Julia E. Smith, daughter of Emeline & Orlando, was the third of four children and was probably born in the house. She never married and lived in this house all her life. She founded the Westerly Historical Society in the parlor. When she died in 1924, she left it to her nephew, Orlando R. Smith, Jr.
In 1925 he engaged Norman Isham, noted restoration architect, to restore the house to its original Colonial beauty. Under the supervision of Norman Isham, the Babcock-Smith House was restored in the late 1920’s. Most of what was done then still remains today, although the interior wall treatments and color schemes have been recently redone to more accurately reflect 18th-century taste.
A trust was established under the will of Orlando R. Smith, Jr., who died in 1932, with the purpose of maintaining the property in perpetuity as an historic landmark. Now on the National Register of Historic Places, the house is administered by trustees.Dr. Babcock’s stately home is an important link with our colonial past and an example of the best in 18th-century American architecture.