Little Compton Common Historic District

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 population was 3,589 as of 2022 Town Records. Little Compton was originally inhabited by the Sakonnet Indians and their settlement was called Sakonnet or Saughonet. The name has been interpreted in a variety of ways including "where the water pours forth". The first European settlers were from Duxbury, Massachusetts in the Plymouth Colony, which granted them their charter. The ruler of the Native Americans was a female sachem named Awashonks who was friendly to the newcomers and remained so during and after King Phillip's War. With her acquiescence, the new settlers divided the land into standard-sized lots for farms. Among the 29 original proprietors was Colonel Benjamin Church, who would become well known for his role in the late 17th-century conflicts with surrounding Indian tribes, initially the Wampanoags and later, the Narragansetts. In 1675, Church built a house in Little Compton, just prior to King Philip's War. Today, a plaque marks the location on West Main Road. In 1682, Sakonnet was incorporated by the Plymouth Colony and was renamed Little Compton, presumably in reference to Little Compton in Warwickshire, England. After the "Old Colony" was merged into the Massachusetts Bay Colony to the north, a local colonial representative to the General Court in Boston boasted that all the stone walls in Little Compton would stretch to the State House and back, if laid end to end. A Royal commission changed the state border in 1747, and Little Compton along with Tiverton and Bristol became part of Rhode Island, setting them off from the area of Old Dartmouth. All probate and land records prior to 1746 are kept in Taunton and New Bedford, Massachusetts. Beginning in the late Victorian era, the town became a destination for summer visitors drawn to its beaches and farms seemingly untouched by modernity, and for its relatively cool, maritime climate.

The Wilbor House is a historic house museum at 548 West Main Road in Little Compton, Rhode Island, and currently serves as the headquarters of the Little Compton Historical Society. The property includes eight buildings of historical significance, six of which were part of the Wilbor farmstead, a complex that was used for farming between 1690, when the east end of the house was built, and 1955, when the property was acquired by the historical society. The house is a 2½-story wood-frame structure, whose oldest portion was a stone ender built by Samuel Wilbor (1664–1740), and whose western half was added c.1740, giving it a Georgian appearance. Two ells were added c.1860, and additional expansions were made in 1967. The five farm outbuildings include an 18th-century outhouse, a c.1800 barn, and corn crib and carriage house, both of which were built c.1850. Two additional non-contributing structures are on the property, the frame of a c.1750 barn covered in modern materials, and a modern replica of an 18th-century schoolhouse.The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2007.

The Friends Meeting House and Cemetery is a historic Quaker meeting house and cemetery at 228A W. Main Road in Little Compton, Rhode Island. The meeting house is a two-story wood-frame structure built in 1815 by the Religious Society of Friends, commonly known as Quakers, on the site of their first meeting house built in 1700 on land granted to John Irish. The new meeting house used some materials from the original one. It was then modified in 1870.The meeting house was used by Quakers until 1903, and was maintained by members of the Apponegansett Meeting House in Dartmouth, Massachusetts until 1946, when it was donated to the Little Compton Historical Society. It was the Society's first acquisition, and was subjected to a careful restoration beginning in 1963 to restore it to the condition it was in during 1815. The cemetery, designated Rhode Island Historic Cemetery No. 7, is approximately a 71 foot by 41 foot (21.64m x 12.5m) rectangle located to the east (rear) of the meeting house. The earliest dated burials are from 1714 and 1729, and the latest is from 1903. There are 18 inscribed headstones in total, plus multiple uninscribed fleldstone and slate headstones.The meeting house and cemetery were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2007.

Fort Church was a World War II United States Army coastal defense fort in Little Compton, Rhode Island. Together with Fort Greene near Point Judith, it superseded all previous heavy gun defenses in the Harbor Defenses of Narragansett Bay.

The William Whalley Homestead is an historic farmstead in Little Compton, Rhode Island. The main house is a 1+1⁄2-story wood-frame structure, probably built sometime between 1815 and 1830. The property includes a late 19th century gabled barn and a stone and wood outbuilding, and is bounded by a low stone wall. The main house is a fairly typical Cape style house, five bays wide, with a central chimney. The property as a whole is a well-preserved example of a typical 19th-century farmstead in the area.The homestead was listed on the National Historic Register in 1988.

Quicksand Pond is a pond in Little Compton, Rhode Island. It is a major winter flounder spawning area, has Rare Species Habitat and Significant Natural Communities designation, and is part of a proposed natural greenway corridor. Quicksand Pond is also entirely surrounded by critical habitats, and there are a number of protected areas adjacent to Quicksand Pond. It is part of the Southeastern Coastal Watershed Basin.It is part of one of the most scenic and undisturbed coastal areas in Rhode Island, and its protection is of high priority. Approximately half of the shorelines on Quicksand Pond are undeveloped, the remainder are developed as private residences.

The Stone House Inn, also known as the David Sisson House, located at 122 Sakonnet Point Road in Little Compton, Rhode Island, is a large four-story fieldstone residence – built in 1854 for David Sisson, a Providence-based industrialist – and its associated c.1886 barn. The structures sit on 2 acres (0.81 ha) of land overlooking Round Pond to the south, with a view of the Sakonnet River and Sakonnet Harbor to the west. When the house was completed, it was the largest single-family dwelling in that region and the only one built of stone.The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2008.

The Cook–Bateman Farm is a colonial-era farmstead located at the intersection of Fogland, Puncatest Neck (or Neck) and Pond Bridge Roads in Tiverton, Rhode Island. The property was initially purchased in 1700 and reached its largest size, 200 acres (81 ha), in the last 25 years of the 18th century. It currently encompasses 63 acres (25 ha) of rolling farmland.The focal point of the farmstead is the 2 1/2 story house,, the oldest portion of which dates to c.1730–48, while the north kitchen was constructed or rebuilt c.1812-20. Both are now covered by the Second Empire high mansard rook, which was added c.1870. Also on the property is a gambrel-roofed frame barn dating from the late 19th or early 20th century; a two-story hip-roofed frame structure which might be the oldest building in the farmstead, possibly a heabily-altered original farm building from c.1700; a "farmers house"; and a number of other smaller outbuildings. The property, which has evidence of earlier Native American occupation, including arrowheads and stone tools found in the fields, was purchased by John Cook in 1700, and remained in the hands of just two families for more than 200 years, until 1977.The farm was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.

Adamsville, Rhode Island is a historic village in Little Compton, Rhode Island. It was first settled in 1675 around the time of King Philip's War and was named after the second president of the United States, John Adams.

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. The sculpture was completed in 1925 by Henry L. Norton from Winthrop, Massachusetts. The text of the monument reads: To commemorate the birthplace of the / Rhode Island Red breed of fowl which / originated near this location / --red fowls bred extensively by / the farmers of this district and later / named "Rhode Island Reds" and brought into / national prominence by the poultry fanciers -- this tablet placed by the / Rhode Island Red Club of America / with contributions of Rhode Island Red / breeders throughout the world / on land donated by / Deborah Manchester / 1925 The monument was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2001.

Gray's General Store is a general store located at 4 Main Street in Adamsville, Rhode Island. Founded in 1788, it operated for almost 225 years and was reputed to be the oldest continually operating general store in the United States.The store featured an old-fashioned marble soda fountain, cigar and tobacco cases, and Rhode Island johnnycakes. In 2007, U.S. Senator Jack Reed and then-Governor Donald Carcieri issued proclamations naming Gray's as the oldest continuously run general store in the country. The store was owned and operated by the same family since 1879, entailing seven generations. Gray's also was the location of the first post office in Little Compton, founded in 1804.Gray's temporarily closed on Sunday, July 29, 2012, after the death of its proprietor due to lack of interest in keeping the store open by relatives, citing that "the shop's finances aren't sustainable and a supermarket down the street has siphoned away business."The store re-opened in the summer of 2013.