JHS plans historic house tour this weekend

If you’re a history buff and enjoy browsing in-and-out of ageless structures of yesteryear, there will be plenty to do this Saturday, July 1, in Johnston.

The award-winning Johnston Historical Society has agreed to team up with Historic New England for what will be the first viewing of its kind from noon to 3 p.m.

“We’re opening both our buildings at 101 Putnam Pike in Johnston,” said Anthony Ursillo, a member or the JHS Board of Directors. “We welcome people to stop by our Elijah Angell House and Museum Barn and see all the interesting items inside both facilities.”

People who have visited both JHS structures to hear interesting guest speakers or take in fundraising events through the years have been nothing less than amazed and impressed by what they’ve seen at buildings. The Elijah Angell House, for example, is a two-story farmhouse built around 1825. It was built by Elijah Angell, a stonecutter.

According to Ursillo, the Elijah Angell House has been restored in recent years and the first floor has been set up as a house museum with period New England furnishings. The JHS acquired the property in 1984 and it’s listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Meanwhile, the adjacent Museum Barn is a modern post and beam reproduction of the type of barn that might have once been part of the Elijah Angell property off Route 44 next to the Johnston Fire Department sub-station.

The first floor of the Museum Barn houses a collection of artifacts relating to the Town of Johnston’s history. Ursillo noted that most of the artifacts are displayed in cases, while larger pieces are mounted on the walls.

As equally important, the JHS holds its monthly meetings – and such special events as transforming the facility into a Queen Mary Cruise Ship during one major recent fund-raiser – in the Museum Barn, which the non-profit has expanded in recent years through the generosity of several grants received from the Champlin Foundations that supports the arts, libraries and other important non-profit agencies in the state.

The Clemence-Irons House is owned and operated by Historic New England, yet another important non-profit, and is located at 38 George Waterman Road in Johnston. The building was also renovated in recent months. It’s also described as an interesting structure and was built by Richard Clemence in 1691 and is a rare surviving example of a “stone ender”, a building type first developed in the western part of England and common in colonial Rhode Island. The house is also on the National Register of Historic Places.

There’s no admission fee at any of the three locations and officials from the Johnston Historical Society and Historic New England will be on site to answer questions and explain about the interesting structures that are all steeped in history.

Cutlines for submitted photos

The Clemence-Irons House, circa 1691.

The Johnston Historical Society Museum Barn, a post-and-beam reproduction of what barns might have been back in the 1800s.

The Elijah Angell House, circa 1825. (Photos courtesy of the Johnston Historical Society)