History
Dutch Island's Indian name was Quotenis or Quetenesse. Around 1636 Abraham Pietersen van Deusen of the Dutch West India Company established a trading post on the island to trade with the Narragansett Indians, trading Dutch goods, cloths, implements, and liquors for the Indians' furs, fish, and venison. Several years later the Dutch built Fort Ninigret nearby. In 1654 English colonists purchased the island from the Indians. In 1825 the federal government acquired 6 acres (24,000 m2) at the southern end of the island, and on January 1, 1827, Dutch Island Light was established to mark the west passage of Narragansett Bay and to aid vessels entering Dutch Island Harbor. The first 30-foot (9.1 m) tower was built of stones found on the island. The government constructed a new 42-foot (13 m) brick tower in 1857 with a fog bell added in 1878. As of 2007, the island is part of the Bay Islands Park system of Rhode Island owned by the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (RIDEM). The island is easily accessible by kayak today off the coast of Conanicut Island (Jamestown). No remnants of the Dutch trading post exist today, but a lighthouse and military buildings remain on the island.
Read more about this topic: Dutch Island (Rhode Island)
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