Wickford Cove - NarragansettBayResearch

Wickford Cove
Wickford Cove:
Basic Information
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Wickford Cove is a bay
Historically, one of best deep-water harbors on
Narragansett Bay
Today – harbor is dredged
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Many small-craft facilities and boatyards
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Pleasure boating
Fishing and lobstering continue to be an important part
of the economy
Wickford
1637: Est. by Roger Williams, Cocumscussoc was the first
trading post in Narragansett
1663: Wickford Village founded; was named for Wickford in
Essex, England by Roger Williams
1678: Richard Smith built his house on the site of the first
trading post; it became known as Smith’s Castle and was burned
in King Phillip’s War by the Narragansetts; later rebuilt.
1709: Lodowick Updike designed the town and divided it into
plots.
1775-1783: Wickford did not sustain much damage during the Revolutionary
War; Newport residents came to the town to escape the British who occupied
Newport
1790s: Renewal of coastal and West Indies trade and the expansion of the
fishing industry Wickford=2nd only to Newport in terms of infrastructure and
importance as a port; cultural/economic center of southern RI
1800: The Washington Academy founded to train young men to
teach in public schools
1809: Wickford Harbor Lighthouse at Poplar Tree Point built
1815: Wickford Harbor Light at Poplar Point destroyed by a
gale that flooded the area.
1830s: The Providence-Stonington Railroad constructed but Wickford
wasn’t a a stop; at the same time, shipping war with Providence led to high
wharfage prices/property values; major shipping traders took their business
elsewhere.
1870: Newport and Wickford Railway and Steamship line
created; train left from Wickford Junction and took passengers
to Poplar Point; a steamship took people to Newport/
Jamestown.
June 15 1880: Congress gave $45,000 for lighthouse to be built on Old Gay
Rock; a fifth-order Fresnel lens was illuminated Nov 1, 1882; Lighthouse
Board recommended that a granite pier with a small light be est. there to
replace the Poplar Point light due to increased ferry traffic between
Wickford and Newport.
1890: Sea View Trolley Line was constructed to bring
vacationers to resorts and beaches.
1938: Infamous ‘38 Hurricane ruined wells and prevented the
construction of a municipal water system
1993: Cocumscussoc (site of first trading post in the area and
Smith Castle) became a National Historic Landmark.
Wickford Cove:Historical Facts
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Largest number of colonial homes in New England (still in existence)
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Events of King Phillip’s War took place in Wickford:
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Colonial soldiers gathered at Smith’s Castle and attacked the Great Swamp; in retaliation for the
Great Swamp Massacre, the Narragansetts burned the house in 1676—40 colonial soldiers are
buried on the site.
Joshua Teft was hanged, drawn, and quartered at Smith’s Castle for high treason after King
Phillip’s War; only Englishman in New England to have suffered this fate.
During the Industrial Revolution, in the 1800s, there were 30 manufacturers in Wickford
Work Cited
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Carpenter, Rev. James H. "Washington County." A History of New England. By Esther B. Ed. R. H. Howard and Henry E. Crocker. Vol. 1. N.p.: n.p., n.d. N. pag. Google Books.
Web. 11 Mar. 2013. "Cawcawmqussick and Nahigonsick Countrey." N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2013. <http://www.smithscastle.org/about_castle/text/c17-20.htm>.
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"Cocumscussoc Archeological Site." National Historic Landmark Program. NHLP, n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2013. <http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?
ResourceId=2149&ResourceType=>.
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D'Entremont, Jeremy. "Wickford Harbor Lighthouse History." New England Lighthouses: A Virtual Guide. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2013. <http://www.lighthouse.cc/wickford/
history.html>.
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Geake, Robert A. "Keepers of the Bay: The Narragansett Tribe of Rhode Island | Rifootprints." Rifootprints. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2013. <http://rifootprints.com/2010/11/09/
keepers-of-the-bay-the-narragansett-tribe-of-rhode-island/>.
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"A Highly Idiosyncratic and Unabashedly Opinionated Photographic Tour of Wickford, Rhode Island, The Venice of New England." N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2013.
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"Historic Wickford Village." Historic North Kingstown. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2013. <http://www.historicnorthkingstown.com/nk-history/wickford/>.
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"History." Historic Wickford Village. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2013. <http://wickfordvillage.org/history/>.
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Sattel, James Clayton. "Slides: James Clayton Sattel’s RI Views: Wickford." GoLocalProvcom. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2013. <http://www.golocalprov.com/lifestyle/jamesclayton-sattels-ri-views-wickford/>.
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Walking in Olde Wickford - The History of Old Wickford One House at a Time. N.p.: CreateSpace Independent Platform, 2011. N. pag. Walking in Olde Wickford. CreateSpace
Independent Publishing Platform. Web. 11 Mar. 2013. <http://www.amazon.com/Walking-Olde-Wickford-History-House/dp/1467970093>.
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"Wickford Cove." PlaceKeeper. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2013. <http://www.placekeeper.com/Rhode_Island/Wickford_Cove-1218081.html>.
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"Wickford." US Harbors. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2013. <http://ri.usharbors.com/harbor-guide/wickford>.
Images
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http://geology.com/state-map/rhode-island.shtml
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http://www.historicnorthkingstown.com/nk-history/wickford/
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http://providence.thephoenix.com/news/103971-have-a-weird-summer/
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N.d. Photograph. Wickford, North Kingstown, RI. North Kingstown, Rhode Island, Statewide Historical Preservation Report W-NK-1. N.p.: n.p., 1979. 12-15. Print.
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http://www.rhodeislandlighthousehistory.info/poplar_point_lighthouse.html
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http://www.lighthouseinn-ct.com/lighthouses-by-state/rhode-island-lighthouses/wickford-harbor-lighthouse.html
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http://federal-hill-irish.blogspot.com/2012_08_01_archive.html
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http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wickford_Junction_1914.jpg
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http://newenglandtravels.blogspot.com/2012/09/hurricane-of-1938-marker-wickford-rhode.html
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http://freepages.history.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~blauss/outside.html