60 Great Things to Do in Rhode Island

Rhode Island tourism is a picturesque sojourn
along spectacular shorelines and beautiful small towns

Like much of New England, Rhode Island is notable for the great variety of its natural beauty, cultural offerings, and social history. To people who have not spent a lot of time in the Ocean State, the first images that arise may be of Newport’s fabulous Gilded Age mansions, its legacy of 12-meter yachting, and its famed jazz, folk, and classical music festivals. Other well-known images of Rhode Island are its long, sandy beaches along the Atlantic Ocean and Narragansett Bay and the revitalized cultural jewel that is Providence, the capital city. All of these are among the state’s treasurers for travelers.

Others enticements for vacationers include vineyards and summertime polo competitions in the town of Portsmouth, north of Newport; the Cliff Walk, a three-mile elevated path above the rocky coves that wrap around Newport; and the lovely, intimate streets and buildings of Westerly and Watch Hill in South County. Moving west and north, the Blackstone River Valley is the cradle of the Industrial Revolution in America: at Slater Mill in Pawtucket, visitors can see where, in 1793, Samuel Slater built the first factory in the United States to successfully produce cotton yarn with water-powered machines. Similarly, the Museum of Work and Culture in the city of Woonsocket, a home for centuries to people of French Canadian extraction, describes the lives of textile mill workers of the early 1800s.

Providence has undergone a rebirth since the early 1990s, when rivers running through downtown were uncovered and developed into a waterfront park that later became the home of the popular WaterFire celebrations. Providence is home to Brown University and the Rhode Island School of Design, both of which bring to the city the whole panoply of cultural, performance, and public art that grow around world-class schools. On the edge of the city is the Victorian-era Roger Williams Park, with its zoo, carousel, vintage casino building, lakes, and Museum of Natural History and Planetarium. It should be noted that Providence also is a prime location for shopping at the downtown Providence Place Mall and The Arcade between Westminster and Weybosset streets. Considering that it is home to a longstanding Italian community and also to Johnson and Wales University, a major culinary school, Providence also is that place to find some excellent dining.

Last and most pristine, Block Island lies off the shore in Block Island Sound, an easy ferry ride from Point Judith. Leave your car on the mainland and rent a moped for a carefree jaunt out to the beaches and bluffs of this small gem in the sound. For the athletic and adventurous, Rhode Island also is laced – especially in the East Bay -- with good hiking and bicycling trails, the better to plan an intimate visit with a place where the towns and farms even today may resemble a page of Colonial America.

60 Great Things to Do in Rhode Island