Virtual Tour of Hunter House in Newport, RI

EVENTS > VIRTUAL PROGRAMS

A rare surviving waterfront home from Newport’s colonial era, Hunter House was the first property rescued by The Preservation Society of Newport County in 1945. After a 75-year -long run of celebrating Newport’s 18th-century artisan community, the Preservation Society recently debuted a new tour of this iconic Rhode Island house museum. Supported in part by a Dean F. Failey Grant from the Decorative Arts Trust, the updated visitor experience provides an important model of reinterpreting a space and objects to include residents and narratives that had been overlooked in the past.

For the Trust’s virtual tour, Preservation Society Director of Museum Affairs and Chief Curator Leslie Jones introduces Research Fellow MaryKate Smolenski, who was integral to the research, planning, and script-writing of this new tour. MaryKate guides us on a fascinating journey through the experiences of the house’s owners and the enslaved people who worked there. Exquisite objects, including Goddard and Townsend furniture and Gilbert Stuart paintings, grace the rooms, all with stories relating to the house’s residents and Newport’s history. This inviting and informative tour is not to be missed! 

Registration Fee: Pay What You Can

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