BIRI Mohegan Bluffs

Block Island, you can see, is shaped like a tear drop. The Great Salt Pond, where my little one does her crabbing, is the large body of water in the middle. Geographically, BIRI (Block Island, Rhode Island) is diverse. I wrote about Rodman's Hollow in the previous post; it's below sea level.







Mohegan Bluffs, on the other hand, are similar to the cliffs of Dover! 185 feet high, on the southern shore of the island, they are a beautiful sight to behold.





Each year we climb down the 250 steps to the beach below. Legend has it that the name of the bluffs comes from a battle between invading Mohegan Indians and the local Manises Indians. In 1590, the Manises drove a 40-man war party of Mohegans off the cliff to their deaths.







Looking out, you see only sand, Mohegan Bluff, and water stretching across the world to Africa. Block Island, like the entire series of islands stretching from Long Island to Martha's Vineyard, is made from the sand and stone piled up by glaciers. The bluff, reaching 15 stories overhead, recieves the strongest part of the Atlantic's pounding. The wind and rain and freezing and thawing drops huge pieces of land down to the beach in a "slump", which the surf then washes away a little at a time. The pebbles and sand make the beach. Huge granite boulders, "erratics", pushed here from the mainland during the Ice Age 22,000 years ago, remain well out in the surf, telling the story of where the land once was.

Right near the Bluffs is the Southeast Lighthouse, one of two lighthouses on the island. During the 19th century, Block Island was in the center of the shipping lanes between Long Island and Rhode Island sounds. The shallow shoals and frequent fog around Block Island were hazardous to vessels sailing from New York City to points North. As a result, Congress approved building a Lighthouse on the southeast end of Block Island in 1856. The adjoining light keeper's house was built a short time later. After all this climbing, we'll head back into town to climb the jetties off Ballard's beach. The view from the end, out into the Atlantic, is incredible!Then back to Water Street to get lunch at Eli's, or Three Sisters, Aldo's, or our favorite, Dead Eye Dick's. After all that climbing, we'll deserve it!


Well, you deserve it, too! After all, you've been right with us the whole time! :0)