ecoRI News — No Trespassing: Coastal Land Taken from Indigenous People Walled Off with Signs, Fences and Chains

A bevy of signs up and down Charlestown Beach Road all say the same thing. (Joanna Detz/ecoRI News)

May 17, 2021

By Frank Carini / ecoRI News Staff

CHARLESTOWN — Signs signs, everywhere a sign on Charlestown Beach Road. Attached to metal gates and wooden fences. Fastened to chains strung across sandy parking spots. No trespassing. Keep out. Private property. No beach access. No public access.

These testaments to historic theft — not by the current owners but by centuries of violence against this land’s Indigenous people — don’t escape the notice of Narragansett Indian Tribemembers as they make their way down house-lined Charlestown Beach Road to the shores of Block Island Sound, a sacred ceremonial place for the tribe for thousands of years. It’s a place the tribe has used for generations to gain their spiritual bearing and to provide for their families.

But, as the years go by, more and more of their ancestral land is walled off. And tribal members progressively have to pay more to access their ancient spiritual grounds: the coast and the ocean.

“This is our church. Our place of worship. This was a very special place for our ancestors,” said Bella Noka, standing on Charlestown Breachway State Beach. “It’s been fenced off. Every bit of it taken from us.”

Her husband, Randy, noted that the Narragansett Indian Tribe owns no coastal property, despite many of the roads that lead to Rhode Island’s shore bearing names taken from his tribe’s language. Many of the state’s shoreline villages also have Indigenous names. One of the state’s most popular coastal communities and its popular town beach are actually named Narragansett. The state’s popular Polar Bear and Penguin plunges are knockoffs of a centuries-old tribal tradition.

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