Jamestown, Rhode Island is located twenty-five miles south of Providence and a mile west of Newport, on Conanicut Island, in Narragansett Bay. It is both a summer destination and a year-round community with a population is about 6,000.
Located on Conanicut Island, Jamestown is nine miles long by one mile wide. Its highest elevation is 135 feet. Sheep grazing and farming began in the sixteen-thirties. For well over two hundred years the island remained mostly agricultural. Even today, there is a quiet rural character to much of the island and Jamestown’s commercial center has the feel of a traditional village. A few farms remain, older neighborhoods are intact and historic properties, including lighthouses, windmills and the remains of old military fortifications, offer connection to the past.
