USS Saratoga Museum Foundation, Inc.

SARATOGA ENCOURAGED BY EDC RESPONSE AT QUONSET

Quonset-Davisville staff moves swiftly to find winter storage for historic artifacts; Saratoga Foundation agrees to work with preservationist group to help resolve Allen-Madison House impasse.

In a meeting Wednesday with Saratoga Foundation President Frank Lennon, Quonset general manager George Prete promised indoor storage for the artifacts endangered by weather, including providing some space in the historic Mitchell Mobile Hangar. This decision reverses the position originally taken by EDC staff who had maintained that the hangar was needed to store road salt.

At the October 21 Quonset/Davisville Management Corporation board meeting, Lennon asked Quonset officials to honor a July 2000 commitment to provide temporary storage for the collection, which includes the fuselage of a former presidential helicopter used by Presidents Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon and Carter; an AV-8 Harrier vertical takeoff/landing "Jump Jet;" a disassembled F-4 Phantom; and a 39-foot-long model of the battleship Nevada used by Paramount Pictures in making "Winds of War."

Although the Saratoga request was at first denied, after the meeting RIEDC acting director and Quonset board chairman William Parsons agreed that it would be best to find a solution. Ten days later, Prete informed Lennon that salt would be moved within the Mitchell Hangar to create space for the presidential helicopter fuselage, and that the remainder of the collection will be stored in other Quonset buildings.

"We thank Bill Parsons and George Prete for reconsidering this problem," Lennon said. "It was in everyone's best interests to find a reasonable solution to the immediate task of preserving these artifacts. The way this matter was handled opens the door to a better working relationship between the USS Saratoga Museum Foundation and Quonset management. Mr. Prete recognized a win-win opportunity for Saratoga and the EDC, and he took quick and responsible action. We see this as a breakthrough and pledge to do our part to build on this joint effort."

These artifacts are part of a collection the museum has accumulated during its five-year quest to establish a non-profit museum, memorial, educational center and family attraction at Quonset Point, featuring the retired aircraft carrier USS Saratoga as the centerpiece. Foundation leaders contend: the Saratoga project offers significant economic impact on the local economy; it also results in the creation of more than 500 jobs; it will also generate more than $1.6 million in new annual tax revenues for the state.

The history of the Allen-Madison property dates back to the Revolutionary War. It was the site of North Kingstown's first schoolhouse; the Madison family bought the house in 1825 and operated a 175-acre farm until 1909. In1939, the Navy took over the property; during World War II the house was the residence of the commander of the Davisville Seabee base. In 1977 it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

In 1999, the USS Saratoga Museum Foundation attempted to save another historic structure known as the Admiral's House, the former residence of the Naval Air Station's commanding officer. The Museum group proposed to restore the rapidly deteriorating structure as its headquarters. Before that plan could materialize, vandals torched the colonial home and burned it to the ground.

In a letter to Friends vice president John Lukens, Lennon expressed a willingness to help ensure the Allen-Madison house did not meet a similar fate. "This will confirm our interest in pursuing the possibility of using the Allen-Madison house as our headquarters once restoration is complete," he wrote.

Lennon and Lukens plan to meet next week to work out how the two organizations might work together toward achieving common goals.