Across the water sits Goat Island, a small island in Narragansett Bay that belongs to the city of Newport. Connected to the Easton's Point neighborhood by a causeway bridge, this little patch of land has lived many lives. The island was called “Nante Sinunk” by the Narragansett and sold in 1658; early Newport colonists used it as a goat pasture, and some say the name comes from a breed nicknamed the New American Goat.
In 1703 an earthen fort was built here and named Fort Anne for Queen Anne, and later the island hosted several military forts and the U.S. Naval Torpedo Station. You can imagine the long sweep of history from the 1842 Newport Harbor Light that still marks these waters to the residences, restaurant, event space, and hotel that now share the shoreline. The island was even the site of the attacks on HMS St John and HMS Liberty, and on Friday, July 19, 1723, twenty-six pirates were buried on the north end, between the high and low water mark — then considered unhallowed ground.
Notice the causeway bridge linking you to Easton's Point and the lighthouse rising on the island.