Galilee is a

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques inclu ...

village on

Point Judith Point Judith is a village and a small Cape (geography), cape, on the coast of Narragansett, Rhode Island, on the western side of Narragansett Bay where it opens out onto Rhode Island Sound. It is the location for the year-round ferry service that ...

within the town of

Narragansett, Rhode Island Narragansett is a town in Washington County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 14,532 at the 2020 census. However, during the summer months the town's population more than doubles to near 34,000. The town of Narragansett occupie ...

, USA, and is notable for being home to the largest fishing fleet in Rhode Island and for being the site of the Block Island Ferry. The village is directly across the harbor from

Jerusalem, Rhode Island Jerusalem is a fishing village within the town of Narragansett, Rhode Island on Point Judith. It is across the harbor from Galilee, Rhode Island. It is named after the Biblical city of Jerusalem. Jerusalem is not attached to any other part of Nar ...

. Galilee, Rhode Island is named after the Biblical Galilee, which was the original home region of

Jesus Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

, who grew up in Nazareth, a village in the Galilee region of Israel on the Sea of Galilee. Four of Jesus' disciples,

Andrew Andrew is the English form of a given name common in many countries. In the 1990s, it was among the top ten most popular names given to boys in List of countries where English is an official language, English-speaking countries. "Andrew" is freq ...

Peter Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a sur ...

James James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguati ...

and

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Secon ...

, were fishermen from Galilee. Today, the port of Galilee is responsible for transporting over 16 million pounds of seafood and shellfish each year. Part of the town of Narragansett, RI (population 15,868 in 2010), Galilee experiences significant seasonal population fluctuation and has been known to double in size in the summer months. As summer brings warmer weather, tourists come from all over to visit various state beaches, relax at private beach clubs, take the ferry to Block Island, and charter boats to go fishing or whale watching.

History

The village received its name " 1902, the story goes, Thomas Mann a fisherman from

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

who had settled here, felt the village that had sprung up with its fishing shacks should be called Galilee, after the fishing village of biblical times. One day, an old timer sat on the docks repairing his nets when a stranger called out to him, "Where am I". The answer was "Galilee". "And what is that?" the stranger asked pointing to the other side of the channel. The old timer thought for a minute, nodded his head and replied, "must be Jerusalem". And so the name of Galilee and Jerusalem have been used since to denote a most picturesque part of Rhode Island." In the nineteenth-century the area had developed as a fishing village, and in the early twentieth century, the State dredged the breachway and constructed stone

jetties A jetty is a structure that projects from land out into water. A jetty may serve as a breakwater, as a walkway, or both; or, in pairs, as a means of constricting a channel. The term derives from the French word ', "thrown", signifying somet ...

. Later the Army Corps of Engineers constructed three mile long breakwaters to provide a safe harbor of refuge for ships traveling between New York and Boston if they encountered bad weather. Recently on Saturday, July 11, 2015 a mysterious explosion at Galilee's Salty Brine State Beach injured two people. This explosion was suspected to be caused by a reaction between an abandoned copper cable located under the sand and an unusually large quantity of hydrogen in that location. Local residents described the sound as similar to the explosion of a grenade. One individual was thrown over 10 feet away by the blast, resulting in two fractured ribs among other lesser injuries. On Tuesday, March 14, 2017, a 100-foot tall wind turbine located in Galilee Rhode Island was toppled over by an intense winter storm. Strong winds snapped the turbines supporting metal structure in half. Along with the snow, strong winds, and toppled wind turbine, many of the households in Galilee suffered from a loss of power due to this storm. The turbine was reported to have toppled around 11:00 am. Shortly after, around noon, the town's loss of power followed.

Attractions

Today Galilee remains home to the largest fishing fleet in Rhode Island with commercial fishermen and lobstermen as well as deep sea fish cruises. Due to the high volume of fishermen, it is often easy to find fresh lobster and

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of ...

to purchase off the dock directly from boats, as well as in shops and restaurants. There are over 10 seafood restaurants in the village of Galilee including Champlins, George's of Galilee, Clam Jammers, and Buster Krab's Beach Bar & Grill. George's of Galilee is one of area's central landmarks and has access to the Salty Brine State Beach. This beach, along with Roger Wheeler State Beach and Scarborough State Beach, span the coast of Galilee and are divided up by private beaches, beach clubs, and fishing docks. Kayaking, fishing, and sight-seeing are some of the most common activities to do at the beaches in Galilee, with not only

whale Whales are a widely distributed and diverse group of fully aquatic placental marine mammals. As an informal and colloquial grouping, they correspond to large members of the infraorder Cetacea, i.e. all cetaceans apart from dolphins and ...

s but gray seals,

harp seal The harp seal (''Pagophilus groenlandicus''), also known as Saddleback Seal or Greenland Seal, is a species of earless seal, or true seal, native to the northernmost Atlantic Ocean and Arctic Ocean. Originally in the genus ''Phoca'' with a numbe ...

s, and

hooded seal The hooded seal (''Cystophora cristata'') is a large phocid found only in the central and western North Atlantic, ranging from Svalbard in the east to the Gulf of St. Lawrence in the west. The seals are typically silver-grey or white in color, w ...

s frequently spotted around the area. Other popular places in the port of Galilee to visit include the 100-foot tall wind turbine, the

lighthouse, the Penny candy store, and Fisherman's Memorial State Park. In the summer, be on the lookout for multiple beach volleyball tournaments and the South County Junior Volleyball Club, which practices in Galilee. The Block Island Ferry operates out of Galilee, going back and forth over 13 miles between Block Island and Galilee in under an hour.

References

External links

Narragansett, RI: Port of Galilee
{{Coord, 41, 22, 38, N, 71, 30, 37, W, type:city_region:US-RI_source:GNIS-enwiki, display=title Villages in Washington County, Rhode Island Villages in Rhode Island Narragansett, Rhode Island