Most of Jamestown offers water views. Conanicut Park has the advantage of the tremendous water views of the island’s East Passage, particularly along East Shore Road.

The Providence Journal / Frieda Squires

JAMESTOWN — Almost every neighborhood in Jamestown is a waterfront neighborhood, and even the island’s busiest spot, “the village” near the East Ferry, has a small-town, relaxed feel.

But in Conanicut Park, a neighborhood in the northeast corner of the island, the sense of quiet and tranquil is even more pronounced.

East Shore Road, the neighborhood’s main street, sometimes appears to be a deserted stretch. People out running, bicycling or walking their dogs often smile and wave at the few people who do happen to drive by.

“I actually like it up here because it’s a 2-acre zone,” said Liz Brazil, who lives and works in an 1874 cottage on East Shore Road. “You’re kind of a little more spread out than downtown.”

Gallery

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the East Passage and Conanicut Point, in Jamestown

Brazil operates her business, Jamestown Rental Realty, from her house; it appears to be the only business in the entire neighborhood.

Conanicut Park also has the advantage of the tremendous water views of the island’s East Passage, particularly along East Shore Road and an even less-traveled waterfront dirt path, North Bay View Road.

North Light, a red-painted Victorian cottage with white gingerbread-style trim, at 64 North Bay View Rd., is now a private residence, but it used to be a lighthouse, according to Brazil.

A history of the town dates the North Light, at the northern tip of the island, to 1886.

If not for an economic downturn in 1873, Conanicut Park might have been more extensively developed, according to Historic and Architectural Resources of Jamestown, Rhode Island, a history published by the Rhode Island Historical Preservation & Heritage Commission, in cooperation with the Jamestown Historical Society.

The availability of steamboat service led to the establishment of Conanicut Park as Jamestown’s first summer colony; the Conanicut Land Company, established in 1872, bought about 500 acres in the northern tip of Jamestown.

That land was divided into more than 2,000 rectangular lots, and a steamboat landing and a hotel (since burned) were built in Conanicut Park in 1873.

But most of the house lots were never developed. Gov. Henry Lippitt bought the holdings of the Conanicut Land Company at an auction in 1889.

“If you look at the original plans, they were all 50-by-100-[foot] lots,” Brazil said. Over the years, perhaps because water and septic systems are all private, she said, the zoning rules were changed.

The 1873 depression, coupled with the introduction of a steam ferry from Newport to the East Ferry landing, diverted summer cottage development to southern Jamestown, according to the town history.

More recently, the housing boom led to the development of a string of impressive newer summer residences along East Shore Road and its small dead-end offshoot streets located even closer to the water. A number of these mansions are for sale.

But even in the midst of the current economic downturn, Conanicut Park is home to one of the most expensive residential construction projects ever undertaken on the island, and possibly the state.

According to Jamestown building official Fred Brown, construction costs for a new house at 366 East Shore Rd. have been estimated at $30 million. The contractor is Glenn Parker of Parker Thompson in East Providence.

This spurt of development has left a mix of housing that includes large and extra-large newer houses and a handful of modest but charming Victorian cottages.

“A lot of the original houses are still here,” Brazil said. She said the house next to hers, also built in 1874, is known as the Chapel House; she said it is a Gothic Revival with pointed arch lancet windows, built for Charles Worth.

Chapel House, so named by a later occupant, was based on a style popular in the 1870s on Martha’s Vineyard, she added.

None of the original cottages is currently listed for sale, but 12 of Conanicut Park’s newer houses are on the market.

The prices top out at $8.9 million for a 6,365-square-foot “cottage” built in 2004 on 5.8 acres at 330 East Shore Rd.

Prices begin at $659,900 for a 1997 house at 130 America Way, in East Passage Estates, a wooded subdivision west of East Shore Road.

“The interesting thing about Jamestown people is they call [Conanicut Park] ‘way up north,’ Brazil said. “I’m six and a half miles from town!”

But “it’s a nice place to be,” Brazil said. “I’m pretty private.”

POPULATION:

(Jamestown, 2000) 5,622

MEDIAN HOUSE PRICE:

(Jamestown, 2008) $525,000

ET CETERA:

In 2006, the owners of a mansion for sale on East Shore Road, then priced at $5.8 million, offered an extra premium to the selling agent: a new Mercedes, a 2007 CLK 350 convertible, in the agent’s preferred color. The house is still on the market, at a reduced price.

cdunn@projo.com