If you plan your trip on either Memorial Day or Veterans Day,
you should find the tower open. Only those 2 days a year! Scenic
area, but is a bit of a shady area. Lock your car up tight! As this
area is well traveled, please be sure to keep cache well hidden so
it remains at the location. PLEASE USE STEALTH MODE!!!
Miantonomi Park has a history as long — or longer — than any
other place in Newport. The hill where Memorial Tower now sits was
once the seat of power for the Narragansett Indians who inhabited
Aquidneck Island long before the Europeans came to shore. The park
is named after Narragansett Indian Sachem (chief) Miantonomi — a
name that means "He wages war" in the tongue of the Narragansetts.
The tower, a memorial to Newport's fallen dead from World War I, is
itself 80 feet tall, and sits on a 120 foot hill that overlooks
Narragansett Bay. The tower, and the park in which it is located,
are named after Miantonomi, whose tribe inhabited Aquidneck Island
before its settlement by William Coddington and his followers. The
history of Miantonomi Hill goes back to the days when it was the
seat of power of the Narragansett Indian chieftains. Other phonetic
spelling of the name show its Indian origins: Tonomy and
Wanomitonomo. Colonial settlers used the hill for a lookout, for
public executions, and for beacons. By 1667, a beacon had been
established on the hill. In 1776, another beacon was established on
the hill to “give the country an alarm in case of invasion”. At
this time, the fortification on Miantonomi Hill was constructed. In
1881, the site was purchased by Anson Phelps Stokes and remained in
the family until 1921 when Mrs. Stokes sold it to the City so that
the historic area could become a memorial to Newport men who died
in “The Great War”. In deeding the property to the City, she
stipulated that the premises should be for the free use of the
public forever. An act of the General Assembly gave control of the
park to the Miantonomi Park Commission. This developed the site and
it was dedicated as a war memorial on Armistice Day, 1923. In 1929,
the Memorial Tower was erected and dedicated on the 150th
anniversary of the Battle of RI.