The Bells, an abandoned early 20th-century carriage house in Newport, has been in the news recently. The state of Rhode Island, which owns the property, is razing the dilapidated structure because of safety concerns. The Bells was the remainder of one of the first estates on Newport’s famous Ocean Drive. It was the stable and carriage house for The Reef, a Queen Anne-style mansion built in 1885 for lawyer and businessman Theodore M. Davis. The Reef housed Davis’ collection of Old Masters paintings and Egyptian artifacts from the many digs he sponsored in the Valley of the Kings. After Davis’ death in 1915, The Reef was purchased by Mr. and Mrs. Milton J. Budlong of Providence. They divorced in 1928 and the family stopped living there. The property, which faces the ocean at Brenton Point, was used by the U.S. military for an antiaircraft battery during World War II. Afterward it fell into neglect, was vandalized, burned in 1961 and was demolished two years later. Learn more about New...