Hike RI’s lovely Quonochontaug Seashore within the offseason
Entry: Off Route 1A, take Noyes Neck Street south to the shoreline and observe the…
- Entry: Off Route 1A, take Noyes Neck Street south to the shoreline and observe the bend left alongside Spray Rock Street to parking areas on the best.
- Parking: Accessible for a number of vehicles.
- Canines: Not allowed.
- Issue: Simple and flat via gentle sand.
WESTERLY — Quonochontaug Barrier Seashore isn’t as nicely referred to as different South Nation landmarks, equivalent to Napatree Level or Misquamicut State Seashore.
Like most Rhode Islanders, I’d by no means been there. However for years I’ve been listening to and studying intriguing tales concerning the Quonochontaug space, additionally referred to as Quonnie.
Some folks nonetheless discuss how the Hurricane of 1938 destroyed an inn and a line of shorefront homes, killing dozens of individuals. The cottages have been by no means rebuilt, leaving the seashore pristine.
Within the Nineteen Nineties, nationwide TV publicity attracted out-of-staters to the shoreline and drove up actual property costs. TV host Regis Philbin, for instance, visited and raved about Quonnie on his morning speak present. The world additionally was proven on the favored TV present “The X-Recordsdata,” as the fictional household of one of many fundamental characters had a summer time dwelling there.
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Extra lately, the seashore has develop into a flashpoint within the ongoing struggle over shoreline entry between native residents who say the seashore walkways are non-public and others who argue the seashore needs to be out there to all.
After doing a little analysis, I headed out to Quonochontaug, pronounced Kwana-Okay-Taug, for my first go to.
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Off-limits to the general public in summer time
As I walked out on the sand, I got here to know an even bigger fact — the unspoiled, crescent-shaped seashore, and the close by inland pond and salt marsh hidden by dunes, are particular locations that assist give Rhode Island its id. Each resident ought to be capable of see and share the expertise, each time they need.
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I set out for the seashore from a public parking spot diagonally throughout the highway from the Weekapaug Yacht Membership. The well-known, historic constructing was lately razed and is being changed by a wonderful wood construction that needs to be completed later this month.
I additionally seen a number of inexperienced and white indicators posted by native fireplace districts and conservation teams that govern the world. They warn that the seashore entry trails are non-public property and off-limits through the summer time. Employees on the yacht membership advised me {that a} safety guard is stationed there through the summer time months and permits solely residents and their company with particular buttons to entry the seashore. Within the offseason, among the walkways are open to the general public.
I discovered a brief path via the dunes on a wood boardwalk lined with a storm fence. There have been lifeguard chairs stacked on one aspect and an indication with guidelines and laws on the opposite. As I used to be attempting to determine the signal, a younger walker got here by, with binoculars round his neck. I requested whether or not anyone may go on the seashore, and he stated, “It’s all about freedom, man.”
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So I walked throughout the dune on the pathway and had my first take a look at Quonnie, an unbroken, 50-yard-wide strip of white sand that stretches 1.8 miles from Weekapaug Level within the west to a breachway within the east. A protracted sand dune rises on the left, parallel to the shoreline. The ocean’s waves crash on the seashore on the best. The one soul I noticed on the shore throughout my early-morning stroll was a surf-caster with a protracted fishing pole who was wading in a couple of foot of water.
A number of fishing boats cruised a number of hundred yards offshore in Block Island Sound. One flat-bottomed boat nearer the seashore was trailed by a flock of squawking seagulls. I additionally heard the drone of a single-engine airplane overhead, the blast of the horn from a ferry on the horizon and the pounding of the waves on the seashore. Two sailboats slipped by silently.
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It was all fairly a sight and helped me perceive what had caught Philbin’s eye and likewise triggered all of the ruckus over seashore entry.
I started strolling east on the shoreline, with a light-weight sea breeze blowing in my face. Within the clear, gentle sand, I discovered footprints, boot prints, canine prints and bicycle tire tracks.
A dune on the left was topped with clumps of sea grass and an previous, low wood fence. Years in the past, after hurricane injury, the Quonochontaug Seashore Conservation Fee planted bushes and different types of vegetation to assist maintain the dunes in place.
Trying to the southeast, I may see the outlines of Block Island.
Midway on my stroll down the seashore I crossed from Westerly into Charlestown and got here throughout an unoccupied seashore chair with a closed umbrella. I additionally handed a number of items of driftwood that had washed up, noticed a number of horseshoe crab shells and scattered some seagulls that have been standing on the water’s edge.
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My stroll took me the size of the shoreline to a large, boulder-lined breachway. A number of cormorants perched on the granite blocks. The incoming tide rushed inland via the channel between the rocks. From the tip of a jetty that jutted into the ocean, a bundled-up angler forged his fishing line, hoping to hook a sea bass.
A neat line of homes is on the far aspect of the breachway, and I heard hammering and sawing as house owners ready the properties for winter.
As I walked north on a path alongside the breachway, I famous a touchdown throughout the channel the place a kayaker was placing in.
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The tide flowed into Quonochontaug Pond, a big coastal lagoon behind the barrier seashore. The pond is ringed with salt marshes which have been degraded by rising seas and local weather change. Just a few years in the past, the state and environmental companions started dumping sand dredged from the breachway on prime of about 30 acres of marshland, hoping to boost the elevation above rising sea ranges and defend the pure habitat. Additionally they planted plugs of grass.
The restoration appears to be working, slowly. Vegetation are rising and spreading and birds and wildlife are returning.
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After learning the salt marsh, I adopted a path that looped via some goldenrod, with butterflies hovering above, after which handed via low bushes and scrub pines earlier than circling again to the seashore.
I then returned to the road of dunes and walked west till I got here to a pair of leisure autos parked behind an indication for RIMS, or Rhode Island Cellular Sportfishermen Affiliation, which owns a strip of personal land there. Simply forward, a camper sat on the prime of a dune in a seashore chair, sipping a cup of espresso and peering out on the ocean.
“It’s heaven,” he advised me.
Just a few yards farther alongside, I handed a shack and a flat sandy space with picnic tables, which should be the place extra leisure autos park in the summertime.
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Alongside the Sand Path, views of Quonochontaug Pond
I crossed the dune to the Sand Path, a highway that parallels the seashore and provides some spectacular views north to Quonochontaug Pond. Cottages and homes line the far aspect of the pond, dealing with the ocean. The shallow salt pond is dotted with small islands and edged with coves, channels and tidal swimming pools.
Whereas strolling down the Sand Path, which is flanked by bushes of sea roses, two Jeeps with lengthy fishing poles poking out the again window handed me.
From the path, I took a spur on the best to a skinny, sandy seashore, the place thick, white sea foam had washed up. An indication stated: “Shelter Harbor Seashore — Convey Sunshine — Go away Footprints.”
I additionally seen a stone pillar which may have as soon as marked the doorway to a property. A forested island is simply offshore however, with the incoming tide filling the salt marsh, there appeared no method to attain the island.
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Returning to the Sand Path, I adopted some deep tire tracks within the sand for a half mile and took one other aspect path that led to the shore of the pond. I rested there, drained from strolling via the gentle sand, and watched two nice egrets within the tall sea grass.
To the west, some boats bobbed in a small harbor. Past that stood the Weekapaug Inn, which had been relocated from the seashore and rebuilt after the Hurricane of 1938.
I explored a bit and located an indication posted by the Rhode Island Division of Environmental Administration that learn: “Shellfish Spawner Sanctuary.”
Again on the Sand Path, the trail quickly grew to become extra hard-packed, with small parking areas alongside the aspect. An indication posted by the Shelter Island Fireplace District adjoining to a path to the seashore learn: “Non-public Seashore and Seashore Closed.”
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The highway ended at a parking space for the yacht membership the place I might began. In all, I walked about 4 miles over two hours.
To me, a stroll alongside Quonochontaug Seashore ranks on the prime of the listing of shoreline hikes in Rhode Island.
I perceive that guests have to respect non-public property and that delicate ecosystems should be protected whereas crossing fragile dunes or salt marshes.
However there must be a method to honor these precautions whereas additionally permitting folks to expertise among the better of what Rhode Island has to supply.
Quonnie needs to be for everybody.
When you go …
Entry: Off Route 1A, take Noyes Neck Street south to the shoreline and observe the bend left alongside Spray Rock Street to parking areas on the best.
Parking: Accessible for a number of vehicles.
Canines: Not allowed.
Issue: Simple and flat via gentle sand.
John Kostrzewa, a former assistant managing editor/enterprise at The Windfall Journal, welcomes e-mail at [email protected]
