Dates visited: 11/12/2022, 4/23/2024, 10/3/2024 & 11/19/2024

This is a very nice town beach that allows dogs in the off-season. I believe they are allowed here from the day after Labor Day until the day before Memorial Day. The waves were ripping here today, and we were here at low tide. There was a gale warning for the area because the remnants of Hurricane Nicole passed through the evening before. The storm also brought in some more tropical air, as it was 72 degrees when we arrived at the beach....on November 12th! We walked the length of the beach and back. It was a little over two miles.

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On our second visit to this beach, the waves were much calmer than the first time we were here. There was much more sand this time, and we were able to actually walk around the three houses on stilts on the west end of the beach (which is probably actually "Roy Carpenter's Beach"). We couldn't go any further than that, because that part of the shoreline is actually Moonstone Beach, most of which is inaccessible in the warmer months due to bird nesting. The Trustom Wildlife Refuge folks actually rope off the beach. We walked back toward the Town Beach parking area to the east end of the beach. On our previous visit, we had climbed up some rock stairs to an elevated platform that overlooked the shoreline, but that area is now a small trailer park. We continuted our adventure walking a couple miles down on Matunuck Beach Road, past Ocean Mist, and out to the end of Ocean Avenue, before heading back, walking almost six miles altogether.

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In an effort to hold on to summer as long as possible, we returned to this beach on a nice 70 degree early October day. We walked the entire beach, and also onto the beach directly to the west, as well as adding some additional steps at nearby Ocean Mist Beach. We didn't take too many photos on the town beach portion of the walk, since we've been here a couple times already. We did wade through the edge of the waves, and sat for a bit and just enjoyed the day.

We were passing through once again while visiting other beaches. Took a few photos as the sun was setting.

Dates visited: 12/30/2022 & 10/6/2024

This was our 66th and final visit to Rhode Island for the year. It's been a wild ride! This beach is located mostly in South Kingstown, but the east end of the beach stretches into Narragansett. We actually tried to visit this beach back in November, but the parking lot was closed for construction (It has only re-opened temporarily for the winter). It worked out okay because this way we had a new beach to visit on an unusually warm late December afternoon. Temps were in the mid 50's. I can't complain about that. The beach was okay, but maybe not quite as nice as some of the other beaches in the area. Like all the State Beaches in Rhode Island, dogs are only allowed on the beach in the off season. The west end featured a lot of stones and was more difficult to walk on. We walked the length of the beach twice, and a little more for a total of three miles. This was a fun way to enjoy the mild temperatures and sunshine on one of the last days of the year. Pictures from the South Kingstown section are below. Visit the Narragansett page for pictures from that section of the beach.

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This was our second visit to this beach. We once again walked the length of the beach, including the eastern end that crosses the town line into Narragansett. We also walked to the western end that leads to Ocean Avenue. The walkway was open today, but closed back in April when we tried to access it from the other side. It was on the cool side for a beach walk. Temps were in the mid 60's, but we still waded through the edge of the water. All of the beaches along the southern shore of Rhode Island are real nice, and this is one is no different.

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Date visited: 10/4/2023

It's hard to believe that it took me this long to find this place! There's no real information on the interwebs about this place. I only found out about it because a nice woman that I met on a different adventure told me about it. It's called "Dog Beach", and as the name suggests, it's a beach for dogs. Locals bring their dogs here, and they are allowed off-leash. The beach opens out to the west side of Point Judith Pond, north of the breachway, so the waves are mild. The area is actually part of Succotash Marsh Wildlife Management Area. It's accessible at the end of Succotash road, after it turns into a dirt road after passing through the Jerusalem fishing village. There's a monument near the parking area dedicated to dogs that have passed who used to visit the beach. Owners put their names on painted rocks. It's kind of neat, but kind of sad as well. Mandy and Lexi loved running around and playing on the beach. They also played with two other dogs they met, Max and Blue. The beach is also used by locals just to hang out, so be aware, parking is limited. We were here on a Wednesday afternoon on a hot day in October, and there were only a couple parking spots available. I imagine it could fill up quickly on weekends in the summer!

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Date visited: 6/30/2022

This is very short trail maintained by the South Kingstown Land Trust. The trail features sculptures from different artists. Most looked like they were assembled from objects that would proably be found in a landfill somewhere if not used for the sculptures. My favorite is the bull. According to Facebook, he has a name, "Sir Loin, Barbecue Bull". There's no real hike here, the trail is less than a half mile long, but the scupltures make it interesting.

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Date visited: 6/30/2022

This is an impeccably well maintained system of trails courtesy the South Kingstown Land Trust. We hiked a mile loop trail that featured some ups and downs, but was generally pretty easy. It's a basic walk in the woods, but it was a very nice walk in the woods.

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Date visited: 8/24/2022

We walked a 3+ mile loop trail through the woods here. There is nothing unique that differentiates this trail from any other trail in the woods. When I pulled into the parking lot, I had to double check that we hadn't been here before because the parking lot looked familiar to me. A lot of these places are starting to look the same to me these days. There is a sign at one point on the trail that said the Browning Homestead was 0.3 miles away. When we got to the spot, the sign was blank and all I saw was a pile of rocks, so I'm guessing that is what's left of the Browning Homestead. Also, I don't know why it is called a "farm trail". I saw no evidence of a farm.

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Date visited: 9/4/2022

We once again ventured to Rhode Island to escape unpleasant Connecticut weather. It was sunny and in the low 80's in South Kingstown for this hike. The park has a series of trails, not all of them are on the All-Trails map. We stuck mostly to the wide loop path that was on the map. We also crossed Biscuit City Road and continued on to Biscuit City Preserve, before completing the remainder of the Potter Wood loop.

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Date visited: 9/4/2022

We reached this South Kingston Land Trust property via Potter Wood, which is on the other side of Biscuit City Road. This is the site of the old Biscuit City Mill. I read the historical placard about the mill, but it didn't explain why it was called "Biscuit City". It was an old cotton mill that exchanged hands over the years, and was eventually destroyed in a fire. That seems to be the same story as all of the other mill ruins we visited. The hike was an interesting loop trail. There is a pond with a fishing area, but only for children 14 years old or younger! There are ruins of the old mill, a rocky and rooty portion with boardwalks over muddy areas, and a strange little house, which sits right on the trail but is locked with a "No Trespassing" sign.

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Date visited: 9/4/2022

We started out hiking the trail laid out in the All-Trails app, which is basically a loop around Rocky Brook Reservoir, and then an out and back to Asa Pond. The terrain on the out and back portion was a bit rough. There are no hills, but it was very rocky and rooty, with sections of wooden boardwalk over muddy spots. At one point, some trees were down blocking the trail. Mandy decided to go under, while Lexi went over. This presented a problem because their leashes are always connected together! It wasn't really that rough, and we were able to navigate it with little problem, but when we reached Asa Pond, I decided to take another route back that utilized a section of the South County Bike Path, before re-connecting with our loop. It lengthened the trip, but it was a nice day and I needed additional steps anyway. I know it was called "Tri Pond Park", but none of the trails we walked made it out to a third pond. It looks like the third pond is on the opposite side of the bike path, so we'll have to visit it some other day.

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Dates visited: 11/12/2022, 6/2/2023 & 8/2/2023

This is primarily a fishing spot, with a small rocky beach. I learned of this place from an article online about Rhode Island's secret beaches. There's not much here. People use it for fishing, surfing, and para-sailing. Dogs are allowed here. There is a sign that says "Please Clean Up After Your Dog". We've visited three time and it hasn't been real busy during any of our visits. Our first visit was on a warm and windy day in November. People were para-sailing that day. We visited again the following June on a hot beach type day, and there were only a handful of people sitting in lawn chairs on the beach. We also made a brief stop in August when we were in the area. While it's far from the best beach in the area, it has the benefit of being relatively unknown, free, and dog-friendly!

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Date visited: 2/10/2023

It was 63 degrees on February 10th, and since it was such a gorgeous day I stopped to take the dogs for another walk after completing our other adventures. This is a fancy outdoor shopping area, along the lines of Evergreen Walk in South Windsor, CT. There are little shops, restaurants, offices, apartments and even a hotel in this complex. There is also a gathering area with the colored chairs and another area with a gazebo. The place wasn't as dog friendly as Evergreen Walk, it did not look like the dogs were allowed in any of the stores. As we were leaving, I spotted a bike trail that starts at the rear of the lot, called the "South County Commons Bike Trail", so we walked that trail as well. It is about a half mile in length and leads to the Broad Rock Athletic Fields, the Senior Center, the YMCA and the dog park.

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Date visited: 8/2/2023

I don't know if this spot has an official name, but for the sake of this page, I am calling it the "Curtis Corner Middle School Trail", since the trail is behind Curtis Corner Middle School. There's a well maintained loop around a small pond. It's short, but sweet. There is also a disc golf course here too. The trail also connects to the South County Bike Trail, which is where we went next.

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Dates visited: 9/4/2022, 5/1/2023, 7/14/2023, 7/20/2023, 7/31/2023 & 8/2/2023

This is a 7.8 mile rail trail through South Kingstown, also known as the William C. O'Neill Bike Path. It starts at the Kingston Train Station and ends near the Narragansett Town Beach. On our first visit, we only walked a small section from the Tri Pond Park trail to Fagan Park, which connected back to the Tri Pond trails via Dam Street.

Our second visit to this trail was in May of 2023. We walked the beginning of the trail starting at the train station, to the Tefft Historical Park Trails.

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Our next visit was couple months later. We started at the other end of the trail in Narragansett, and walked up to the Wakefield Historic District. This was a fun section, with some nice benches and different views along the way.

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We continued where we left off the following week, starting at Wakefield Center, and making our way to Railroad Street. This is a short section that passes next to a large cemetery. Once the trail reaches the intersection of Church Street an Railroad Street, it continues on road (with a sidewalk for people on foot), as it heads to the Peacedale section of town. We stopped here and headed back to Wakefield, where the weekly RiverFire fest was occurring.

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The next section we walked started from where we left off last time on Railroad Street, to Curtis Corner Middle School. This stretch was a bit over a mile and a half, so out and back we walked three miles total here. The begining part in the Peacedale Section of town was real nice. It featured some "artsy" displays. There is an uphill incline on this section, so it was much easier coming back. A little less than half this section we had already covered on our first visit here last September, so I didn't take any additional photos of that part of the trail.

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We finished the trail on our next trip, walking the section between Curtis Corner Middle School, and where we left off in May near Tefft Historical Park. There is not as much to see on this stretch, but it was an enjoyable walk anyway. It was a gorgeous evening, with temps in the low 70's. It was a good way to finish up a very nice bike trail.

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Date visited: 5/1/2023

We only explored a small section of this place. We took some side trails off the South County Bike Path that looped around through a section of baby pine trees.

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Date visited: 5/1/2023

This is another area we reached via the South County Bike Path. We walked a small loop trail that connected back to the bike trail. There is a great section of trail that goes by an area surrounded by rock walls that includes a teepee! There's a historical cemetery and a cool staircase leading back to the bike trail.

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Date visited: 5/3/2023

This trail is a spur off the South County Bike Path starting about a tenth of a mile east of where the main bike path intersects Route 110. It proceeds for about two miles leading to the University Of Rhode Island campus. It runs along side an open field, and then some farmland before crossing Route 138 and then passing by the college's athletic fields. It continues right into the heart of the campus.

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Date visited: 6/29/2023

This is actually the state boat launch. We were driving by, and I decided to stop so the dogs could cool off in the water. I wasn't the only one with this idea, as another dog showed up to go for a swim as well. There's no trail here or anything... It's just the boat launch, but it did the job providing the dogs with a spot to cool off.

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Dates visited: 7/14/2023 & 7/20/2023

This is the artsy neighborhood in the center of town that we reached via the South County Bike path. This is a bustling area, with lots of little shops, as well as some parks that you can walk through.

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On Thursday evenings in the summer they have "RiverFire" festival. We returned the next week to continue where we left off on the bike trail, but also took the time to walk around the festival. Torches are lit on the river, hence the name, "RiverFire". There is a "Farmers Market" with a few vendors and food trucks (but not much in the way of actual "farm" products). There is also live music. On our visit, there was a band playing at the Contemporary Theater Company, as well as a three piece string band in front of the church. There are hundreds of people (and dogs) jammed into a small space. It's not the easiest time moving around. The public parking lot was filled, so we had to park at the nearby elementary school. With so many people, it is difficult to find good spots to take photos, but we did the best we could.

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Date visited: 8/20/2023

This is a town park with athletic fields and a playground. There is also a very short "Nature Trail" in the woods. We walked the Nature Trail and also looped the park. Tuckertown Pond is also nearby, but there isn't really any access to the pond from the park. There's a state run fishing area down the road that has access to the pond, but it was busy so we didn't go there.

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Dates visited: 9/5/2023 & 6/18/2024

We crossed over from Charlestown Town Beach into South Kingstown. I guess this stretch of beach is named "Charlestown Beach" despite it being in South Kingstown, and it is at the heart of the controversy around Rhode Island's public shoreline law, passed a couple years ago. All the shore up to the 10 feet past the high tide line in Rhode Island is considered public property. The property owners have sued the state, and a judge in July of 2024 seems to side with the property owners. No final judgement has been made yet, but beach access could be changing soon. At any rate, we stayed within the high tide line...which was a bit challenging since it was just after high tide and the waves were ripping! It was hot and hazy today. It was a good day to be on the beach from a temperature standpoint, but I always think my photos come out better on sunnier days. I had taken today off from work to extend my Labor Day weekend, so this was a nice way to end the un-official summer season. Combined with the small section of Charlestown Town Beach, we walked four and a half miles here on this trip.

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We returned to this beach to escape the 90+ degree heat inland. Once again, we parked at Charlestown Town Beach, and quickly crossed into South Kingstown. The cooler weather here made for a refreshing walk. I know it's late in the day, but I was really surprised there was so few people here. We walked about three miles here, and it was a good way to escape the heat!

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Dates visited: 3/12/2024 & 9/4/2024

I had previously mis-labeled the beach directly west of this one as "Green Hill Beach", but this is the real Green Hill Beach. There is no direct connection to the other beach from this one (there's a structure with large rocks in between the two beach areas). This is a small beach, with a parking area that accommodates four cars at the end of a cul-de-sac. We headed east toward another out-cropping of rocks. This was very scenic, but difficult to walk over. On the other sides of these rocks, is a public access path that leads to Green Hill Avenue (there is no available parking at this access point). We took some photos on the bench that overlooks this scenic area, that I really love! Trustom Wildlife Refuge and Moonstone Beach is directly east of this, but getting there would require climbing over more moss-coated rocks. We made it out in one piece, but I decided to not tempt fate, and we walked along the streets back to where we parked, instead of a return trip over the rocks. This make shift beach and street loop was just under one mile total.

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Our second visit to this beach was in the summer time, well a couple days after Labor Day, so still technically summer. Since there's only about 7 or 8 parking spots on the road, we walked from Green Hill Park. This time it was low tide, so we were able to explore more of the beach to the west. We were able to get around the rocks and to the portion of beach that is labeled "Mautucket by the Sea" on the Google Maps, and all the way down to where we left off at the South Kingstown section of Charlestown Beach. It was a gorgeous afternoon for a walk on the beach!

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Date visited: 9/4/2024

This is a small town park off Green Hill Beach Road. There are tennis/pickle ball courts, a playground, picnic areas, and a short loop trail through the woods here. After exploring the park, we walked down Green Hill Beach Road, about seven tenths of a mile to Green Hill Beach to continue our adventure.

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Date visited: 11/19/2024

There's a public waterfront access point at the end of Green Hill Avenue that leads to this spot. The point is the rocky area that separates this spot from Green Hill Beach to the west. We actually were here back in March during our first visit to Green Hill Beach. On that day, we actually climbed the rocks to get here from Green Hill Beach. There is another beach area to the east of the point. When we were here in March, that area was blocked off, but now there's a short path that leads down to the beach. There is a "Please Pick Up After Your Pet" sign, as well as a poop bag dispenser, so it would appear dogs are allowed here. We were able to use this access point to get down to the beach and walk the last three quarters of mile of shore line that we haven't covered in South Kingstown before. We continued all the way to South Kingstown Town Beach on this trip. The weather was great for mid-November, 60's with with a light breeze. It made for a very pleasant walk. Oh, and today was Lexi's 9th birthday...Happy Birthday Lexi!

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Date visited: 9/4/2024

This is a small section of beach located between Green Hill Beach and the South Kingstown section of Charlestown Beach. Each time we've been to the beaches that border this, the waves were too high to access via the beach front, but this time it was low tide and we were able to walk over to this small stretch of sand. To be honest, I'm not really sure where one beach ends and the other begins, so I'm taking my best guess. Regardless of what beach this was, it was a nice walk on a gorgeous afternoon!

Date visited: 9/10/2023

We stopped here while I was waiting for a thunderstorm to pass through west of us blocking our journey home. The short loop trail is actually called "DAR Freedom Trail." I don't know why it's called that, and didn't notice any signage calling it such. This South Kingstown Land Trust property is tucked away in a small neighborhood. The beginning of the walk is a "story book trail", with pages of a kid's book displayed on signs along the way. We didn't take that many pictures here, because the skies started to darken. It looked like the rain, which was supposed to miss this area, was headed our way. In fact, it started to pour just minutes after we completed the loop and got back into the car!

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Date visited: 10/4/2023

This is the area at the end of Succotash Road, after it passes the Jerusalem fishing village. The Dog Beach, is on the east side of the dirt road, and the salt marsh is on the west side. There are some unmarked trails that go out to the salt marsh. We explored the area a bit during our visit to the Dog Beach. Jerusalem is actually part of Narragansett, even though this section of Narragansett is not accessible from the rest of the town without going through South Kingstown first. The marsh spans both towns. The pictures below are from the South Kingstown section, there are a couple pictures from the Narragansett section on that page.

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Date visited: 2/19/2024 & 10/3/2024

Evidently dogs are not allowed here. After getting out of the car, I spotted a sign with a number of different items listed as "prohibited" in small print. One of them was "Pets (Dogs and Horses)". Does that mean that cats are allowed? Also listed was "Nudity". Well, Mandy & Lexi had their sweaters on, so at least they didn't violate that one! Seriously, I guess years ago this was a nude beach. Now most of it is closed in the summer months because of Piping Plovers. A small section is open for residents for sunbathing and swimming, but the entire beach is open from September 16 to March 31st each year for the public. Since we were already out of the car, we did take a few pictures of the beach near the entrance. Like most beaches in this area, it is quite beautiful. It was the middle of February and temps were in the mid 30's, so I'm pretty sure we didn't disturb any birds. We only stayed about 10 minutes, but I guess this is not a place to bring your dogs, even in the winter.

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We wound up back on this beach a second time. This time we just kept walking west from South Kingstown Town Beach. It was low tide and we were able to pass around the series of houses on stilts. It was a beautiful afternoon, so we kept walking until we reached the army of birds. I've never seen so many birds in one spot on the beach in my life. We didn't want to disturb them, so we turned around. Not only that, I'm pretty sure those birds could take us!.

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Date visited: 4/23/2024

This is a new section of beach for us that we had not visited on our previous trips to the area. This beach is sandwiched between Deep Hole Beach and the Ocean Mist Restaurant. We accessed this from Deep Hole. On our previous visits, the waves were too high, and you could not get to this beach from that beach because of a rock barrier, but this time there was enough sand to walk around it. I also discovered a public access point from Matunuck Beach Road that can also be used to access this area. This stretch of beach is rocky, and we stopped just shy of Ocean Mist. There is a rock barrier here that we could not get around, and in fact, we got real wet trying to do so! I imagine the barrier was probably strategically placed to stop people from walking on the beach in front of the restaurant, like we were trying to do!

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Dates visited: 4/23/2024 & 11/29/2024

I saw this Public Waterfront Access point on a map. There is no parking area, so we walked here from South Kingstown Town Beach. As you can see from the photo below, the access point is closed. The stairs, which are named the "William J. George Steps", go down to a cement walkway that leads to East Matunuck State Beach, a beach we already visited anyway. While we walked a couple miles only to find the access point was closed, it wasn't a total loss. The walk down Matunuck Beach Road and Ocean Avenue is actually quite nice. We also discovered a way to get to Matunuck Beach, that we was a new beach for us to explore.

We came back once the access point was re-opened. Instead of walking to East Matunuck State Beach, we walked around the rocks down by the shore parallel to Ocean Avenue. We went as far as we could until the shore was no longer passable by foot. After turning around and heading back, we headed to the secret beach at Matunuck Point.

Date visited: 8/1/2024

This is a small park near the marina. There's a very short walking trail across the street from the marina, and some benches near the docks. We walked through the park and the actual marina, covering about one mile total. This is a small, but scenic spot, and a nice place to take the dogs for a quick walk.

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Dates visited: 8/1/2024 & 10/3/2024

This is the beach on the west side of Ocean Mist, between the restaurant and the trailer park. We walked by this beach in the spring, while it was being constructed. They were building a new cement sea-wall, and had sand mounds piled up that would later be spread around evenly. Now the work is finished. There's a gap in the seawall that allows access. Large stones have been placed near the shoreline, but there is full access to the water closer to the restaurant. It was high tide when we were here, so the surf was pretty rough. Every time we are in this area, there is always a long line of cars parked along the street for the bars in this area. It's a crazy place, especially in the summer. I'm not sure if this beach area is truly public or not, but nobody gave us any issue while we were visiting.

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We came here to get a few more steps after our Town Beach walk. The tide was lower than last time, so we were able to get down past the rocks to the area in front of the restaurant.

Date visited: 11/29/2024

This might be the most "secret" of all the secret beaches we've discovered in Rhode Island. It's so secret, it doesn't even have a name. I called it "Matunuck Point Beach" because the beach is situated right next to Matunuck Point. (That's what Google Maps calls the area). There is a short path from Ocean Avenue that leads to the small beach. To be honest, I'm not sure if the path to the beach is public property or not. There was no "Public Access Point" sign, but there also wasn't any "No Trespassing" signs either. There was some seaweed build up on the beach, with some sandy and rocky areas as well. It's probably used mostly by the locals in the summer time I imagine. It's probably also used as a fishing spot. This was the last piece of walkable beach area in South Kingstown that we hadn't visited. Now we've walked just about every foot of the 25 mile shoreline from Napatree Point in Westerly to just past the Point Judith lighthouse in Narragansett.