I have lived in the Town of North Kingstown, RI (off and on) for the past 51 years. The same time period when my parents bought a house on Ten Rod Road in 1974 and according to RIAMCO (The Rhode Island Archival and Manuscripts Online website) Quonset Point Naval Air Station officially closed. On their collections summary page for Quonset Point NAS, it states “after thirty-years of service to the United States Navy, Quonset Point Naval Air Station finally closed in 1973. Due to military budget cuts and a general trend to close bases at the end of the Vietnam War, President Nixon officially ordered the station to decommission on June 28, 1974.” As a kid, pre-driving days, I remember driving by the entrance to Quonset Point, which was located across from a familiar eatery, Burger King, which featured a large sculpture/statue of the Seabees. That structure was/is preserved and is now prominently displayed at the Seabee Museum off Gate Road, right next to the shopping center with Kohl’s, Dave’s Marketplace, and other NK small businesses.
Fast forwarding a bit to the summer of my freshman year in college. Earlier in the Spring, I had broken my hand and could not play the Spring season at Springfield College. My hand was slow to heal, so gripping a bat to hit a 90mph fastball was not in the cards for me that summer. I got a job with the Town of North Kingstown Parks and Recreation Department doing town landscaping assignments. My boss, the legend, Al Southwick, found me out in Slocum (pre-Lischio Field area) and asked me if I would like to play on his softball team as a way to keep my right arm healthy for fall baseball. I agreed and played right field for Al’s team, Tucker Seafood. I still have the jersey. In fact, it’s at my mother’s house, the house I grew up in. In a later blog, I will attempt to try it on. Stay tune for that.
Jumping ahead here, I have been utilizing the bike path near Quonset Point for years now. Quonset Point has made a tremendous recovery due to businesses like Ocean State Job Lot, Electric Boat, a thriving North Kingstown Municipal Golf Course, Wide World of Indoor Sports, and so many small to medium to large businesses who now called Quonset Point their home. I often thought about the softball field I played on as an 19 year old kid and wondered a) if it was still there and b) where exactly was it, and c) what took its place. For these answers, I reached out to RIMACO and the North Kingstown Town Library. And found a ton of answers.
The Providence College Archives and Special Collections emailed me a fantastic lead – “The Quonset Scout.” In the pages of “The Scout,” were amazing stories of life on Quonset Point in its hay day – recreation, war time news, news from the wives, movies coming to the base, upcoming events and fundraisers. What an amazing piece of history and I read through about 10 newspapers, picking off articles about Quonset-Davisville Little League and the Intramural Softball Leagues played (presumably) on the field I played on. I am still pouring through those “Scout” treasures for more information for a later article, so stay tuned for that.
The North Kingstown Town Library was fantastic as well. They clued me into a website (https://ridemgis.maps.arcgis.com) that allows you to enter an address, then selected a time frame for an aerial photo of that area. Want to see what your house looked like in 1972 or 1982 or 1992? You can with this really cool website. In fact, the images of the Quonset NAS Softball field area from this article are from that website. I was able to get 3 pretty clean images, the last one being from 1997. By 2003-2004, the softball field was gone and replaced by a large grassy area. I stopped by the site and took a few photos the other day on site, showcasing the front grassy area in front of Ocean State Oil at 123 Ocean State Dr. I believe the photos are from (then) home plate and (then) center field.
And this one from the bridge connecting the two massive sections of Quonset Point. Made sure to put the flashers on when I hopped off the bridge at the top…
I have got a few emails out to get more information on this field, like its name, when it was demolished, if there are any photos of game actions, anything cool about the field like celebrities who visited the field, and so much more. Oh, and I will be trying out my Tucker Seafood shirt and posing for a photo.
If you or someone you know knows anything about this field and would like to contribute to my next article, feel free to contact me at ribaseballexperience@gmail.com or fill out your information in the contact form below. I hope to hear from you!!!
The Rhiter 