Fort Wetherill – July 28, 2021

View from the put-in

My original plan was to paddle over to Dutch Island, but an iffy forecast and dark clouds to the north had me thinking better of if. I did a quick lap around Dutch Harbor before heading over to Beavertail to take a few pictures. From Beavertail I could see that the bay on the southern side of Jamestown was relatively calm, so I decided to check out Fort Wetherill. 

Fort Wetherill is a former coastal defense battery and training camp located on 100-foot high granite cliffs across the East Passage from Newport and Fort Adams. Shortly after the Revolutionary War, Fort Dumpling was built on this site to protect this strategic access to Newport Harbor and Narragansett Bay. 

View to Mackerel Cove

The site would eventually become Fort Wetherill - part of an extensive coastal defense battery that included Fort Greene on Point Judith, Fort Greble on Dutch Island, Fort Hamilton on Rose Island, and Fort Adams in Newport that protected Narragansett Bay during World War II. 

I put in at the boat ramp at around 8:30. I paddled around out into West Cove but didn’t venture any further out into the bay. Still, the views of Newport and the rocky coast of Jamestown are great.

Cormorant Rock

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