West Island is located off the eastern shore of a pennisula named Sconticut Neck
in the town of Fairhaven, MA. About 2 1/2 miles long and a mile wide and situated along Buzzard's Bay.
View of the Bourne Bridge and Woods Hole along with the Elizabeth Islands can be seen from
the Town Beach at the southern end of the island. Connected by a causeway first completed in 1945-6
it was developed as a summer colony named Fairhaven Estates. Previous to being purchased
by the Fairhaven, West Island Company the island was the location of two farms and the homes to
three families dating back to possibly the late 1700's. Before it was bought by colonists from Plymouth the
island was often visited bt Wampanoag Indians who came to the island shore to fish and gather shellfish. Various Wampanog
names attributed to the island are Nokatay, Nakata and Makatan.
Significant historical events that occured at or near West Island include the first naval battle of the War of Independance
fought off West Island's shore. Legend says that a British raiding party spotted sheep on the island
and came in to steal meat for the troops, but residents saw the ship, slipped away and warned
towns folk about the British arrival. Fairhaven residents comandeered a ship and fought off the raiding party.
Reports of causlaties for both sides differ.
Article from New
Bedford Evening Standard May 25, 1896 regarding a petition that was signed
by boaters who objected to the building of a causeway from Long Island to West
Island if it did not include a draw bridge in the design. The article mentions
of intent to develop the island and Sconticut Neck. Tedious wording but
interesting. This article also appeared in the Fairhaven Star of May 29,
1886.
Many
Ownership Changes Seen in Tiny Tract Where Vikings, Indians and Colonists
Roamed By JOHN FLANAGAN, Standard Times March 17, 1946. Article about history of
West Island and impending development of "Fairhaven Estates" on uninhabited
island.
150
Cottages built in 3 Years On Fairhaven's West Island Standard Times article
from June 4,1950
Ground Breaking
on West Island for Community House Standard Times article from August 30,
1951
Standard
Times article from June 29, 1952 about colonization of "Fairhaven
Estates"
Standard Times article
from November 13, 1951 about insolvency of West Island Power Co.
Recent West Island
articles in the Standard Times
NY Times article about Ristuccia's selling their house on West Island
A West Island Mystery
cemented into legend
West Island Tower
is dedicated for Civil Defense plane spotting, Standard Times July 26, 1956
I wasnt familiar with the GOC, or Ground Observer Corps so I did a google
search and came up with this site, among others GOC
and a little more on the Tower and it's sister structures
Tower page from
Millicent Library site listing monuments in town compiled by Jim
Cochran
Army Corp of Engineers Map Of the observation installment at
West Island, 1943, provided by Chris Wiles, U.S. Coast Artillery Photos,
ca.ckwinfo.net
Some of my observations
on the above articles(link broke)
History of Sconticut Neck written by Mabel L. Potter in 1945.
Posted on the Millicent Library website.
Fairhaven resident Joshua Slocum's account of rebuilding his sailboat 'Spray'
and sailing around the world alone in 1892
Fairhaven History
Timeline By Chris and Lori Richards.
Was treasure
buried in Riverside Cemetary?
West Island ghost
story
Aerial photograph of West Island and Wibur's Point from MSN
Terraserver
If you have stories, pictures, corrections or anything you
think is interesting and would like to contribute please email me using the
mailform on the Index page or directly at Nokatay@comcast.net Thanks
