Historic New England's Watson Farm — Attraction in Jamestown

Watson farm is a still operating historical farm, worked by a family who lives at the property. As far as I know it is not open to the public except when stated with a sign at the driveway. Sheep shearing day every year is a rare chance to explore! Local food (oysters!), local(really really local) burgers, etc), live music, some historic organizations are all there but the sheep are the main show. Lambs to pet, and an expertly efficient team gently wrestling the adults and shearing them quickly and impressively, the fleeces are laid out and farm/new england historic staff take you from carding to spinning your own yarn with a drop spindle or the full Rumpelstiltskin deal. At other times during the year I believe the farm is open for tours. You can walk past the red Devon cattle down to the water. My favorite is always the working border collies who will helpfully herd guests when not otherwise occupied, but are gentle enough to beg young visitors to play fetch. Watch...

So we wanted to see some cows, and we drove our little wimpy Versa all the way down their drive before realizing we were barking up the wrong tree. So we're trying to back down the drive (which is a pretty long, muddy beast), and wham we slide on down into a little ditch on the side of the road. Total miscalculation on our part. We're stuck in this mud, having planted our front wheel right in a spring, and it's not looking good. We're expecting whoever lives on this property to be irate at our intrusion but no-- these lovely people all came out, dogs and cats in tow, and helped us out of our pickle with some boards and a good push. They were lovely about the whole thing, and we've never been more grateful. 10/10 humans, lovely farm, and I'm sure the cows are great too. Hopefully we'll be back some day...

A very welcome break from touring the mansions and historic homes and museums in the Providence Jamestown Newport area. My husband and I greatly enjoyed the walk, but some of the letters seem to be missing from the gates, so we did a bit of backtracking. None the less it was a delightful place to spend time. The vistas are marvelous, so any photographer will love it here period and small children could...