The first
New Shoreham Post Office,
(New Shoreham Township,
Newport County) was
established on December 13, 1832 under
Postmaster William L. Wright. This post office was
disestablished on November 7, 1879
and the name changed to Block Island. The
first postmaster
of the second Block Island
Post Office was
Charles W. Willis.
The Post Office is currently in operation under
Postmaster Frederick Leeder III appointed on
April 27, 1996.
Charles W. Willis
was born in 1845
on Block Island,
RI and is listed on the census of 1880 as a
dry goods merchant
and Post Master.
Block Island was first
sighted by the Italian navigator
Giovanni da Verrazzano
in 1524.
The island was named for the Dutch explorer
Adriaen Block
who landed there in 1614.
The first settlers
landed on the island from
Massachusetts in 1661
and it became a part of the colony of Rhode Island in
1664.
Block
Island is in New Shoreham
Township and is located off
the southern coast of Rhode Island. There are two villages
on Block Island; New
Shoreham and
Isaacs Corner.
Today, the Island plays host to a booming tourist industry.
The
island is reached by one of three regular and two part time
ferries from Providence,
RI; Newport,
RI; Point Judith,
RI; New London,
CT; and Montauk,
Long Island, NY. |