diff --git a/activeresource/CHANGELOG b/activeresource/CHANGELOG
index cf7099b007fde276f8e33768a64a3809e61fe3b2..8ac17c24a1e93c458a533937cc8ee13997616785 100644
--- a/activeresource/CHANGELOG
+++ b/activeresource/CHANGELOG
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
 *SVN*
 
+* site= accepts URIs.  [Jeremy Kemper]
+
 * Initial checkin: object-oriented client for restful HTTP resources which follow the Rails convention. [DHH]
diff --git a/activeresource/lib/active_resource/base.rb b/activeresource/lib/active_resource/base.rb
index 2d4025e5dd0bb4a48e4236bd12c05f4168f5f2d1..11064454d769d1525c34098e2b60018a389adb6a 100644
--- a/activeresource/lib/active_resource/base.rb
+++ b/activeresource/lib/active_resource/base.rb
@@ -4,9 +4,9 @@ module ActiveResource
   class Base
     class << self
       def site=(site)
-        @@site = URI.parse(site)
+        @@site = site.is_a?(URI) ? site : URI.parse(site)
       end
-      
+
       def site
         @@site
       end
@@ -96,4 +96,4 @@ def method_missing(method_symbol, *arguments)
         end
       end
   end
-end
\ No newline at end of file
+end
diff --git a/activeresource/test/base_test.rb b/activeresource/test/base_test.rb
index 3c87ca532c46816fe58a9344c5296da007e80186..e4839613eee8de3902a86e4bb0a25131a4deed07 100644
--- a/activeresource/test/base_test.rb
+++ b/activeresource/test/base_test.rb
@@ -17,6 +17,18 @@ def setup
     )
   end
 
+
+  def test_site_accessor_accepts_uri_or_string_argument
+    site = URI.parse('http://localhost')
+
+    assert_nothing_raised { Person.site = 'http://localhost' }
+    assert_equal site, Person.site
+
+    assert_nothing_raised { Person.site = site }
+    assert_equal site, Person.site
+  end
+
+
   def test_collection_name
     assert_equal "people", Person.collection_name
   end
@@ -57,4 +69,4 @@ def test_destroy
     assert Person.find(1).destroy
     assert_raises(ActiveResource::ClientError) { Person.find(2).destroy }
   end
-end
\ No newline at end of file
+end