Camp Endicott

Camp Endicott, was a United States Navy Seabee facility part of Davisville Naval Construction Battalion Center. It is now a historic site between Seventh and Tenth streets in North Kingstown, Rhode Island. The camp was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.

The vast training camp built at Davisville, Rhode Island in 1942 provided more than 100,000 men of the U.S. Navy's Construction Battalions, better known as "Seabees," with construction training during World War II. During the Vietnam War, eight Naval Mobile Construction Battalions representing some 4,000 Seabees were homeported at Davisville, in addition to 1,200 civilians.

Named in honor of Rear Admiral Mordecai T. Endicott, the first Civil Engineer Corps Officer to be appointed Chief of the former Bureau of Yards and Docks, Camp Endicott (later established as the U.S. Naval Construction Battalion Center, Davisville) was also the birthplace of the Quonset hut. These semi-cylindrically shaped, prefabricated, portable buildings were designed and produced at Davisville and shipped to various places throughout the world. Because of its design and worldwide dispersion, the Quonset Hut is considered one of the most universal structures in the world.

The Camp Endicott Historical District at Davisville was established to preserve some of these structures as well as a portion of the former Camp that played a vital role in World War II. The seven-acre District, located at the southern boundary of the Center, contains 17 huts that are currently used by the NCBC Supply Department and a Navy Tenant Activity.^[2]

See also

• National Register of Historic Places listings in Washington County, Rhode Island

References

Coordinates: 41°36′09″N 71°26′16″W / 41.60250°N 71.43778°W / 41.60250; -71.43778

External links

• BASE: Advancing a Post-Military Landscape An extensive photographic survey of the Davisville & adjacent Quonset Point Naval Bases completed in 2000 by Erik Carlson & Erica Carpenter.