History
The town of Narragansett is located 20 miles south of Providence in southeastern Washington County. Though not incorporated as a separate town until 1901, Narragansett has a long and varied history.
Early Settlement
Native Americans occupied the land around Narragansett thousands of years before the arrival of the Europeans. The Narragansett Indians were the dominant group in the area. They settled in a number of semi-permanent villages led by chiefs called Sachems. They also maintained other villages outside of the main village that were linked to the seasonal availability of food including summer gardens on the coastal plain, inland hunting camps and fishing camps on rivers and inlets.
The first deed of purchase of land by the Europeans was the Pettaquamscutt Purchase of 1658 led by a group of colonists from Rhode Island. A second purchase, the Atherton Purchase, was led by a group of Connecticut colonists in 1659. Over the next half-century, the Rhode Island, Connecticut and Massachusetts colonies all vied for control of Narragansett until the British crown placed the area under the control of Rhode Island.
Agricultural Development
By the 1660's, the land purchased from the Indians had been divided into large tracks and houses were being constructed. With large land holdings, a favorable climate, fertile soil and access to the sea, an economy based on export farm products developed in the area around Narragansett. Known as the Narragansett Planters, these farms exported livestock, dairy products and produce to markets in Providence, Newport, Boston and New London.
Proximately to the sea allowed for relatively quick and inexpensive transportation of agricultural products. During this time, a deep, wide breachway connected the Point Judith Pond to the sea. With its numerous coves, the Point Judith Pond provided excellent access for small coastal vessels. Piers were also constructed along the eastern shore of Narragansett.
Seaside Resort
In the 1840's, people from around Rhode Island began to come to Narragansett to take advantage of its sandy beach. Narragansett's first hotel, the Narragansett House, was built in 1856. Between 1866 and 1871, ten hotels were built transforming the Narragansett Pier from a rural agricultural port to one of America's busiest seaside resorts.
Of the many buildings constructed along the pier during this period, the most prominent was the Narragansett Casino. Designed by the New York firm of McKim, Mead and White, the same firm that designed the Rhode Island State House, the Casino was completed in 1886 and quickly became the center of life at the Pier. It offered boating, billiards, bowling, tennis and other sports. It also contained stores, restaurants, a theater, a ballroom and a bandstand.
In 1900, a devastating fire destroyed the original Narragansett Casino. Only the granite towers spanning Ocean Road remained. It was rebuilt in 1905 and remained on the site until 1956 when the building was once again destroyed by fire. Today, only the Towers remain.
The late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries also saw the construction of large summer cottages. Often built in the Single or Queen Ann style, these houses were set back from the road on large landscaped lots. Some were built by summer residents for their own use, others were built as rentals. Many of these houses remain along Central Street and Ocean Road.
Maritime Activities
Generations of fishermen have worked the waters of the Point Judith Pond, the Rhode Island and Block Island Sounds and beyond at the edge of the continental shelf. In the nineteenth century, a thriving fishing industry developed. Area farmers often supplemented their income by fishing for bass and alewife, or digging oysters.
As traffic between the busy ports along the east coast increased in the nineteenth century, many ships were wrecked during storms along the rocky coast of Point Judith. In 1806, a wooden lighthouse was constructed on Point Judith to aid navigation. That structure, destroyed in the Great Gale of 1815, was replaced with a stone lighthouse in 1816. This structure was replaced with the current lighthouse in 1857.
In the early 1900's, a series of construction projects allowed Narragansett's Port of Galilee to become one of the largest fishing ports on the east coast. First, the Town of South Kingstown and the State of Rhode Island dredged the current breachway and stabilized it with stone jetties. Then, the Army Corps of Engineers constructed nearly three miles of stone breakwaters to create the Harbor of Refuge. Finally, in the 1930's, the State of Rhode Island dredged an anchorage basin just inside the breachway and built wharves to provide the Village of Galilee with a harbor for large, ocean-going fishing vessels
Today, Galilee is one of the largest fishing ports on the east coast. Many of these diesel powered trawlers which call the port home are capable of traveling hundreds of miles to fishing grounds in George's Bank. Each year, more than ten million pounds of fish and shellfish are process in Galilee and trucked to markets along the east coast. Galilee is also home to a large charter and excursion boat fleet.
