The Warwick Neck Improvement Association, a nonprofit member organization, was established in 1952 to help enrich the experience of residents on Warwick Neck.
The Association supports community improvement projects, sponsors social activities among residents on the Neck, advocates for Warwick Neck interests by working with public officials and others, and generally promotes the welfare of the community.
Membership is open to any person owning an interest in real estate on Warwick Neck or who has resided on Warwick Neck for at least two years.
Lynn Damiano
Board Members
Fred Parker, President
David Parr, Vice President
Cliff Deck, Treasurer
Joan Allen
Leslie Baxter
Robert Baxter
Jason Case
Bill Miller
Meredith Parker
Heather Rodrigues
Ron Winde
Ex Officio Emeritus Members
Jonathan Knight
Bill Nixon
Joel Stark
Business Representative
Nancy Cornish
“Warwick Neck was founded in 1642, when Samuel Gorton and his followers purchased approximately 100 square miles from Miantonomi, leader of the Narragansett, for 30 English pounds, or about $7100 today.
Travel to and from the Neck in the 17th and 18th centuries was unsurprisingly time-consuming and arduous. In one respect, however, it might have been easier than today: a ferry ran from the Neck to Prudence Island and then to Newport from about the 1740s to about 1780. In 1874, the Warwick Neck railroad station opened where the current Warwick Neck bus stop is located. The line connected Oakland Beach, Warwick Neck and Conimicut with Cranston and beyond, and after 1881 extended to Buttonwoods. The train was succeeded by electric trolley, which stopped running in 1935 with the expansion of travel by car.”*
“There are 21 lighthouses in Rhode Island, 13 of them of active. Among the oldest lighthouse is the Warwick Neck Lighthouse at the southern most end of Warwick Neck Avenue. The first structure on the site was built in 1827. A house was added two years later, and was enlarged to its present six rooms towards the end of the century. The 51 foot high cylindrical cast iron lighthouse that we see today was built in 1932 further inland. But seven years later it was moved even further back because of the damage done to the coast line by the hurricane of 1938.
The lighthouse’s fog horn sounds when a ship’s captain signals that assistance is needed. The lighthouse’s fog horn sounds one second every 15 seconds, its green light signals every 4 seconds. In 1985, the operation of the lighthouse was automated. The coast guard officer occupying the Victorian keeper’s house on the property retired in 2012, and since then it has been vacant.”
*Warwick Neck: A Collection of Memories, ed. Bill Nixon (381pp., 2nd edition, 2006). The book is an unrivaled cornucopia of text and photos about Warwick Neck. Become a WNIA member to enjoy your digital copy