Battle of Newport Barracks Park

Pres. Pam Wall and speaker, Dwayne Oglesby, from
The Newport Historical Museum  

Dianne Johnson and Dwayne Oglesby were the guests speakers at the Newport Rotary Club on Monday afternoon, August 12, 2013. Both represented the Newport Consolidated School Alumni Association's newest venture, to build on The Newport Historical Museum, and to establish a Civil War Memorial Park across from the Elementary School and beside the Teacherage/ Newport Historical Museum.

Dianne spoke of the changing roles, while Dwayne filled in Rotarians on the details of the proposed park. The park will be a 100' x 200' fenced in area located to the north of the Teacherage Building and fronting on Chatham Street in downtown Newport. It will contain a replica cannon, information center, typical barracks, a railroad bridge, recently removed from the Newport River, gravesites commemorating Union and Confederate dead, and lots of seating areas. Click here for a site drawing of the proposed park.    

Both thanked Gerry Mann who has done work on the drawings and contributed to the project, and Eric Lindblade, who is the historian for the group.