Portsmouth, Rhode Island. The Butts Hill Fort Restoration Committee (BHFRC) is inviting volunteers to our Spring Cleanup on Saturday, May 4th. (Rain date May 5th). Cleanup starts at 9 AM and goes on until 1 pm. Come anytime. The meeting point is our blue top check-in tent in the Butts Hill Fort main gate area. Directions: Follow Butts St. from Sprague Street and turn left at the top. Or Google “26 Butts Street” for directions to the Main Gate. Participants are asked to park along Dyer Street or at the Portsmouth High School Tennis Courts. No parking is allowed on Butts Street itself.

Volunteers will need to sign a town liability form upon arrival at the check in tent. BHFRC staff will be on hand throughout the day, so if you join in progress, please sign in with a team member for accountability.

Participants are also asked to bring gloves, protective eye gear, and personal yard/gardening tools such as rakes, loppers, shears, shovels, or tarpaulins. Anyone can volunteer, please RSVP to publicrelations@battleofrhodeisland.org

The largest Revolutionary War earthwork still standing in southern New England, Butts Hill Fort, is in Portsmouth, Rhode Island. It was started by Patriot militia in 1776, enlarged and completed by British troops occupying Aquidneck Island. It served as the headquarters for General John Sullivan during the Rhode Island Campaign in 1778 and was occupied and enlarged by allied French troops under Comte de Rochambeau during 1780-1781. It is on the National Register of Historic Places and on the National Park Service’s Washington-Rochambeau Revolutionary Route National Historic Trail. The goal of the BHFRC is to return it to public use as an historical, educational, and recreational asset.