Perched on top of a small, rocky island in Narragansett Bay, near Jamestown, Rhode Island, is a 3-story cedar shingle mansion built by Philadelphia socialite Joseph Lovering Wharton in 1905. Wharton had built the house as an act of defiance after the government seized his land and summer home in the Fort Wetherill area to enlarge the fort at the end of the 1800s. Angered at being ousted from his property, Wharton decided to build a house where no one could bother him, and Clingstone happened. The name "Clingstone" was suggested when someone remarked that it was "a peach of a house.” In spite of its perilous location in the sea, the Clingstone has managed to survive more than 100 years, weathering countless storms and hurricanes. Today, the house has 23 rooms, including 10 bedrooms and five bathrooms. Visible from the shores, the house is known by locals as "The House on a Rock.”
