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41°36′7.54″N 71°22′3.73″W / 41.6020944°N 71.3677028°W / 41.6020944; -71.3677028

Hope Island is a 91-acre (0.368 km) island located in Narragansett Bay in the State of Rhode Island. It is part of the Narragansett Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, along with nearby Prudence Island and Patience Island, and home to colonial wading birds during their nesting season of spring and summer.

History

The island was a gift from Narraganset chief Miantonomi to Roger Williams, the founder of Rhode Island. The word "hope" is the Rhode Island motto and used on the Rhode Island State Seal with an anchor because Williams was inspired by the Biblical passage "hope is the anchor of the soul" in Hebrews 6:19.

The island was transferred to a John Allen, who walked to the island in winter when the bay was frozen. One day he misjudged the ice thickness, fell in and later died. Hope Island was then sold to Hiram Aylsworth in 1873 who kept the land until it was taken by the Navy as an ammunition depot for World War I. Aylsworth's grandson, Aylsworth Brown having spent childhood summers on Hope Island, later purchased property in the Prudence Park area of Prudence where he aptly named his new home “Hopeview.”

There is an 18th-century farm site on the west side of Hope Island that was built probably by Hiram Aylsworth. To date, no archaeological work or documentary research has been carried out there. During World War II, the island was used by the U.S. Navy as an ammunition storage site. There are still ammunition bunkers and concrete roads remaining from this period.

Hope Island was acquired by the state in the early 1970s.

References

• Narragansett Bay Reserve
• Narragansett Bay: A Friend's Perspective

1. Howard M. Chapin notes published in "Illustrations Of The Seals, Arms And Flags Of Rhode Island," (Rhode Island Historical Society, Providence: 1930) pg 4-5.

v t e Narragansett Bay
Islands	Aquidneck Island Coasters Harbor Island Conanicut Island Cornelius Island Despair Island Dutch Island Dyer Island Fox Island Goat Island Gould Island Greene Island Hog Island Hope Island Lime Rock Patience Island Prudence Island Rabbit Island Rock Island Rose Island Starvegoat Island Whale Rock
Major rivers	Blackstone River Pawtuxet River Providence River Sakonnet River Seekonk River Taunton River
Cities & towns	Barrington Bristol Cranston East Greenwich East Providence Jamestown Middletown Narragansett Newport North Kingstown Portsmouth Providence Warren Warwick
Bridges	Claiborne Pell Newport Bridge Jamestown Bridge Jamestown Verrazzano Bridge Mount Hope Bridge Sakonnet River Bridge Stone Bridge

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• Islands of Newport County, Rhode Island
• Islands of Narragansett Bay
• Nature reserves in Rhode Island
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• Islands of Rhode Island
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