Rhode Island · RI
Block Island
A windswept island where America's first offshore wind farm turns.
- Population
- 1,410 (2020 census)
- Charted
- 1614, by Adriaen Block
- Conserved land
- About 40%
Then
- Before 1600s
The Niantic call the island Manisses, “Manitou's little island.”
- 1614
Dutch explorer Adriaen Block charts the island and names it for himself.
- 1661
Twelve settlers led by John Allcock land at Cow Cove.
- 1875
The Southeast Lighthouse is built. Threatened by erosion, it is moved back from the bluffs in 1993.
- 2016
Five 600-foot turbines start spinning three miles offshore in December, the first offshore wind farm in the United States.
Now
About 40 percent of the island is protected; The Nature Conservancy calls it one of the Last Great Places. Mohegan Bluffs drop to the beach down 141 steps, and North Light stands at Sandy Point.
Ferries run year-round from Point Judith, and the summer population can triple.