The Needles vehicles transporting disabled visitors. This is because the single track road's position close to the cliff edge is considered dangerous for multiple car use. The Isle of Wight Coast Path has its westernmost point at the Coastguard Cottages. The Needles' pointed shape is a result of their unusual geology. The strata have been so heavily folded during the Alpine Orogeny that the chalk is near vertical. This chalk outcrop runs through the centre of the Island from Culver Cliff in the east to the Needles in the west, and then continues under the sea to the Isle of Purbeck, forming
1st Rhode Island Battery 1st Rhode Island Battery The First Rhode Island Battery (also known as "Tompkins' Marine Artillery") was an artillery unit which served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. The 1st Rhode Island Battery was organized by Colonel Samuel G. Arnold at the Benefit Street Arsenal in Providence for three months' service in April 1861. It was organized from the Providence Marine Corps of Artillery, a unit of the Rhode Island Militia. It was commanded by Captain Charles H. Tompkins. The Battery left Rhode Island for Jersey City, New Jersey on April 18, 1861, then moved to Easton, PA