Redwood Library
The Redwood Library and Athenaeum started off as a 45-member literary society founded by Bishop George Berkeley, the great Irish philosopher who moved to Rhode Island in 1729 to start a college. The Company of the Redwood Library in Newport, R.I., was founded in 1747 for the purpose of ‘having nothing in view but the good of mankind.’
Newport merchant Abraham Redwood gave the library 500 pounds sterling to buy 751 used books from London.
When the British occupied Newport in 1776, they used the library as an officers’ club. Many of the books disappeared. In 1806, the library began advertising for their return, but didn’t get many back. In 1947, the library staff tried again and recovered 92 percent of the missing volumes or copies of them.
The building was designed by Peter Harrison, the first professionally trained architect in the United States. He later designed Newport’s Brick Market and Touro Synagogue. The Redwood’s most prominent librarian was Ezra Stiles, who later helped found Brown University and served as president of Yale.
The Redwood Library and Athenaeum is the oldest community library still occupying its original building. Unlike the Peabody Library in Vermont, the Redwood is private. It began charging $10 for admission in 2016.
50 Bellevue Ave., Newport, R.I.
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