Calf Pasture Point is a 189-acre peninsula
recently conveyed to the Town of North
Kingstown from the Navy for passive recreational use. It is bordered by
Narragansett
Bay to the East and South, Allen Harbor and currently undeveloped private land
to the West, and Mount View Neighborhood to the North. The site is endowed with
a broad sandy beach one-mile long, wet meadow/grasslands, upland hardwoods and
conifers, and a spectacular rock outcrop. The prospect of a public open space
park occurring on this site represents a tremendous asset for North Kingstown
and the state of Rhode Island.The existing peninsula known
as Calf Pasture Point was created by the deposition of
millions of cubic yards of dredge spoils during the mid twentieth century in an
open
water/marsh area between two former spits known as the Lion’s Tongue and Spinks
Neck. For most of the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, the area was part of
the Mount Farm owned by the Gould family. In the late 1800’s Quonset Point was
purchased by the State of Rhode Island from private landowners. In 1937, Rhode
Island donated the land to the federal government for development of the Navy
base. The site, which was formerly two separate peninsulas, underwent significant
manipulation in the 1940s when the Navy used it as a field-training center for
depositing dredge spoils from Allen Harbor and for storage of munitions in three
underground bunkers. Sometime between 1968 and 1974 hazardous waste was dumped
on site and has resulted in subsurface contamination throughout the southern
area. A long-term program that includes periodic sampling of monitoring wells
will continue for the indefinite future.
The site has been deemed safe for public
passive recreation with certain restrictions. These restrictions include prohibitions on the
use of ground water and construction of enclosed, unventilated buildings. In
2002 the Town of North Kingstown contracted with Brian Kent Associates
Landscape Architects and Planners and Docko Incorporated to undertake master
planning of the site.
Calf
Pasture Point Master Plan, September 2004
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