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◂︎ Mandy & Lexi's Rhode Island Adventures
Lincoln
Blackstone River Greenway
Date visited: 7/15/2022
See Also: Worcester, MA, Millbury, MA, Uxbridge, MA, Millville, MA, Blackstone, MA, Woonsocket, RI, North Smithfield, RI, Cumberland, RI, Lincoln, RI, Providence, RI
We walked the portion of this multi-town bike path between Lincoln and Cumberland. This section does not connect with the portions in North Smithfield and Woonsocket that we visited a couple days prior to this. We actually didn't walk that much of the trail in Lincoln. Instead, we went down the steps to the river where the dogs cooled off, and took pictures in front of the waterfall.
Blackstone River Greenway
Date visited: 5/2/2024
This is a different section of the trail than the one we walked nearly two years prior. The trail crosses the river a couple different times, and alternates between Lincoln and Cumberland. We arrived via the connecting trail from the State Park Visitor Center/I-295 Rest Area. There's a bridge over the Blackstone River here that crosses into Cumberland. We walked some of that, but first we headed south on the Lincoln section, to just past the Martin Street bridge, before turning around a heading back.
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Blackstone River Greenway
Date visited: 5/14/2024
The next section of this trail we tackled runs from where we left off by the Albion Dam back in July of '22, to just past the Manville Dam. It's a two mile stretch that runs along side the river for a bit, before veering to the west. There are dirt trails that continue along the river. There is also a recreation area near the Manville parking area, with a building for the "Friends of Blackstone Greenway".
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Blackstone River Greenway
Date visited: 5/20/2024
This is the section between the Woonsocket and North Smithfield town lines, and where we left off six days before. This stretch of trail runs between the river and the train tracks. It's not the most exciting stretch of trail, but it was a pleasant walk.
Blackstone River Greenway
Date visited: 5/28/2024
This section of the trail is an interesting stretch that starts at the John Street parking lot. Near the trail head is the Lonsdale Marsh, former site of the Lonsdale Drive-In Movie Theater, that operated from the 50's through the 80's. Upon closing of the theater, the land was left to decay. In 1998, the RI Department of Environmental Management purchased the land, and with a lot of effort, restored the land to a natural state. The trail continues for a short distance, crossing the river along side Lonsdale Avenue (Route 122), heading into Cumberland. It spends a short time in Cumberland, before crossing back into Lincoln over an elaborate bridge. We took a narrow side trail down a steep hill that leads out to the river with a great view of the bridge. Back on the main trail, we continued for another mile until we hit the point where we left off earlier this month. On the way back, we had a momentary delay while a family of geese crossed the path. Our whole trip was just less than five miles. It was a very nice walk on a very pleasant evening.
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Blackstone River State Park
Date visited: 5/2/2024
We started at the visitor center, which also serves as a rest area off I-295 North. The actual building with the visitor center inside is closed for renovations. There is a picnic area behind the building, and also a paved bike path that heads down a hill to connect with the rest of the State Park, as well as the Blackstone River Greenway. The State Park section has some additional trails near the river, and a historic area highlighted by the Kelly House Museum, which is also currently closed. There's also a trail that follows the old Blackstone canal, and connects with the greenway further south. After exploring the park, we also walked sections of the greenway in Lincoln and Cumberland, as the Cumberland section is just over the bridge in the center of the park. We walked over six miles total on this adventure.
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Governor John Notte Memorial Park
Date visited: 7/26/2022
The main part of this park is in North Providence, but most of the hiking trail crosses over into Lincoln. The pictures here are from the Lincoln section. You can read more about this adventure on the North Providence page.
Lincoln Woods State Park
Date visited: 8/13/2022
This park is lovely, but we had a tough time here. We decided to walk the "Les Pawsom Loop" around Olney Pond. The loop trail is actually the park road that circles the pond. It used to be a two-way road, but they've closed one lane and reserved it for pedestrians, while cars drive on the other lane. The issue is that the cars fly down the road, and don't always stay in their lane. It was sometimes tough to manage the dogs, especially when they see another dog being walked. Also, there are no garbage cans at Rhode Island State Park, so you have to carry the smelly poop bag with you the whole trip and find somewhere else to throw it out. There are actual trails here as well, and we utilized some of the side trails to get off the road from time to time. The problem is that the main trail system does not go around the pond, so it's just an ordinary walk in the woods. Also, there are different zones, with some trails reserved for horseback riding exclusively. It was too confusing figuring out what is what. It's a very nice scenic park, but maybe not the easiest place to take the dogs for a walk.
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Lime Rock Preserve
Date visited: 9/2/2023
Also known as "Aust Family Preserve at Lime Rock," this is a Nature Conservacy property on the site of a former electric trolley bed. There are two separate trails here, the yellow blazed "Railway Trail" and "Pond Loop", and the blue blazed "Moshassuck Loop". The yellow blazed one is the more interesting of the two. The first part of it is a straight line along the former rail bed. Back in the 1800's or whenever the rail line was built, it must have taken a massive amount of effort to construct this elevated rail line. And now it's just used for people walking their dogs! There's a loop around Maton Pond, but the trail only gets close enough to the pond to actually see it when it crosses the dam. The portion on the dam was the only part of either trail that was overgrown. The blue blazed trail is a shorter loop, with a lot of ups and downs and a good workout. We hiked about three and a half miles here after completing both loops. It was a hazy, but very mild day, and not humid. It was a good day for a nice hike in the woods.
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Chase Farm Park
Date visited: 7/24/2025
This is a large park with wide open grassy fields, walking trails, a pond, and the Hannaway Blacksmith Shop. The park is part of the Great Road Historic District. We walked walked about a mile loop around the park. It was hot, and there was little shade, so we shortened the loop a bit. After finishing the walk around the park, we made our way down Great Road to the nearby Hearthside House and Butterfly Pond Dam.
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Hearthside House Museum
Date visited: 7/24/2025
We walked past here on the way to Butterfly Pond Dam from Chase Farm. The house, now a museum, was built in 1810 and contains 10 fireplaces! xWe obviously couldn't go inside the museum, but we took a few photos on the grounds.
Butterfly Pond Dam Falls
Date visited: 7/24/2025
This is a small scenic park area located within the Great Road Historic District. The bridge, the falls, and Butterfly Farm all make for nice photo backdrops! We walked here from Chase Farm Park.
Great Road Gateway Park
Date visited: 8/24/2025
This is another park located in the Great Road Historic District. The park is next door to Arnold House, a historic structure built in 1693. The park features a grassy area and a stone dust walking trail. At the rear of the park is a series of trails that lead to both Lonsdale Park and Chase Farm Park. We took the trail to Lonsdale Park. There is a wooden staircase leading up a hill. Signs indicate that the walkway is closed, and some of the wood on the staircase is crumbling, but it was easy to walk around the bad sections. The trail crosses Bernon Drive utilizing right of ways between houses on either side of the road.
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Lonsdale Park
Date visited: 8/24/2025
This is a town park with a number of athletic fields and playgrounds. We reached here via a trail from Great Road Gateway Park that also connects to Chase Farm Park. Despite the weather app indicating Party Cloudy skies with 25% cloud cover and a 4% chance of rain, it started to rain a bit while we were here. On our way back on the trail, we encountered wild turkeys, but I was unable to get a good photo.
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Butterfly Farm
Date visited: 8/24/2025
This is a farm on Great Road located in between Butterfly Pond Dam and Hearthside House. On weekends during August, they hold a Sunflower fest from 9AM to 3PM, with food trucks and vendors. You can walk through the field and pick your own sunflowers for a fee. The event is open to well-behaved leashed dogs as well! There is a $5 fee to walk through the field. We actually arrived just after the event ended, but the farm was still open for us to walk through and get great photos of the dogs with the sunflowers!
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