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An island in the fog -- 06/01/11



I mentioned earlier this year that the company for which I work is celebrating its 100th birthday this year. (That is, the 100th anniversary of its formal incorporation paperwork being filed; it did not take its current name until several years later.)

Rhode Island employees (well, probably about a hundred of us) are going to be marking the actual birthday (June 16th) with a birthday lunch at the Eisenhower House at Fort Adams State Park. I am on the company's leadership council for Rhode Island (that may sound impressive but it's not really a big deal, there are only two hundred or so of us who work in Rhode Island, not the many thousands that you may find in some areas) and some of us on the centennial committee decided that instead of having our usual telephone meeting today, we would meet at Eisenhower House and take a look around and discuss final details with someone from the staff there.

It was very foggy coming across Narragansett Bay, crossing the bridge from the mainland to Jamestown (Cononicut Island) and then the Pell Bridge from there to Newport (Aquidneck Island). The first bridge was foggy, the second was so foggy that I put my lights on. (My car has day-running-lights, so the headlights are always on, but I wanted to have my tail lights on as well, to avoid being struck from behind.)

The picture below was taken from the grounds of Eisenhower House (which is level ground on top of a hill). That shadowy shape on the bay to the left is part of Cononicut Island; the small blob just to the right of the middle of the picture is Rose Island.

Eisenhower House was built as the home for the army general who was the commanding officer of Fort Adams. (Newport had prepared fortifications for defense throughout the entire colonial period. They built fortifications in this area of the island at the beginning of the Revolutionary War and Fort Adams was an active United States military base from 1824 through 1950.) President Eisenhower came to Rhode Island in the summer of 1958 to get away from the stress (and heat and humidity) of Washington and this became the "Summer White House" (accuracy in purpose although not in the siding color) from 1958 through 1960. Later the building was renamed "Eisenhower House" in his honor.

The photo below shows the main entrance to the building...

The building was designed in 1873 by George C. Mason -- a Newport architect who also designed many noted buildings in Newport. (His own personal house -- "Woodbine Cottage" -- in 1996 was turned into a B&B called "Architect's Inn")

Below is a view of the side of the building, taken from across the expansive lawns. (We will have a large party tent set up on the lawn area to the right in this photo.) This is where I was standing when I took the picture of the foggy Narragansett Bay, except for being turned 180 degrees.

Fort Adams (along with Eisenhower House) was turned over to Rhode Island in 1964 and became a state park. The state rents the house and grounds for weddings, parties, meetings, etc. (just as the Town of Narragansett does with Kinney Bungalow and the Narragansett Towers). Fort Adams is also home to the annual Newport Jazz Festival and the Newport Folk Festival.

I took this picture next to the entrance road to Fort Adams State Park -- yes, sheep and llamas...

And back across the foggy bay to home and my waiting computers.

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