Caleb (and his cute pup) met our group up at Trinity Church — at the top of Queen Anne Square. It was pretty cold and windy, but we stood in the shelter of the Church while he described the history of the Square, which was largely an invention from the 1970’s. We discussed the original plans as well as the inspiration. We also talked about the way the Square artificially situated Trinity Church at the head of a stately Square — common for many New England towns, but not for Newport which was founded on a religious tolerance that would not allow for a Church to be its focal point.

Eventually Caleb invited us to walk around the Square, experiencing the flowering trees, vistas, people-watching, benches, and the 2013 environmental Maya Lin piece, Meeting Room.

In small groups we discussed what we knew of the piece — some people had never realized it was there, others had questions about it. When we regrouped next to one of the installations Caleb asked us to share our feelings about it. One participant said she’d been totally opposed to it because she hates change, but once she saw it she didn’t mind it — and now she loves it. Another participant shared that the community process had been poor and so it hadn’t been received well. Caleb shared that this was the first time since 2013 that NRF had done any kind of public conversation about it, helping us consider the way time can smooth over bad feelings.