CHEPIWANOXET, Warwick, Rhode Island
Native Americans who fished this island and shores named this area between Post Road and Greenwich Bay “Chepiwanoxet.” Settled as a colonial farm in early 1700s, it became a beach resort with a hotel and shore dinner hall after the railroad station opened cc. 1837. Small lots were sold for summer cottages to upstate residents and for homes to Cowesett hill estate workers in late 1800s.
It is no longer an island, but just a small piece of land jutting from the mainland. This is because of a time just before World War I, when the Gallaudet Corporation built a causeway to the island for its seaplane factory, with many workers living here.
The City of Warwick bought the island for a city park in 1994. [From city sign erected at entrance on Chepiwanoxet Way in 2010; language written by local historian Neil Williams Ross]
- REDIRECT Chepiwanoxet Point