{"id":6458,"date":"2014-11-11T16:03:36","date_gmt":"2014-11-11T16:03:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/harmony9.org\/?p=6458"},"modified":"2014-11-11T16:07:14","modified_gmt":"2014-11-11T16:07:14","slug":"thanksgiving-weekend-historicalmasonic-tour-revolutionary-war-forts-and-sites-in-ri","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harmony9.org\/?p=6458","title":{"rendered":"Historical\/Masonic Tour Revolutionary War Forts and Sites in RI – Saturday, November 29, 2014"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Travel<\/a>Thanksgiving Weekend Historical\/Masonic Tour<\/h1>\n

Revolutionary War Forts and Sites in RI<\/strong><\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

Most Worshipful Wyman P. Hallstrom, III invites you to join a Masonic tour on Saturday, November 29th<\/sup>\u00a0led by brother Rick Lynch.\u00a0\u00a0The tour will begin promptly at 8:30 AM from the Grand Lodge parking lot and proceed as a car-pool convoy, returning by 4:30 PM to the Grand Lodge.\u00a0\u00a0Car-pooling is encouraged, as some sites will have parking limitations.\u00a0\u00a0Exact addresses will be provided for each site visit so that drivers can use their GPS units and not worry about following in a long automobile caravan.\u00a0\u00a0The trip will require a fair amount of walking and a little uphill walking.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

RI Freemasons played an important part in the Revolutionary War.\u00a0\u00a0Brothers from St. John\u2019s Lodge Newport and St. Johns Lodge Providence served as officers in the Continental Army.\u00a0\u00a0They played important roles in many of the battles during the war and their efforts will be explained.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Rhode Island has many forts that were built during this period to protect the republic from the British, of which some still survive today.\u00a0\u00a0Some are well known and others have been lost to time yet their ruins still exist on the landscape. The following sites listed will be visited on the trip and the final stop will be at the impressive Fort Adams in Newport.\u00a0\u00a0Here we will receive a behind the scenes tour of the fort and all its architecture.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

9 Forts were known to have existed in Providence along shoreline.\u00a0\u00a0Only the remains of a couple exist and our first stop will be to one of these; Fort Hill located along Veteran\u2019s Parkway in East Providence.\u00a0\u00a0We will also visit the city overlook site along the parkway where we will view the site of Fort Hiram, and several of the other forts.\u00a0\u00a0The Fort Hiram was built following the in War in 1814 by 230 Freemasons under the direction of the Grand Master and Grand officers.\u00a0\u00a0It was a breastwork built at India Point, measuring 430\u2019 long by 10\u2019 wide by 5\u2019 high all built in 1 day!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Our next stop will take us to the hilltop site of Fort Barton in Tiverton, named after brother and Colonel William Barton of St Johns Lodge Providence.\u00a0\u00a0Brother Barton is best known for his capture of Major General Richard Prescott the commander of all British troops on the island.\u00a0\u00a0The fort breastworks are still visible and the park offers an observation tower with commanding views of the mid and upper waters of Narragansett Bay.\u00a0\u00a0We then move on to nearby site of\u00a0Fort Butts in Portsmouth, almost across the street from the Eureka Temple.\u00a0\u00a0This is a totally undeveloped site with the original ruins and artifacts known to very few.\u00a0\u00a0Fort Butts was the site of the major \u201cBattle of Rhode Island\u201d. We will also stop at the nearby overlook on West Main Rd. where interpretive signs tell of the Battle and the several prominent landmarks associated with it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

From Fort Butts we proceed over to the island of Jamestown where we will visit the \u201cConanicut Battery\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0This Battery\/Fort was erected with its cannons to defend the \u201cWest Passage\u201d of the bay. Built by the local militia for defense but lost during the occupation of Jamestown by the British and then retaken with the aid of the French.\u00a0\u00a0Also located here are 4 triangulation stations used during WW II for the firing of all the \u201cheavy\u201d guns of nearby Ft. Wetherill and Ft. Dumpling.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Fort Adams in Newport will be our last stop and most informative. Built by 300 Irish Masons brought to America by the US Army during the period 1825-1838.\u00a0\u00a0Alexander MacGregor a Scottish operative Freemason was employed and given oversight of the Fort\u2019s masonry construction. We will have a private guided tour of the entire fort and the \u201cSouthern Battery\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0Ft.\u00a0\u00a0Adams was the 2nd<\/sup>\u00a0largest coastline defense of WW II, second only to the slightly larger Ft. Munroe in Virginia.\u00a0\u00a0The Fort was started during the Revolutionary War and was in service until the late 1950s.\u00a0\u00a0The construction is most impressive with medieval and modern methods employed.\u00a0\u00a0Built by masons and Freemasons we will view the original cornerstone laid deep in one of the many tunnels as well as view the \u201cMason\u2019s Marks\u201d left on many of the stones.\u00a0\u00a0Our guide for the tour will be historian and fort archivist, Matthew \u2018Doc\u2019 Perry, who incidentally has recently petitioned St. Johns Lodge Portsmouth to join the Craft.\u00a0This will be our last stop of the tour.\u00a0\u00a0From here most will head home or return to Grand Lodge to reclaim your cars.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There will be a fee of $12.00 per adult to join the tour.\u00a0\u00a0The proceeds will go to the Fort Adams Trust and specifically the museum and archive fund.\u00a0\u00a0This is the normal fee charged for a visit to the park. I ask that you make out checks to the \u201cFort Adams Trust\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0Checks are preferred to cash.\u00a0\u00a0It is necessary that you make a reservation to join the trip, as I will be providing a guide booklet to the sites we will be visiting.\u00a0\u00a0Everyone attending will receive one and I need a count several days in advance to get them printed.\u00a0\u00a0Because we will have an aggressive schedule, I ask that each person attending bring a snack or lunch and drinks for the trip.\u00a0\u00a0We will not be able to afford the time to stop for lunch as daylight hours are short this time of the year and we need to be done by 4:00 PM.\u00a0\u00a0I hope you can join us on this exciting trip, which I hope will be the first of many future \u201cMasonic\u201d field trips in the coming year.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If you are not yet tired and seek more knowledge, I would also invite you to travel directly to Charity Lodge after the trip where we will be hosting a \u201cStar Party\u201d that evening on behalf of our Youth Committee.\u00a0\u00a0Several telescopes will be set up to view the heavens.\u00a0\u00a0It will begin at approximately 6:00 PM.\u00a0\u00a0In the event of cloudy skies there will also be a presentation on the \u201c1947 Roswell UFO Incident\u201d.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Fraternally,<\/p>\n

Rick Lynch<\/p>\n

hstrclrsch@aol.com<\/a><\/p>\n

401-954-3829<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thanksgiving Weekend Historical\/Masonic Tour Revolutionary War Forts and Sites in RI   Most Worshipful Wyman P. Hallstrom, III invites you to join a Masonic tour on Saturday, November 29th\u00a0led by brother Rick Lynch.\u00a0\u00a0The tour will begin promptly at 8:30 AM from the Grand Lodge parking lot and proceed as a car-pool convoy, returning by 4:30 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17,14,13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/harmony9.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6458"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/harmony9.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/harmony9.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harmony9.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harmony9.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6458"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/harmony9.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6458\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6464,"href":"https:\/\/harmony9.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6458\/revisions\/6464"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/harmony9.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harmony9.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harmony9.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}