In 1941, Lucretia Mott Ball died at the age of 64, leaving a will that decreed "my farm on Block Island known as the "Nathan Mott Farm" shall be converted into a public park to be named the "Nathan Mott Park." She had inherited her 77-acre property from her father, who had inherited it from his grandmother, Catherine Rathbun (1768-1824), a descendent of John and Margaret Rathbun, original settlers of Block Island in 1661.
The state took 21 acres from the park to create the airport runways in 1949 and another 13 acres for installation of approach lights in 1961. The Town Council subsequently gave 3.35 acres of the park to the adjacent Harbor Baptist Church in 1990. The park today covers only 40 acres, but it is now protected as open space and is owned and managed by the Block Island Conservancy.
Dog looks out over the meadow