This Year's Fourth of July To Be "Under Construction"

North Kingstown residents will be seeing red, white, blue and orange for this year's Fourth of July celebrations. Despite the construction at the site of Beechwood House, this year's festivities will still be held at the North Kingstown Town Beach.

According to Town Manager Michael Embury, at least one police officer will be posted at the construction site to deter reveleries from interfering with the area.

"That whole side on the water will be out of commission," said Embury.

With the limited space, the night's musical entertainment (the Lafayette Band and the Hummingbird Trio) will perform next to the Cold Spring Community Center.

Though progress has been made in the relocation process of Beechwood House, it has been riddled with delays. Currently, the old house by the beach is off its foundation and on wooden planks, ready to be moved to its new home across the parking lot on Cold Spring Lane.

It's a move that Beechwood House's new owner hoped to have completed by February of this year before the summer crowds took to the beachfront. According to McClatchy, the project has been immensely delayed due to a handful of people who disapproved of its move and the demolition of the building’s annex.

“Its amazing what a couple of people can do when they know what buttons to push,” said McClatchy. “There were several people who objected to the whole project and for a while they were doing everything in their power to stop the project.”

According to McClatchy, the vast majority of the people of North Kingstown, including the . But there were just a few people who were making anonymous complaints to the Coastal Resources Management Council which caused delays for months before the project could even begin. 

“Everyone has been working very hard to get things finished,” said McClatchy. “It's one of those 'Rome wasn't built in a day' things but the town and I and the state agencies are all working hard and for having such a late start, it's going as good as it can be.”

McClatchy wishes that they had been able to start and finish the project over the winter months to have the area clear for residents to use and enjoy the park and beach.

“In the long run it will be great, but right now the timing has been very unfortunate because the Fourth of July is such a big thing around here and even though the parking area is open, the open space in between the beach and parking area is one big construction site; there are at least five huge construction vehicles parked there,” McClatchy said. “Hopefully, It will all be done within a matter of weeks; Beechwod House will be moved, the annex will be demolished, and the bandstand will be up...but to some degree it will be a mess all summer because they’ll be working on landscaping.”

McClatchy’s long-term plans for Beechwood house are to return the building to its original splendor and use it as a summer residence for his family and children.