Free House Museum Event in Rhode Island

I received this in my email today from Preserve Rhode Island. It is an announcement about an event across the state in which certain house museums will open their doors for free. The event is called Thresholds: Step Inside History and will be held on Saturday, May 9, 2009 from 11:00am - 3:00pm.

They first held this event last year around the same time and I happily took my mom (this is the day before Mother's Day) to Clouds Hill Victorian House Museum in Warwick, Rhode Island. I had wanted to view this house because it has such an interesting history and remained in the hands of the original owner's descendants. It was turned into a museum because the remaining descendant had no children and she wanted the property to be taken care of. The house was built in 1872 and was home (in 1931) to the first female fire chief in the world. The engine house (and fire truck!) from the volunteer fire company she formed is still on the property as are some barns with horses and ponies. Wild turkeys also roam the area. I have pictures of the house somewhere on my computer which I will post when I find them.

I am happy to see that this year the event is an hour longer than last year running from 11:00 to 3:00 instead of 12:00 to 3:00. Maybe I'll be able to get to more than one place this year (there are 23 properties participating). This year I'm torn between going to the Paine House Museum in Coventry, Rhode Island and the Old Jamestown Windmill in Jamestown, Rhode Island. They are in very different parts of the state, so I don't think that I could get to both even with the added hour.

I will post about this event again as the date gets closer, any of these properties are well worth a visit.