Adamsville, Rhode Island is a historic village in

Little Compton, Rhode Island Little Compton is a coastal town in Newport County, Rhode Island, bounded on the south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by the Sakonnet River, on the north by the town of Tiverton, and on the east by the town of Westport, Massachusetts. The pop ...

. It was first settled in 1675 around the time of

King Philip's War King Philip's War (sometimes called the First Indian War, Metacom's War, Metacomet's War, Pometacomet's Rebellion, or Metacom's Rebellion) was an armed conflict in 1675–1676 between indigenous inhabitants of New England and New England coloni ...

and was named after the second

president of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...

John Adams John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, and Founding Father who served as the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Before his presidency, he was a leader of t ...

Historic sites

Grays General Store in Adamsville was built in 1788. It was allegedly the oldest operating general store in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

until it temporarily closed in 2012, and was home to the town's first post office, founded in 1804. The store was most recently operated by Grayton Waite, a sixth-generation shop keeper, along with his son Jonah Waite.Adamsville landmarks
/ref>Nancy Jensen Devin, Richard V. Simpson, ''Tiverton and Little Compton'' (Arcadia Publishing, 2004) https://books.google.com/books?id=EhF92iEmJ9MC The store was reopened in 2013. The nearby

Rhode Island Red Monument The Rhode Island Red Monument in the hamlet of Adamsville of Little Compton, Rhode Island, at the intersection of Main Street, Adamsville Road, and Old Harbor Road, commemorates the Rhode Island Red breed of chicken, Rhode Island's state bird. T ...

, built in 1925, at the intersection of Adamsville Road, Westport Harbor Road and Main Street is a granite monument to the

Rhode Island Red The Rhode Island Red is an American breed of domestic chicken. It is the state bird of Rhode Island. It was developed there and in Massachusetts in the late nineteenth century, by cross-breeding birds of Oriental origin such as the Malay wit ...

Chicken, the official state bird. This landmark was placed in Adamsville because of convenience – land had been donated on this corner, for the purpose of erecting the monument. The Rhode Island Red was actually originally bred closer to West Main Road, outside of the Village of Adamsville. Across from the monument is the popular breakfast restaurant called The Barn, which opened in 1987. Another distinctive feature of the town is the " Spite Tower" found in the village. Local lore claims that the tower was constructed to obscure the line of sight of a town local. While most stories involve members of the local Manchester family, there is no consensus as to the true history of the structure. According to the previous owner of the building, the "Spite Tower" was built above an artesian well. There was a pump that brought the water to a holding tank on the third floor that sent water, via gravity feed, to main house's water tank to provide running water. The building was constructed circa 1905. The chauffeur's residence was on the second floor of the tower.

References

External links

* Villages in Newport County, Rhode Island Villages in Rhode Island {{RhodeIsland-geo-stub