Near This Spot House of Trustrum Dodge - New Shoreham, RI
Posted by: NorStar
N 41° 10.638 W 071° 33.792
19T E 285000 N 4561606
The sign marks a location near the house of Trustrum Dodge, one of the original 16 European settlers of Block Island.
Waymark Code: WMX1B9
Location: Rhode Island, United States
Date Posted: 11/12/2017
Views: 1
In New Shoreham (Block Island), along Corn Neck Road and along the shore, is a historical marker locating a position near the house of Trustrum Dodge, one of the 16 original settlers of Block Island.
The marker is located on the east side of the road, between the road and the beach, It is about a hundred feet from a curve. There is parking along the road - not a lot of shoulder available.
The marker is a stone form, rough on the sides and smooth on the tex, roughly three feet high and several inches thick, with a rounded top. The sign has the following text on it:
"[Block Island Historical Society Logo'
Near this spot
House of
Trustrum Dodge
One of Sixteen Original Settlers in 1661
1614 Capt Adriaen Block
Landed and Named this Island
Adyaen Blocks Eylant
1636 Capt John Oldham Killed by Indians
Col. John Endicott and Ninety
Soldiers Landed to Punish Indians.
Start of Pequot Indian War.
1689 French Fleet Landed and
Plundered the Island."
The Wikipedia article for Block Island states that the earliest settlement of the island may have been as early as 500 BC, but this is contended. The first European to see Block Island was Giovanni da Verrazzano, who saw it in 1594. In 1614, Dutch explorer, Adrian Block landed on it and named it after himself. It relates how John Oldman, a rather unsavory character, was murdered by a branch of the Niantic Indians, then Massachusetts Bay Colony sending an expedition led by Col John Endicott to punish the local Indians, starting the Pequot Indian War, which lasted from 1636 to 1638. This resulted in the virtual elimination of the Pequot Nation from southern New England.
Sources:
Block Island Historical Society:
(
visit link)
Wikipedia (Block Island):
(
visit link)