John Hunt House Museum

The John Hunt House Museum on Hunt’s Mills Road in the City of East Providence serves not only as the hub of activities associated with the Historical Society, but also as a house museum and repository for articles of significance to the city. From research done thus far, it is believed that the Hunt House was built for Lt. John Hunt, Jr. (1720-1806) around 1750. Therefore the house has the distinction of having been under the jurisdiction of the British Crown, the town of Rehoboth in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the Town of Seekonk in the State of Massachusetts and finally in 1862 the Town (now city) of East Providence in Rhode Island. John Jr.’s home, called “John Hunt’s Mansion House” by a relative writing in 1848, was built in the Georgian style with a large center chimney. It has a keeping room, borning room, buttery, parlor and bedroom on the first floor, five bedrooms on the second and two rooms in the attic. There are three fireplaces on each of the first two floors, a fireplace with beehive oven in the basement summer kitchen, and a smoke room in the attic. The Museum is located on forty-four acres of city-owned property. The East Providence Historical Society, in partnership with the URI Master Gardener Program, maintain the gardens surrounding the Museum.