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Rhode Island
7 Serene Towns in Rhode Island for a Weekend Retreat
Rhode Island is a fascinating state in the US. It is known as one of the first colonies to resist the British rule. It shares a water border with New York, and you will find diverse fresh seafood and a 400-mile coastline of beaches, lakes, and engrossing history in this state.
These seven serene towns are a must-visit if you are planning a weekend retreat to Rhode Island. Prepare to have a full itinerary as you explore parks, gardens, farms, and lighthouses like the ones in Westerly and Jamestown.
Tiverton
Tiverton has always been a fishing and farming community, and this was the town’s major industry until 1900 when Menhaden oil production started. Tiverton has now become a resort town with many tourist activities.
A weekend retreat in this community will have you exploring wildlife sceneries like Sapowet Marsh and Audubon Emilie Ruecker, as well as many scenic restaurants like Boat House Waterfront Dining, Localz Burger & Cocktails, and The Red Dory. Check out exhibits from a wide range of artists at the Four Corners Gallery and Four Corner Art Center, and you might catch an art event on one of the days you are in town. Sakonnet River Bridge has a great fishing spot beneath the bridge. Explore Fort Barton and Ft. Barton Woods by hiking through the woods, then drive to Fogland Beach, where you can go kayaking and windsurfing. Stay at Bally’s Tiverton for the weekend while in town.
Westerly
Get your beach wear and sunscreen ready when visiting Westerly because there are many beaches to explore in this town bordered by the Pawcatuck River. Beaches like Misquamicut State Beach and Atlantic Beach Park.
Westerly used to be known for its granite production, but now the town focuses on textiles and tourist attractions.
Watch events and live theater performances at the cozy Granite Theatre. Take a break at Windjammer Surf Bar, where you will enjoy live music, cocktails, meals, and conversations with locals. Visit Living Sharks, America’s first shark museum, and check out Babcock-Smith House Museum, a prominent historical house once visited by General George Washington and Benjamin Franklin. Watch the sun go down at Watch Hill Lighthouse and see the Napatree Point Conservation Area before bringing your adventure to a close. Retire for the night at the Weekapaug Inn beach resort or Ocean House, which offers a free stay on the fourth night.
New Shoreham
New Shoreham is a small town on Block Island named after a village in England, Shoreham, Kent. The town’s many landmarks and beaches make it a great summer vacation destination.
Start your weekend holiday by going beach hopping at Monhegan Bluffs Beach, Block Island State Beach, Scotch Beach, Vaill Beach, Crescent Beach, and Frederick J. Benson Town Beach.
Tour beautiful vegetation and watch wildlife activities at Rodman Hollow and Block Island National Wildlife Refuge. Eat like a royal while enjoying enthralling views at Ballard’s Beach Resort, where you can stay the night. If you are looking for a place to relax, take a walk, or go picnicking, Clayhead Trail is a great route. Book lovers will love the Island Free Library, where you can attend book events with kids. Shop until you drop at Star Department Store Inc., then visit Settlers Rock, a historical landmark and great biking trail.
Hopkinton
Hopkinton is the first town travelers encounter when coming from the north to Rhode Island. This city also encompasses two villages, with the primary villages being Hope Valley and Ashaway District.
The community is filled with nature preserves. Explore these protected areas by hiking through Narragansett Trail Trailhead, Grills Preserve, Ell Pond Preserve Trailhead, and Audubon Long Pond Woods Wildlife Refuge. If you are interested in summer camps for yourself or your kids, Coastal Ninja Warriors & Summer Camp and Yawgoog Scout Reservation host incredible camping opportunities. Bask in the serenity of nature at Long Pond and Ashville Pond. Get fresh farm foods at Festival Farm in Hope Valley and Pelloni Farms. Arcadia Management Area in Hope Valley is the largest recreational area in Rhode Island. Visit the park with friends and family.
Jamestown
Jamestown is a quiet farm community on the west side of Newport. Tourism in Jamestown was a thriving industry in 1903 when the town had about nine resort hotels. The vast waterfront Bay Voyage Hotel is the only standing hotel today.
Jamestown has many old tales to share with visitors. Learn about the town’s interesting history by speaking with locals at Beavertail State Park and Fort Wetherill State Park when you are in these scenic areas. When you visit the Claiborne Pell/Newport Suspension Bridge, see the shack in the area for some fresh lobster. The Castle Hill Lighthouse in Newport is a beautiful place to rest and enjoy the mesmerizing ocean view. Explore Dutch Island and its Lighthouse for the great view, boating activities, and seafood. Do not miss out on the Jamestown Arts Center exhibits and a tour of the historical parts of the town, like Windmill Hill Historic District and Conanicut Island Sanctuary nature preserve. If you prefer to spend the night in Newport, check out OceanCliff Hotel.
Scituate
In 1710, the first people to settle in Scituate came from a town with the same name in Massachusetts. They had Indian origin because another name for the town in the native language is “Satuit,” which means “a cold river.” The town used to be a part of Providence, a big city in Rhode Island, but eventually separated from the city in 1731. Scituate also played major roles in the Revolutionary War and World War II by forging cannons and facilitating communications.
Start your retreat by visiting the historic Scituate Reservoir, built to provide water for Providence city. Visit the Roger Williams Park Zoo at Providence, which has over 800 animals and 160 species, with family or friends. Get the best book collections and coffee at The Providence Athenaeum. If you love gardens and flowers, check out the beautiful Scituate Nursery Farm & Greenhouses. To be a part of the Scituate Art Festival, where tasty meals and handmade crafts are sold, visit Scituate in October. Lodge at America’s Best Value Inn or Econo Lodge Cranston in Providence.
Lincoln
Lincoln town was named for the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. It has about 17 sites listed in the National Register of Historic Places. One of them is the old Whipple-Cullen House and Barn.
Moffett Mill is a historical landmark and one of the surviving buildings in Lincoln. Enjoy your vacation to the fullest by going park and beach hopping to Lincoln Woods State Park and Beach and Blackstone River State Park. Visit museums and historical houses like Captain Wilbur Kelly House Transportation Museum, Eleazer Arnold House, and Hearthside House Museum, where you can learn new things about the town. Do not also forget to take pictures of these beautiful places. Eat at Hartley’s Original Pork Pies. Retire for the night in Courtyard by Marriott Providence or Bally’s Twin River.
Rhode Island is full of eventful towns and cities. From Tiverton to Lincoln, there is no dull moment. If you are not fishing or eating fresh farm foods, you can relax on the beach and watch amazing scenery. Enjoy a serene weekend retreat to the fullest in any of these seven towns.
New East Bay Bike Path bridges are open and ready for bikes
What’s it like to ride over the new East Bay Bike Path bridges? We sent a reporter to try them out.
I’ve long thought bike paths are among Rhode Island’s premier attractions, up there with the beaches, the mansions and the bay.
We like to knock government, but credit where it’s due, the state has done an amazing job building out an incredible pedaling network.
It’s clearly a priority.
At least I thought it was.
But they’ve just dropped the ball on what should have been a beautiful new stretch.
The plan was to finish a mile-long connector from the East Providence end of the Henderson Bridge all the way to the East Bay Bike Path.
There was even $25 million set aside to get it done.
Except WPRI recently reported that it’s now been canceled.
The main fault lies with the Trump administration, which is no friend of bike paths, and moved to kill that $25 million.
But it gets complicated, as government funding always does.
To try to rescue that money, the state DOT reportedly worked with the administration to refunnel it into a road project. Specifically, the $25 million will now be spent helping upgrade the mile-long highway between the Henderson Bridge and North Broadway in East Providence, turning it into a more pleasant boulevard.
That totally sounds worthy.
But it’s insane to throw away the bike path plan.
Especially for a particular reason in this case.
They’d already put a ton of money into starting it.
When state planners designed the new Henderson Bridge between the East Side and East Providence, they included a bike path.
It’s a beauty – well protected from traffic by a barrier, a great asset for safely riding over the Seekonk River.
The plan was to continue it another mile or so along East Providence’s Waterfront Drive, ultimately connecting with the East Bay Bike Path, which runs all the way to Bristol. Which, by the way, is one of the nicest bike paths you’ll find anywhere.
But alas, that connector plan has been canceled.
So the expensive stretch over the Henderson Bridge to East Providence is now a bike path to nowhere. Once the bridge ends, the path on it continues a few hundred yards or so and then, just … ends.
Too bad.
We were so close.
Most of the stories on the issue have been about the complex negotiation to rescue the $25 million by rerouting it to that nearby highway-to-boulevard project. But I don’t want to get lost in the weeds of that bureaucratic process here because it loses sight of the heart of this story.
Which is that an amazing new addition to one of the nation’s best state bike path systems has just been scrapped.
You can knock the Rhode Island government for blowing a lot of things.
The PawSox.
The Washington Bridge.
But they’ve done great with bike paths.
And especially, linking many of them together.
Example: not too many years ago, Providence bikers had to risk dicey traffic on the East Side to get to the more pleasant paths in India Point Park and on the 195 bridge to the East Bay Path.
But the state fixed that by adding an amazing connector that starts behind the Salvation Army building and beautifully winds along the water of the Seekonk River for a mile or so.
That makes a huge difference – and no doubt has avoided some bike-car accidents.
We were close to a comparable stretch on the other side of the river – that’s what the $25 million would have done.
But it’s now apparently dead.
Online commenters aren’t happy about it.
On a Reddit string, “Toadscoper” accused the state of being “complicit” with the feds in rerouting the money from bikes to cars.
And there was this fascinating post from FineLobster 5322, who apparently is a disappointed planner who worked on the project: “Mind you money has already been spent on phase one so rejecting it at this point is wasting money and also against the public interest … but what do I know? I only worked on the project as an engineer … I didn’t get into this to build more highways. I do it … to give back to communities and give them more access to their environment.”
Wow. One can imagine the state planning team is devastated. That’s not a small consideration. Good people go into government to make life better in Rhode Island, and it’s a bad play to take the spirit out of the job by first assigning a great human-scale project and then, after a ton of work, trashing it.
A poster named Homosapiens simply said, “We just accept this?”
Hopefully not.
The first stretch of the path over the Henderson Bridge is done, money already sunk.
What a shame to leave that as a path to nowhere.
It doesn’t have to happen.
Between Governor McKee and our Washington delegation, there’s got to be a way to get this done.
There’s got to be.
mpatinki@providencejournal.com
WARWICK, R.I. (WPRI) — Two people are dead and another person seriously hurt after a crash involving two vehicles on the highway in Warwick Saturday.
Rhode Island State Police said the crash happened around 1:34 p.m. on the ramp from Route 113 West to I-95 South.
According to police, a Hyundai SUV that was driving in the middle lane of the highway started to drift to the right, crossed the first lane, and then crossed onto the on-ramp lane. The car struck the guardrail twice before driving through the grass median.
The Hyundai then struck the driver’s side of a Mercedes SUV that was on the ramp, causing the Mercedes to roll over and come to a rest. The impact sent the Hyundai over the guardrail and down an embankment.
The driver of the Hyundai, a 73-year-old man, and his passenger, a 69-year-old woman, were both pronounced dead at the hospital.
A woman who was in the Mercedes was rushed to Rhode Island Hospital in critical condition.
State police said all lanes of traffic were reopened by 4:30 p.m.
The investigation remains ongoing.
Download the WPRI 12 and Pinpoint Weather 12 apps to get breaking news and weather alerts.
Watch 12 News Now on WPRI.com or with the free WPRI 12+ TV app.
A federal judge on Friday tossed the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) lawsuit aiming to force Rhode Island to hand over its voter information as part of the Trump administration’s push to acquire voter data from several states.
Rhode Island U.S. District Court Judge Mary McElroy wrote that federal law does not allow the DOJ “to conduct the kind of fishing expedition it seeks here,” siding with Rhode Island election officials. She added that the DOJ did not provide evidence to suggest that Rhode Island violated election law.
McElroy, a Trump appointee, wrote that she sided with the similar decision in Oregon. That decision ruled that the DOJ was not entitled to unredacted voter registration lists.
“Absent from the demand are any factual allegations suggesting that Rhode Island may be violating the list maintenance requirements,” she said in her ruling.
Rhode Island Secretary of State Gregg Amore (D) praised McElroy’s decision. He said in a statement that the Trump administration “seems to have no problem taking actions that are clear Constitutional overreaches, regularly meddling in responsibilities that are the rights of the states.”
“Today’s decision affirms our position: the United States Department of Justice has no legal right to – or need for – the personally-identifiable information in our voter file,” he said. “Voter list maintenance is a responsibility entrusted to the states, and I remain confident in the steps we take here in Rhode Island to keep our list as accurate as possible.”
The Hill reached out to the DOJ for comment.
The DOJ called for the voter lists as it investigated Rhode Island’s compliance with the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, which allowed Americans to register to vote when they apply for a driver’s license.
The DOJ sued at least 30 states, as well as Washington, D.C., in December demanding their respective voter data. This data includes birth dates, names and partial Social Security numbers.
At least 12 states have given or said they will give the DOJ their voter registration lists, according to a tracker operated by the Brennan Center for Justice.
The department stated after it lost a similar suit against Massachusetts earlier this month that it had “sweeping powers” to access the voter data and that, if states fail to comply, courts have a “limited, albeit vital, role” in directing election officers on behalf of the administration to produce the records. The DOJ cited the Civil Rights Act as being intended to unearth alleged election law violations.
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