Images of Gilbert Stuart Birthplace & Museum
Gilbert Stuart Birthplace & Museum and its collection
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The Gilbert Stuart Birthplace & Museum is the 1751 home and snuff mill of the Stuart family and birthplace of one of America‘s best-known portraitists. This authentically restored eighteenth century, gambrel-roofed workingman’s home is furnished with period antiques. It is a showplace for reproductions of Stuart’s works. Beneath the window of Gilbert’s tiny room, water diverted from the millpond turns the huge wooden undershot waterwheel, which turns the wooden gears that power the snuff mill which was used to grind locally grown tobacco in colonial times. Stuart’s Birthplace is unique because it was both a family dwelling and a place of industry. This is the site of the first snuff mill in the New England colonies. The museum is also the site of the the fully restored eighteenth century Hammond Gristmill, which houses the original granite millstones dated 1757. In addition to historic preservation, the museum also maintains the natural environment with 23 acres of rewilded forest and nature trails. In partnership with the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, the museum has helped to preserve and protect the annual herring migration and the native population of American eel. Finally, the museum includes a state of the art exhibition gallery in which displays original paintings by Gilbert Stuart and his daughter, Jane Stuart. The gallery also displays a rotating program of exhibitions highlighting artists and portraiture of Rhode Islanders.
ENGilbert Stuart Birthplace
History & Anthropology Historic house Person & Artist