Issues → May/June 2008 → Travel →
Jamestown, Rhode Island
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Kayaks may be rented behind the dock master's office for a paddle around the harbor or perhaps out to Clingstone, the famous, but private, "house on the rocks." Later in the day, grab an ice-cream cone at Spinnaker's and catch one of the many free evening concerts at the waterfront park. Complimentary on-street parking and the proximity of public restrooms at the community recreation center make it all easy.
If you have access to cooking facilities or are camping at Fort Getty Recreational Area, keep heading north to Zeek's Creek Bait & Tackle for some of the freshest seafood in the state. While there, take in the view of Great Creek, where local clammers rake the muddy bottom searching for quahogs. Just north of Zeek's you'll find birdwatchers setting up scopes at Marsh Meadows, where the Audubon Society has erected a perch for nesting osprey, which sail, swoop, and dive over the wetlands in search of fish.
On the southern half of the island you'll find Mackerel Cove, the only swimming beach on the island. Spend the day here and line up at Del's frozen-lemonade truck, an iconic fixture in the parking lot. If you're in town for the Fourth of July, take in the fireworks show, launched roadside from the beach.Continue on to Beavertail State Park at the southernmost tip of the island -- the best place to watch the sunset, as well as the sailboats gliding in and out of the bay. Visit the lighthouse museum and the small aquarium, or watch surfcasters face the salty spray of the Atlantic in hopes of hauling in a giant bluefish. Fishermen and others congregate on the rocks below the foundation of the 1749 lighthouse (the first in Rhode Island and third in the country), which was lost until it was revealed again by the scouring waves of the 1938 hurricane.
Near day's end, scramble down the rocks to claim a spot among locals and fellow travelers alike. In your own private crevice or cove, everyone else falls from sight, letting you ponder what it might be like to live here, as you enjoy the brilliance of the sunset.
What the Locals Know
Jamestown residents, from the town doctor and the judge to fishermen and society folk, head to "the Ganny" or "the Narry" -- the Narragansett Cafe -- on weekends for 25-cent pool games and the live eight-piece horn band (no cover charge). It's perhaps the last of a dying breed of local hangouts.
25 Narragansett Ave., Jamestown.
401-423-2150; narragansettcafe.com
What to Do in Jamestown
Beavertail State Park & Lighthouse Museum
Park open year-round sunrise-sunset; free. Call for museum hours. Beavertail Road. 401-423-9941; riparks.com/beaverta1.htm;
401-423-3270; beavertaillight.org
Fort Getty Recreational Area
Boating, fishing, camping.
Off Beavertail Road near Mackerel Cove Beach.
401-423-7211; jamestownri.net/parks/ftgetty.html
Fort Wetherill State Park
Open year-round sunrise-sunset; free.
Fort Wetherill Road.
401-423-1771; riparks.com/fortweth.htm
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