Stone House

Public hearing on Stone House's request to let scheduled weddings, receptions proceed

The Stone House, in Little Compton, R.I.

The Stone House, in Little Compton, R.I.

A public hearing is set for 7 p.m., Aug. 10, on Stone House’s request to the Little Compton Town Council to let the venue fulfill its agreements with families for long-scheduled weddings and receptions.

The request is made in order to eliminate further stress on those families who had expected to hold such events at the Stone House during the rest of the 2017 season. The Stone House was required to cease conducting such events until the Town Council grants the Stone House an entertainment license. But according to Town Code §6-7.6, the council may waive any requirement of the entertainment license ordinance. Thus the Stone House urges the council to exercise its discretion and let these very socially and emotionally important events go forward.

On Monday, August 7, 2017, the Stone House filed an application seeking zoning relief pursuant to the Superior Court’s recent order along with an application for an entertainment license in hopes of obtaining the council’s immediate approval to let the historic venue conduct its remaining 2017 events. The Stone House requested an expedited hearing on its application for zoning relief but a hearing date has not yet been scheduled.

However, a public hearing on the Stone House’s entertainment license application will be held at the Town Council Meeting Thursday, August 10, 2017 at 7 p.m. in the Little Compton Town Hall, at 40 Commons. The Stone House encourages anyone who has an interest in these scheduled events to attend. 

In light of the pending application for zoning relief and the potentially very heavy impact on the Stone House’s clients, the Stone House has requested that the Town Council exercise its power to permit the aforementioned events to be conducted as originally scheduled or with any additional conditions or restrictions that the Town Council wishes to impose to satisfy councilors’ concerns. 

 

Information and pictures, please, on the Stone House

The Stone House, in Little Compton, R.I.

The Stone House, in Little Compton, R.I.

We're doing some historical research on the Stone House, an old inn in Little Compton, R.I. We'd appreciate any information from readers about their own weddings and/or wedding receptions held at the Stone House or such events involving their friends and/or relatives. Dates of the events -- and pictures! -- would be most appreciated. We'd guess that there have been weddings and/or wedding receptions there going back to the late Twenties, when there was a speakeasy in this lovely structure, built in 1854 as a private home.

Please email such information to:

rwhitcomb4@cox.net

Information (including pictures), please, on Stone House weddings, receptions

The Stone House, in Little Compton, R.I.

The Stone House, in Little Compton, R.I.

We're doing some historical research on the Stone House, an old inn in Little Compton, R.I. We'd appreciate any information from readers about their own weddings and/or wedding receptions held at the Stone House or such events involving their friends and/or relatives. Dates of the events -- and pictures! -- would be most appreciated. We'd guess that there have been weddings and/or wedding receptions there going back to the late Twenties, when there was a speakeasy in this lovely structure, built in 1854 as a private home.

Please email such information to:

rwhitcomb4@cox.net

Information, please, on Stone House weddings and receptions

The Stone House, in Little Compton, R.I.

The Stone House, in Little Compton, R.I.

We're doing some historical research on the Stone House, an old inn. We'd appreciate any information from readers about their own weddings and/or wedding receptions held at the Stone House or such events involving their friends and/or relatives. Dates of the events would be most appreciated. We'd guess that there have been weddings and/or wedding receptions there going back to the late Twenties, when there was a speakeasy in this lovely structure, built in 1854 as a private home.

Please email such information to:

rwhitcomb4@cox.net

From grand house to greenie inn, with maybe a speakeasy along the way

The Stone House, in Little Compton, R.I.-- Photo  by Lydia Davison Whitcomb

The Stone House, in Little Compton, R.I.

-- Photo  by Lydia Davison Whitcomb

The Stone House, a gorgeous inn on Sakonnet Point, in the bucolic town of Little Compton, R.I., is like many such establishments in summer resort communities on the New England coast: It started as a  large private house.

The four-story structure was built in 1854 by David Sisson, an iron and textile manufacturer as New England’s Industrial Revolution really got cooking. It was also home to his son Henry Tillinghast Sisson, a Civil War hero and Rhode Island lieutenant governor in 1875-77.

The house became an inn in the early 20th Century. In its basement is a very cozy and inviting tap room, rumored to have been a speakeasy during Prohibition, where you can now have meals as well as drinks.  The booze for the speakeasy might well have been offloaded from lobster boats sent out a few miles offshore to pick it up from distributors. Lots of cat and mouse with the Coast Guard.

The Stone House is on the National Registry of Historic Places but it also has some green technologies, including heating and cooling systems that rely on geothermal technology.