Point Judith

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Point Judith and Rhode Island satellite photo
Point Judith lighthouse

Point Judith is a village and a small cape on the coast of Narragansett , Rhode Island on the west side of Narragansett Bay, where it expands to Rhode Island Sound . Administratively, the village belongs to the nearby town of Narragansett.

Surname

The origin of the name "Point Judith" is controversial. One of the interpretations suggests that the name goes back to the biblical tribe of Judeans; Another interpretation sees the wife or mother-in-law of John Hull (1620–1683), mint master of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and dealer, as namesake; According to another interpretation, the name goes back to Judith Thatcher, who in foggy weather outside the Cape saved her father's ship by intervening, so that the ship's crew gave the Cape their name out of gratitude.

history

At the beginning of the 17th century, when the English established their first colony in New England , the region around Point Judith was inhabited by the Eastern Niantic , a people of the Narraganset . In the King Philip's War ( King Philip's War ) 1675 to 1676, which the native peoples led against the expansion of the English colonists , the Narraganset were almost completely exterminated.

During the American independence movement in the late 1770s, Point Judith was in the hands of the British, who, under Captain Wallace, raided and burned the settlers' farms in the area.

At the end of World War II , the waters off Point Judith were the scene of the last sinking of a US ship by the German Navy. On May 5, 1945, the German submarine U 853 sank the American coal freighter Black Point (5353 GRT) here.

shipping

One of the sights of the place is the 17 meter high octagonal lighthouse Point Judith Light from the 19th century. The current building dates from 1856, but the first tower was built in 1810. There is a year-round ferry service to Block Island from Point Judith .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ How Point Judith got its name; from notes found in the 1854 genealogy of the Greenleaf family. Note 98, p. 110.
  2. ^ The New England Magazine, Volume 11, 1895
  3. ^ John C. Fredriksen: Revolutionary War Almanac . Infobase Publishing, ISBN 0816074682 , p. 128 ( excerpt (Google) )
  4. ↑ Jürgen Rohwer , Gerhard Hümmelchen : Chronik des Maritime War, May 1945 , accessed on May 16, 2014

Web links

Commons : Point Judith  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 41 ° 21 ′ 40 "  N , 71 ° 28 ′ 53"  W.