South County History Center
A nonprofit historical organization in Kingston, Rhode Island, dedicated to preserving and interpreting the history and material culture of South County.
Last updated August 26, 2026
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Overview
South County History Center is a nonprofit historical organization based in Kingston, Rhode Island. It preserves, studies, and interprets the history of South County through museum exhibitions, archival research, library resources, artifacts, and the stewardship of a historically significant former jail building. The institution was established in 1958 as the Pettaquamscutt Historical Society, created by local residents who wanted to promote public appreciation of the region, gather historically significant materials, and identify, preserve, and mark local historic sites. The organization operates from the Old Washington County Jail, a former county jail whose present structures date principally from 1858 and 1861, on a site that had held a jail since 1792. The building stands near the southeastern entrance to the University of Rhode Island on Kingstown Road and Upper College Road. After the jail closed in 1956, the property was adapted for historical and museum use. By 1958, the front portion had been redesigned for collections, a library, records, and museum displays, while the former cell area was restored sufficiently to allow visitors to see the institutional spaces. The Old Washington County Jail is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and remains central to the center’s identity and visitor experience. The center’s collections began with donations from local residents, particularly family and household materials connected with early American and South County life. Its holdings encompass artifacts, archival documents, books, genealogical resources, and other evidence of the region’s social, domestic, economic, medical, artistic, and community history. The institution’s research emphasis includes local families, cemeteries, historic properties, settlements, and the development of communities in southern Rhode Island. Historian Marjorie Webster Schunke was especially important in building the library and archival resources and in producing research on local genealogy, sites, and cemeteries. Among the materials associated with the collection are works by Rhode Island woodcarver William Russell Sweet, including a carved 1896 hutch inspired by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem The Song of Hiawatha. Other Sweet family works include furniture and carved decorative pieces featuring regional, natural, heraldic, and textile themes. The center has also been associated with a large 1930s Works Progress Administration mural by Ernest Hamlin Baker depicting economic activity on Narragansett plantations. The mural’s representation of slavery and plantation society has prompted differing responses: some viewers find its subject disturbing, while others regard it as important evidence of the region’s past and its historical relationship to slavery. In 2016, the organization adopted the South County History Center name as part of a revised mission and broader institutional vision. The change distinguished the organization from its earlier identity as the Pettaquamscutt Historical Society while retaining its focus on the history of southern Rhode Island. Its principal public role is educational and preservational rather than commercial: it provides access to local history through exhibitions, the historic jail site, collections, research materials, and interpretation of the communities and people of South County.
History
The South County History Center was founded in 1958 as the Pettaquamscutt Historical Society by residents of South County, Rhode Island. Its original objectives were to encourage the study and appreciation of regional history, collect and preserve materials of historic interest, and protect or identify local historic sites. The society’s work developed around the idea that the history of southern Rhode Island could be documented not only through prominent buildings and public events but also through family papers, household objects, local trades, community institutions, cemeteries, and the ordinary material culture of the region. The organization established its museum in the former Washington County Jail in Kingston. The site had been used for incarceration since a jail constructed there in 1792. The surviving jail complex was built in stages, with the existing building dating chiefly from 1858 and 1861. Its construction used local materials and craftsmanship, including oak structural elements, mica schist or greywacke, Westerly granite, mortar, and iron cell gates. The facility closed as a jail in 1956. Two years later, the former institution was adapted for historical use: the front portion accommodated museum collections, a library, and historical records, while the rear cell area was refurbished and made available to visitors. The Old Washington County Jail is now recognized on the National Register of Historic Places and functions as the center’s headquarters and principal historic setting. The center’s collections originated in donations by local families, including ancestral objects and documents connected with early American history. Over time, the holdings expanded to cover many dimensions of South County life. The collection includes artifacts, archival materials, library resources, genealogical information, and evidence relating to local places, families, occupations, and communities. Historian Marjorie Webster Schunke played a significant role in assembling archival and library materials. Her research and printed work addressed local genealogy, historic sites, and cemeteries, helping establish a research foundation for later visitors and scholars. The institution has also preserved or interpreted objects associated with prominent local families and regional artistic traditions. William Russell Sweet, a Rhode Island woodcarver, created a carved hutch in 1896 based on themes from Longfellow’s The Song of Hiawatha. Other Sweet works include carved furniture and decorative pieces with subjects ranging from family heraldry and New England shells to leaves, nuts, berries, animals, and textile patterns. Some works were made available to the museum through family loans, extending the center’s ability to interpret local craft and domestic history. Another important and contested object is Ernest Hamlin Baker’s large mural, The Economic Activities of the Narragansett Planters. Painted in the 1930s as part of the federal Works Progress Administration, the mural depicts a white overseer and enslaved Black people in eighteenth-century Narragansett. It had been displayed for decades in the Wakefield post office before that building closed in 1999. The mural’s subject has generated debate because it confronts the history of slavery and plantation activity in southern Rhode Island. The discussion illustrates the interpretive responsibilities faced by historical institutions: displaying difficult material can cause distress, but removing or ignoring it can obscure a significant part of the region’s past. In 2016, the Pettaquamscutt Historical Society changed its operating name to South County History Center and revised its mission. The rebranding reflected a new vision and presented the organization as a broader regional history center rather than solely as a traditional historical society. The institution’s continuing work combines preservation, public interpretation, research access, and stewardship of the former jail. Its focus remains South County, with the center serving as a local cultural institution for residents, researchers, students, genealogists, and visitors interested in Rhode Island history.
- 2016
Organization becomes South County History Center
[1]The Pettaquamscutt Historical Society revised its mission and adopted the South County History Center name to express a new institutional vision.
- 1999
Wakefield post office displaying the mural closes
[1]The post office where Baker’s mural had been displayed closed, contributing to later discussion about the work’s location and interpretation.
- 1958
Pettaquamscutt Historical Society is founded
[1]Local residents established the organization to preserve, study, and promote appreciation of South County history. The former jail was also adapted for museum use.
- 1956
Washington County Jail closes
[1]The former county jail ceased operating as a correctional facility.
- 1930
Works Progress Administration mural is created
[1]Ernest Hamlin Baker painted The Economic Activities of the Narragansett Planters as a federal Works Progress Administration project. The exact year is not specified in the reference material.
- 1896
William Russell Sweet creates a carved hutch
[1]Rhode Island woodcarver William Russell Sweet produced a hutch inspired by The Song of Hiawatha, later associated with the organization’s museum collection.
- 1861
Present jail building completed in its later phase
[1]The existing historic jail complex includes construction dating to 1861.
- 1858
Construction of the present jail complex begins
[1]The surviving Old Washington County Jail structures were built in stages, beginning with construction dated to 1858.
- 1792
First jail established on the site
[1]A Washington County jail was constructed on the site that later became the headquarters of the South County History Center.
Products and positioning
A community-rooted historical center that combines museum interpretation, archival and genealogical research, artifact preservation, and access to a National Register-listed former county jail.
Historic site and museum · 1958
Old Washington County Jail
The center’s headquarters and principal visitor attraction is a former Washington County Jail whose present structures date from 1858 and 1861 on a site first used for a jail in 1792. The building preserves former cell areas, historic construction materials, and spaces adapted for museum collections, records, library resources, and exhibitions. Its National Register status gives the center a distinctive architectural and interpretive setting.
Museum and archival collection · 1958
South County historical collections
The collections document many aspects of life in southern Rhode Island through artifacts, family materials, archival records, books, genealogical resources, and objects connected with local communities. The holdings began with donations from residents and focus on the region’s families, places, occupations, cultural traditions, and material history.
Research service · 1958
Local history and genealogy research resources
The center provides access to library and archival materials supporting research into South County genealogy, historic sites, cemeteries, families, and communities. Historian Marjorie Webster Schunke was an important contributor to the development of these resources and produced substantial local historical research.
Educational offering · 1958
Museum exhibitions and interpretation
Exhibitions and public interpretation connect the center’s objects and historic building to the broader history of South County. Subjects represented in the institution’s materials include early American life, local craftsmanship, family history, regional economic activity, and difficult subjects such as slavery and plantation society in Rhode Island.
Brand decisions
2016
Rebrand from Pettaquamscutt Historical Society to South County History CenterStrategyBackground
The organization revised its mission and sought to express a broader or renewed institutional vision for interpreting the history of southern Rhode Island.
Action taken
It began operating under the South County History Center name while continuing its preservation, museum, research, and educational activities.
Aftermath
The new identity positioned the organization as a regional history center and distinguished it from its former historical-society name.
Sources1 sources
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