Newport Office and Interpretive Building Opens with Spring

The attractive new Park Office and Interpretive Building is now open at the entrance to Newport State Park.

Construction of the new office began in July 2007, and the building now features a customer service area and drive-up window, staff offices and a public atrium with rest rooms.

The Nature Interpretive Center area of the building was donated to the park by the Newport Wilderness Society, the official Friends Group for Newport State Park. It consists of a large room for multimedia use and an interpretive office/library. The multimedia room seats 42 and will be extensively used for presentations, meeting and programs.

Newport State Park has 11 miles of undeveloped, but accessible shoreline that includes two beaches and 2,400 acres of forests. One hundred twenty five years ago widespread logging took place on the land, but since then Newport has gradually returned to wilderness. Newport is a designated a wilderness park, with no electrical and no roads to campsites. Newport’s history reminds us that we need to preserve the limited natural resources of our forests, fields and lakes.