Washington Square (Newport, Rhode Island)

More trapezoid than square, it exists at the intersection of several major streets and what was the colonial long wharf, projecting into the harbor off Aquidneck Island and into Narragansett Bay.

The first group of Anglo settlers – among them William Coddington, John Clarke, Henry Bull, and the Easton family each clustered their house lots of about ten acres close to a fresh water spring and a short distance uphill from the shoreline.

By the nineteenth century, this spot came to be known as "The Parade" and became a more defined, park-like area with boundary fencing, trees, fountain and a bronze sculpture of one of Newport's military heroes, Oliver Hazard Perry.

Building on an original design by artist, inventor and restorer Howard Newman, the commission completely rebuilt the square to more closely serve its original function as a gathering place for Newport's citizenry, and dedicating itself to the square's continued historic, architectural, cultural, and commercial significance.

One testament to that status were the old Homecoming events, welcoming all native near and far back to Newport during which a triumphal arch was set up in the square and scores of former residents gathered to celebrate their hometown in that time honored place.