History
The island was bought by John Winthrop, son of the governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and owned by the Winthrop family until 1847, when it was sold to the federal government to be the site of a lighthouse. In 1959, the beacon was automated and the lighthouse and grounds were sold to a private party. In 1986, Kamen bought it.
After he was initially denied permission to build a wind turbine on the island, Kamen joked that he was seceding from the United States, and later signed a non-aggression pact with his friend, then-President George H. W. Bush. Recently, with the help of Fritz Morgan, Chief Technology Officer of Philips Color Kinetics, the island's electrical system was converted to a combination of wind and solar power, operating independently of the regional electrical grid. This was accomplished by replacing all lighting on the island with LEDs, which resulted in a 70% reduction in in-house energy consumption. Kamen says that solar panels on every building, a 10 kW wind turbine and a "little" Stirling engine for backup power, means that the island is carbon neutral.
Though its secession is not legally recognized, Kamen refers to the island as the "Kingdom of North Dumpling", and has established a constitution, flag, currency, and national anthem, as well as a navy (consisting of a single amphibious vehicle). Kamen is said to refer to himself as "Lord Dumpling" or "Lord Dumpling II". In addition to North Dumpling Lighthouse, the island features a replica of Stonehenge.
Read more about this topic: North Dumpling Island
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“One classic American landscape haunts all of American literature. It is a picture of Eden, perceived at the instant of history when corruption has just begun to set in. The serpent has shown his scaly head in the undergrowth. The apple gleams on the tree. The old drama of the Fall is ready to start all over again.”
—Jonathan Raban (b. 1942)
“History ... is, indeed, little more than the register of the crimes, follies, and misfortunes of mankind.
But what experience and history teach is this—that peoples and governments have never learned anything from history, or acted on principles deduced from it.”
—Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831)
“Let us not underrate the value of a fact; it will one day flower in a truth. It is astonishing how few facts of importance are added in a century to the natural history of any animal. The natural history of man himself is still being gradually written.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)