Notes:
(1) Dutch Island Light was built to mark the entrance to Dutch Island Harbor, a well-protected port between Dutch Island and Conanicut Island, and to guide ships entering the west passage of Narragansett Bay.

      Dutch Island was named by the Dutch West India Company who established a trading post on the island in 1625 to trade Dutch goods for furs, fish, and venison from the Indians.  In 1657, one hundred English colonists purchased Conanicut, Dutch and Gould Islands establishing Dutch Island for common use and the protected pasturing of sheep.

      Shipping along the Western Passage of Narragansett Bay increased with the rise of the textile industry in the early 1800s.  Dutch Island Harbor became a Harbor of Refuge from storms for sailing vessels entering the West Passage.

      In 1825, the federal government purchased six acres on the southern tip of Dutch Island for a 30-feet high stone Lighthouse and four-room Keeper’s house.  The Lighthouse was First Lit on January 1, 1827 exhibiting a Fixed White Light illuminated by 8 Lewis Lamps with 9-inch Reflectors.

      After a 1850 inspection report condemned the poor construction of the entire Light Station, a new 42-feet high square brick Tower attached to a new Keeper’s house was built in 1857.  The new Lighthouse exhibited a Fixed White light illuminated by a Fourth-order Fresnel lens


      Dutch Island Light marked the entrance to the Western Passage of Narragansett Bay between Narragansett and Jamestown.  Beavertail Light, established in 1749, and Castle Hill Light, established in 1890, marked the entrance to the Eastern Passage of Narragansett Bay between Newport and Jamestown.  Ironically, the Lighthouses on Conanicut Island (Beavertail Light) and Dutch Island erected for the safety of maritime trade and later the shipping of manufacturing goods through both Passages of Narragansett Bay were not beneficial to Jamestown on Conanicut Island due to agriculture and sheep grazing until the resort boom of 1870s.

      Dutch Island remained a quiet sheep pasture with a Lighthouse until a Civil War encampment was established in 1864 and later developed as Fort Greble that was fortified during both the Civil War and the Spanish American War.  During World Wars I and II, Fort Greble was used as a German prisoner-of-war camp.

      In 1878, A fog bell was installed on the side of the Lighthouse with the bell’s striker operated by a clockwork mechanism inside the tower.  The Light’s characteristic was changed to Occulting Red every 10-seconds in 1924 and the Lighthouse was automated in 1947.

      In 1947, the military use of Fort Greble ended and the military property was conveyed to the State of Rhode Island in 1958.  The State acquired 5.75 acres owned by the U.S. Coast Guard in 1962.  Dutch Island is a Rhode Island wildlife management area with a inactive Lighthouse on 0.25 acres of Coast Guard property.

      In 1960, the Coast Guard demolished the deteriorating boathouse and Keeper’s house.  As early as 1972, the Coast Guard proposed deactivating the Lighthouse citing the Light was extinguished for days before the problem was reported.  Instead, petitions pressured the Coast Guard to keep the Light active for guiding small craft entering Dutch Island Harbor.

      After years of costly and rampant vandalism, the Coast Guard deactivated the Lighthouse in 1979 and a offshore buoy replaced Dutch Island Light (see Note 2).

      In 2000, the Dutch Island Lighthouse Society was established as a chapter of the American Lighthouse Foundation to plan the restoration and preservation of the Lighthouse (for additional information, see Note 7).

(2) Due to costly and excessive vandalism, the Coast Guard replaced the Light with the Dutch Island South End Lighted Gong Buoy offshore.

Aid No. 19105 at Position: N 41° 29.7', W 71° 24.3'

Public Access: Characteristic: Present Optic: Day-mark: Range: Current Use:    No Fl (2+1) R 6s [Flashing Red Light every 6 seconds] Automated Solar Powered Lens Red and green bands 4 nautical miles Active aid to navigation, U.S. Coast Guard