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High Watch, formerly named Holiday House but locally known as the Harkness House, is an 11,000 square feet (1,000 m2) home situated in Watch Hill, a historic district in Westerly, Rhode Island. The most expensive private home in Rhode Island, High Watch has been owned by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift since 2013 and is a subject of publicity and media attention, mostly known for being the venue of Swift's annual Independence Day parties, attended by a range of celebrities. A Colonial-style mansion, High Watch sits on a 5-acre (2.0 ha) seafront estate that includes a private beach. The estate is situated atop Watch Hill's namesake hillock, which was used as a strategic lookout point during some battles in the history of the United States. The house was built in 1929–1930 for the Snowden family, owners of an oil company, who named it Holiday House. It was purchased in 1948 by Rebekah Harkness, socialite and Standard Oil heiress, who became notorious amongst the local residents for her lavish lifestyle there. In 1974, businessman Gurdon B. Wattles purchased and renovated the house, renaming it as High Watch due to its location. Swift purchased the house for US$17,750,000 in 2013, and inspired by its history and Harkness, released the song "The Last Great American Dynasty" in 2020. Several stalking, trespassing, and home invasion incidents have been reported at the house since Swift's purchase. In 2015, High Watch inspired a proposal by the Governor of Rhode Island to impose a luxury tax on expensive secondary homes in the state. In 2017, Swift was sued over her decision to build a seawall on the beach as plaintiffs argued the beach had been dedicated to the public over the years and Swift had no ownership of it; the courts ruled in Swift's favor. L'Officiel has listed High Watch as one of the most expensive celebrity homes in the Americas.

The Watch Hill Lighthouse in Watch Hill, Rhode Island has served as a nautical beacon for ships since 1745, when the Rhode Island colonial government erected a watchtower and beacon during the French and Indian War and Revolutionary War. The original structure was destroyed in a 1781 storm, and plans were discussed to build a new lighthouse to mark the eastern entrance to Fishers Island Sound and to warn mariners of a dangerous reef southwest of Watch Hill. President Thomas Jefferson signed an act to build the lighthouse in 1806, and construction was completed in 1807. The first lighthouse stood 35 feet (11 m) tall. In 1827, a rotating light was installed to differentiate it from the Stonington Harbor Light in Connecticut. Erosion forced it to close in 1855 and move farther away from the bluff edge. The next lighthouse opened in 1856 and remains as the present structure, standing 45 feet (14 m) tall.The steamer Metis crashed off Watch Hill in 1872, killing 130 people. In 1873, lighthouse keeper Captain Jared Starr Crandall was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal for rescue operations involving the Metis. In 1879, Capt. Crandall's widow Sally Ann (Gavitt) Crandall became the first woman lighthouse keeper there. A United States Life-Saving Service station was built next to it where it operated until the 1940s, but it was destroyed in 1963. In 1907, the steamer Larchmont collided with a schooner, killing 200 people four miles from the lighthouse. The Hurricane of 1938 caused severe damage to the structure. The Leif Viking ran aground a few hundred feet from it in 1962; there were no injuries, although the ship was stranded for nine days. The light was automated in 1986 and leased to the Watch Hill Lightkeepers Association.

Ocean House is a large, Victorian-style waterfront hotel originally constructed in 1868 on Bluff Avenue in Watch Hill, Rhode Island. The original 1868 hotel closed in 2003; it was demolished in 2005 and a new facility opened in 2010 on the same site which retained much of the original structure's form and appearance, as well as the original name. Both the original and its reconstruction are noted for their rambling Victorian architecture and distinctive yellow siding. The original Ocean House was the last waterfront Victorian-era hotel on mainland Rhode Island.

Watch Hill is an affluent coastal neighborhood and census-designated place in the town of Westerly, Rhode Island. The population was 154 at the 2010 census. It sits at the most-southwestern point in Rhode Island. It came to prominence in the late 19th and early 20th century as an exclusive summer resort, with wealthy families building sprawling Victorian-style "cottages" along the peninsula. Watch Hill is characterized by The New York Times as a community "with a strong sense of privacy and of discreetly used wealth," in contrast with "the overpowering castles of the very rich" in nearby Newport.

The Pawcatuck River is a river in the US states of Rhode Island and Connecticut flowing approximately 34 miles (55 km). There are eight dams along the river's length. USS Pawcatuck was named after the river.

Little Narragansett Bay is an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean and an estuary of the Pawcatuck River on the Rhode Island–Connecticut state line. It is sheltered by the curving peninsula of Napatree Point. At the base of Napatree Point is the resort village of Watch Hill, Rhode Island. The bay also contains the islands of Sandy Point, Elihu Island, and Barn Island. Sandy Point was once part of Napatree Point until the two were separated by the Hurricane of 1938. Since that time, it has migrated north and west, and changed orientation. It now begins about 1/4 mile east of Stonington Borough, and runs approximately 1+1⁄2 miles east-southeast.

Onondaga was a steam cargo ship built in 1905 by William Cramp & Sons of Philadelphia for Clyde Steamship Company with intention of operating on their East Coast and West Indies routes.

Napatree Point in Rhode Island, often referred to simply as Napatree, is a long sandy spit created by a geologic process called longshore drift. Up until the Hurricane of 1938, Napatree was sickle-shaped and included a 1.5-mile (2.4 km) long northern extension called Sandy Point. Napatree now extends 1.5 miles (2.4 km) westward from the business district of Watch Hill, a village in Westerly, Rhode Island forming a protected harbor. It is the southernmost and westernmost point of mainland Rhode Island.

Fort Mansfield was a coastal artillery installation located on Napatree Point, a long barrier beach in the village of Watch Hill in Westerly, Rhode Island.

The Stanton–Davis Homestead Museum (formerly known as the Robert Stanton House) is a historic house on Greenhaven Road in Stonington, Connecticut. It was built around 1700. The property has been a working farm for over 350 years, most by members of the Davis family. As of 2012, the house was boarded up and the Stanton family society was struggling to raise renovation funds.

Maschaug Pond is a coastal lagoon in Westerly, Washington County, Rhode Island, United States. Located at 41°19′07″N 71°49′51″W, it is one of nine such lagoons (often referred to as "salt ponds") in southern Rhode Island. A "small, brackish pond", it is not permanently connected to the Block Island Sound, and is largely bordered by the Misquamicut Club golf course. Nests of the piping plover, which has been federally designated as a threatened species, have been documented within the watershed.Its watershed covers 392.57 acres (158.87 ha); 52.08 acres (21.08 ha) is occupied by water. Maschaug itself has a surface area of 34.63 acres (14.01 ha), while nearby Little Maschaug Pond is 11.69 acres (4.73 ha). The pond averages 6.89 ft (2.10 m) deep, and has a salinity level of approximately 7 parts per thousand, too low to sustain the growth of eelgrass. The pond is non-tidal, except when breached by storms. The water directly receives about 57,219,222 gallons of precipitation per year, though groundwater flow is unknown. No rivers or streams flow into the pond. Maschaug Pond, like others in the region, was "formed after the recession of the glaciers 12,000 years ago".As a result of certain environmental conditions, including low elevation of surrounding land and dense residential and commercial development, Maschaug Pond is considered particularly susceptible to storm surge. It is projected that during a future hurricane, Winnapaug and Maschaug Ponds will likely be significantly changed.

Sandy Point Island (more commonly referred to as Sandy Point) is a 35-acre (14 ha) island in Little Narragansett Bay, lying mostly in Westerly, Rhode Island and partly in Stonington, Connecticut. Once an extension of Napatree Point, Sandy Point is now a one-mile-long (1.6 km) island that serves as an important nature preserve and recreation site. Sandy Point is the westernmost piece of land in the state of Rhode Island.