Summer Weekend in Charlestown, Rhode Island

Which products does your local convenience store tout? Deli meats? Snacks? Milk? Lottery tickets? I did a double take as I drove past the Charlestown Mini-Super, then turned around so I could snap a picture of the rope-strung boards dangling from the market’s roadside sign: Scallops. Oysters. Fresh tuna. Littlenecks. Swordfish. Shrimp. Smoked fish. Salmon. I already knew Charlestown as New England’s most famous all-you-can-eat lobster destination and the host of a major summer seafood festival, but local sea fare as a part of everyday life? Sign me up.

Of course, I ventured inside, even though I wouldn’t be needing raw fish where I was headed for the night: the General Stanton Inn, a “George Washington was here” survivor recently revived and with its own ocean-to-table tavern. But you can learn an awful lot about a community from a hub like the Mini-Super. Especially one that swells from 8,000 souls in the winter to 30,000 each summer.

They come for South County’s beaches, of course. They love how easy-to-reach and under-the-radar these swaths of sand are. But a quick scan of the flyers posted in this little store reveals there’s a Who needs the ocean? side to Charlestown, too. There’s live music during Saturday breakfast at The Hungry Haven and on summer weekend nights at the Charlestown Rathskeller. There’s drop-in yoga, indoors and out, at peaceful Rockbriar Farm (stroll the gardens or snooze in the hammock after class). There are free family-friendly activities at Kettle Pond Visitor Center, Thursday concert and movie nights in Ninigret Park, and Friday farmers’ markets and Sunday flea markets at the General Stanton.

And what kid wouldn’t love searching for Ninigret Park’s ginormous trolls, brought to life last year by Danish recycling artist Thomas Dambo with reclaimed natural materials and contributions from local students and volunteers? Ninigret Park is also home to a playground, a cycling loop, a freshwater swimming beach, and Frosty Drew Observatory, which hosts free Friday stargazing nights.

In just four days, my daughter and I will see Ninigret Park during its busiest weekend, filled with RVs, salivating seafood lovers, and one guy who walks around wearing a giant balloon lobster he controls like a puppet. Before then, however, I’m on a mission to find the quieter side of this shore town before the carnival-like Charlestown Seafood Festival, always the first weekend in August and celebrating its 40th anniversary this year.

My search begins at the sea. Receding glaciers gifted Charlestown with a string of south-facing barrier beaches. The easiest to reach, Blue Shutters, is the liveliest. Charlestown Breachway State Beach and its campground are popular, too. Town Beach is lesser known, except to locals. But it’s East Beach where you’ll find tropical-blue surf, space to sprawl on cinnamon-sugar sand, and the wild tranquility of a largely undeveloped three-mile stretch of coast. There’s very little parking here, so arrive early or reserve a four-wheel-drive permit and camping spot.

Don’t sleep on Charlestown’s salt ponds as an alternative for on-water recreation. Those same glaciers gouged these tidal lagoons embayed by the barrier beaches. They’re like briny lakes with ocean breezes. Ninigret Pond, the largest, is not only a stunning place to kayak or windsurf, but also a prime breeding ground for bivalves. Some 40 percent of oysters harvested in Rhode Island come from Ninigret Pond, and this summer 401 Oyster Co. is launching aquaculture boat tours here. You can also buy a nonresident recreational shellfishing license and dig your own quahogs, soft-shell clams, and oysters at low tide. They never taste better than when your back and shoulders still feel the effort.

If you kick off your weekend with outdoor exertion, a festival (Rhythm & Roots is a Labor Day weekend tradition), a day at one of the splashier beaches, or a night of all-you-can-devour indulgence at The Nordic’s lobster-plus-everything buffet, Sunday morning calls for sipping an iced wildflower latte at Dave’s Coffee or savoring a fresh-baked-focaccia egg sandwich at Quonnie Farms. Then, there are so many places to stretch your legs—the loop skirting Watchaug Pond within Ninigret National Wildlife Refuge, for example, where the diversity of vegetation attracts more than 250 feathered species.

I prefer to walk around The Fantastic Umbrella Factory. How to describe this inimitable bazaar, where shoppers crunch along clamshell paths, brown bags of feed for the roaming hens in hand? You might leave with a block-print T-shirt, candy, or an armload of plants. The vibe is more subdued inside soft-spoken wampum artist Allen Hazard’s shop, The Purple Shell. This Eastern Native trading post filled with indigenous handcrafts is “like a museum,” he admits.

Got time? He’s a living connection to the ways of his Narragansett and European ancestors. He’ll tell you how quahogs, especially the ones with big, deep-purple shells, “are becoming harder and harder to find.” How he’s concerned about overfishing and pollution not only because he turns these shells into one-of-a-kind jewelry and hand-carved walking stick embellishments, but also because he really likes quahog chowder.

Back outside, what I love most is the peace you can find inside the maze-like bamboo forest. Listening to the rustle of skyscraping grasses and your own inner voices—most likely your heart and stomach debating, What’s next? A beach sunset? Or another heaping plate of seafood?

See More: Things to Do in Charlestown, RI: Where to Eat, Stay & Play by the Beach

Kim Knox Beckius

Kim Knox Beckius is Yankee's travel & branded content editor. A longtime freelance writer/photographer and Yankee contributing editor based in Connecticut, she has explored every corner of the region while writing six books on travel in the Northeast and contributing updates to New England guidebooks published by Fodor's, Frommer's, and Michelin. For more than 20 years, Kim served as New England Travel Expert for TripSavvy (formerly About.com). She is a member of the Society of American Travel Writers and is frequently called on by the media to discuss New England travel and events. She is likely the only person who has hugged both Art Garfunkel and a baby moose.

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