Five stories of stone rise at 337 Thames Street: this is the Perry Mill on the Newport waterfront. Imagine this block in 1835, when master stonemason Alexander MacGregor raised what was then a four‑story mill as part of an initiative to boost the city’s flagging economy. MacGregor, the same craftsman who oversaw work at Fort Adams, built a solid, granite presence meant to last.
Of the four mills constructed in the 1830s, only this building and the Newport Steam Factory survive, making this masonry an unusually intact reminder of that decade of industry. Later altered upward to five stories, the mill’s plain strength was recognized when it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972. Today the old factory has new rhythms: the building now houses a club and hotel, and its history has been documented by the Historic American Buildings Survey with photos and data pages.
Notice the weight of those stone walls and the sweep of the waterfront breeze that once powered industry here, with the Thames Street facades and the harbor just beyond you.