Butts Hill Fort Restoration Committee Volunteer Summer Cleanup

Portsmouth, RI. The Butts Hill Fort Restoration Committee is seeking volunteers for our Summer Cleanup on Saturday July 1st (rain date is July 2nd). Wear your Red, White and Blue gloves, it starts at 9 AM and goes throughout the day. Come anytime. The meeting point is the Fort gate on Butts Hill St. off Sprague Street. Google “26 Butts Street” for directions to the Main Gate. Parking will also be available at the PHS Tennis Courts. Participants are asked to park along Dyer Street. No parking is allowed on Butts Street itself.

The focus of this effort will be to complete our work on Butts Hill Fort Green, while improving the path adjacent to the Eastern earthwork connecting to the tennis courts.  Every participant will need to sign a town liability form upon arrival. Butts Hill Fort Committee officials will be on hand throughout the day, so if you join in progress, please sign in with a team member for accountability. Participants are also asked to bring gloves, protective eye gear, loppers, shears, chainsaws, weed whackers and rakes.  Anyone can volunteer, stay for as long as you like, please RSVP to publicrelations@battleofrhodeisland.org

The largest Revolutionary War earthwork still standing in southern New England, Butts Hill Fort, is in Portsmouth, Rhode Island. It was started by Patriot militia in 1776, enlarged and completed by British troops occupying Aquidneck Island. It served as the headquarters for General John Sullivan during the Rhode Island Campaign in 1778 and was occupied and enlarged by allied French troops under Comte de Rochambeau during 1780-1781. It is on the National Register of Historic Places and on the National Park Service’s Washington Rochambeau Revolutionary Route (NPS WARO). The Fort has for years been inaccessible to the public and largely forgotten. The goal of the Restoration Committee is to return it to public use as an historical, educational, and recreational asset.

The Battle of Rhode Island Association is a 501(c)(3) non-profit committed to raising awareness of Rhode Island’s role in the War for Independence. Donations may be made payable to “BoRIA” at PO Box 626, Portsmouth, RI 02871 or by visiting:  https://battleofrhodeisland.org/donate/.