Sunday 29 June 2014
Napatree Point,
often referred to simply as "Napatree", is a long sandy spit created
by a geologic process called longshore drift. Up until the Hurricane of 1938,
Napatree was sickle-shaped and included a 1.5-mile long northern extension called Sandy Point.
Napatree now extends 1.5 miles westward
from the business district of Watch Hill, a village in Westerly, Rhode Island
forming a protected harbor. It is the southernmost and westernmost point of
mainland Rhode Island. Napatree Point is a slender, 1.5 mile long peninsula in Block
Island Sound. To the north of the peninsula is Little Narragansett Bay, a small
estuary into which the Pawcatuck River empties. The small bay is an inlet of
the Atlantic Ocean. The peninsula is partially made from longshore drift. It is
also made from glacial moraine, and is similar in makeup to nearby Fishers
Island. The same moraine that Fishers Island is made out of resurfaces in Watch
Hill, the village which contains Napatree Point. This region of the
Northeastern United States made by glacial moraines from the Wisconsonian
glaciation is known as the Outer Lands. Source
