The Dunes Club is a historic private beach club at 137 Boston Neck Road in
Narragansett, Rhode Island
Narragansett is a town in Washington County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 14,532 at the 2020 census. However, during the summer months the town's population more than doubles to near 34,000. The town of Narragansett occupie ...
. The club occupies of land fronting
Narragansett Bay
Narragansett Bay is a bay and estuary on the north side of Rhode Island Sound covering , of which is in Rhode Island. The bay forms New England's largest estuary, which functions as an expansive natural harbor and includes a small archipelago. S ...
in central Narragansett, bounded on the north by the
Pettaquamscutt River
The Pettaquamscutt River (; also known as Narrow River) is a tidal extension of the Mattatuxet River in the U.S. state of Rhode Island. It flows approximately .U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe ...
.
History
The Dunes Club's centerpiece is a large rambling
Colonial Revival
The Colonial Revival architectural style seeks to revive elements of American colonial architecture.
The beginnings of the Colonial Revival style are often attributed to the Centennial Exhibition of 1876, which reawakened Americans to the arch ...
clubhouse designed by Thomas Pym Cope and built in 1939, after the first clubhouse (built 1928-29 to a design by club member Kenneth Murchison), was washed away by the
New England Hurricane of 1938
The 1938 New England Hurricane (also referred to as the Great Long Island - New England Hurricane and the Long Island Express) was one of the deadliest and most destructive tropical cyclones to strike the United States. The storm formed near th ...
. The only element of the club's original buildings to survive that hurricane is its gatehouse. The club's facilities include tennis courts and cabanas.
The club was 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 ...
in 2015.
On 18 May 2016 around 6:30 p.m., an SUV crashed into the gatehouse at the entrance of the club.
Steve Sterling, the manager of the club, as well as his wife and his teenage son Erik, were inside at the time but were unharmed.
The house sustained significant structural damage as well as water damage.
Facilities and amenities
The Dunes Club consists of a main clubhouse, which includes a gift shop, formal dining hall with a stage and dance floor, indoor/outdoor formal bar, tea room used for small formal events, casual restaurant with deck dining, restrooms, kitchens and staff offices and living quarters. From the north side entrance of the clubhouse or through the parking lot is access to a casual snack bar offering lunch foods as well as ice cream, an outdoor snack bar, a casual outdoor food service, deck, pool, children's pool and two bars. Further down are the member bathhouses, which are small units for storing chairs and umbrellas, and the headquarters of the bathhouse staff who carry chairs and umbrellas for members. Located in proximity to the beach is the first aid center, where medical supplies are stored, and the children's camp, a day camp for those ages 4 and older. Further down and closer to
Narrow River are member
cabana
A cabana is a type of shelter often found near beaches or pools. A cabana can be used to relax in the shade or change clothes.
A cabana bathroom is a bathroom attached to a building or a house that is commonly used by swimmers and beachgoers.
...
s. These are small rooms with ground-level porches that have chairs and tables for relaxation and dining as well as storage for chairs, umbrellas and surfboards. These are staffed by two cabana stations, and cabana lease holders have access to a special cabana menu that changes daily. Bordering the parking lot and Narrow River, respectively, are eight
asphalt
Asphalt most often refers to:
* Bitumen, also known as "liquid asphalt cement" or simply "asphalt", a viscous form of petroleum mainly used as a binder in asphalt concrete
* Asphalt concrete, a mixture of bitumen with coarse and fine aggregates, u ...
tennis courts. Adjoining the asphalt courts is the pro shop, which sells rackets, balls, and other tennis equipment to members. A tennis pro and multiple instructors are employed each summer to offer private lessons, group clinics, and day camps for children.
List of presidents
#
T. Pierrepont Hazard (1929–1941)
# Henry B. Spencer (1942–1954)
# Caryl Roberts (1954–1955)
# Robert O. Lord (1955–1959)
# John E. C. Hall (1959–1961)
# R. Henry Field (1961–1963)
# Darius L. Goff (1963–1967)
# George C. Davis (1967–1971)
# George S. Squibb (1971–1988)
# James S. Smith (1988–1992)
# Edward O. Ekman (1992–1996)
# James M. Seed (1996–2001)
# Michael McMahon (2002–2006)
# Sarah Dowling (2007-2010)
# Benjamin McCleary (2011-2015)
# Robert Flanders (2016-2020)
# William Kapos (2021-)
See also
*
References
External links
The Dunes Club web site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dunes Club, The
Clubhouses on the National Register of Historic Places in Rhode Island
Colonial Revival architecture in Rhode Island
Buildings and structures in Narragansett, Rhode Island
National Register of Historic Places in Washington County, Rhode Island