Background:

Located in the center of Narragansett Bay, Prudence Island is approximately 7 miles long and 1 mile across at its widest point.  At the south end of the island, the Narragansett Bay Research Reserve’s Lab & Learning Center contains educational exhibits, a public meeting area, a library, and research labs for staff and visiting scientists. The Reserve manages approximately 60% of Prudence Island.

The vegetation on Prudence Island reflects the extensive farming that took place in the area until the early 1900s. After the fields were abandoned, woody plants gradually replaced the herbaceous species. The uplands are now covered with a dense shrub growth of bayberry, blueberry, arrowwood, and shadbush interspersed with red cedar, red maple, black cherry, pitch pine, and oak. Green briar and Asiatic bittersweet cover much of the island as well.

Prudence Island supports one of New England’s most dense white-tailed deer herds. Raccoons, squirrels, Eastern red fox, Eastern cottontail rabbits, mink, and white-footed mice are plentiful. The large, salt marshes at the north end of Prudence are used as feeding areas by a number of large wading birds such as great and little blue herons, snowy and great egrets, black-crowned night herons, green-backed herons, and glossy ibis. Between September and May, Prudence Island is also used as a haul-out site for harbor seals.

History of Prudence Island:

Before colonial times, Prudence and the surrounding islands were home to the Narragansett Indian Tribe. They referred to Prudence as Chibchuwesa, “a place apart.”, and used the island for purposes such as hunting, fishing, and gathering. Roger Williams, the founder of Rhode Island, is credited with naming the islands Prudence, Patience, and Hope after three virtues that everyone should possess.

Prudence Island was used for agriculture during the colonial era and remained sparsely populated in the century after the Revolutionary War. By the late 1800s, Prudence began to attract summer residents, and cottages were built along its western shore. Transportation was provided by steamboat from Providence, and later a ferry from Bristol. The Prudence Island Navigation Company was chartered in 1921, bringing a new era of development on Prudence.

The US military established a presence on Prudence with an army camp built during WWII. Abandoned in 1947, the camp provided a base for searchlights and light artillery. A Naval Magazine was constructed on Prudence Island in April of 1942 and remained until 1972. The land was subsequently turned over to the State of Rhode Island and was designated a National Estuarine Research Reserve in 1980.

Prudence Island has been sheltered from the impact of the large population densities normally associated with coastal New England, largely because it has always remained comparatively inaccessible and because commercial development has been actively discouraged by its residents. Approximately 150 people spend their winters on Prudence. The population swells to more than 10 times that number during the summer.

Prudence Island has benefited from active conservation measures. About 70% of its land area has been designated as an Estuarine Reserve or acquired by local conservation organizations. Patience, Hope, and Dyer Islands have been preserved in their entirety, ensuring that these unique and important resources will remain a haven for wild things for generations to come.