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”
Category Archives: History
The Society is Formed
by Peter Randall, MD In May of 2000, the lighthouse was visited by the DILS Board and Chris Powell of the RI Dept. of Environmental Management (which had jurisdiction over the island). In June of 2000, Ginger Hesse and Roberta Randall of the RI State Historic Preservation Office also visited the lighthouse. They assessed theContinue reading “The Society is Formed”
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”