Irish Museum Interpretive Center Opens for 2016 Season

The Museum of Newport Irish History Interpretive Center will open for the 2016 Season on Saturday, May 28.

Hours are 12:00 noon – 5:00 p.m., Saturday, Sunday and Monday of Memorial Day Weekend.

The regular Season Schedule will be Thursday through Sunday, 12 noon to 5pm, through Sunday, October 30 (closed Mon-Tues-Wed) 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, video, and artifacts, including some from the construction of nearby Fort Adams, which was built with Irish immigrant labor.

The Museum of Newport Irish History, a volunteer-run, non-profit organization, was founded in 1996 and now boasts over 700 members. In addition to operating the Interpretive Center, the organization sponsors numerous educational, social and fundraising events throughout the year, including the annual 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 Street, 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.

To learn more or to join the Museum, please visit www.NewportIrishHistory.org, write to NewportIrishHistory@gmail.com or stop by the Interpretive Center.