We can't wait to celebrate with you!
Our seventy-five year legacy would not be possible without the support of our beloved community. Thank you for helping us get here.
75th Anniversary
Help us celebrate 75 years of the Norman Bird Sanctuary in 2024! Explore a full calendar of celebratory and commemorative programming, learn more about our history, and discover decades of archival materials in our new digital archive.
Learn More About our Sightlines Speakers
Kaity Ryan, Executive Director at Norman Bird Sanctuary
Paradise Valley Then and Now
Kaity Ryan was appointed by the Board of Directors in 2019 as the 10th Executive Director of the Norman Bird Sanctuary. Kaity brings more than fifteen years of experience working at the intersection of preservation, education, conservation, and the arts.
A certified architectural historian with a master’s degree in Historic Preservation from the Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, Kaity was appointed by the Governor of Rhode Island to the Rhode Island Historical Preservation and Heritage Commission in 2018.
Jennifer Bissonnette, Director at RISD Nature Lab
Biodesign: What Combining Science, Art, Design, and an Eco-Centric Approach Can Offer the World
Jennifer Bissonnette is an ecologist and marine scientist whose work engages techniques of transdisciplinary inquiry to merge natural sciences knowledge, techniques and methods of inquiry with art and design thinking and studio practices. With a BS in biology from Eckerd College and a PhD in marine science from the College of William and Mary/Virginia Institute of Marine Science, she focuses broadly on human-nature connections and systems thinking to help innovate design solutions to environmental and societal challenges.
Nina Elder, Norman Bird Sanctuary Artist-in-Residence
Sedimental: What Moves Us?
Artist and researcher Nina Elder creates projects that reveal humanity’s dependence on, and interruption of, the natural world. With a focus on changing cultures and ecologies, Nina advocates for collaboration, fostering relationships between institutions, artists, scientists and diverse communities. She is the co-founder of the Wheelhouse Institute, a women’s climate leadership initiative. Nina lectures as a visiting artist/scholar at universities, develops publicly engaged programs, and consults with organizations that seek to grow through interdisciplinary programming.
Amy Montague, Special Curator at Museum of American Bird Art
Birds in Art
Amy Montague is the Special Projects Curator at Mass Audubon’s Museum of American Bird Art. After guiding the Museum as its director for 32 years, Amy now….
Robyn Bailey, Project Leader at Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Hidden Heroes: The Role of Citizen Scientists in Studies of Avian Reproduction
Robyn manages the research, education, and communication initiatives for NestWatch, the Cornell Lab’s citizen-science project focused on nesting birds. The Cornell Lab has been monitoring nesting birds’ reproductive success since the 1960s, and this long-term database is the nation’s richest source of information on avian reproductive biology. A large focal area of the project is nest boxes, and how best to provide them and support the birds which use them. Through NestWatch, Robyn’s research and writing focuses on small things we can all do to help birds every day.
Dr. Amy Johnson, Conservation Biologist and Program Director at Smithsonian
Bringing Back Biodiversity: Stories of Conservation Farming
Dr. Amy Johnson is a Conservation Biologist and Program Director of Smithsonian’s Virginia Working Landscapes (VWL). In this role, Johnson leads a team that cultivates a dynamic network of private landowners, citizen scientists, NGO’s, state agencies and scientists to collectively investigate the impacts of conservation management and land use on biodiversity. VWL research activities occur almost entirely on privately-owned working lands, demonstrating the importance of multi-faceted collaborations for acquiring the knowledge needed to move conservation forward in human-dominated landscapes.
Silvermoon LaRose, Assistant Director at Tomaquag Museum
Ohkehteau Unnehtongquatash, Plant Stories
Silvermoon Mars LaRose is a member of the Narragansett Tribe, devoted to her family, and always striving to be a good Auntie to all within her community. As the Assistant Director of the Tomaquag Museum, she is dedicated to the sharing of cultural education and the preservation of cultural belongings held in trust for future generations. Silvermoon has worked in tribal communities for over 20 years, serving in the areas of health and human services, education, and humanities. In 2022, Silvermoon participated in the Rhode Island Foundation’s inaugural Equity Leadership Initiative cohort and now sits on its steering committee. As a public servant, Silvermoon serves on the Rhode Island State Council for the Arts, and as the secretary for the Charlestown Conservation Commission. Additionally, she is the vice chair for the Avenue Concept supporting local public art ecosystems. As an artist and educator, she hopes to foster Indigenous empowerment through education, community building, and the sharing of cultural knowledge and traditional arts. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology, a minor in Justice Law and Society from the University of Rhode Island, and a partially completed Masters in Rehabilitation Counseling from Western Washington University.
A Brief History of Norman Bird Sanctuary
250 Million Years Ago
The Purgatory Formation, or pudding stone, forms through erosion of ancient sedimentation. Formations like Hanging Rock are stretched and fractured by geologic forces.
18,000 Years Ago
As the last great continental glaciers scrape and extend over North America, layers of soil are removed to expose Hanging Rock Ridge.
8,500 Years Ago
Long before the European colonists arrived at Aquidneck Island, the site of today's Paradise Farm was home to Native peoples, specifically the Wampanoag tribe, as evidenced by the shell midden on the Quarry Trail.
Circa 1750
The farmhouse is built, possibly by Thomas Weaver. For the next century, most of the property is a “saltwater” farm. Sheep graze on the ridge slopes, salt marsh hay is harvested in the marshes, and mixed crops are grown.
1782
Benjamin Gardiner acquires the property from Philip Smith. Sheep grazing shifts toward dairy, grain, barley, and Indian corn production. Benjamin Gardiner is interred at his family burial plot—one of the two grave sites at NBS.
1820
Samuel Allen purchases the farm from Benjamin Gardiner’s heirs, and converts it from an owner-worked farm, to a tenant farm.
Circa 1860
The barn is built.
1875
Mabel Norman is born in Newport, the last of nine children to Abbie and George Norman.
Late 1800s-Early 1900s
Mabel spends her childhood at the Norman family home, Belair Cottage in Newport, before leaving first to attend high school in New York City and later to study art at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.
1880
Paradise Farm comprises “125 tilled acres, 101 permanent pastures and meadows, vineyards, and orchards. 60 mown acres yielded 70 tons of hay.” The farm produces barley, oats, potatoes, and maintains 70 fruit trees.
Late 1800s
John La Farge and other artists paint extensively throughout Paradise Valley. Hanging Rock is celebrated in paintings and verse, and Paradise becomes a prolific site for early Impressionist and American landscape painters.
1900
George Norman dies.
1908
Mabel Norman purchases Paradise Farm from the estate of her brother George H. Norman Jr. A barn relocated to the property is used as her painting studio, and she spends her summers living at the farm.
1914
Spurred by a lifelong passion for wildlife and now the sole owner of Paradise Farm, Mabel begins researching how to establish a bird sanctuary.
1915
Mabel marries Dr. George Cerio, an Italian doctor whom she met in Italy while working and traveling as an artist.
1915 - 1949
Mabel and George, alongside their daughter Tamara, split time between the Isle of Capri, Italy, and Paradise Farm in Middletown.
1943
George Cerio dies.
1949
NBS is established at the bequest of Mabel Norman Cerio, to maintain the land "for the propagation, preservation, and protection of birds, and where birds and bird life may be observed, studied, taught and enjoyed by lovers of nature..."
1955
NBS gains its first Executive Director (and first employee), James Baird, a revered ornithologist and conservation advocate.
1970
The inaugural NBS
summer camp delivers environmental education programming to 180 students.
1974
First Annual Harvest Fair
1981
Nearly 200 years after its construction, the barn is renovated by architect George Warren.
2000-2014
The campus and existing buildings including the administrative building, barn, classrooms, pump house, garages, and tool shed are extensively renovated.
2003
NBS purchases 23 acres of Third Beach, completing the original package owned by the Norman family. The acreage links NBS to the Sachuest Point National Wildlife Refuge and ensures public road and beach access.
2008
Smith-Gardiner-Norman Farm (Paradise Farm) is placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
2013
Paradise Farmhouse, Mabel Norman's summer home, is extensively renovated and becomes available to the public as a rental.
2024
NBS celebrates its 75th anniversary, as well as the 50th year of Harvest Fair and the 54th year of Summer Camp.
