Dutch Island
Dutch Island is visible from the Watson Farm shore. It was an early Dutch trading post with the Narragansett tribe. The Narragansetts carved shells into beads, called wampum, which they used for jewelry, gifts, and spiritual offerings. The purple areas found in quahog shells were difficult to carve and worth twice as much as the white wampum made from whelk shells. Europeans, recognizing the importance of wampum in the native cultures, developed a system of trade and exchange around it. Quahog and whelk shells can be found along the shoreline.
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