Quonochontaug ( , also known as Quonnie) is a village in Washington County,

Rhode Island Rhode Island ( ) is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Connecticut to its west; Massachusetts to its north and east; and the Atlantic Ocean to its south via Rhode Island Sound and Block Is ...

, United States. It is composed of three small beach communities, and is part of Charlestown.

History

Quonochontaug was the site of an iron mining operation financed by

Thomas Edison Thomas Alva Edison (February11, 1847October18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These inventions, ...

in the 1880s. Iron particles existed in the form of black sand on the beach, and they could be separated out with magnets & melted to produce iron. The venture failed after cheaper iron was later discovered.

Geography

Quonochontaug is located between the Ninigret Pond and Quonochontaug Pond and their respective barrier beaches, both of which are salt ponds. The communities of West Beach, Central Beach, and East Beach house several hundred residents, mostly in the summers, and many houses are available as summer rentals. Blue Shutters Beach is town-owned and is located at the end of East Beach Road in Quonochontaug. To the east of Blue Shutters, an unpaved road leads to the entrance of the

Ninigret National Wildlife Refuge The Ninigret National Wildlife Refuge is a National Wildlife Refuge situated along the shore of Ninigret Pond. It is characterized by salt marshes, kettle ponds, freshwater wetlands, maritime shrub lands, and forests, and it is seasonally inhabi ...

. The area was listed as a

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

in the 2010 census.

Demographics

2020 census

The 2020 United States census counted 422 people, 223 households, and 124 families in Quonochontaug. The population density was 314.0 per square mile (121.2/km). There were 767 housing units at an average density of 570.7 per square mile (220.3/km). The racial makeup was 95.26% (402)

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

European American European Americans are Americans of European ancestry. This term includes both people who descend from the first European settlers in the area of the present-day United States and people who descend from more recent European arrivals. Since th ...

(95.26%

non-Hispanic white Non-Hispanic Whites, also referred to as White Anglo Americans or Non-Latino Whites, are White Americans who are classified by the United States census as "White" and not of Hispanic or Latino origin. According to annual estimates from the Unit ...

), 0.47% (2)

black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

, 0.95% (4) Native American or

Alaska Native Alaska Natives (also known as Native Alaskans, Alaskan Indians, or Indigenous Alaskans) are the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous peoples of Alaska that encompass a diverse arena of cultural and linguistic groups, including the I ...

, 0.0% (0) Asian, 0.0% (0)

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

Native Hawaiian Native Hawaiians (also known as Indigenous Hawaiians, Kānaka Maoli, Aboriginal Hawaiians, or simply Hawaiians; , , , and ) are the Indigenous peoples of Oceania, Indigenous Polynesians, Polynesian people of the Hawaiian Islands. Hawaiʻi was set ...

, 0.71% (3) from other races, and 2.61% (11) from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race was 1.42% (6) of the population. Of the 223 households, 15.7% had children under the age of 18; 63.7% were married couples living together; 15.2% had a female householder with no spouse or partner present. 24.2% of households consisted of individuals and 14.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.2 and the average family size was 2.9. The percent of those with a bachelor’s degree or higher was estimated to be 41.0% of the population. 8.3% of the population was under the age of 18, 5.2% from 18 to 24, 11.4% from 25 to 44, 31.3% from 45 to 64, and 43.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 62.5 years. For every 100 females, the population had 113.1 males. For every 100 females ages 18 and older, there were 109.2 males. The 2016-2020 5-year

American Community Survey The American Community Survey (ACS) is an annual demographics survey program conducted by the United States Census Bureau. It regularly gathers information previously contained only in the long form of the United States census, decennial census ...

estimates show that the median household income was $91,607 (with a margin of error of +/- $25,592) and the median family income was $141,111 (+/- $91,471). Approximately, 0.0% of families and 0.0% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 0.0% of those under the age of 18 and 0.0% of those ages 65 or over.

Historic place

* Babcock House

In popular culture

In the TV series ''

The X-Files ''The X-Files'' is an American science fiction on television, science fiction drama (film and television), drama television series created by Chris Carter (screenwriter), Chris Carter. The original series aired from September 10, 1993, to Ma ...

'', there are several references to Quonochontaug, related to one of its protagonists,

Fox Mulder Fox William Mulder () is a fictional FBI Special Agent and one of the two protagonists of the Fox science fiction-supernatural television series ''The X-Files'', played by David Duchovny. Mulder's peers dismiss his many theories on extraterr ...

, whose family had a summer home there.

References

External links

Quonochontaug East Beach Association
{{authority control Census-designated places in Rhode Island Census-designated places in Washington County, Rhode Island Charlestown, Rhode Island Populated coastal places in Rhode Island Providence metropolitan area Villages in Rhode Island Villages in Washington County, Rhode Island