Storms tore apart the Charlestown Breachway. Vital repairs are about to begin

• A collaborative effort between the town and state agencies secured an $8.4 million plan to repair the breachway.
• The project involves rebuilding the breachway’s stone wall and dredging the channel to replenish the beach.

CHARLESTOWN – With a population of 7,997, this seaside town doesn’t have a lot going for it in terms of industry.

It is among the smallest employers – both as a town and in the private sector – in Rhode Island, according to the Department of Labor and Training. But it somehow manages to also have one of the lowest tax rates in the state.

“If you drive around town, we don’t have a lot of industry,” said Stephen McCandless. “We don’t have the big box stores. We don’t have a lot of business. And we are still the third or fourth lowest tax rate in the state.”

McCandless, who is Charlestown’s coastal geologist and GIS coordinator, reckons there is an easy explanation for this.

“It comes to the environment,” he said. “People come here for nature.”

Charlestown is home to Ninigret Pond, a popular boating, fishing and swimming spot. In fact, the town’s population more than triples during the summer due to tourists coming to enjoy its recreational offerings.

The pond is also an aquaculture engine for the state. About 40% of the oysters harvested in Rhode Island come from it.

But Ninigret Pond’s – and Charlestown’s – ecological and economic health has been under threat after winter storms from 2023-2024 eroded the breachway that connects the pond to the ocean.

The storms left a gaping hole in the breachway’s western wall, allowing water to pour out and sand to build up in the channel. This created navigational hazards for boaters, impacting businesses in the pond, erased 135 feet of valuable beach real estate and affected the water quality, endangering the health of shellfish in the pond.

A $500,000 emergency repair, performed last October, stymied the leak and stabilized the breachway, but a longer-term fix has been needed.

On Wednesday, Oct. 8, the Town of Charlestown, the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management and the Coastal Resources Management Council announced a plan to repair the breachway.

The project will cost $8.4 million, with the lion’s share – $5 million – coming from the state through a DEM budget allocation through CRMC, $2 million from CRMC’s dredging budget and $1.4 million from Charlestown.

McCandless, who has spent over two decades studying the pond and spearheaded the work to restore the breachway, said that the project came together quickly thanks to efficient collaboration between the town and the state. Usually, between permitting from state agencies and funding, a project like this can take between two to three years, he estimated, but Charlestown and state officials were able to turn it around in a year.

“Trying to get that money in one year, it just doesn’t happen. I mean, it was a feat to get that accomplished that quickly,” McCandless said.

The project will be done in two main phases: first, rebuilding the breachway’s western stone wall to a height of eight feet, and second, dredging the channel and using the sand to rebuild the beach and its dunes

Work will begin Oct. 20 and run through Feb. 26, according to McCandless, though a press release from the state indicates it is expected to be completed by April 2026.

The breachway will remain open during construction, though access to the Blue Shutters Town Parking Lot may be restricted. The state encourages visitors to use the East Beach parking lot.

The breachway was originally constructed in 1952, though some structures dated back to 1890. Once completed, the renovated structure’s projected lifetime will be 100 years. That includes climate change scenarios.

“We designed it to last 100 years, and we hope it works. All the math says it will,” McCandless said.