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Warren's Point in Little Compton: Ocean views, attractive shingle-style houses, and expansive, manicured lawns bordered by stone walls [The Providence Journal, R.I.](Providence Journal (RI) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) June 13--LITTLE COMPTON -- You almost can't blame members of the Warren's Point Association for wanting to keep their little corner of the world to themselves. With ocean views, attractive shingle-style houses and expansive, manicured lawns bordered by stone walls, Warren's Point is an idyllic corner of this idyllic seaside town. In addition to the Warren's Point Beach Club, at 1 Atlantic Drive, a number of streets in the neighborhood, especially those closest to the ocean, are marked "private." The nearest public access to the shoreline is at Sakonnet Point. Warren's Point is to the east of Sakonnet Point and Long Pond. The area was first settled in the 17th century by Nathaniel Warren and, generations later, his land was held by the Bailey, Grinnell and Kempton families. Warren's Point was also the town's first summer colony, according to the Rhode Island Historical Preservation & Heritage Commission. According to a 1990 commission report on Little Compton, the earliest summer houses on Warren's Point were built by families from New York and the Midwest. "The first of these, the Alden House (ca. 1886) at 10 Atlantic Ave., was built on land divided from the Kempton Farm, which included much of the land at Warren's Point," the report stated. The report also called Little Compton's townscape "the most sublime in Rhode Island." The oldest surviving house on Warren's Point is at 14 Grinnell Rd., the c. 1700 Thomas Bailey house, according to the commission. A number of historic houses are still standing in Warren's Point, even though the notorious 1938 hurricane leveled the original pavilions of the Warren's Point Beach Club. The commission even recommended that Warren's Point become a historic district, but that has never happened, according to local historian Carlton Brownell. The neighborhood also has a modernist house, the Thomas Marvell House, built in 1940 at 65 Warrens Point Rd. The geometric white house was designed by Marvell, a graduate of the Harvard Graduate School of Design. Most of the houses at Warren's Point seem to be good-sized. "Gatherem," also known as the Edwin E. Winter House, built c. 1905 at 24 Grinnell Rd., and designed by Providence architects Stone, Carpenter & Wilson, was large enough for the Winters to host 26 children at their house, according to the commission report. But a sense of Yankee restraint seems to prevail in Warren's Point, and there are few of the outsized McMansions that characterize some affluent communities. A charming cottage built in 1900 at 3 Kempton Place has just 841 square feet of living space, according to town tax records. The house at 9 Kempton Place was built by the government in 1940 as a wartime observation post, according to the preservation commission report. The house was designed to blend in with neighboring houses, but it was made "to provide a look-out spot for attacking enemy aircraft or ship movement." After World War II ended, it was converted into a summer house, and it is now privately owned, with an assessed value of $1.58 million. The beauty and privacy of Warren's Point comes at a steep price. A property at 10 Beach St. is currently on the market for $3.9 million. In addition to a Cape-style main house built in 1925, the property includes a guest cottage built in 1995 near a sandy beach and "panoramic ocean views to Cuttyhunk and beyond," according to the listing information. Others listings include a 1985 Cape on 2.2 acres at 1 Grinnell Rd. ($2,095,000) and a house built in 1910 at 77 Warrens Point Rd. ($1,835,000). Even renting at Warren's Point is expensive. A six-bedroom house on Warrens Point Road rents for $6,600 per week, and there is a three-week minimum stay, according to a listing on the Little Compton Real Estate web site: ( www.littlecomptonre.com). POPULATION: (Little Compton, 2010) 3,492 MEDIAN HOUSE PRICE: (Little Compton, 2010) $410,000 ___ To see more of The Providence Journal or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.projo.com. Copyright (c) 2011, The Providence Journal, R.I. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For more information about the content services offered by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services (MCT), visit www.mctinfoservices.com, e-mail [email protected], or call 866-280-5210 (outside the United States, call +1 312-222-4544) |