History
Once occupied by Niantic Indians in the 17th century, European colonists used the area as an important lookout point during the French and Indian War and the Revolutionary War, hence the community’s name. Some landmarks in the village include the Watch Hill Lighthouse the first of which was built in 1745, and The Flying Horse Carousel, the oldest continuously-operated carousel in the United States and a National Historic Landmark.
The Hurricane of 1938 caught Watch Hill by surprise and took a terrible toll. On Fort Road, which connected Watch Hill to the old Fort Mansfield, all the 39 houses, the Yacht and Beach Clubs, as well as the bathing pavilion were destroyed. Fifteen people were killed there alone and others survived by clinging to wreckage as they were swept across the bay to Connecticut.
Several breachways were created in Napatree Point after the hurricane has passed. To this day Sandy Point, once the northern extension, remains an island. Google Earth now shows the northernmost corner of Sandy Point as being in Connecticut. The shortened Napatree Point is now a barrier beach without any roads or houses. It is open to the public, and offers great bird watching and surf casting. The community is a secluded and seasonal resort community with shopping, a golf and beach club, yacht club and public and private beaches.
Read more about this topic: Watch Hill, Rhode Island
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“I cannot be much pleased without an appearance of truth; at least of possibility—I wish the history to be natural though the sentiments are refined; and the characters to be probable, though their behaviour is excelling.”
—Frances Burney (1752–1840)
“The foregoing generations beheld God and nature face to face; we, through their eyes. Why should not we also enjoy an original relation to the universe? Why should not we have a poetry and philosophy of insight and not of tradition, and a religion by revelation to us, and not the history of theirs?”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“If you look at the 150 years of modern China’s history since the Opium Wars, then you can’t avoid the conclusion that the last 15 years are the best 15 years in China’s modern history.”
—J. Stapleton Roy (b. 1935)