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Block Island From Above

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  • Block Island From Above

    The tune is "Cold Afternoon" by The Dig. The video is a drone's eye view of Block Island, RI, located in the Atlantic, about 10 miles off our southern coast. At one time, after the retreat of the Wisconsin ice sheet, Long Island, Block Island, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket were all connected, and dry land extended a further 50 miles south of those present day islands. Of the three largest islands of southern New England, Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket, and Block Island, Block Island is by far the smallest, but it's also the least spoiled, IMHO, and has the greatest percentage of land protected from any future development. It's been called "the Bermuda of the north", and its a special place indeed.

    At the south end of the island rises Mohegan Bluffs, so named because in 1590, a raiding party of some 40 Mohegan warriors were driven off those cliffs by the local natives, known as the Manisses. Mohegan Bluffs is seen in a few places in this video, a sense of their height is best seen at the 3:32 mark.

    Rhode Island

  • #2
    From left to right, Long Island, Block Island, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket were all once connected:

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    Mohegan Bluffs, on the southern end of Block Island:

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    Rhode Island

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    • #3
      That was really cool Charlie, epic views! One’a these days I’ll take the trip over. I’m a typical RoadEyeLynndah though, I don’t go anywhere,lol
      call me Jay, i live in R.I.

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      • CMD
        CMD commented
        Editing a comment
        I wish the ferry still ran from Providence, Jay, like it did for years. Now ya gotta drive to Galilee, and we all know, as Row Dylanders, that may as well be on the other side of the world, lol....

      • OnewiththewilD
        OnewiththewilD commented
        Editing a comment
        Lol!

      • CMD
        CMD commented
        Editing a comment
        Yeah, I understand there is a dedicated core of artifact hunters on the island, Jay, who all head for the hot spots after big storms. It's such a small island, the competition must be fierce!

    • #4
      A couple more views of Mohegan Bluffs:

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      It's the walk up that's a killer, lol. Did it last time I was there, though...

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      Rhode Island

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      • #5
        My one and only artifact from Block Island. The historical society on the island has a nice collection of artifacts from the island on display. This full groove axe, or was it a full groove adze, has a lot of paint stains. Not uncommon for artifacts found on farms and tossed in barns. I got this more then 20 years ago, just thought it would be cool to have something from the island:

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        Looking at the bit, it's not really a straight edge. Might it have been used as an adze at this point in its use life? Or did it just wear down this way? Whatever, not the best hardstone tool, but Inlike the form of the poll...

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        Rhode Island

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        • OnewiththewilD
          OnewiththewilD commented
          Editing a comment
          I think the full groove implies an upright hafting. Perhaps the off centeredness of the bit is a result of laying it on its side while hafted and resharpening it repeatedly from one side?

        • OnewiththewilD
          OnewiththewilD commented
          Editing a comment
          Awesome axe too btw!

        • CMD
          CMD commented
          Editing a comment
          I think it was an axe, but I do have a foot long full groove adze, so such things exist. But I think this tool was an axe.

      • #6
        Charlie, this post leads me to beg the question; what do you think lies under our ocean? I know URI had been researching this for Clovis era stuff... but there must be thousands of water buried artifacts..
        Can’t find em sitting on the couch; unless it’s in a field

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        • Tam
          Tam commented
          Editing a comment
          I always said the ocean has the answers

      • #7
        Very interesting history and cool to have an axe from there
        South Dakota

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        • #8
          Originally posted by Pointhead View Post
          Charlie, this post leads me to beg the question; what do you think lies under our ocean? I know URI had been researching this for Clovis era stuff... but there must be thousands of water buried artifacts..
          Alan, I spoke to a Narragansett from the tribal preservation office last Fall. I know when Deepwater Wind was researching sites for where the Block Island Wind Farm, America's forst offshore wind farm, would be located, it was required that the sea bottom be searched for prehistoric sites. Narragansett tradition specifically "remembers" villages in the waters of Block Island and Rhode Island Sounds. He told me no specific sites had been positively identified. But, obviously, that is a frontier in general. And on both coasts where the peopling of America is concerned. I do know that quahoggers bring up artifacts in their rakes all the time from our bays, and we know mammoth remains, such as teeth, are common finds on the fishing banks off the New England coast.
          Rhode Island

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          • #9
            Charlie , this made my morning .. what I would give to spend 12 months there and experience the seasons there .
            Dream..

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            • CMD
              CMD commented
              Editing a comment
              Well, glad it made your day, Tam!

          • #10
            Charlie, I believe I spotted a crop circle in the first minute. Lol! Geez, I thought the Outer Banks beaches were crowded! Those big private estates must treasure their isolation.
            I remember several years ago watching a documentary on how they moved the Block Island Light back from the edge of the bluff to save it. That was quite a feat, topped only by mo OMG the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse just a few years later.
            Child of the tides

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            • CMD
              CMD commented
              Editing a comment
              Yeah, I was there when they were moving it. It's right next to the stairs at Mohegan Bluffs. I believe better then 50% of the island is now protected from development. It's crowded in the summer for sure. About 1000 year round residents. I think we'll take a trip out there this Fall. The Cape Hatteras Lighthouse move tops it for sure, it's so tall.

          • #11
            Visiting block island this weekend... the surfcaster in me says, suit up... the artifact collector in me, says walk for miles, but the boyfriend in me says, rent that moped, and hold her hand or else.
            Can’t find em sitting on the couch; unless it’s in a field

            Comment


            • CMD
              CMD commented
              Editing a comment
              Smart man!
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