The Museum of Newport Irish History Interpretive Center will open for the season on Saturday, May 26. 2018 Season hours are 12:00 noon – 5:00 pm., Thursday through Sunday, through October 28. Group and private visits at other times may be arranged by appointment. The Center is located at 648 Lower Thames Street, just south of Narragansett Avenue. Admission is free for members of the Museum of Newport Irish History and by donation for others. Free parking is available in a small lot behind the building, accessed via Narragansett Avenue, or on-street.
Visitors to the Center will learn about Irish immigration to Newport County from the 1600s to the present and of the many contributions made to our community by individuals of Irish descent. The exhibits include maps, photographs, models, video, and artifacts, including some from the construction of nearby Fort Adams, which was built with Irish immigrant labor.
To learn more or to join the Museum, please visit www.NewportIrishHistory.org.
The Museum of Newport Irish History, a volunteer-run, 501c3 non-profit organization, was founded in 1996 and now over 800 members strong. In addition to operating the Interpretive Center, the organization sponsors numerous educational, social and fundraising events throughout the year, including the popular Michael F. Crowley Lecture Series, which commences in the fall. The organization restored and maintains the historic Barney Street Cemetery at the corner of Barney and Mt. Vernon Streets, steps from Washington Square. It is the final resting place of many of Newport’s earliest Irish residents and was the cemetery established to support Rhode Island’s first Roman Catholic parish, the forerunner of the current St. Mary’s Church at the corner of Spring Street and Memorial Boulevard.