 The stone was quarried locally, using a method that went out of common use around 1750, and is distinctively different from more modern methods used in quarrying the stones for an 1830 foundation on the island.The earliest surviving real estate transactions involving the island date to 1785, and the early history of the island is not well documented.The island was purchased in 1995 by John Malone, a billionaire businessman and philanthropist with extensive landholdings in the state, and the house was restored.