Issues → July/August 2007 → Interact → 10 Things to Do →

10 Best Beaches in New England

Warm water, smooth sand, best strolls

by Stephen Jermanok

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Credit: Deganta Choudhury

Watch Hill, Rhode Island

Photograph of Eastham, MA
Submitted by William DeSousa

Photograph of Westmore, VT
Submitted by Kevin Armstrong

Photograph of Ogunquit, ME
Submitted by Tom DiTullio

Photograph of Old Orchard beach, ME
Submitted by Julie Spierto

Warmest Water
Silver Sands State Park,
Milford, Connecticut
To find warmth, head south to the shallow slopes of Long Island Sound. The beach at Silver Sands State Park is small compared with other Connecticut state parks, but it is delightfully more remote.

It's also far more affordable than many of the private town beaches in this part of Connecticut. A long boardwalk leads from the parking lot across a marsh (good for bird-watching, but not great if you're carrying food, sand toys, and Junior).
Silver Sands

Best Walk
Napatree Point,
Watch Hill, Rhode Island
With its highest point being a mere 812 feet, Rhode Island is not a place most folks think of when they want to take a hike. Yet it does have some of the longest beach strolls in New England. Napatree Point juts out from the village of Watch Hill on a wild strip of coastline, offering views of Connecticut and Fishers Island, New York.

Take off your shoes and listen to the waves as you saunter along the water all the way to the point of this crescent-shaped beach. The spit of land curves back toward Rhode Island, similar to how Provincetown lies at the tip of Cape Cod. Sailboats cruise Block Island Sound; ospreys and their young fly above the shores. As you reach the point and the last square foot of terra firma, the wind begins to howl, the surf seems a bit more ominous, and the sand is replaced by large battered rocks. On the return trip, you'll be treated to a view of the Victorian houses that cling to the bluffs of Watch Hill.
visitwatchhill.com

Best Surfing
Narragansett Town Beach,
Narragansett, Rhode Island
When hurricane swells from the Caribbean sweep up the Atlantic seaboard in the summer months, most people on the East Coast batten down their hatches and hide indoors. Everybody, that is, except surfers on the Rhode Island coast. Narragansett Town Beach is quickly gaining acclaim as the place to be when tropical depressions make their move north from mid-July to mid-September. The crescent-shaped beach and shifting sandbars often produce waves in excess of 10 feet.
Even without inclement weather, the surf is reasonably good all year. In the winter, there are swells in the 3- to 4-foot range. In summer, when the water often resembles a duck pond, you need patience. The best time for the sport is in the early-morning hours before the winds pick up. If the waves aren't working at Narragansett, try Second Beach (Sachuset) in Middletown. Gansett Juice (74 Narragansett Ave.; 401-789-7890; gansettjuice.com) rents boards for the town beach and gives lessons.
narragansettri.com/parks/beach.htm

Best for Solitude
Mohegan Bluffs,
Block Island, Rhode Island
A patch of grass lines a redbrick lighthouse that has been keeping watch on the southeast corner of Block Island for more than a century and a quarter. Below, sea-gouged clay cliffs plummet some 200 feet to a white crescent beach that serves as a welcome mat for the Atlantic surf. The lap of waves is interrupted only by the call of a goldfinch making its way north. To stand on this wild stretch of coastline below Mohegan Bluffs is to truly feel inconsequential.

But privacy always comes with a price. In this case, it's getting here. For the most scenic experience, take an hour-long ferry from Point Judith or New London, Connecticut, to Block Island, pick up a bike in Old Harbor, ride three miles south, and then walk down the wooden stairs to the beach. Here the surf is always strong, the sand dotted with driftwood and sea glass. For a great natural spa treatment, take a good hunk of clay from the cliffs and massage your body, then rinse off in the ocean.
blockisland.com