Naval War College Museum

Tradition has it that on a late October's day in 1884, Commodore Stephen B. Luce, USN, was rowed from the flagship of the North Atlantic Squadron anchored off Newport to Coasters Harbor Island two miles north of the center of Newport, a site designated earlier that month by the Secretary of the Navy for a new kind of college. Once on the island, Luce proceeded to a large stone building, the former Newport Asylum for the Poor, climbed its rickety stairs, and as he opened the front door solemnly announced to his few companions and the empty grounds, "Poor little poorhouse, I christen thee United States Naval War College." Today the "little poorhouse" is a well preserved and stately structure, a National Historic Landmark and home to the Naval War College Museum.