Everything about Narragansett Bay totally explained
Narragansett Bay is a
bay and
estuary on the north side of
Rhode Island Sound. Covering 147
mi² (380
km²), the Bay forms New England's largest estuary, which functions as an expansive natural harbor, and includes a small
archipelago.
While there are over thirty islands in the bay the three largest are
Aquidneck Island,
Conanicut Island, and
Prudence Island. Bodies of water that are part of Narragansett Bay include the
Sakonnet River;
Mount Hope Bay; and the southern, tidal part of the
Taunton River. The bay opens on Rhode Island Sound and the
Atlantic Ocean;
Block Island lies less than 20 miles from its opening. Bridges over parts of the bay include two
suspension bridges, the
Claiborne Pell Newport Bridge and
Mount Hope Bridge, the
Jamestown-Verrazano Bridge, and the
Braga Bridge which forms the Narragansett Bay crossing of
United States Interstate 195.
Populations
Providence, the
Rhode Island state capital and largest city, sits on the west side of the head of the northernmost arm of the bay. Many of Providence's suburbs, including
Warwick and
Cranston, are also on the bay.
Newport, the home of the
United States Naval War College, the
Naval Undersea Warfare Center, and a major
United States Navy training center is located at the south end of
Aquidneck Island, on the ocean. The city of
Fall River, Massachusetts is located at the confluence of the
Taunton River and
Mount Hope Bay, which form the northeasternmost part of Narragansett Bay. The southwest side of the bay include the seaside tourist towns of
Narragansett and
Wickford.
Quonset Point, south of Warwick, gives its name to the
Quonset hut.
Roger Williams University is located in
Bristol, Rhode Island on land overlooking the bay.
Early history
The first recorded visit by
Europeans to the bay was probably in the early
16th century. At the time, the area around the bay was inhabited by two different and distinct groups of natives. The
Narragansetts occupied the west side of the bay. The
Wampanoag lived on the east side, occupying the land out to
Cape Cod.
It is accepted by most historians that first contact by Europeans was made by
Giovanni da Verrazzano, who entered the bay in his ship
La Dauphine in
1524 after visiting
New York Bay. Verrazzano called the bay "Refugio". The bay has several entrances, however, and the exact route of his voyage and the location where he laid anchor is still a subject of dispute among historians, leading to a corresponding uncertainty over which tribe made contact with him (see
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In
1614, the bay was later explored and mapped by the
Dutch navigator
Adriaen Block, after whom nearby
Block Island is named.
The first recorded European settlement was in the 1630s.
Roger Williams, a dissatisfied member of the
Plymouth Colony, moved into the area around the year
1635. He made contact with the
Narragansett and set up a trading post on the west side of the bay. At the same time, the
Dutch had established a trading post approximately 12 miles to the southwest which was under the authority of
New Amsterdam in
New York Bay.
In
1643, Williams traveled to
England and was granted a charter for the new colony of
Rhode Island. He also wrote a dictionary of the Narragansett language,
Keys to the Indian Language, which was published in England that same year.
The
Gaspée Affair(External Link), an important naval event of the
American Revolution, occurred in 1772 in the bay; it involved the capture of the
HMS Gaspee, a British ship. The American victory contributed to the eventual start of the war at the
Battles of Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts 3 years later. The event is celebrated in Warwick as the
Gaspee Days Celebration(External Link) in June, which event includes a symbolic recreation of the burning of the ship.
Captain
James Cook's
HM Bark Endeavour is believed to have sunk in the bay after being sold in
1775 by the
Royal Navy.
Roger Williams and other early colonists named many of the islands in the bay. To remember the names, colonial school children often recited the poem: "Patience, Prudence, Hope and Despair. And the little Hog over there."
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Rivers
Further Information
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