Fort Wetherill State Park History

DATE ACQUIRED: August 16, 1972

 

TOTAL ACREAGE: 51 Acres

 

PREVIOUS OWNERS: U.S. Government General Services

 

ORIGIN OF NAME: Capt. Alexander Wetherill

 

OTHER NAMES: Fort Louis in honor of the King of France, Fort Dumpling

 

DEDICATION: Governor Licht

 

Fort Wetherill State Park, situated upon 100 foot high granite cliffs across the water from Fort Adams State Park, is a former coastal defense battery and training camp.

Consisting of 61.5 acres, it was formally acquired by the State of Rhode Island in 1972. Known for its spectacular view of Newport Harbor and the East Passage of Narragansett Bay, Fort Wetherill has been a popular sight for viewing the numerous Tall Ship Events and America’s Cup Races. As with Beavertail State Park, this area has seen a major increase in attendance with people from all over discovering the areas natural beauty and its unique coastal shoreline.

 

The spectacular setting of Fort Wetherill has made the site strategically important for more than 200 years. During the American Revolution colonists built an earthworks battery here for control of the east passage, but lost the position to the British during the occupation of Newport.

 

The area was then known as Dumpling Rock and the United States established Fort

Dumpling c.1800. A stone tower was partly built but work was suspended as Fort Adams was developed across the bay. The picturesque "ruin" was a familiar sight  for many years.

 

In the late19th century new coastal and harbor defenses were planned for the country. In 1898, as part of this Endicott system,  the fort was enlarged, the tower dynamited, and  poured concrete gun emplacements concealed in the hillside. In 1900 the fort was renamed in honor of Captain Alexander Wetherill, an infantryman killed in the Battle of San Juan during the Spanish American War. The Wetherill family have been Jamestown summer residents for many years.

The fort was reactivated during World War II and garrisoned the 243rd  Regiment. At the end of the war in 1945, selected German  prisoners took part in a program of  civic reeducation, held here and elsewhere in Rhode Island locations, before going home to work in German law enforcement. In 1972, 51 acres of the land  were transferred to the state, part of a  federal program turning surplus property over to recreation use. Since then many visitors have enjoyed the park's spectacular views and opportunities for scuba diving.

 

FORT WETHERILL: Twentieth century; series of poured concrete  gun emplacements set into the side of a hill and concealed from view from the water. Situated upon 100 foot high granite cliffs across the water from Fort Adams, Fort Wetherill is a  former coastal defense battery and training camp. The site was first used for military purposes as early as the Revolutionary War when colonists on Jamestown erected an earthworks battery on Dumpling Rock in an attempt to control the east passage of Narragansett bay. The British took the battery early in the war and strengthened  the fortification, naming it Fort Dumpling Rock.

 

The fort was occupied by the British and later by the French during the war. After gaining Independence, the United States maintained Fort  Dumpling as a minor coastal battery. In 1899 the federal government purchased additional property and enlarged the fort complex. New gun emplacements were poured to receive twelve inch disappearing rifles. The enlarged fort was renamed Fort Wetherill to honor Captain Alexander M. Wetherill who was killed at San Juan Hill during the Spanish American War.

 

Fort Wetherill was put on caretaker status after the first World War until it was reactivated during World War II. It was garrisoned by the 243rd Regiment as part of the United States' coastal defense system, and after the war, by prisoners of war. In 1946 the battery was permanently abandoned, and its guns were sold for scrap. Since 1972 Fort Wetherill has been the property of the State of Rhode Island.

 

Fort Wetherill is the perfect site for a strategic defense of Narragansett Bay in conventional warfare.This fact was realized and exploited as early as the Revolutionary War when Colonists on Jamestown erected earthworks. This area was called Battery on Dumpling Rock due to the formation of the Rocks surrounding it. The Colonials did not hold it long, however, as the British took the area without firing a shot early in the war. During their occupation, the British improved upon the fortification and called it Fort Dumpling Rock. On July 30, 1778, French ships entered the  harbor. The British left until the beginning of the Battle of Rhode Island in August of  '78.   Before leaving, the British destroyed  their fortification at Dumpling Rock and threw their larger guns into the sea.

 

After the battle of Rhode Island, the British once more occupied  the fort until Oct. 25, 1779, when the British  forces left without explanation. The fort saw little action afterward, other than the French rebuilding it. Of this first fort, there is no trace of the earth works remaining. However, circa 1798-1800, a Frenchman, Major Louis Tousard, who had served gallantly in the Revolution supervised the construction of a new fort to be called Fort  Dumpling. It was sometimes called Fort Louis, allegedly in honor of the King of France. This new fort was to complement a system of fortification set up around the entrance of the bay. It  never saw action.

 

Fort  Dumpling remained of little consequence, for the most part abandoned, until the Spanish American War when, in 1899, the U.S. bought more property, enlarged the whole complex and poured new gun emplacements to include, by 1906, several 12 inch disappearing rifles. With the change in look came a change in name; by 1900 Fort Dumpling was known as Fort  Wetherill, named after Captain Alexander M. Wetherill who fell at San Juan Hill. It was garrisoned throughout the early 1900's to the end of World War I when it was put on caretaker status, its heavy guns stored at Fort Adams.

 

With the advent of World War II, the Fort was taken off caretaker status, the guns replaced, new barracks built and 1,200 men of the 243rd Regiment were garrisoned there. In the year before the war, the fort was principally a training center, along with it's original purpose of coastal defense. The training consisted of artillery spotting, signaling, observation and the usual service drudgery of hikes, etc. It obviously saw no action in World War II.

 

In the spring of 1945, however, Fort Wetherill once more became a training center. This time it was used to indoctrinate German  POW's  who had displayed vehement "anti-Nazi" feelings. The purpose of the indoctrination was to instill a desire to attain a democratic way of life and to pass on some of the methods by which this desire could be implemented. The Germans, after completing this program, were to go home and be the leaders for the rebuilding of local areas in Germany.

 

In 1946, the fort as well as the whole eastern defense command was transferred to the 1st Army. Shortly, thereafter, it's guns were sold for scrap to a firm that manufactures cable.

 

From this period until 1972, the problem of what to do with the fort was passed between Federal, State and Local governments. The U.S.State Department dropped it in 1960, but it still remained under Federal jurisdiction in 1972, when a transfer to the state of Rhode Island was in the works.

 

FORT WETHERILL

Fort Wetherill is situated on the eastern shore of Conanicut Island near Jamestown in Newport County about two miles form the City of Newport. A fort on this site was first erected in the summer of 1776 and later abandoned to the British. After the Revolution, a stone tower mounting eight guns was erected under the direction of Major Tousard, who also supervised the building of Fort Adams. This was called Fort Dumplings.

 

The modern  fortifications were begun in 1896 and in1900 named in honor of Captain Alexdaner Wetherill, U.S. Infantry, killed in action on July 1, 1808 at San Juan, Santiago,Cuba. The present site of Fort Wetherill covers an area of 61.60  acres, more or less.

Fort Wetherill was part of the inner gun defense of Narragansett Bay. Along with Fort Adams, Getty and Kearney, it defended the mine fields and submarine barriers and covered the Bay to a line from Point Judith to Sakonnet Point. Of the four major caliber batteries in the inner defense, two are at Fort Wetherill. They are Batteries Wheaton and Varnum. Batteries Edgarto and Green are at Fort Adams. As of August 13, 1945 Battery Wheaton had two 12 inch disappearing guns and Battery Varnum had two12 inch barbette mounts (non-disappearing). Other batteries at Fort Wetherill are Dickenson, Crittenden, Walbach, Zook, and Cooke.

 

The guns at Batteries Wheaton and Varnum had a range of 17,300 yards but the maximum range that a target could be tracked was 11,000 yards due to masking of the observation stations. Therefore, it was possible for a hostile vessel to pass the defenses without coming under fire of these batteries. That is not to say that a vessel could not be fired upon by another post.

Battery Dickenson had two 6 inch pedestal mounts and Battery Crittenden had two 3 inch pedestal mounts. Cooke had two 3 inch pedestal mounts. Walbach had two 10 inch disappearing guns and Zook had three 6 inch disappearing guns. A standard search light (searchlight #8) was located at Fort Wetherill. It was used as a mine field light for the Eastern Passage. The underwater defense project that was approved  by  the Secretary of War, January 17, 1929, provided for eight groups of mines in the Eastern Passage and four groups of mines in the Western Passage. The groups in the Eastern Passage were controlled from Fort Wetherill. The groups in the Western Passage were controlled from Fort Getty.

 

In a proposal dated in August of 1945, Fort Wetherill was titled Antiaircraft Battery No. 3. Fort Wetherill was to be provided with three 3-inch fixed A.A.guns, three portable A.A.searchlight units, a height finder with three sound locators, a director, a directing point, junction box, and twelve A.S.50 cal. machine guns. All antiaircraft ammunition was to be stored in Battery Walbach.

 

EXCERPTS ON FORT WETHERILL

Fort Wetherill (not wetherell) was named for Captain Alexander Macom Wetherill who was killed while leading his men up San Juan Hill. Deeds for the lands to be purchased by the government at the Dumplings, for fortification purposes, have drawn and sent to Washington for the consideration of the Secretary of War. After being found satisfactory the purchase money will be forwarded to the owners. The cost to the government-$150,000. Prices carried from 3,700 to 6,500 an acre. The whole area of land is about 26 acres, about 24 of which are purchased at a price agreed upon with the owners. About 2 1/2 acres belonging to Charles Wharton will be condemned, lands and deeds involved--Joseph Wharton, 4 acres; W.T. Richards, 4 acres; Ocean Highland Company, 7 1/3 acres; B.H. Shoemaker, 5 acres; G. Norman  Lieber, 2 acres; properties surveyed by Captain J.P.Cotton under direction of the U.S. Engineer Department.

 

Newport Daily News, Friday, Oct. 16, 1896

Schooner Allen, with lumber from Bangor; schooner Burney of New London with coal, and the Gertrude and Helen, with sand, are discharging at the new government wharf at the Dumplings.   The stonework of the wharf is now completed, and the filling is about half done. The stonework is capped with Portland cement three feet in width on which will rest the hard pine caplog. When the wharf is completed it will be one of the best in the section.

 

Newport Daily News, Wednesday, Aug. 14, 1901

At the Dumplings excavations are being made for the new batteries, the stone taken out being used to fill in at the wharf at Fort Wetherill. The road from Fort Wetherill to the new battery has been graded.

 

Newport Daily News, Thursday, Aug. 8, 1901. The pile driver from the Newport shipyard is driving new piles about the new government dock at Fort Wetherill.

 

Newport Daily News, Friday, Sept. 20, 1901

Messrs, A.H.& Amos Peckham and Allen Head have begun the work of carting to Fox Hill. A load of machinery has been landed at the wharf at Fort Wetherill, consisting of three engines and boilers for hoisting and rails and cars for a railroad.The contract for building the government wharf at Fox  Hill will be awarded to Joseph Terry, the lowest bidder for the pile dock, that being decided upon for the present structure. It is to be done in 90 days from September 23.

 

Newport Daily News, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 1901

Barge Alice is discharging a cargo of cement at the Fort Wetherill wharf, for the new batteries at the Dumplings.

 

Newport Daily News, Tuesday, July 29, 1902

Eight carloads of gun carriages for the new fortifications at Fort Wetherill have arrived (in Newport) at the freight depot here.Two12 inch rifles have already arrived at the new works.

 

Newport Daily News, Friday, Dec. 13, 1903

The gun fire at Fort Wetherill last week shook up some new concrete work in the engineer's storehouse, which is being built there, so that considerable repairing will need to be done.While this was green work, some of the gun replacements in the various fortifications show the effects of the heavy concussions by the development of large cracks.

Newport Daily News, Thursday, July 2, 1908

Portion of the new barracks at Fort Wetherill scheduled for occupancy,  Nov. 25, 1940. 1,000 soldiers expected to be  housed there of the 3,000 planned for forts of the bay area. On or about November 15, 1940 the12 inch guns at Fort Wetherill and the reverberations were such that many houses in the Newport area were shaken. Fourteen rounds were fired on these heavy pieces. The firing practice continues with six inch guns.The danger area extends from Fort Wetherill to Point Judith, in a radius of 14,000 yards extending southerly  from Brenton's Reef.

 

Major General Leslie J. McNair, USA, chief of staff for the

U.S. Army, and members of his staff made an inspection of the Narragansett Bay Harbor Defenses, October 31,1940. About 1,000 members of Rhode Island's 243rd Coast Artillery began one year of military service at Fort Adams on Mon., Sept. 23, 1940. Col. Earl C. Webster, commanding officer of the regiment announced that with the completion of cantonments in two months, three batteries would be retained at Fort Adams, four at Fort Wetherill, four at Fort Getty and one at Fort Kearney.

 

For the first time in years local coast defenses fired full charges, June 6, 1941, when shortly after 1 p.m. one of the12 inch batteries at Fort Wetherill opened fire on  targets being towed many miles off the coast. Fourteen rounds were scheduled from  the big guns which could hurl a projectile in excess of 15 miles.