three museums will also be open: the Chace Cory House, site of the Tiverton Historical Society, the Friends Meeting House at 230 Main Road and the Little Compton Historical Society’s Wilbor House, one of the oldest homes in Little Compton. A special exhibition, The History of Little Compton, First Light: Sakonnet 1660-1820, will be on display in the Wilbor House archival barn during the tour as well.   

O’Toole said the tour is held only every five or six years because it takes about 100 volunteers to organize, plan and staff every room of the properties. At each home tour-goers will meet up with the volunteers, who will be able to answer questions about the homes, farmhouses and taverns that date from the late 1600s to the mid 1900s. “We’re delighted that so many people are willing to open their homes,” said O’Toole, adding that the support is an indication that the town embraces the efforts of the very active historical society. “It’s a historic community; people enjoy that and they appreciate it.”

The post-and-beam constructed Sea-Bourne Mary House, 35 South of Commons Road is not only architecturally significant, but also the subject of a romantic tale of a baby born aboard a ship that was taken over by pirates in 1720. The story has it that the pirate captain, hearing of the baby that was born in the midst his invasion of the ship, tenderly offered up loot to her parents, who agreed to name her after his recently deceased wife, Mary.  When they arrived in Portsmouth, N.H., aboard the ship that set out from England they eventually settled into the home, which was built in Londonderry, NH around 1690. She eventually married in a dress made from a piece of silk that the pirate gave her parents and was said to have lived a long and happy life dying at age 94 in 1814.

In 1937, avid preservationist Carlton Richmond had the house in New Hampshire dismantled and moved to Little Compton where it was reconstructed at 35 South of Commons Road.

The current owners, who prefer not to be identified by name, had an addition put on the house in the same post-and-beam construction with all handmade kitchen cabinets, windows and doors fitted with antique door hinges to match the original home. They also constructed a post-and-beam garage on the property.

One of the owners, a graduate architect who worked for many years on the conservation of Benjamin Franklin’s home in London said the original living room walls are rare 30-inch wide hardwood ship lathe panels and the center Rumsford fireplace is a unique construction. “It’s a very simple, pure example of post-and-beam construction,” she said.

The William Whalley Homestead, 33 Burchard Ave., which is one only a few houses in Little Compton to be listed on the National Register of Historic Homes is also featured along with one of the first grand summer homes, the Dora Wilbour Patten House, 541 Main Road built in 1908-09.

A private property in Tiverton, the Carden Riley House at 4100 Main Road built in 1724 was recently ‘updated” with the addition to the house of a five-bay Colonial tavern that was rescued and moved from New Hampshire.

The tour also includes Bumble Bee Farm, 316 West Main Road, the Brown Farm, 339 West Main Road, the Maverick House, 99B Sakonnet Point Road and the Bailey-Sisson House, a side-by-side house at 95 Sakonnet Point Road that was constructed in stages in the late 18th and mid 19th centuries. “I can’t wait for the tour; each of the houses is wonderful in their own way,” said O’Toole. “There’s also fantastic outbuildings, stone walls, gardens and views.”

Tickets to the house tour are limited and are now on sale at the Wilbor House Museum 548 West Main Road or the Little Compton Community Center on the town commons. Tickets purchased prior to the day of the event are $25.  Tickets purchased on the day of the event will be $30. The houses will be open from noon until 5 p.m. on the 19th.  Ticket holders will receive a map and will drive their own vehicles to each home in any order they choose.

Accompanied children age 12 and over are welcome.  High heels, photography of any kind and food and drink are not allowed on the tour.  The event is rain or shine.  For more information, call the historical society at 635-4035.

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Doors open at some of Little Compton's most historic homes

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Some of Little Compton's most historic homes and historical properties will be open for public tours next Saturday, when the Little Compton Historical Society holds its historic property tour for the first time in seven years.

The tour runs from noon to 5 p.m., and visitors can explore the properties in any order they wish. While they're there, volunteer docents will help direct visitors through the homes and will answer questions. Each site will have a designated parking area, and car-pooling is encouraged.

On the tour this year are:

• The Brownell Farm. An iconic c.1815 Little Compton farmhouse that has remained in the Brownell Family more than 200 years.

• The Church House and the Spite Tower. A merchant family’s mansion in Adamsville is one of the few houses built in early Little Compton not intended to be a farmhouse or a summer home.

• The Mill. One of Little Compton’s first summer homes, it incorporates a three-story windmill and the fanciful bas-relief plaster sculptures of artist Sydney Burleigh.

• The Kempton House. One of Little Compton’s few Victorian-styled farmhouses, it offers a 360-degree view of Warren’s Point from its cupola and has remained in the Kempton-Clark family since its construction   in 1871.

• Sea Bourne Mary. A beautifully preserved early 18th-century home brought to Little Compton from New Hampshire. The home is surrounded by the legend of Ocean Born Mary and her pirate.

• Wunnegin. An elegant c. 1918 summer home that incorporates a much earlier 1779 farmhouse, it has recently undergone an award-winning restoration and a revitalization to its Lloyd Lawton garden;

• The Wilbor House. The Historical Society’s c.1691 Historic House Museum and outbuildings, including a special exhibit on Little Compton’s Historic Houses, and permanent exhibits “Everyone Was a Farmer” and “Terra Nova, Vida Nova: The Portuguese in Little Compton;”

• The Quaker Meeting House. Also a Historical Society property, the Meeting House is typically open to the public only a few days per year or by appointment. This building was rebuilt in 1815 after a damaging storm with funds borrowed from Afro-Indigenous Quaker Merchant, Paul Cuffe. Eizabeth Cazden, a Quaker historian will be onsite during the tour to answer your questions.

• The Manton Farm. This archaeological site explores the cellar hole of one of Little Compton’s few 19th and 20th-century Afro-Indigenous families. Archaeologist Holly Herbster will be digging during the tour and visitors are welcome to ask questions or participate if they like.

About the tour

The society's historic house tours have been held for more than 50 years and are scheduled once every five years. But because of the pandemic, it has been seven years since the last was held. Society organizers began preparing for the tour more than a year in advance by researching each property and the people who lived and worked in them. The result is the second volume in its house history book series, “The Stories Houses Tell.”

Tickets benefit the society, and are $50. They can be purchased at the Wilbor House or at littlecompton.org. Tickets will be held for pickup at the Little Compton Community Center on the Commons on the day of the tour. Ticket pickup and day of event ticket sales will begin at 11 am. Day of event tickets are $60.

An optional Patrons Brunch will be held at Dancing Oaks, an additional historic property located in Pequahonk, a secluded part of Little Compton on the east edge of Quicksand Pond. The brunch runs from 10 a.m. to noon on the day of the tour, and tickets are $125. Brunch tickets include a regular tour ticket and a copy of “The Stories Houses Tell,”

For more information, call 401-635-4035. 

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Wilbor House

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Wilbor House and its collection

The Wilbor House, located at 548 West Main Road in Little Compton, Rhode Island, is a historic house museum that also serves as the headquarters of the Little Compton Historical Society. This location offers a unique opportunity for visitors to explore a piece of history while also learning about the local area's past.

Historical Buildings on the Wilbor House Property

The Wilbor House property is home to eight buildings of historical significance, six of which were part of the original Wilbor farmstead. This complex was used for farming from 1690, when the east end of the house was built, until 1955, when the property was acquired by the Little Compton Historical Society. Visitors can explore these buildings and gain a deeper understanding of the area's agricultural history.

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Houses with stories to tell

LITTLE COMPTON, R.I. — Like a rare celestial event, the Little Compton Historic House Tour only comes along once every five years, with this year's on Sunday, Sept. 20.

The upcoming tour will include 10 stops — eight private homes and two museum properties.

There's plenty of variety, including the 1690 Wilbor House Museum; Seaconnet House, which had been a hotel and an officer's quarters in World War II; a meticulously restored 1815 Cape near Goosewing Beach; a Victorian farmhouse; a renovated schoolhouse, and more.

Marjory O'Toole, managing director of the Little Compton Historical Society, said creative re-use and renovation has long been a characteristic of Little Compton houses.

She said the house tour is an important fundraiser for the society. But it also serves to educate both Little Compton residents and others about the history of the community.

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"We're not necessarily looking for classic houses, but for houses with interesting stories to tell," O'Toole said.

The Strobell-Goodrich Cottage, for example, was built in the early 20th century and served as a summer retreat of Caroline Lloyd Strobell, an author and one of three female owners of the Communist newspaper The Daily Worker.

O'Toole said it took about a year to put the house tour together. "It's a lot to get people to open up their homes," she said.

Dora Millikin, president of the Little Compton Historical Society board, is permitting the Millikin family home, Marsh House, to be part of the tour.  It was originally built as a beach club, then moved back from the beach and converted to a private home just in time to escape the great hurricane of 1938.

"It started out as a very public place, because it used to be a beach club," Millikin said. "There were a lot of gatherings there."

O'Toole said participants in the house tour, which runs from noon to 5 p.m., can begin at whichever house they like, and visit the sites in any order they like. There are about 100 volunteers, roughly 10 at each location, with a "house captain" in charge.

As for the homeowners, some like to hang around, and others do not. "Some owners really want to be on hand. Some run for the hills," O'Toole said.

The Little Compton house tour has a limit of 1,000 people. Along with the tour itself, there is the Patron's Brunch at Wyndfield Farm in Little Compton, which is limited to 100 people.

In preparation for the tour, the Little Compton Historical Society has published a book about the houses, "The Stories Houses Tell," with detailed histories of each property. The society also created a exhibit at its headquarters, the Wilbor House Museum on West Main Road, to complement the tour.

O'Toole said the tour, book and exhibit take particular care to acknowledge the roles of women, children, servants and slaves in the history of Little Compton.

The Wilbor House Museum is also a stop on the house tour. One of the oldest houses in Little Compton, its original rooms date back to 1690, with expansions in 1740 and in 1860. Walking through the house is a little like traveling through time, and it's easy to see how living standards improved from 1690 to 1740 to 1860.

O'Toole said very old buildings, such as Wilbor House, had a better chance of survival if they were able to grow and change. "If a family changed and expanded the house, it protected the older rooms," she said.

O'Toole said about 100 people lived at the Wilbor House between 1690 and 1955, when it was acquired by the Historical Society. "Many of the houses on the tour were multifamily houses," she said. "You need to think of them as more like rural apartments instead of single-family homes."

Another stop is the Head House, at Goosewing Farm. A classic New England Cape built about 1815, it's now used as the guest house for the larger Sisson House located just across the road.

The house has been perfectly restored, with glass-covered portals in some of the walls to reveal the original construction. The property owners, the Acebes family, also built an addition, linked to the original home by a short hallway, that contains a sleek, contemporary kitchen and bathroom.

The mid-19th century barn right behind the house has been turned into a remarkable entertainment/gathering space with gleaming wood, skylights, bar areas, a hidden movie screen, and contemporary steel fireplace with a very tall steel chimney.

It has a small seating area, surrounded by glass, with gorgeous views of Quicksand Pond looking across to Westport.

For a touch of whimsy, the barn has a pair of swings just inside one of its massive doors. Open the doors, and you can swing outside the barn and back in again.

If you go ...

The Little Compton Historic House Tour takes place Sunday, Sept. 20, from noon to 5 p.m., rain or shine. Tickets are $35 in advance, and may be purchased at littlecompton.org or at the Little Compton Historical Society, 548 West Main Road. Online ticket sales end Sept. 19 at 5 p.m. On the day of the tour, tickets are $40, available starting at 11 a.m. at the Little Compton Community Center at the Little Compton Commons. Tickets to the brunch are $100 and are also available online or at the Wilbor House and include the house tour and a copy of "The Stories Houses Tell."

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Changing seasons, changing exhibits at Little Compton Historical Society

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As fall and winter weather approaches, the Little Compton Historical Society is updating its hours and offerings. The Women’s History exhibit, occupying the special exhibition space since July 2020, will make way for a new exhibit on historic houses coming in July 2022. The last opportunity to view the Women’s History Special Exhibit in person is Sunday, October 24. However, the online version of the exhibit has a permanent home at littlecompton.org alongside a selection of other past exhibits. The online exhibit includes a downloadable file of over 60 biographical banners and over 300 community-contributed women’s histories.

Visitors are welcome at the Historical Society during the off-season, Tuesday through Friday from 10am to 5 pm, to tour the Everyone Was a Farmer and Terra Nova, Vida Nova exhibits. Visitors can also schedule private tours of the Wilbor House, though it is necessary to call ahead to confirm staff availability. 

During the off-season staff and volunteers will be busily preparing for next season’s exhibit. The popular Historic House Tour will be returning for 2022 and work extends far beyond the September 17 th event. Researchers will delve into LCHS’ archives and other regional archives as well as conduct oral history interviews. They will trace land ownership as far as possible, often back to the first English proprietors, within the Town Hall’s vault. Researchers will record and develop stories related to the property as well as the owning or renting families. Staff and volunteers will also identify and describe changes to building(s) on the properties. Each property’s designated researcher will then compose a comprehensive essay on each property including historic images and supporting documents.

The Historical Society will print the collected essays in a book available for purchase by the public similar to The Stories Houses Tell from 2015. Simultaneously, curators will locate and interpret related objects, documents, and images to be installed in the special exhibition space. These interpretations will then go to a graphic designer to create the exhibition panels that will support the experience of exhibit visitors and Historic House Tour participants beginning in July 2022.

Educational programming will continue to be offered virtually over the course of the winter as well, and additional information will be added to the Society’s website as it becomes available, including registration links.

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This small new england town is still deeply rooted in its history.

Can you guess the town where "everyone was a farmer?"

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Spoiler Alert : The links below reference the “Mystery Main Streets and Backroads” town by name. If you’d like to guess the location, we suggest you watch all the video segments before exploring the links below.

The Little Compton Historical Society is based out of the Wilbur House Museum in Little Compton, Rhode Island. The property features the home, restored to different periods of its history, a family cemetery, and a large barn with the permanent exhibit “Everyone was a Farmer.” The Historical Society has also made a conscious effort to expand resources to tell a more inclusive version of the town’s history with access to stories and original publications on the history of women, people of color, and children who may have been underrepresented in the past.

The Wilbur General Store though no longer run by the Wilbur family, is a one-stop-shop for many town residents and day travelers alike. The store features everything from fashion, had curated by the owner, souvenirs, and sandwiches to hardware items and margarita mix.