Located in the north of the island on the banks of the Sasanoa, Clarke and Lake operated an extensive business and a small community, engaging in fishing, lumbering, the raising of cattle, and trade with the local Native Americans.
[1] On August 14, 1676, during King Philip's War, the Clarke and Lake settlement was attacked and destroyed by a band of Native Americans.
The evening before, an Indian woman appeared at the door of the Clarke and Lake fort seeking shelter.
Beginning on August 9, 1717, Massachusetts Governor Samuel Shute and Panhallow conducted a two-day conference on Arrowsic with delegates of various tribes, who arrived in a flotilla of canoes and encamped on Lee Island opposite the town.
[8] In the summer of 1723 during Dummer's War, Arrowsic was attacked by the Norridgewocks and their 250 Indian allies from Canada during the Northeast Coast Campaign.
During the French and Indian War, on June 9, 1758,a band of Natives shot Ebenezer Preble and a workman as they tended his farm on the northern end of the island.