Colt State Park is a public recreation area that occupies on Poppasquash Neck in the

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

Bristol, Rhode Island Bristol is a town in Bristol County, Rhode Island, United States, as well as the county seat. The population of Bristol was 22,493 at the 2020 census. It is a deep water seaport named after Bristol, England. Major industries include boat buil ...

, once owned by industrialist Samuel P. Colt, nephew of firearms manufacturer

Samuel Colt Samuel Colt (; July 19, 1814 – January 10, 1862) was an American inventor, industrialist, and businessman who established Colt's Patent Fire-Arms Manufacturing Company and made the mass production of revolvers commercially viable. Col ...

. The park is a major component of the Poppasquash Farms Historic District, listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

, and is a stop on the

East Bay Bike Path The East Bay Bike Path is a paved rail trail in Rhode Island. The path originates in Providence and India Point Park, crosses the Seekonk River via the George Redman Linear Park (opened September 2015) and the Washington Bridge, and conti ...

. The park includes trails, picnic groves, boat ramps, an observation tower, and an open air Chapel-by-the-Sea.

History

Beginning in 1905, Samuel P. Colt purchased and consolidated the Chase, Church and Van Wickle farms. He built a summer house, the "Casino," on the grounds as well as a magnificent stone barn to accommodate a prize herd of

Jersey cattle The Jersey is a British breed of small dairy cattle from Jersey, in the British Channel Islands. It is one of three Channel Island cattle breeds, the others being the Alderney – now extinct – and the Guernsey. The milk is high in butterf ...

. The summer house was demolished in the 1960s while the stone cow barn survives. A pair of life-size bull statues, named Conrad and Pomeroy, stand guard at the main entrance gate on Hope Street. The marble bases which support the bronze bulls are believed to have been modeled after the approach gates to French King

Louis XV Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reached maturity (then defi ...

château A château (, ; plural: châteaux) is a manor house, or palace, or residence of the lord of the manor, or a fine country house of nobility or gentry, with or without fortifications, originally, and still most frequently, in French-speaking re ...

Petit Trianon The Petit Trianon (; French for 'small Trianon') is a Neoclassical architecture, Neoclassical style château located on the grounds of the Palace of Versailles in Versailles, Yvelines, Versailles, France. It was built between 1762 and 1768 ...

Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; ) is a former royal residence commissioned by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, Yvelines, Versailles, about west of Paris, in the Yvelines, Yvelines Department of Île-de-France, Île-de-France region in Franc ...

and were unveiled in 1913. The gate bears the inscription: "Colt Farm. Private Property, Public Welcome." At Colt's death in 1921, the lands passed to his Industrial Trust Company. According to the provisions of Colt's

will Will may refer to: Common meanings * Will and testament, instructions for the disposition of one's property after death * Will (philosophy), or willpower * Will (sociology) * Will, volition (psychology) * Will, a modal verb - see Shall and will ...

, the farm was to remain open to the public in

perpetuity In finance, a perpetuity is an annuity that has no end, or a stream of cash payments that continues forever. There are few actual perpetuities in existence. For example, the United Kingdom (UK) government issued them in the past; these were kno ...

. Over the years, the grounds suffered from vandalism, and a number of statues were destroyed or stolen. Many of Colt Park's statues were relocated to Linden Place for safe keeping. In 1965, the

State of Rhode Island Rhode Island ( ) is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Connecticut to its west; Massachusetts to its north and east; and the Atlantic Ocean to its south via Rhode Island Sound and Block Island ...

took over Colt Farm via eminent domain, and on August 21, 1968, the lands were dedicated as Colt State Park by

Rhode Island Governor The governor of Rhode Island is the head of government of the U.S. state of Rhode Island and serves as commander-in-chief of the state's Army National Guard and Air National Guard. The current governor is Dan McKee, a member of the Democratic ...

John Chafee John Lester Hubbard Chafee ( ; October 22, 1922 – October 24, 1999) was an American politician and officer in the United States Marine Corps. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 66th Governor o ...

. A statue of Chafee was erected in the park in 2003.

Activities and amenities

The park offers trails for hikers, joggers, bicyclers and equestrians, a skate park, and facilities for picnicking, and boating. The park's fishing pier, built in the 1980s, was reconstructed and expanded in 2014 to provide four handicap-accessible stations for fishing from a wheelchair.

Gallery

File:BristolRI ColtStatePark EntranceGate.jpg, The bulls at the Hope Street entrance File:Colt state park.jpg, Shoreline at the park

References

External links

Colt State Park

Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (RIDEM) is a Rhode Island state government agency charged with supervising and controlling the protection, development, planning, and utilization of the natural resources of the state, incl ...

, Division of Parks & Recreation {{authority control 1965 establishments in Rhode Island Bristol, Rhode Island Protected areas established in 1965 Protected areas of Bristol County, Rhode Island State parks of Rhode Island