September 23, 2023

Native Information

The Harborside Inn on Block Island was severely broken in a blaze that began late final Friday night time and lasted nicely into Saturday morning.

Alexa Gagosz / Globe Workers

  • Aftermath of fire at the Harborside Inn on Block Island, Rhode Island.

    Block Island welcomed again vacationers Sunday, a day after a hearth tore by way of a historic lodge

  • Hearth tears by way of historic Block Island lodge off coast of R.I.

NEW SHOREHAM, R.I. (AP) — The historic Rhode Island lodge ravaged by a hearth final weekend is a complete loss that will probably be torn down, authorities mentioned Wednesday.

The Harborside Inn on Block Island was severely broken in a blaze that began late final Friday night time and lasted nicely into Saturday morning. Visitors had been evacuated and there have been no stories of great accidents.

The precise trigger stays underneath investigation, however authorities mentioned they suppose it began within the floor ground kitchen.

Opened in 1879, the lodge on the Nationwide Register of Historic Locations is within the coronary heart of the resort island’s enterprise district.

New Shoreham city officers and lodge possession met with a demolition firm on Wednesday.

The broken constructing, together with a collapsed roof, has been deemed a hazard and is fenced off. City officers mentioned demolition is predicted to start out the week of Sept. 11 and take about 5 days.

About 50 firefighters, a few of whom needed to be flown or shipped in from the mainland, helped battle the blaze on the 36-room lodge.

Block Island Reservations, which owns the lodge, thanked the firefighters and everybody who helped throughout and within the days following the hearth.

“Sadly, it’s evident that with the damages achieved to the constructing Harborside Inn has closed its doorways with the long-lasting historical past and recollections to be remembered and cherished,” the corporate posted on its web site.

Block Island is about 12 miles (19 kilometers) off the Rhode Island coast. New Shoreham is the one city on the island.