Architecture & Design

Casey Farm was owned by people who valued architecture and design as a way to convey status, to offer beauty and utility, and as a way to make a living. It is fitting that it is now owned by Historic New England, the oldest and largest regional heritage organization in the country. Through many means, we give access to a wide array of architecture and design resources that are a key into understanding people’s ways of life. See how this place inspired people to build and create.

Cow Barn Complex

The largest barn on the property was begun by Thomas Goodale Casey in 1850 and completed by his nephew and heir, Thomas Lincoln Casey, in 1855. There have been several campaigns to repair it since then, including from 2019 – 2020 when the structure was strengthened, the north side re-shingled, and the interior refinished with paint and whitewash.

The central cow barn with its rooster weathervane had stalls for cows on the first level and storage for their hay on the second level. The large main barn doors are hinged like most that were constructed before the Civil War; the later doors slide on a track. Today, we sort produce for sale, meet visitors for tours, teach children about farm life, and store gear like market tents and produce bins on the first level.

The west wing was once the bullpen, and we think a sheep shed originally. Today it provides storage for agricultural uses below and educational uses above.

Inside the Farm House

Old houses are great places to explore. Have a peek into the spaces where the general public is not usually allowed as you follow the central chimney from the cellar through two floors and the attic. Check out the post-and-beam construction and peek inside the attic where someone lived, though we don’t have enough records to tell us if they were enslaved, servants, farmhands, or children who would typically be relegated to a garret sleeping area.

What do you think about these designs carved inside of the attic door?

Click through the pictures below to learn more.

A Revolutionary Memento

The front stairhall is modest in size, typical of central-chimney houses whose staircases are built alongside the chimney mass. Shaped balusters and drops decorate the space.

One of the stories that people remember the most about Casey Farm is how a bullet came through the best parlor door during the Revolutionary War. In 1777, during the years that the British occupied Newport, a company of militia under Lieutenant Stephen Wightman had the assignment to scout the shores and was quartered for the night at Casey Farm. On August 5, they were spotted by British marines said to be from the Frigate Vulture who were blockading the west channel of Narragansett Bay. Thomas Lincoln Casey in his 1881 history of the farm tells how the British attacked:  “The marines fairly riddled the house with bullets, firing through the windows, the doors, and under the doors, and to this day the marks of their attack can be seen.”

Several militia men were captured by the British, yet most patriots escaped.  One veteran later applied for a pension because he had been shot in the arm, which is one way we know about this incident. The Caseys had most of the bullet holes repaired. “One hole, however, has been left as a memento of the assault” wrote Thomas Lincoln Casey.

Stone Walls and Gardens

Casey Farm’s three hundred acres are lined with more than ten miles of stone walls. Each day, through the changing weather, the walls are a gorgeous sight and frame spectacular views. Walls define how we move around the farm, shelter us from the wind, and hold in warmth or coolness. They help protect the farm animals and the crops, and make the gardens bloom longer.

At first, stone walls were just what happened once colonists deforested the land and the glacial stones underneath made their way to the surface—they had to be hauled into piles. Those piles of stones eventually helped to define fields, boundaries, and roadways. Often, in the wintertime, farmhands took time to balance the stones into more enduring structures and protect gardens and cemeteries from livestock. In Southern Rhode Island, cows, horses, and sheep were big business, so walls needed to be at least five feet tall to keep herds from climbing over them and to protect the livestock from predators. More than that, these walls were a great way to show off. The fancy walls near the farmhouse are fitted with two sides of carefully balanced stones with smaller fill in between, then topped by huge flat rocks. Only construction skill and gravity keep them standing.

Stone Wall Repairs

Through the generosity of donors and private foundations, Historic New England hired Mike Minto of Rhode Island Stone Walls to repair about seventy-five percent of these walls under the direction of our preservation manager, Margaret Back. The work started in October 2019 and was completed just before our sites had to temporarily close to the public due to the pandemic in March of 2020. It is solitary work anyway, and Mike only needed the occasional assistance of a farmer driving a tractor for the largest stones. Mike is a master at his art with a deep understanding of how these walls were built, and it was amazing to see him dismantle the damaged walls and rebuild them largely by hand.

Deep inside the wall dividing the farmhouse lawn from the garden (the one Reynolds Knowles had built), Mike found bricks that match the c. 1750 bricks in the central chimney of the farmhouse. He also found some wrought iron nails and pottery, giving us a good idea that this part of the wall hadn’t been taken apart for three centuries or so. One of the best finds was this small rock used as infill in the garden wall. The gray shale was imprinted with fossils! A little help from our friends at the Natural History Museum and Planetarium in Roger Williams Park identified the plants as tree ferns, which were common in the tropical forests of 300 million years ago. The stone walls have many stories to tell.

Works of Art Inspired by Casey Farm

Casey Farm is fortunate to be situated in an area with an artistic tradition. Saunderstown’s most renowned artist is Gilbert Stuart, the eighteenth-century portrait artist who famously painted George Washington. The Gilbert Stuart Birthplace Museum is located only a few miles north of Casey Farm. Saunderstown at the turn of the twentieth century attracted summer residents and visitors with a creative bent including author Edith Wharton, architect Norman Isham, and architects Grant and Bencel La Farge, the sons of stained glass artist John La Farge. Nearby Wickford Art Association, which has organized a fine art festival since the 1960s and offers classes and a gallery, keeps the tradition going strong.

This place is eye-catching in a different way every hour of every day, and many have been inspired to create works in many media. Almost all of our children’s education programs at the farm foster creativity by including arts and crafts. We are pleased to share with you here some of the art that has been commissioned for our farm house museum gallery, donated to decorate the farm house, or that comes from art students of all ages that have met at the farm.

Gravestone Design

In this family cemetery representing more than two centuries of changing styles and a well-to-do family including design professionals, the quality of the headstones in such a small space is remarkable. We know from family records how these memorials, here and elsewhere, represented the profound loss felt by remaining family members. Sometimes represented in words or symbols, you can enlarge the images to get a better sense of the person memorialized and their culture.