Portsmouth Asylum Accounts Book for 1892-3 Posted Saturday, November 20, 2004 by admin
As part of the documents saved by the Portsmouth Historical Society, the Portsmouth Asylum Accounts book was found, has been scanned, and is available for viewing here.

1865 & 1875 Census Excerpts Added Posted Saturday, November 20, 2004 by admin
The Portsmouth Historical Society has just received a "garbage bag" of old documents destined for the dump, but saved just in time. These documents include the 1865 and 1875 census, showing residents at the Portsmouth Asylum! These have been scanned, transcribed, and are available here for 1865, and here for 1875,.

Full Scanned Report on Poor and Insane in RI Added Posted Saturday, August 28, 2004 by admin
Web images and a full scanned "Report on the Poor and Insane in Rhode Island", Thomas R. Hazard, 1851, have been added to the site and are available via this link for the page images and this link for access to the PDF and transcribed versions.

William R. Fales Memoir Added Posted Saturday, August 28, 2004 by admin
A resident of the Portsmouth Asylum, William R. Fales wrote his memoirs, "The Portsmouth Cripple" in 1851 and had them published. REWHC has obtained a copy of these memoirs and scanned them for web download. Visit this page for further information.

Poetry of Alfred Lord Tennyson Added Posted Saturday, April 24, 2004 by admin
Five Poems added from the works of Alfred Lord Tennyson (1809-1892).
One of the five randomly appears on the projects page.

REWHC on the Radio (WRNI - NPR RI) Posted Monday, January 12, 2004 by admin
Over the holiday break, we received an e-mail from Jim Moses, producer of "Focus Rhode Island" for WRNI (National Public Radio in RI). He expressed interested in producing a segment about our project on the Portsmouth Asylum. He had found our website while searching the internet for Poor Farms. After consulting Carolyn Beaudry, our corporate communications point of contact, we contacted Mr. Moses and set up an interview and trailwalk which was held on 1/7/04. Deborah Becker, the show's host asked a series of questions which were answered by REWHC Historian, Bill Saslow. Audio was recorded on a mini-disk player over the hour and a half including a visit to the Poor Farm Site down the Poor Farm Ramble trail. Kevin Petit was on-hand to take photos. Check out the recorded interview here.

REWHC Achieves Recertification Posted Sunday, November 23, 2003 by admin
REWHC has achieved a three year recertification with the WHC. Follow this link to read all about it.

New Nestbox Reporting Feature Added Posted Friday, March 28, 2003 by admin
The ability to report by monitor ID has been added to nestbox reporting. This enables you to see your previous entries.

Sitemaps For REWHC Posted Sunday, March 17, 2002 by admin
A new and easier way to navigate: sitemaps have been added to the website. Two formats are available Tree and Cloud, depending on how you like to navigate. Check them out!

Portsmouth Asylum Pages Updated Posted Monday, February 18, 2002 by admin
The pages on the Portsmouth Asylum have been updated with the latest progress in researching what happened in this combination poor farm and insane asylum. Transcriptions from a 150 year old document point to Portsmouth Asylum as the poster-child for welfare reform in the mid 19th century. Actual Asylum records have been transcribed, which provide interesting background. Check the new look out at /townfarmintro.shtml

New Image Library capabilities (hits, votes, postcards, and lightbox) Posted Monday, November 12, 2001 by admin
The REWHC site has now incorporated the ability to vote for an image, show the number of hits on an image, send an image in a postcard (WildCard) and create a lightbox of favorites and download them in zipped format. From the "Our Team Tools" menu, select "Image Library" or click here. Select a zone to view pictures in. Clicking on a thumbnail shows a larger picture. The screen with the larger picture gives the option to add to your lightbox or send as a postcard. Thanks to Brenda B., I've added needed detail to this "what's new" entry so people can find these features.

REWHC Screen Saver Added Posted Tuesday, October 23, 2001 by admin
A "REWHC Sights of Portsmouth" screen saver has been created and is available for download from the REWHC site! You can download it here.

REWHC Achieves WHC Certification! Posted Tuesday, October 23, 2001 by admin
It's official, REWHC has achieved certification by the WHC for creation of a successful wildlife management program. See the letter of certification from the WHC here.

Earthday 2001 Page Added With Online and Downloadable Crossword Puzzles Posted Tuesday, October 9, 2001 by admin
An Earthday 2001 page has been added at /earthday01.shtml including photos and games.

Nest Monitoring Fledges For 2001! Posted Tuesday, August 21, 2001 by admin
Our first year of nest monitoring (proper) is under our belt and the results are in! 46 healthy birds raised in the REWHC system composed of eighteen Tree Swallows, twenty two House Wrens, and six Black Capped Chickadees. 11 of the 21 boxes were used and 15 House Sparrow eggs were eliminated. Further details can be found on our monitoring page at this link. You'll find the 2001 report there for download. Also check out the real-time reporting tool just added.

Trail Map Updated Posted Wednesday, March 7, 2001 by admin
The REWHC trail map has been updated to include more descriptions on the Woodland Wander trail in support of the "Emerging Forest" interpretive theme. Download it today!

Great New Article on Lawton's Valley History and Flora Posted Thursday, February 22, 2001 by admin
Reprint of an article: "Lawton's Valley Revisited" written by Richard Champlin with REWHC photos can be found here.

Town Farm History Added Posted Monday, May 29, 2000 by admin
In the Western Woodland, Zone 5, the Town Farm once stood from about 1833 to 1926. The town of Portsmouth Poor House, the Town Farm has a colorful past. It was located near where the waste treatment plant now stands. Check out some interesting period documents here.

New, Powerful, Image Library for REWHC Posted Sunday, May 7, 2000 by admin
Managing thumbnails and images was becoming a real chore and images were not easily accessible. With the addition of ImageFolio for our site, this is no longer a problem. Photos now have keywords and can be searched and viewed in a thumbnail viewer. Manual or automatic slideshows are available through this function as well. Check it out at this link. Since all images are keyworded for month/year and zone, the timeline function has been updated to use queries. This will assure that the latest images are accessible.

Lawton Valley History Added Posted Saturday, April 29, 2000 by admin
A partial draft history of our Zone 4, "Lawton Valley" has been added and can be viewed here. From a town founder to a famous poet/author, Lawton Valley has had an interesting past.

Plant Checklist, Database, and Reporting Added! Posted Sunday, April 9, 2000 by admin
A database and updated checklist for Plants has been added and integrated with the reporting function. The database can be accessed here. Reports can be generated for plants using the Report Selection Form or Relative Abundance and Diversity reports may be run independently.

New Pictures Added For Lawton Valley Posted Monday, April 3, 2000 by admin
Zone 4 in our survey is Lawton Valley. Steep cliffs feed down to a narrow valley stream which runs the length of the property to the bay. Come view some pictures taken of the valley on 3/25.

Insect Survey Database and Reporting Added Posted Monday, April 3, 2000 by admin
A database and updated checklist for Insects has been added and integrated with the reporting function. The database can be accessed here. Reports can be generated for insects using the Report Selection Form or Relative Abundance and Diversity reports may be run independently.

Reptile and Amphibian Database and Reporting Added Posted Saturday, February 19, 2000 by admin
A database and updated checklist for Amphibians and Reptiles has been added and integrated with the reporting function. The database can be accessed here. Reports can be generated for reptiles using the Report Selection Form or Relative Abundance and Diversity reports may be run independently.

Bluebirds For Aquidneck Posted Wednesday, February 16, 2000 by admin
A new charter task has been added to our list of projects: Bluebirds for Aquidneck. There are no nesting Bluebirds on Aquidneck Island, though across the river on the mainland, Bluebirds can be found. A study will be performed over a number of seasons to determine if nesting and food source availability for Bluebirds will attract them to nest on our Island. Typically, other birds tend to bully the Bluejay and grab up prime nesting sites. If we monitor the nestboxes and evict unwelcome birds, will they come?

Updated Outreach Page Posted Wednesday, February 16, 2000 by admin
The Outreach page has been updated to more clearly state our objectives in interacting with local organizations and the community.

Mammal Abundance and Diversity Reporting Posted Friday, December 31, 1999 by admin
Newly added is a test database for mammals and an extension of our reporting capability to include mammals. Use the report selection form and choose "mammal" for mammal reports. To test the database, select this link and use your bulletin board login. You can modify and delete your own entries but cannot do so to others.

Western Woodland Pictures Added Posted Friday, December 31, 1999 by admin
Zone 5 in our survey is Western Woodlands. Thick forest between the edge of the parking lots to Burma Road include stone walls, lush vegetation, and a number of sewage right-of-ways which double as broad walking trails. Come view some pictures taken of our Western Woodlands.

Photographic Timelines Added Posted Friday, December 31, 1999 by admin
To show progress in each zone over time a timeline page has been added. Timelines are color-coded by zone and provide links to any photos taken in that zone during that time and calendar entries for that month.

Bird Relative Diversity Reporting Posted Friday, December 31, 1999 by admin
An initial cut at a Relative Diversity Report for Birds is now on the site and can be accessed via the new report selection form. It accesses the bird database for each checklist record, correlates write-ins, and provides a matrix of the number of bird subspecies reported per zone. It also provides a graph depicting the relative diversity of birds across zones and sampling information. A time filter can be applied on the data if snapshot reports are required.

Meadow Fields Pictures Added Posted Sunday, December 26, 1999 by admin
Zone 1 in our survey is Meadow Fields. Several prior agricultural plots are separated by hedgerows crowned by stone walls. Come view some pictures taken of our Meadow Fields.

Bird Relative Abundance Reporting Posted Sunday, December 26, 1999 by admin
An initial cut at a Relative Abundance Report for Birds is now on the site and can be accessed via this link. It accesses the bird database for each checklist record, correlates write-ins, and provides a matrix of the number of birds of each reported type per zone. It also provides a graph depicting the relative abundance of birds across zones and sampling information.

Lawton Valley Pictures Added Posted Tuesday, December 21, 1999 by admin
Zone 4 in our survey is Lawton Valley. Steep cliffs feed down to a narrow valley stream which runs the length of the property to the bay. Come view some pictures taken of the valley.