NRF promotes and invests in the architectural heritage of the Newport community, the traditional building trades, and Doris Duke’s fine and decorative arts collections, for the enjoyment, education and inspiration of all.
As a leader in the preservation of early American architecture, NRF supports research and education in areas directly related to its collections and issues of critical concern to the field of historic preservation.
Visit Doris Duke’s art-filled mansion and enjoy panoramic ocean views from the extensive grounds. Open late March to November.
The Vernon House is a site for expansive story-telling, contemporary dialogue, and preservation trades skill-building. Opening July 1, 2023: NRF and Art&Newport are excited to present a group artists exhibition on cards and card playing: Games, Gamblers & Cartomancers: The New Cardsharps
Newport Restoration Foundation holds one of the largest collections of period architecture owned by a single organization anywhere in the United States.
Celebrate excellence in historic preservation efforts within the City of Newport, Rhode Island.
Live amidst history by renting one of our many historic properties.
Who was Cato Vernon?
One of our ongoing projects is to discover more about the people who lived, worked, and worshiped in NRF Preservation Properties like 46 Clarke Street—many of whom were enslaved women, men, and children.
While we do not have an illustrated likeness of Cato, he left behind a written record which helps reveal his lived experience.
[Exterior of 46 Clarke Street, 1933]
After the war, like many of those who served in his regiment, he was owed back-pay from the military and he also never received a military pension. In 1793, he was imprisoned in the Newport gaol for his debts and he dictated a letter to William Vernon, his former enslaver, asking for debt relief.
Cato Vernon disappears from the known historical record sometime around 1798.
There is certainly more to discover about Cato’s remarkable life and legacy—not only his service in the Continental Army but also his shaping of the city of Newport through his carpentry work.
For more information about the 1st Rhode Island Regiment, visit BlackPast.Org
Image credit:
Ancestry.com. U.S., Revolutionary War Rolls, 1775-1783 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2007. Microfilm Publication M246, 138 rolls; NAID: 602384; War Department Collection of Revolutionary War Records, Record Group 93; The National Archives in Washington, D.C.
2023 DDPA recipients represent a wide variety of projects across Newport.
President Frankie Vagnone sat down with Newport This Week to discuss the Vernon House, and the future of NRF.
Art&Newport and the Newport Restoration Foundation (NRF) are pleased to announce the opening of a contemporary art exhibit at 46 Clarke Street, otherwise known as “The Vernon House.”
