Oyster Works' shows plan for new Tomaquag Museum in Westerly

TOMAQUAG MUSEUM & WESTERLY LAND TRUST OYSTER WORKS DEVELOPS MASTER PLAN                        TOMAQUAG MUSEUM CONSIDERING MOVE TO WESTERLY By Dale P. Faulkner Sun Staff Writer  Westerly could become the new home of the Tomaquag Museum.  Currently located in a leased house in the Arcadia Village of Exeter, the Native American museum has long hoped for a large space that is specifically designed as a museum. For the past 1 1/2 years, the museum has been working with the Westerly Land Trust, discussing a possible collaboration that could involve the museum building on one of the trust's parcels.  "We've outgrown our space as we've matured as an organization," said Loren Spears, the museum's executive director...  While a new home remains something of a dream, the museum is taking concrete steps toward its goal.  A $32,000 grant from the Lattner Foundation was used to hire Oyster Works LLC, a Charlestown architectural firm, which developed a master plan.  The plan was unveiled in October during the museum's annual Honoring Dinner...  Spears estimated another two to three years will be spent on the pre-construction period, a phase she said is likely to cost about $400,000 before it is completed.  Initial estimates indicate the museum building, including an amphitheater and story gallery, will cost about $5 million... "The museum is all about the story.  The story of contemporary and Native Americans and their history," Spears said...  dfaulkner@thewesterlysun.com                      Click Here for Full Westerly Sun Article                                                                                            KZLA Landscape Architecture "We are excited to be working with the Tomaquag Museum and the Westerly Land Trust.  We see this collaboration as a national model and are honored to be the architects for the project."                                                                      Megan Moynihan, AIA Oyster Works is an architecture and project management firm in Charlestown, RI.  We serve both commercial and residential clients with an approach that is Sensibly Green.   Visit us at www.OysterWorks.net Contact us at 401.213.6722 or by email

Oyster Works | 4202 Old Post Road | Charlestown | RI | 02813

Celebrate Rhode Island Land Trust Days

But not so much in Charlestown...

Francis Carter Preserve with Old Mill Road parking marked

I received an email from the Rhode Island Audubon Society yesterday that included an announcement of the first Rhode Island Land Trust Days:

Have you experienced a full moon rising over the bay on a warm summer night? Visited an impressionist artist's pond side camp? Checked the seaside critters on a sunny morning? Seen the wildest place in Providence? Paddled to a salt pond island? Prowled for owls? Peered through a secret hole in a rock to see...(we're not telling)? Savored clean air, clean water, good food and laughing yoga in a single day? Toured the summer stars?

All this and more is waiting for you during the first Rhode Island Land Trust Days. From August through September land trusts across the state are hosting activities to show you the special places that we are protecting throughout Rhode Island. Several Audubon wildlife refuges are featured!

So I eagerly went to the website to see what activities were included in Charlestown, to add them to our calendar.

Charlestown Land Trust plays Russian Roulette with the IRS

Will the Trust’s handling of conservation easements cause tax problems for itself and its donors?

By Will Collette

On June 25, the Y-Gate Scandal was extended for another month. At the request of the Charlestown Land Trust, the Town Council voted to defer action on the resolutions to consummate the Y-Gate deal – i.e. the payment of $398,000 in town funds for a “conservation easement” until its July meeting.

That gives us more time to examine exactly what a “Conservation Easement” means and why it is being used as the device to loot Charlestown taxpayers of their money for the limited use of a derelict piece of property.

Town Council follow-up: What’s next for Y-Gate?

Now that the $475,000 for the Y campground is out of the budget, is this out of our hair?

By Will Collette

Charlestown taxpayers narrowly averted having their pockets picked to the tune of $475,000 last Monday night. The Town Council bowed to public opposition and took out the controversial $475,000 expenditure from the town surplus which was to buy a worthless conservation easement from the Charlestown Land Trust who would then buy an over-priced abandoned campground from the Westerly YMCA, primarily for the benefit of a neighboring cluster of vacation homes.

Y-Gate’s prime-mover, Councilor Gregg Avedisian, asked for the funds to be pulled since town lawyers say it would have to go to the voters as a separate ballot item, where it would surely be defeated.

So now what? Is Y-Gate over?

Two ways the Westerly Land Trust is different than the Charlestown Land Trust

Hint: one of them involves money

By Will Collette

At tonight’s Charlestown Town Council meeting (that’s Monday, May 14 at 7 PM), there should be some decision about whether town taxpayers should pay the Charlestown Land Trust $475,000 so they can buy the abandoned, over-priced 27.5 acre Westerly YMCA Camp on Watchaug Pond.

Too bad the Westerly Land Trust wasn’t the one at the core of Y-Gate, because if they were, we might not have such a divisive issue before us.

Get Ready for the 2nd Annual Westerly Springs Green

Tomorrow, April 14 United Theater, 5 Canal Street. Saturday, April 14, 10:00 am - 2:00 pm. 

Free and open to the public


The Westerly Land Trust presents the 2nd annual Westerly Springs Green event, featuring local agriculture and natural products. The day will include exhibitors and workshops on topics including composting, organic gardening, beekeeping, and organic pest maintenance. Attendees can enter our raffle for a chance to win great prizes, as well as browse our farmer’s market for the first of spring’s fresh produce.


Continue for a schedule of events and exhibitors...

Volunteers Needed

On July 19 I asked for volunteers to help pull invasive water chestnut from Chapman Pond in Westerly. That effort was a great success with 17 volunteers removing over a ton of water chestnut.

But half of the infestation remains and help is needed.