that house, the person or family who lived there the longest, or the name of a famous occupant. But there are no rules as to which one it should be. Among the first houses to be restored in Newport are the ones with the white signs that say OC with an acorn motif. These are houses saved by Operation Clapboard, a local grassroots organization active during the 1960s. Newport residents saved about 60 historic homes with no outside sources of funding simply by finding ambitious homeowners willing to restore them. These homes remain privately owned.
Other houses have a white sign with the calligraphy initials NRF. This stands for Newport Restoration Foundation, a non-profit organization created by tobacco heiress Doris Duke in 1968. Duke bought and restored some 90 historic properties, which the foundation owns to this date. These homes are rented to qualified tenants, either residential or commercial. Only one is open to the public, the Samuel Whitehorne House on Thames Street. (Duke's mansion, Rough Point, is also open for tours.)
Many properties simply have one bronze plaque indicating National Register status. The National Register of Historic Places is the federal government's official list of properties that are significant in American history and worthy of preservation. Properties listed in the National Register include individual buildings, historic districts, and archaeological sites. If you want to know all about getting a site on the National Register in Rhode Island, visit the state's Historic Preservation Commission's website.