Architectural Story
The Hicks House was built circa 1715 on a three acre plot on Bristol Ferry Road, Portsmouth, RI. It is a very simple structure of two rooms and an only partially usable loft space. The building is an example of a typical home built for middling or working class families.
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Restoration Story
The Newport Restoration Foundation moved the house from Bristol Ferry Road to its present location in 1970 and restored it in 1971 as part of the larger Prescott Farm project.
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People Story
The house was originally built by John Earle Jr. who purchased the land for 100 pounds from his cousin. The home is thought to have been used in its earliest period by the ferrymen who operated the boat between Portsmouth and Bristol at the site of the current Mt. Hope Bridge. Very little is known about the home until 1855 when it was inhabited by a Robert Hicks and his 10 children.
After NRF restored the house, it became a working General Store and housed examples of objects of 18th-century working life.
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