Hummel Report: In Beavertail State Park, a museum you can't visit

Friday
Dec 15, 2017 at 1:00 PM Dec 15, 2017 at 1:00 PM

By Jim Hummel The Hummel Report

JAMESTOWN, R.I. — The sign, just beyond the entrance to Beavertail State Park, warns potential visitors who may have strayed onto a dirt path near the main road "Authorized Vehicles Only." Should they ignore that and continue another 50 yards along the path beyond a line of trees, a 6-foot-high chain-link fence surrounding a two-story house carries more ominous signs: "Beware of Dog" and "WARNING: Controlled Area."

The building, located on the northern end of the 200-plus acre state park and hidden largely from public view, is a Word War II-era structure the National Park Service deeded over to the state of Rhode Island in the late 1980s. The Fort Burnside Communication and Coastal Defense Museum was built in 1942 by the Navy to keep an eye on military shipping traffic during World War II.

A Hummel Report investigation finds the Department of Environmental Management, which manages the park and the building, has allowed a private citizen living there as a caretaker to create a nonprofit museum that allows no access to the general public.

That caretaker is Mark Brown Beezer, who has lived there since 1981. DEM has signed a series of leases with Beezer going back to 1989, when he was paying $275 a month. It increased to $446 in the 1990s, and is now at $520 per month.

Larry Mouradjian, DEM’s associate director for natural resource management, noted that the rent is determined by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which says the fair market value for a structure like Fort Burnside is $801 a month. But Beezer receives a 15 percent discount for "surveillance," another 10 percent for “response,” and an additional 10 percent off for the "nuisance" of having to live there. That discounts the total to $520 a month. Beezer is not required to file any reports with DEM. But Mouradjian says Beezer is in touch with his staff if an incident happens.

"While it looks like a nice country farmhouse, realistically it’s a military installation," Mouradjian said "When you go into the facility, the walls are literally 3-foot thick concrete, it has a number of observation rooms and it functions as a communications observation facility.’’

Visitors to Beavertail know about the spectacular views from all sides of the peninsula - arguably some of the best in Rhode Island. They may have also visited the Beavertail Lighthouse Museum, featuring a 268-year-old lighthouse that touts itself as the third-oldest in the country.

But Fort Burnside has been off limits, despite the fact it is registered as a nonprofit museum with the Rhode Island secretary state. Beezer hosts a yearly gathering of ham radio enthusiasts at Fort Burnside the last weekend in June to practice emergency communication procedures with amateur radio and municipal entities. He has also hosted regional conferences that feature communications with active military bases.

"I would like to have it more of public museum at some point. I’m still working for a living," said Beezer, an engineer for a Massachusetts-based emission-control company who is on the road a week to 10 days every month. Beezer gave us a tour of the building between trips two weeks ago.

Fort Burnside, which sits on four acres, has an astounding 27 rooms on three levels, including multiple rooms in a bunker below ground, surrounded by 3-foot thick concrete walls and steel, and a room that could be closed off in case of gas attacks. It was meant to withstand bomb blasts that never came during the war. Beezer, a history buff and collector, has rooms filled with vintage military radio systems, some in active working condition. He was living in Jamestown in the late 1970s, knew about the fort, and made a proposal to the Navy to move in as a caretaker after the property was vandalized.

"I do want to be more open," Beezer said. "Fortunately, or unfortunately, I formed a museum with the idea at some point to form a friends of the museum, perhaps as a vehicle to gain a little bit of funding to try and keep the place up."

That vision, though, has not become a reality: Beezer has not taken the additional step of applying for nonprofit, tax-exempt status from the federal government, which would allow him to seek grants and accept tax-deductible donations.

"We could use things, like a new roof," Beezer said. "The state is helpful to a certain extent. They give me a little bit of paint, but they don’t have many resources."

When it was built, the house was visible from anywhere on Beavertail and from the water. Only in the last 15 years have trees and vegetation grown to obscure all but the top of the house and the towers adjacent to the fort.

"It’s disguised as a house, but it’s built as a bunker," Beezer said. "And during the war no one actually lived here. It was manned on a 24-hour watch basis. So they were here for either four or six hours at a time then they went elsewhere. They were covered by another crew, and they either lived at Fort Getty or Fort Wetherill."

Beezer has converted one room on the first floor into a kitchen with a wood pellet stove and lives in a only small portion of the house during the winter, as there is no central heating. But for most of the year, he has one of the best views in the state from a rooftop balcony with a nearly-360-degree view of the water, Jamestown, Newport and North Kingstown. And just beyond his backyard is Beavertail State Park.

DEM’s website carries no mention of Fort Burnside and it has stayed largely out of public sight, despite its status as a nonprofit museum, whose mission is ``the preservation, presentation and interpretation of the history and associated artifacts related to Fort Burnside’’ according to annual filings with the secretary of state.

As a result of inquiries by The Hummel Report, DEM and Beezer said they are open to begin allowing members of the public to visit, on an appointment basis. DEM also plans to create a separate page on its website describing the history of Fort Burnside and to put up interpretive signs at Beavertail, as it has at many of its other properties throughout the state. There is no timetable yet for creating the public access.

One challenge is insurance and accessibility. Beezer says to be open more than a couple of days a year would result in steep insurance rate increases, and the building is not compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act codes.

Mouradjian said his primary concern was preservation when DEM took over Beavertail nearly three decades ago. "Our priority was to keep presence in the building to deter vandalism, to have someone who could report situations that might be developing in the park that we should be aware of and ultimately do some maintenance on it," he said. "Nothing structural but cosmetic, keep the grass cut, kind of keep the place looking neat."

Mouradjian added that it might be time to shift the focus to more public access. "You raised several questions that to be honest with you, over time, I didn’t necessarily consider until you raised them," he said in a follow-up interview last month after our initial inquiry. "I think we could do a better job in terms of getting more access to Fort Burnside through (Beezer’s) personal invitation to accommodate people who have an interest in the history there."

The Hummel Report is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that relies, in part, on donations. For more information, go to HummelReport.org. Reach Jim at Jim@HummelReport.org.

 

Friday
Dec 15, 2017 at 1:00 PM Dec 15, 2017 at 1:00 PM

By Jim Hummel The Hummel Report

JAMESTOWN, R.I. — The sign, just beyond the entrance to Beavertail State Park, warns potential visitors who may have strayed onto a dirt path near the main road "Authorized Vehicles Only." Should they ignore that and continue another 50 yards along the path beyond a line of trees, a 6-foot-high chain-link fence surrounding a two-story house carries more ominous signs: "Beware of Dog" and "WARNING: Controlled Area."

The building, located on the northern end of the 200-plus acre state park and hidden largely from public view, is a Word War II-era structure the National Park Service deeded over to the state of Rhode Island in the late 1980s. The Fort Burnside Communication and Coastal Defense Museum was built in 1942 by the Navy to keep an eye on military shipping traffic during World War II.

A Hummel Report investigation finds the Department of Environmental Management, which manages the park and the building, has allowed a private citizen living there as a caretaker to create a nonprofit museum that allows no access to the general public.

That caretaker is Mark Brown Beezer, who has lived there since 1981. DEM has signed a series of leases with Beezer going back to 1989, when he was paying $275 a month. It increased to $446 in the 1990s, and is now at $520 per month.

Larry Mouradjian, DEM’s associate director for natural resource management, noted that the rent is determined by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which says the fair market value for a structure like Fort Burnside is $801 a month. But Beezer receives a 15 percent discount for "surveillance," another 10 percent for “response,” and an additional 10 percent off for the "nuisance" of having to live there. That discounts the total to $520 a month. Beezer is not required to file any reports with DEM. But Mouradjian says Beezer is in touch with his staff if an incident happens.

"While it looks like a nice country farmhouse, realistically it’s a military installation," Mouradjian said "When you go into the facility, the walls are literally 3-foot thick concrete, it has a number of observation rooms and it functions as a communications observation facility.’’

Visitors to Beavertail know about the spectacular views from all sides of the peninsula - arguably some of the best in Rhode Island. They may have also visited the Beavertail Lighthouse Museum, featuring a 268-year-old lighthouse that touts itself as the third-oldest in the country.

But Fort Burnside has been off limits, despite the fact it is registered as a nonprofit museum with the Rhode Island secretary state. Beezer hosts a yearly gathering of ham radio enthusiasts at Fort Burnside the last weekend in June to practice emergency communication procedures with amateur radio and municipal entities. He has also hosted regional conferences that feature communications with active military bases.

"I would like to have it more of public museum at some point. I’m still working for a living," said Beezer, an engineer for a Massachusetts-based emission-control company who is on the road a week to 10 days every month. Beezer gave us a tour of the building between trips two weeks ago.

Fort Burnside, which sits on four acres, has an astounding 27 rooms on three levels, including multiple rooms in a bunker below ground, surrounded by 3-foot thick concrete walls and steel, and a room that could be closed off in case of gas attacks. It was meant to withstand bomb blasts that never came during the war. Beezer, a history buff and collector, has rooms filled with vintage military radio systems, some in active working condition. He was living in Jamestown in the late 1970s, knew about the fort, and made a proposal to the Navy to move in as a caretaker after the property was vandalized.

"I do want to be more open," Beezer said. "Fortunately, or unfortunately, I formed a museum with the idea at some point to form a friends of the museum, perhaps as a vehicle to gain a little bit of funding to try and keep the place up."

That vision, though, has not become a reality: Beezer has not taken the additional step of applying for nonprofit, tax-exempt status from the federal government, which would allow him to seek grants and accept tax-deductible donations.

"We could use things, like a new roof," Beezer said. "The state is helpful to a certain extent. They give me a little bit of paint, but they don’t have many resources."

When it was built, the house was visible from anywhere on Beavertail and from the water. Only in the last 15 years have trees and vegetation grown to obscure all but the top of the house and the towers adjacent to the fort.

"It’s disguised as a house, but it’s built as a bunker," Beezer said. "And during the war no one actually lived here. It was manned on a 24-hour watch basis. So they were here for either four or six hours at a time then they went elsewhere. They were covered by another crew, and they either lived at Fort Getty or Fort Wetherill."

Beezer has converted one room on the first floor into a kitchen with a wood pellet stove and lives in a only small portion of the house during the winter, as there is no central heating. But for most of the year, he has one of the best views in the state from a rooftop balcony with a nearly-360-degree view of the water, Jamestown, Newport and North Kingstown. And just beyond his backyard is Beavertail State Park.

DEM’s website carries no mention of Fort Burnside and it has stayed largely out of public sight, despite its status as a nonprofit museum, whose mission is ``the preservation, presentation and interpretation of the history and associated artifacts related to Fort Burnside’’ according to annual filings with the secretary of state.

As a result of inquiries by The Hummel Report, DEM and Beezer said they are open to begin allowing members of the public to visit, on an appointment basis. DEM also plans to create a separate page on its website describing the history of Fort Burnside and to put up interpretive signs at Beavertail, as it has at many of its other properties throughout the state. There is no timetable yet for creating the public access.

One challenge is insurance and accessibility. Beezer says to be open more than a couple of days a year would result in steep insurance rate increases, and the building is not compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act codes.

Mouradjian said his primary concern was preservation when DEM took over Beavertail nearly three decades ago. "Our priority was to keep presence in the building to deter vandalism, to have someone who could report situations that might be developing in the park that we should be aware of and ultimately do some maintenance on it," he said. "Nothing structural but cosmetic, keep the grass cut, kind of keep the place looking neat."

Mouradjian added that it might be time to shift the focus to more public access. "You raised several questions that to be honest with you, over time, I didn’t necessarily consider until you raised them," he said in a follow-up interview last month after our initial inquiry. "I think we could do a better job in terms of getting more access to Fort Burnside through (Beezer’s) personal invitation to accommodate people who have an interest in the history there."

The Hummel Report is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that relies, in part, on donations. For more information, go to HummelReport.org. Reach Jim at Jim@HummelReport.org.

 

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