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Goat Island (Rhode Island)
Encyclopedia
Narragansett Bay
Narragansett Bay is a bay and estuary on the north side of Rhode Island Sound. Covering 147 mi2 , the Bay forms New England's largest estuary, which functions as an expansive natural harbor, and includes a small archipelago...
and is part of the city of Newport, Rhode Island
Newport, Rhode Island
Newport is a city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States, about south of Providence. Known as a New England summer resort and for the famous Newport Mansions, it is the home of Salve Regina University and Naval Station Newport which houses the United States Naval War...
, U.S. The island is connected to the Easton's Point
Easton's Point
The Point is one of the oldest neighborhoods in Newport, Rhode Island and has one of the highest concentrations of colonial houses in the United States. The neighborhood sits between Washington Street and Farewell Street/America's Cup in Newport looking out on Goat Island, former home to the U.S...
neighborhood via a causeway
Causeway
In modern usage, a causeway is a road or railway elevated, usually across a broad body of water or wetland.- Etymology :When first used, the word appeared in a form such as “causey way” making clear its derivation from the earlier form “causey”. This word seems to have come from the same source by...
bridge. Goat Island is home to the Newport Harbor Light (1842), The Marina Cafe & Pub, Belle Mer, and the Goat Island South Condominiums. The island was home to several military forts, the U.S. Naval Torpedo Station, and was the site the attacks on the HMS St John (1764)
HMS St John (1764)
HMS St. John was a Royal Navy ship attacked in 1764 by American colonists in Newport, Rhode Island.-History:Rhode Islanders were violently opposed to the passage of the Sugar Act in 1764, because the colony's main industry was producing rum from molasses...
and HMS Liberty (1768)
HMS Liberty (1768)
HMS Liberty was a British ship that was burned in 1769 by American colonists in Newport, Rhode Island as one of the first acts of open defiance against the British crown.-History:The ship was originally owned by John Hancock...
.
History
Native Americans called the island "Nomsussmuc", and Indians sold the island in 1658. Early Newport colonists used the island as a goat pasturePasture
Pasture is land used for grazing. Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, cattle, sheep or swine. The vegetation of tended pasture, forage, consists mainly of grasses, with an interspersion of legumes and other forbs...
.
An earthen fort was built on Goat Island in 1703 during the War of Spanish Succession, and it was named "Fort Anne" after the reigning Queen Anne
Anne of Great Britain
Anne ascended the thrones of England, Scotland and Ireland on 8 March 1702. On 1 May 1707, under the Act of Union, two of her realms, England and Scotland, were united as a single sovereign state, the Kingdom of Great Britain.Anne's Catholic father, James II and VII, was deposed during the...
.
On Friday, 19th of July, 1723 twenty-six pirates (Charles Harris, Thomas Linicar, Daniel Hyde, Stephen Mundon, Abraham Lacy, Edward Lawson, John Tomkins, Francis Laughton, John Fisgerald, William Studfield, Owen Rice, William Read, John Bright, Thomas Hazel, William Blades (Rhode Island), Thomas Hagget, Peter Cues, William Jones, Edward Eaton, John Brown, James Sprinkly, Joseph Sound, Charles Church, John Waters, Thomas Powell (Connecticut), Joseph Libbey) who had been hanged at nearby Bull's Point(Gravelly Point
Easton's Point
The Point is one of the oldest neighborhoods in Newport, Rhode Island and has one of the highest concentrations of colonial houses in the United States. The neighborhood sits between Washington Street and Farewell Street/America's Cup in Newport looking out on Goat Island, former home to the U.S...
)after being tried in Newport between the 10th and 12th of July, and were buried on the north end of Goat Island, on the shore, between high and low water mark."The pirates were all young men, most of them natives of England"( Olden Times Series 5). The following is taken from The Salem Observer, November 11, 1843: "...this was the most extensive execution of pirates that ever took place at one time in the Colonies, it was attended by a vast multitude from every part of New England."(also reference Gutenberg Library, The Olden Times Series, Volume 5, by Henry M. Brooks.
In 1738 a stone fort was built and renamed "Fort George" after King George II
George II of Great Britain
George II was King of Great Britain and Ireland, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and Archtreasurer and Prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire from 11 June 1727 until his death.George was the last British monarch born outside Great Britain. He was born and brought up in Northern Germany...
. In 1764 Newporters took over Fort George and fired shots at the HMS St. John
HMS St John (1764)
HMS St. John was a Royal Navy ship attacked in 1764 by American colonists in Newport, Rhode Island.-History:Rhode Islanders were violently opposed to the passage of the Sugar Act in 1764, because the colony's main industry was producing rum from molasses...
a British ship with a crew that had allegedly stolen from local merchants. In 1769 Rhode Islanders burned the HMS Liberty
HMS Liberty (1768)
HMS Liberty was a British ship that was burned in 1769 by American colonists in Newport, Rhode Island as one of the first acts of open defiance against the British crown.-History:The ship was originally owned by John Hancock...
, a customs ship, when it drifted to the north end of Goat Island (near where the pirates were buried) in another early act of rebellion against British rule.
Revolutionary War
In 1775 the Fort was renamed Fort Liberty. The British army occupied Newport from 1776 through 1779 and renamed the fort Fort George during that time.Post Revolution
In 1784 it was repaired and renamed Fort Washington after George Washington. In 1794, Newport sold Goat Island to the federal government for $1,500 to maintain a military fort to defend Newport Harbor. The fort was named Fort WolcottFort Wolcott
Fort Wolcott was a fortification on the small Goat Island in Newport Harbor of Narragansett Bay less than 1 mile west of the city of Newport, Rhode Island...
in commemoration the services of Oliver Wolcott who was a General of the Militia and a member of the Continental Congress from Connecticut. In 1824, the first Newport Harbor Lighthouse was constructed at the north end of the island. Fort Wolcott
Fort Wolcott
Fort Wolcott was a fortification on the small Goat Island in Newport Harbor of Narragansett Bay less than 1 mile west of the city of Newport, Rhode Island...
was active until 1835 when the garrison was transferred to Florida to fight the Seminole Indians.
In 1851 the original lighthouse moved to Prudence Island to become Prudence Island Light, and the current Newport Harbor Light
Newport Harbor Light
The Newport Harbor Light , built in 1842, is located on north end of Goat Island, which is part of the city of Newport, Rhode Island, United States, in Narragansett Bay.-History:...
was constructed on a dike near the former lighthouse site. The area surrounding the dike was later filled in when the hotel was constructed much later.
Naval Torpedo Station
In 1869 the U.S. Naval Torpedo Station was founded on Goat Island, on the site of the former Army fort. The Station was greatly expanded over the next 100 years and produced many of the Navy's torpedoes through World War I and World War II at the island's Navy Torpedo Factory. The torpedo station was closed in 1951 and Naval Undersea Warfare CenterNaval Undersea Warfare Center
The Naval Undersea Warfare Center is the United States Navy's full-spectrum research, development, test and evaluation, engineering and fleet support center for submarines, autonomous underwater systems, and offensive and defensive weapons systems associated with undersea warfare...
was created with a facility nearby.
Coast Guard
In addition to the Goat Island lighthouse, the Coast GuardCoast guard
A coast guard or coastguard is a national organization responsible for various services at sea. However the term implies widely different responsibilities in different countries, from being a heavily armed military force with customs and security duties to being a volunteer organization tasked with...
has maintained a cutter at Goat Island since at least the late 1960's. The cutter Point Turner (WPB 82365) served her entire 31 year career at Goat Island from when she was commissioned on 14 April 1967 until she was decommissioned on 3 April 1998. The tradition of having a Coast Guard cutter stationed at Goat Island resumed when the Marine Protector Class Coastal Patrol Boat Tiger Shark
Tiger shark
The tiger sharks, Galeocerdo cuvier, is a species of requiem shark and the only member of the genus Galeocerdo. Commonly known as sea tigers, tiger sharks are relatively large macropredators, capable of attaining a length of over . It is found in many tropical and temperate waters, and is...
(WPB 87359) was commissioned on 16 July 2005.
Redevelopment
In the 1960s, Goat Island was sold to a private developer Globe Manufacturing. Over the next several decades, Globe constructed the Sheraton Hotel (later known as the Doubletee Hotel and now the Hyatt Hotel) and Goat Island South Condominiums and converted the only former navy building remaining on the island into the Goat Island Marina and Marina Bar & Grille. In the 1990s IDC, Island Development Corp. constructed the "Regatta Club", an event venue. After two Rhode Island Supreme CourtRhode Island Supreme Court
The Rhode Island Supreme Court, founded in 1747, is the court of last resort in the U.S. State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. The Court consists of a chief justice and four associate justices. The current Justices of the Rhode Island Supreme Court are:*Chief Justice Paul A...
decisions, regarding the development, Goat Island South Condomimiums took possession of the "Regatta Club" leasing it to a third party.
Note: One addition.. I believe there were two buildings remaining from the Navy Torpedo days.. The Marina as you cite but also the old 7 or 8 stall fire barn which became the Captains Quarters when the Sheraton Island expanded in or around 1980 to 81.