Museum of Newport Irish History opens this weekend for 2022 Season

The Museum of Newport Irish History Interpretive Center will open for the 2022 Season on Friday, May 27 from 12 noon to 5:00 p.m. Seasonal hours will be Thursday through Sunday, from noon to 5:00 p.m., through the end of October.

Visitors to the Center will learn about Irish immigration to Newport County from the Colonial era to the present and of the many contributions made to our community by individuals of Irish descent. The exhibits include maps, photographs, models, artwork, video, and artifacts, including some from the construction of nearby Fort Adams, which was built with Irish immigrant labor.

The Center is located at 648 Lower Thames Street, just south of Narragansett Avenue. Admission is free for members of the Museum of Newport Irish History and by donation for others. Free parking is available in a small lot behind the building, accessed via Narragansett Avenue, or on the street. For Covid protocols, please check the Museum website home page

The Museum of Newport Irish History, a volunteer-run, non-profit organization, was founded in 1996 and now boasts over 900 members. In addition to operating the Interpretive Center, the organization sponsors numerous educational, cultural, social, and fundraising events throughout the year, including the popular Michael F. Crowley Lectures, which concluded its 20th annual series in March. The organization also restored and maintains the historic Barney Street Cemetery at the corner of Barney and Mt. Vernon Street, steps from Washington Square. It is the final resting place of many of Newport’s earliest Irish residents and was the cemetery established to support Rhode Island’s first Roman Catholic parish, the forerunner of the current St. Mary’s Church at the corner of Spring Street and Memorial Boulevard West.

To learn more or to join the Museum, please visit newportirishhistory.org, stop by the Interpretive Center during public hours or email newportirishhistory@gmail.com.