Cannonball Found under Newport House Could be from Revolutionary War

Talk about a blast from the past — and the discovery was made just in time for the Fourth of July!

Last week, a crew working at 49 Second Street in Newport discovered a 29-and-a-half pound cannonball buried under the dirt foundation.

Sean Napolitano, owner of A-1 Roofing and Construction, said he and his workers were digging up the dirt floor when they found the cannonball, which he believes might originate from sometime around 1775.

“I am told it was fired into the point section of Newport by British revolutionary forces sometime around 1775,” Napolitano said. “It was a British show of force and to scare the local residents. At that time the point section of Newport was the downtown Newport/seaport.”

But Napolitano said he isn’t 100 percent sure of the cannonball’s origins, though his theory would make sense since it is unlikely that it was fired by confederate forces during the Civil War.

The cast iron ball is about 6-inches in diameter and was located under about 12 inches of dirt.

Napolitano was working at the site to disassemble buildings at the location as part of a restoration and renovation project.

Since the discovery, he said people have been amazed at the find.

“People love it,” he said.

Napolitano said Ruth Taylor of the Newport Historical Society said that the British fired many cannon shots into the Point section of the city.

“It’s definitely a British cannonball based on dimensions,” Napolitano said Monday.

Napolitano said he’s getting the cannonball appraised.

Stay tuned for more details.