At Dutch Island, Ghosts of Past Settlements

July 8, 2010By Arline A. Fleming NORTH KINGSTOWN — Scott Chapin spent a long-ago summer day living what some might consider a Hardy Boy’s adventure on Dutch Island – or depending upon how you look at it, a “Twilight Zone” episode. It was during his 1960s boyhood, when summers on the Saunderstown shoreline were spentContinue reading “At Dutch Island, Ghosts of Past Settlements”

Dutch Island Lighthouse Shines for Mariners

November 21, 2007By Sam Bari An early photo of the Dutch Island Light. A dozen cars and twice as many people lined the shore at Fort Getty on the Jamestown side of Dutch Island last Saturday night. All eyes were focused on the freshly painted Dutch Island Lighthouse tower that was bathed in white light.Continue reading “Dutch Island Lighthouse Shines for Mariners”

The Light is re-lit: Keepers of the Dutch Island Light

By Sue Maden and Rosemary Enright John Paul Albert Henry Porter was the first Dutch Island lighthouse keeper appointed under the new Civil Service legislation. He was also the first and only keeper asked to resign for moral turpitude. Porter, the son of a lighthouse keeper, joined the Light House Service at the age ofContinue reading “The Light is re-lit: Keepers of the Dutch Island Light”

From Settlement to World War II

Little “Dutch” Island, comprising 81 acres, is located in the West Passage of Narragansett Bay between Jamestown and Saunderstown, RI. Originally it was called “Quetenis” by the Narragansett Indians who sold it to the Dutch West Indian Company about 1636. The Dutch from New Amsterdam (later New York) used the island as a safe placeContinue reading “From Settlement to World War II”