Dewey Cottage

Dewey Cottage
Location: South Kingstown, Rhode Island
Built: 1898
Architect: Unknown
Architectural style: Late Victorian
Governing body: Private
NRHP Reference#:

92000467

[1]
Added to NRHP: May 7, 1992

Dewey Cottage is an historic house at 668 Matunuck Beach Road in South Kingstown, Rhode Island.

The cottage, known as the Admiral Dewey Inn, was built in 1898 in a late-Victorian style and added to the National Historic Register in 1992.

History

The cottage was named after Commodore George Dewey who in "May of 1898 in Manila, the Philippines...surprised the Spanish Pacific fleet...and destroyed it without suffering a single casualty. The Commodore became an Admiral and hero of the nation. Dewey had been Commander of the Naval War College in Newport, and Rhode Island felt especially proud."[2]

Accordingly, "[t]hat same month in Matunuck, Rhode Island, George Irving Champlin and his wife Etta Jane (Tucker) opened their beachfront boardinghouse and named it "The Dewey Cottage" in honor of our hero."[2]

Nearly a century later, "[i]n 1988...new owner—Joan LeBel—reopened the fully restored Admiral Dewey Inn. Its rich heritage has established it as a member of the National Historic Register and one of the few remaining Southern New England beach hotels. In 1998 the B&B is celebrated its Centennial, including a display of 100 pink flamingos on the lawn of the Inn."[2]

References