
Seabees Museum Huts - Davisville - Near Quonset Point, RI
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NorStar
N 41° 36.419 W 071° 27.011
19T E 295830 N 4609041
A hive of Quonset Huts of all types are on display at the Seabee Museum in Davisville, which is near where the Quonset Hut was first designed and built.
Waymark Code: WM6CAB
Location: Rhode Island, United States
Date Posted: 05/12/2009
Views: 21
At this location is probably the highest concentration of Quonset huts in the United States and the world! They are part of the Seebee Museum and Memorial Park in Davisville (part of North Kingstown), RI, and is near the location where the Quonset Huts were first designed and built.
The location is off of U.S. 1. From where RI state route 403 merges with U.S. 1, take Davisville Road, which also meets there, and travel northeast for less than 0.5 miles to the turnoff road to the left, next to a Lowe's store. Within view is a statue of a bee with a machine gun and tools. This statue once stood at the gate for the first U.S. Navy CB ("Seabee") unit. The parking lot is very close by. The first grouping of huts is right at the parking lot. They represent many different design phases. From the text on the museum's web site, they have the components to the first, "T-rib," design and hope to set it up in the future. A "Quonset Stran-Steel" Hut is on the grounds, marked as hut #4. Examples of the fourth, fifth, final and partially underground huts are also present on the grounds.
Recently, the huts near the parking lot have been painted cammoflage colors. Some huts have dormers on the side, while others keep a semicircular profile.
It's hard to tell just how many huts are here. Most of them are by the parking lot, but the partially underground ones are further in the park. Counting the partially underground ones, I think there are 10 huts.
The museum is for the U.S. Navy CBs ("Seabees") which are the Navy's construction arm. They had their start in the Quonset Naval Air Station, which covered most of this area. The museum is relatively new and has plans to expand. In the meantime, it is open at least on Saturdays 10 - 2 (May, 2009). I had actually just missed seeing the museum, but we walked around the huts.
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