Fort Adams - Newport

I’ve always been passionate about military history. In 1999, I approached the new director of the Fort Adams Trust about donating my experience in preservation and project management in conjunction with his energy and vision to create a facilities action plan that would yield rapid results. That collaboration identified the northeast sector as a prime location where a series of manageable, strategic projects would increase visitors, boost income and preserve important but neglected historical structures.

This was the start of a 10-year relationship in which our vision became the impetus for $6 million in funding. In turn, my employer served as designer for the projects and I as project manager for multiple projects including:

• North casemates - full restoration as museum and event space
• Flagpole and site lighting - reinstalled and dedicated in the weeks after 9/11
• Earthen rampart roofing installation using green roof technology
• Northeast demi bastion structural stabilization, balancing engineers and state preservation office
• Overnight youth program barracks and officer’s quarters (received 2006 AIA-RI award)
• Redoubt jail restoration (received Doris Duke Preservation Award)

Following these successes, I joined the Trust as a volunteer, serving on the Phase 2 Master Planning Committee and later joining the Board of the Trust. While at RWU, my students undertook two projects assessing the Southwest Barracks at the Fort: a business feasibility analysis and space allocation plans and later an structural engineering assessment and design study.