Before 1637 Block Island was formed by the same receding glaciers that formed the
Outer Lands of
Cape Cod,
the Hamptons,
Martha's Vineyard, and
Nantucket during the end of the last ice age thousands of years ago. The
Niantic people called the island "Manisses" (meaning "
Manitou's Little Island"), or just "Little Island". Archaeological sites indicate that these people lived largely by hunting deer, catching fish and shellfish, and growing corn, beans, and squash, presumably with the
Three Sisters technique. They migrated from forest to coastal areas to take advantage of seasonal resources. One modern researcher has theorized that indigenous groups may have established a settlement as early as 500 BC, although there is no consensus on that idea.
Giovanni da Verrazzano sighted the island in 1524 and named it "Claudia" in honor of
Claude, Duchess of Brittany, queen consort of France and the wife of Francis I. However, several contemporaneous maps identified the same island as "Luisa", after
Louise of Savoy, the Queen Mother of France and the mother of Francis I. Verrazano's ship log stated that the island was "full of hilles, covered with trees, well-peopled for we saw fires all along the coast." Almost 100 years later, Dutch explorer Adriaen Block charted the island in 1614; he simply named it for himself, and this was the name that stuck.
Pequot War Governor
John Endicott attacking the
Niantics on Block Island in the summer of 1637 The growing tensions among the tribes of the region in this time caused the Niantics to split into two divisions: the Western Niantics, who allied with the Pequots and Mohegans, and the Eastern Niantics, who allied with the
Narragansetts. In 1632, indigenous people (likely Western Niantics associated with the Pequots) killed colonial traders John Stone and Walter Norton, and the Pequots of eastern Connecticut were blamed. A Pequot delegation presented magistrates in Boston with two bushels of wampum and a bundle of sticks representing the number of beavers and otters with which they would compensate the colonists for the deaths. They sought peace with the colonies and also requested help establishing concord with the Narragansetts, who bordered them to the east. The colonial authorities, in turn, demanded the people responsible for killing Stone and Norton, a promise not to interfere with colonial settlement in Connecticut, and 400 fathoms of
wampum and the pelts of 40 beavers and 30 otters. In 1636,
John Gallup came across the boat of trader
John Oldham, a noted troublemaker. Oldham had flirted with impropriety since the day that he landed on American soil. Not long after arriving in Plymouth in 1623, he "grew very perverse and showed a spirit of great malignancy," according to
Plymouth Colony Governor
William Bradford. He was later accused of religious subversion and responded with impertinence, hurling invective at his accusers and even drawing a knife on Captain Myles Standish. He was banished from Plymouth and fled to Massachusetts Bay, settling first in
Nantasket, then
Cape Ann, and finally
Watertown, where he continued to indulge his penchant for mayhem. Despite his unsavory reputation, Massachusetts Bay sought his extensive knowledge of the New England coast when they asked him to retrieve a hefty ransom on the colony's behalf. It was on this mission that Oldham was murdered and
dismembered.
Settlement Massachusetts Bay Colony claimed the island by
conquest. In 1658, the colony sold the island to a group of men headed up by Endicott. In 1661, the Endicott group sold the island to a party of twelve settlers that later grew to sixteen (of whom only seven actually settled there) led by John Allcock, who are today memorialized at Settler's Rock, near Cow's Cove. In 1663, island settler Thomas Terry gave six acres of land at the island's largest fresh pond and its surrounding area to four "chief
sachems". Their names were recorded as Ninnecunshus, Jaguante, Tunkawatten, and Senatick, but they were known by the colonists as Mr. Willeam, Repleave (Reprive), and Soconosh. This land was given to "them being the Cheife Sachems upon the Island there Heires & Assignes Forever to plant and Improve". This land was then known as the Indian Lands. The Sachems called the Fresh Pond Tonnotounknug. In 1664, Indians on the island numbered somewhere from 1,200 to 1,500. By 1774, that number had been reduced to fifty-one. A Dutch
map of 1685 clearly shows Block Island, indicated as
Adriaen Blocks Eylant ("Adrian Block's Island"). In the late seventeenth century, an Englishwoman called named Sarah Sands
née Walker lived on Block Island. Sands is known for being New England's first woman doctor and she has also been suggested to be an early
abolitionist. She married sea captain James Sands (one of the original sixteen settlers, as recorded by Settler's Rock Block Island was incorporated by the
Rhode Island general assembly in 1672, and the island government adopted the name "New Shoreham".
Post-colonial period During the
War of 1812, Block Island was briefly occupied by a
Royal Navy squadron under the command of Captain
Sir Thomas Hardy in 1814. The occupying squadron consisted of the ship of the line
HMS Ramillies, frigate
HMS Pactolus, brig-sloops
HMS Despatch and
HMS Nimrod and bomb vessel
HMS Terror. Hardy had taken his squadron to Block Island in search of food and to establish a strategic position at the mouth of the
Long Island Sound, but discovered that nearly all of the island's livestock and food stores had already been transferred to
Stonington, Connecticut. On August 9, 1814, Hardy's squadron departed Block Island for Stonington in part to capture the transferred food stores and livestock, but his pre-dawn raid on the town a day later was repulsed in the
Battle of Stonington. The original
North Lighthouse was built in 1829, but it was replaced in 1836 after the original was washed out to sea. The ocean claimed the replacement lighthouse also, and the lighthouse that can be seen today was constructed in 1867. Construction began on Block Island's
Southeast Lighthouse a few years later in 1873. Block Island has no natural harbors; breakwaters were constructed in 1870 to form Old Harbor. New Harbor was created in 1895 when a channel was dug to connect the
Great Salt Pond to the ocean through the northwestern side of the island. The Island Free Library was established in 1874 and is Block Island's only
public library. Isaac Church was the Island's last recorded full-blooded Manisses Indian; he died in 1886 at age 100. He was survived by one son and one daughter whose descendants still reside in Rhode Island today. The landmark Isaac's Corner is named in honor of him, located at the intersection of Center Road, Lakeside Drive, and Cooneymus Road. Isaac is buried to the east of the four corners in the Historical Indian Burial Ground. In 2011, the Block Island Historical Society dedicated the Block Island Manissean Ancestral Stone. In attendance at the unveiling ceremony were descendants of the Manisses Indians, with Tiondra White Rapids Martinez, a direct descendant of Isaac Church, opening the ceremony in their native tongue. During World War II, several artillery spotters were located on the island to direct fire from the heavy gun batteries at Fort Greene in
Point Judith which protected the entrance to
Narragansett Bay. Lookout positions for the spotters were built to look like houses. The US government offered to evacuate the island, as it could not be effectively defended from enemy invasion, but the islanders chose to stay. Days before the war ended against Germany, the
Battle of Point Judith took place seven miles to the northeast of the island. In 1963, the island was transferred from
Newport County to
Washington County. On August 10, 2012, a tornadic
waterspout formed to the south of the island. It went north and moved onshore Block Island at around 3:54 PM. It then tore through the island, before dissipating on the island's northern half. It was rated an EF0, and no deaths or injuries were reported. The island's
airport (KBID) was opened in 1950 and remains open today as a
general aviation airport. In 1972, the Block Island Conservancy was founded. The Conservancy and other environmental organizations are responsible for protecting over 40% of the island from development. In 1974,
Old Harbor Historic District was declared a
National Register historic district. More information can be found in the following books concerning Block Island's old buildings, islanders, history, and ongoing efforts to conserve the land, together with a collection of 800 period photographs of the island spanning the 1870s to the 1980s and all by historian Robert M. Downie: •
Block Island—The Sea •
Block Island—The Land •
The Block Island History of Photography, 2 volumes The students of New Shoreham in grades kindergarten through 12th grade attend
Block Island School.
Harbor Church was founded on October 23, 1765 and is located at 21 Water Street. ==Climate==