Seniors Stop By Colorful Saunderstown

Senior travelers happen upon Saunderstown, a small village and historic district in the towns of Narragansett and North Kingstown, Rhode Island.

The population runs just over 6,000. The waterfront community was later named for the boat-building Saunders family, who moved into the area in the 1800s.

Saunderstown, Rhode Island is known as the birthplace of artist Gilbert Stuart, who is best known for painting the portrait of George Washington that is portrayed on the one-dollar bill. The Gilbert Stuart Birthplace and Museum consists of the house in which Stuart was born, a nature trail, and a functional gristmill.

Saunderstown is also the location of Casey Farm, an 18th-century plantation that is now a family farm. The farm, operated by Historic New England, grows organic vegetables, herbs, and flowers in a Community Agriculture Program.

 Seniors Enjoy Former Summer Resort  Area

The Saunderstown Historic District encompasses a section of Saunderstown which developed as a boatbuilding center and summer resort area in the late 19th century.

In addition to being home to a number of shipyards, several owned by members of the Saunders family, the area also became noted as a summer resort, hosting Benoni Lockwood and Frances Willing Wharton (a cousin to writer Edith Wharton), as well as the architect and artist Christopher Grant LaFarge, son of the famous artist John La Farge.

This area is mainly residential, with wood frame houses. Non-residential buildings include a country store, recreation center (which was formerly a fire barn), and the Saunderstown Post Office, which was built in 1902 as a Baptist church.

 Seniors Visit Casey Farm

Senior visitors make it a point not to miss Casey Farm. This mid-eighteenth century homestead overlooking Narragansett Bay was the center of a plantation that produced food for local and foreign markets. Located near Newport, Casey Farm had access to material goods imported from England, enabling its early owners to live in a fashionable manner.

Prosperity ended with the burning of Newport during the Revolution, and the farm settled into a pattern of absentee ownership. Today, farm managers raise organically grown vegetables, herbs, and flowers for subscribing households in a Community Supported Agriculture program.

Facebook suggests The Gilbert Stuart Birthplace and The Plum Pt. Bistro and Liliana’s Italian Restaurant would both be high on my list. The Coastal Growers Market with around twenty vendors would be a great place to stock up supplies for that picnic in the park.

Seniors could easily make it a vacation just visiting the wide variety of National Register of Historic Places in Washington County. There are 130 properties and districts listed on the National Register in the county, including 4 National Historic Landmarks. Seniors, enjoy a stop in Saunderstown. -jeb