NEWPORT – The Preservation Society of Newport County has started work on creating an online, interactive map of the city and its history from 1638 to the present.
The map will be searchable chronologically and geographically, and will include links to information about Newport’s social, political, economic, cultural and architectural history.
The first phase of the two-year project involves collecting information about the city’s physical infrastructure and urban plan from maps, photos, paintings, archeological data and historical documents. It will be funded by a $6,000 grant from Newport resident Elizabeth Prince de Ramel and a $5,000 grant from the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities.
“One of the most historically intact cities in North America, Newport is an unusually complete document of the history of city development in America, from 17th-century, rural byways and the classically inspired grid of the 18th-century Point district, to the 19th-century, picturesque layout of Ocean Drive and the 20th-century, urban-renewal projects that dramatically changed the character of the waterfront,” the Preservation Society said in a news release. •