JHS exhibit portrays a town that could have been much different
06.10.11
The Jamestown Historical Society is exhibiting a group of pictures, which depict a variety of proposals that would have changed the face of the island. Last week’s report on the exhibit, which is set up at Lawn Avenue School, focused mostly on military and industrial proposals. This week, the Press looks at ideas floated by the town and private developers.
The JHS exhibit is entitled “What Might Have Been: For Better or Worse?” One of the most striking pictures in the exhibit is a map of lower Narragansett Bay, with a thick line zigzagging across the bay. The portion of the line traversing Conanicut Island represents a canal that would have cut the island in half.
According to a Jamestown Press article co-authored by JHS director Sue Maden, a canal route was originally surveyed by Joseph Totten (who designed Fort Adams) in the late 1820s. A canal would have allowed ferryboats, which were sailpowered at the time of the survey, to travel a much shorter route between Saunderstown and Newport.
Source: Jamestown Press