Last Monday, January 10, the membership was treated to a history of the "Lady on the Hill" by Ocean House's Guest Relations Person Bob Elmer.  He said that the original Ocean House was actually built in Newport in 1844 and Taylor Swift's Watch Hill home is actually the site of the Watch Hill Ocean House.  The current site was originally Chief Ninigret's home.  The Watch Hill Ocean House was built in 1868 and was smaller than the other hotels but numerous additions expanded it over the years.  In 1916 the motion picture "American Aristocracy", starring Douglas Fairbanks, was filmed at Ocean House.  It is listed on the National Register of Historic places and stretches over 13 acres of beautiful oceanfront with views of Montauk, Block Island and the Atlantic Ocean.

 

"For those who could afford the luxury of travel, Ocean House became the quintessential summer home attracting many distinguished guests in the early 1900s.  The grand Victorian hotel was a genteel resort on the beach were generations of families and guests from across America came 'to summer.'... Ocean House welcomed guests for 135 years, but as with many historic hotels, over time neglect took its toll."  Of the nine hotels in existence in Watch Hill in 1938, Ocean House was one of the two that survived after that devastating hurricane.  However, Ocean House was closed in 2003 when new fire codes were revised and enforced and deficiencies in Ocean House required extensive renovation.  It was sold; but when the community learned that a developer from out of town planned to raze Ocean House and build five luxury homes in its place, a campaign began to save the building and preserve the site. 

 

The Royce family purchased the property, demolished the original building but removed 5,000 of the salvageable artifacts andfixtures, including the meticulous removal of the fireplace stone by stone.  The new building replicates the original exterior with the restoration of the fireplace, many of the chandeliers and other fixtures to recreate "the romance of its storied past and the rich character of Watch Hill, Rhode Island".  The first telephone booth installed in 1886 remains a part of the new Ocean House. The new building features 49 rooms and 18 signature suites.