Ralph E. Carpenter was a self-taught connoisseur of Colonial furniture and decorative art whose passion for Newport, Rhode Island inspired him to restore many of its most important 18th-century landmarks, including the White Horse Tavern (originally built as a home in 1673), Trinity Church (1726), the Brick Market (1762), and the Redwood Library & Athenaeum (1748-50), the oldest lending library in the US.
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