Vernon House, Newport, Rhode Island

What it is

This is a 1969 photograph of Vernon House, a building on a street corner in Newport, Rhode Island. Two children in dark winter coats stand in front of a white clapboard wall. A sign on the wall reads that the house was built in 1758 and was a headquarters of General de Rochambeau from 1780 to 1781. The photograph was taken by a relative of the uploader and used with permission.

Why it matters

Buildings can keep traces of the people who used them. The sign ties this house to the time Rochambeau spent in Newport with French forces during the American Revolution, when his troops were allied with American forces. The photograph is not from the 1780s, so it shows how the site was remembered in the twentieth century.

Look closer

• What does the sign say about the house, and why might a town mark a building this way?
• Who are the two children, and what might a photograph of them tell us that a sign cannot?
• What does this photograph leave out about life in Newport during the years Rochambeau was there?