Celebrate President Lincoln’s Birthday with Cake and a Tour of Arnold House
Lincoln, R.I – February 2024
Saturday, February 8, 11:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Arnold House, 487 Great Road, Lincoln, R.I.
The town of Lincoln, Rhode Island, was named in honor of our sixteenth president in 1871. Visit Arnold House and learn about President Lincoln’s visits to the Ocean State and the history of this land that became Lincoln. Tour the museum, celebrate President Lincoln’s 216th birthday, and enjoy some birthday cake.
Free.
Accessibility Considerations:
Tour involves standing, walking, and stairs.
Visitors with limited mobility may be able to enjoy a first floor tour of the house and grounds.
Folding chairs are provided for visitors who would like to use them while on tour.
The site is not equipped with ramps, elevators, or lifts. Service animals are welcome.
We are happy to work with you to make your visit an enjoyable one and we encourage visitors with questions or requests to call ahead. *The only restroom is located on the second floor.
Please call 401-237-7436 for more information.
Quinsnicket and Arnold House (1693): The Narragansett People named the general area where Arnold House is situated Quinsnicket, which means “place of large rocks.”
Indigenous Peoples established a pathway through Quinsnicket which was used by the Nipmuc People and Wampanoag People, as well as the Narragansett People. In 1683, English colonists expanded this route further and named it Great Road, the first highway in the future state of Rhode Island.
Several brutal conflicts including what was known as the Pequot War and King Philip’s War resulted in injury, death, imprisonment, relocation, and enslavement for Indigenous Peoples.
This devastation was coupled with the already disastrous impact of contact with disease for which Indigenous nations possessed no immunity – and still Indigenous communities remained.
This aftermath presented opportunity for land acquisition for colonists like the Arnolds.
In 1693, Eleazer and Eleanor Arnold built their house along Great Road, one of the earliest roads in the colonies. Two stories high, with a pilastered chimney, the home so dominated the modest dwellings of nearby farmers that it earned the title “Eleazer’s Splendid Mansion.” With its massive chimney end wall, the house is a rare survivor of a once-common Rhode Island building type known as a stone-ender.
The structure has sustained many alterations over the centuries. Visitors find evidence of seventeenth-century construction methods, eighteenth-century additions, nineteenth century graffiti, and the twentieth-century approach to preservation that restored the house to its present appearance.
Arnold House is located at 487 Great Road. Guided tours are on the hour, Sundays, 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. from June 1 through October 15 and the last tour of the day starting at 3:00 p.m.
For information on group tours, please call Dan Santos at (401) 237 – 7436
Visit: www.historicnewengland.org/property/arnold-house/