Heading due east, we're the next parish to this island
Block Island is where Americans like to go on holidays, only they call it vacation. It sits in the Atlantic, like a chopped-off piece of Long Island, due south of Rhode Island which, rather confusingly, is not an island at all.
Bill Clinton started his summer vacation in Block Island last year, putting the TV networks into a spin because they heard a rumour that he was going there to attend Barbra Streisand's wedding, but she wasn't (wedding), not there and then anyhow.
The island has attractions for the independent traveller who may like to consider "sandwiching" a week's calm respite on the island between visits to other busier tourist magnets on the east coast of the US, such as Boston and New York. Not maybe the best location to bring teenagers on holiday, but a good spot for them to find holiday jobs in the hotels, restaurants and bars. There was more than one "Dort" (Dart) accent to be heard among the hired hands there last summer.
Block Island is seven miles long and about half that in width, and gets its downbeat name from the Dutch navigator Adrian Block who visited it in 1614. There's a "little-house-on-the-ocean" feel to the place, with nice old colonial houses, bleached by the sun and the sea breezes. Some houses are built on stilts for fear of the incoming sea.
The place is less arty than Cape Cod, to the north, and none the worse for that. The locals point proudly to the fact it was designated one of "12 last great places of the western hemisphere" by an international nature conservancy group. Ronald McDonald and his golden arches are not to be seen.
On arriving at the Old Port, New Shoreham, and the only town on the island, taxis on offer include a 30-year-old Volkswagen Kombi van, driven by a housewife earning pin-money, and an ancient stretch limo driven by a local character and raconteur of near equal girth and height, known as "Irish" - for reasons which were not immediately apparent. The seafront is dominated by the verandahed bulk of the National Hotel, where residents and non-residents may eat at moderate prices and watch the life of the island go by on foot, by car and on water.
An Irish visitor will see many similarities with the islands off our west coast: there is little traffic, and quite a few peaty marshy areas reminiscent of the Irish midlands. The best way to get around is by bicycle, stopping to explore or take a swim as your fancy takes you.
There are two lighthouses, Sandy Point Light at the northern extremity, and Southeast Light at the south-eastern end, and you can cycle from one to the other in a few hours, should you wish. Cars and mopeds can be hired, too, but they defeat the purpose. There is no point in hurrying around Block Island. There are quiet beaches and sunbathing spots to be found, and country lanes which beckon to be explored.
The unhurried visitor will not miss the "Palatine Graves" where the mortal remains of the crew and passengers of the Palatine, en route for Philadelphia in 1738, lie buried. The ship went aground of Block Island, and - according to John Greenleaf Whittier - survivors were harshly treated by the islanders. He accuses them of behaving little better than pirates, in his poem The Palatine written in the middle of the 19th century.
However, the islanders contest this, and say the alleged burning of the ship, the ghostly light of which is said to haunt the waters off Sandy Point, is nonsense. On Block Island, nothing is wasted, and nothing as valuable as a ship would be burnt, they insist.
Originally this was Indian (nowadays called Native American) country, but the white man who arrived in the 17th century was not the only disturber of the peace. On the south of the island a scenic cliff area is called Mohegan bluffs in memory of the Manissean tribe, who in 1590 put a party of 40 Mohegans over the top and 163 feet down into the sea because of their territorial ambitions. The Manisseans got there first, you see. And the white man swiftly put an end to that argument.
In high summer, the population can go as high as 20,000 - in winter it can be one-twentieth of that. For the sailing fraternity, Race Week towards the end of June is the big event. Enormous yachts and cruisers tie up at the many moorings and conspicuous all-year-round tans and other trappings of wealth are everywhere.
However, the traveller of more modest means can do very nicely - by visiting slightly off-season, in early June, for example, or in September. You get the same accommodation and eat in the same places as the guys in the Polo Lauren leisure wear, but you pay a great deal less.
Much of the accommodation is in comfortable and very handsome big houses, and corresponds to the top end of the bed and breakfast market in Ireland. Off-season accommodation offers are quite attractive, and ours included being refunded the ferry fare from the mainland, and worthwhile discounts for bicycle hire and in restaurants. A comfortable room and breakfast for two in most of May and June costs from $70 per night in the Barrington Inn, run by Joan and Howard Ballard, hospitable and helpful hosts. On Block Island, the word "inn" means much the same as "bed-and breakfast": it does not mean that there is a bar. There are spectacular views of Trims Pond (where Americans say pond, we say lake) from the back of the house. In July and August double rooms go as high as $150.
In early June the climate is comfortably hot. You may wear T-shirts and shorts during the day, safe in the knowledge that you won't meet anyone from home who knows you. In the evening many restaurants have "decks" where you dine alfresco, eating fresh fish - tuna, swordfish, bluefish, mackerel, cod, or flounder - while watching the commodores of leisure making waves. To maintain law and order there is a grand total of eight police officers on duty during the summer.
There is a year-round ferry service from Point Judith, in the south of Rhode Island to Block Island, and a summer service from Providence and Newport. Point Judith is a couple of hours south of Boston, Massachusetts, and Amtrak trains run frequently between Boston and New York through Providence, Rhode Island.
Some visitors to the east coast of the US have found the Amtrak service more user-friendly than the domestic air routes. You travel city centre to centre, avoiding airport angst, often with the bonus of spectacular views of the countryside - views you'll usually miss from an aeroplane.