Gould Island lies east of

Conanicut Island Conanicut Island is the second-largest island in Narragansett Bay in the American state of Rhode Island. It is connected on the east to Newport on Aquidneck Island via the Claiborne Pell Bridge, commonly known as the Newport Bridge, and on t ...

Narragansett Bay Narragansett Bay is a bay and estuary on the north side of Rhode Island Sound covering , of which is in Rhode Island. The bay forms New England's largest estuary, which functions as an expansive natural harbor and includes a small archipelago. Sm ...

in the U.S. state of

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area and the seventh-least populous, with slightly fewer than 1.1 million residents as of 2020, but it ...

. It is a part of the town of

Jamestown, Rhode Island Jamestown is a town in Newport County, Rhode Island in the United States. The population was 5,559 at the 2020 census. Jamestown is situated almost entirely on Conanicut Island, the second largest island in Narragansett Bay. It also includes the u ...

, and has a land area of .

History

The Narragansett Indians named the island "Aquopimokuk", and Colonist Thomas Gould purchased it from them in 1657. Gould sold the island to Thomas Cranston, and later owners included the Carr family and Joseph Wanton, Jr., who lost the property for having Loyalist sympathies during the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revoluti ...

. British naval leader Captain Wallace constructed a military fort on the island called "Owl's Nest" in 1778 during the American Revolution. In 1803, Caleb Gardner purchased the forfeited island. It remained privately owned until the early twentieth century. A lighthouse was built on the island in 1889 which was demolished in 1960. Richard L. Howell purchased the island in 1909, and his daughter and son-in-law Percy D. Haughton inherited it along with the

McKim, Mead, and White McKim, Mead & White was an American architectural firm that came to define architectural practice, urbanism, and the ideals of the American Renaissance in fin de siècle New York. The firm's founding partners Charles Follen McKim (1847–1909), W ...

house. Percy Haughton was

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...

's football coach, and he used the island for training the football team. In 1919, the U.S. Navy requisitioned the entire island from the Haughton family to expand its nearby torpedo station on Goat Island. They constructed an airbase with hangars and a

seaplane A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of taking off and landing (alighting) on water.Gunston, "The Cambridge Aerospace Dictionary", 2009. Seaplanes are usually divided into two categories based on their technological characteri ...

landing site for naval

torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, and with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, s ...

planes. The airfield was discontinued in the 1950s. As of 2009, the State of Rhode Island owns part of the island as a

wildlife sanctuary A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or o ...

, while the Navy and

Naval Undersea Warfare Center The Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) is the United States Navy's full-spectrum research, development, test and evaluation, engineering and fleet support center for submarines, autonomous underwater systems, and offensive and defensive weapons ...

still own and utilize the remainder of it.

Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields is an online database detailing information and first hand memories about airports in the United States which are no longer in operation, or are rarely used. The website was started by Paul Freeman in 1999 a ...

(accessed January 3, 2008)

References

Gould Island: Block 2066, Census Tract 413, Newport County, Rhode Island
United States Census Bureau {{authority control Islands of Newport County, Rhode Island Jamestown, Rhode Island Islands of Narragansett Bay Nature reserves in Rhode Island Buildings and structures in Newport County, Rhode Island Defunct airports in Rhode Island Forts in Rhode Island Military installations in Rhode Island Protected areas of Newport County, Rhode Island Transportation in Newport County, Rhode Island Islands of Rhode Island