Block Island RI Old Harbor Historic District Ballards 2023

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Block Island walk around Old Harbor Historic District Ballards 2023
The Old Harbor Historic District is an historic district in the resort community of New Shoreham on Block Island off the southern coast of Rhode Island. Bounded by the Atlantic Ocean and Main Street, it includes Spring, High, and Water streets as well. There are 42 buildings listed in the district, which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.
Block Island is an island of the Outer Lands coastal archipelago, located approximately 9 miles (14 km) south of mainland Rhode Island and 14 miles (23 km) east of Long Island's Montauk Point. The island is coterminous with the town of New Shoreham and is part of Rhode Island's Washington County. It is named after Dutch explorer Adriaen Block.
Block Island is a popular summer tourist destination known for its bicycling, hiking, sailing, fishing, and beaches. It is home to the historic lighthouses Block Island North Light, on the northern tip of the island, and Block Island Southeast Light, on the southeastern coast. About 40 percent of the island is set aside for conservation, and much of the northwestern tip of the island is an undeveloped natural area and resting stop for birds along the Atlantic flyway.[1] The Nature Conservancy includes Block Island on its list of "The Last Great Places", which consists of 12 sites in the western hemisphere.[2]
Popular events include the annual Fourth of July Parade, celebration, and fireworks. The island's population can triple over the normal summer vacation crowd. As of the 2020 Census, the island's population is 1,410 living on a land area of 9.734 square miles
Before 1637
Block Island was formed by the same receding glaciers that formed the Outer Lands of Cape Cod, the Hamptons, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket during the end of the last ice age thousands of years ago.[4]
On this 1614 map, Block Island is named "Adrianbloxeyland"
The Niantic people[5] called the island "Manisses" (meaning "Manitou's Little Island"),[6] or just "Little Island".[7][8] Archaeological sites indicate that these people lived largely by hunting deer, catching fish and shellfish, and growing corn, beans, and squash, presumably with the Three Sisters technique. They migrated from forest to coastal areas to take advantage of seasonal resources.[9] One modern researcher has theorized that indigenous groups may have established a settlement as early as 500 BC,[10] although there is no consensus on that idea.
Giovanni da Verrazzano sighted the island in 1524 and named it "Claudia" in honor of Claude, Duchess of Brittany, queen consort of France and the wife of Francis I. However, several contemporaneous maps identified the same island as "Luisa," after Louise of Savoy, the Queen Mother of France and the mother of Francis I. Verrazano's ship log stated that the island was "full of hilles, covered with trees, well-peopled for we saw fires all along the coaste." Almost 100 years later, Dutch explorer Adriaen Block charted the island in 1614; he simply named it for himself,[11] and this was the name that stuck.
District buildings
Chapel Street
Site of First Baptist Church
Saint Andrews Roman Catholic Church, c.1900
Dodge Street
Surf Hotel, c. 1876
Blue Dory Inn, c. 1870
Drug Store, c. 1870
Olsen's Cottage, c. 1875
Rose Store, c. 1875
Gothic Cottage, c. 1880
Andrew. Dodge House, c. 1800
Leslie Dodge House (The Gables Inn), c. 1860
J. Hooper House, c. 1750
Mansard House, c. 1875
High Street
House, c. 1870
Union Hotel, 1883
Hartford Hotel, c. 1880
Mitchell Cottage, c. 1865
Masonic Lodge, c. 1876
Perry Cottage, c. 1890
Bellevue Hotel, c. 1885
Eureka Hotel, c. 1880
Highland House, c. 1890
Main Street
Woonsocket House (Block Island Historical Society), c. 1875
Woonsocket House (Annex Block Island Inn), c. 1880
The Yellow Kittens, c. 1890
Spring Street
Adrian Hotel (First Baptist Church), 1886
Hotel Manisses, 1882
1661 Inn, c. 1870
Rose Cottage, c. 1880
Atlantic Hotel Norwich Hotel, c. 1880
House, c. 1885
Spring House and Annex, 1852/c. 1872
Water Street
New National Hotel, 1888/1904
Narragansett Hotel, c. 1875/c. 19O8
Ocean Cottage New Shoreham Hotel, c. 1875/c. 1910
Pequot House, 1882
Odd Fellows Hall, 1872
Norton's Cottage Dept. Store, c. 189O
Roller Skating Rink Empire Theatre, c. 188O
City Drug Store, c. 1880
C. C. Ball General Store, c. 1880
Shamrock Inn Ocean View Annex, c. 1875
Site of Ocean View Hotel[2]