Rhode Island Towns 19 & 20: Richmond and Charlestown - 7/21/2020

Brian here.  Coming from Vermont, this whole “Rhode Island Villages thing” has always perplexed me.  The town of Richmond (according to Wikipedia) “contains the villages of Alton, Arcadia, Barberville, Carolina, Hillsdale, Kenyon, Shannock, Tug Hollow, Usquepaug, Wood River Junction, Woodville, and Wyoming”.  Every place in Rhode Island seems to have at least 2 or 3 different names, and I can never tell where it’s referring to.  Someone can live in the village of Wyoming, the town Richmond, and be in the Chariho school district.  Wow!  What this all doesn’t tell you is that Richmond, and the neighboring town of Charlestown, have some very nice hikes and historical areas.  

We started our day pausing at the Wyoming Dam, with a beautiful waterfall and a pond.  Tarynn loves to find the fish and frogs in any pond we visit, and she was not disappointed here.  There were tons of fish and frogs, and she even spotted a crayfish!!  We followed this with a short hike along to see the waterfall at the Barberville Dam. ​

Exploring the Wyoming Dam area

Wyoming Dam

Searching for creatures in the water

Barberville Dam

Beautiful waterfall at Barberville Dam

We then drove through the historic parts of Wyoming Village, the village of Carolina, and the Shannock Historic District looking at old houses, mills, and churches.  There’s the octagonal Albert Potter House built in 1867, the Free Baptist Church built in 1845, and others.  The Shannock Historic District is an old historic mill village with interesting old construction.  There is even a “horseshoe” waterfall with a fish ladder, although we didn’t see any fish on it. Tarynn found another crayfish here and we also found a well hidden geocache. 

Albert Potter House

Beautiful home in Carolina

House with stone lower level in Shannock

Shannock Horseshoe Falls

Fish ladder next to the falls

Remains of a mill across from the falls

At the Shannock Falls with our painted rock

Monument by the fish ladder

We left a painted rock on top of the monument.

Moving on to Charleston, we found a historic Native American Burial Ground tucked away in the woods. This is believed to be the cemetery for the leaders of the Narragansett and Niantic tribes.  It was somewhat overgrown, but prominent headstones were clearly seen.  The path up to the burial ground had lots of wild blueberry bushes which Tarynn grazed on all the way back to the car.  ​

Blueberry bushes on the path to the Native American Cemetery

Snacking on the trail

Stone in the cemetery

One of the most interesting places we visited on our trip to Charlestown was the “Fantastic Umbrella Factory”.  It’s a self-described “nineteenth-century farmyard shopper’s paradise and international bazaar” and this description encompasses the umbrella factory nicely .  It’s an old converted dairy farm that is now used to house local craftspeople.  There are gardens of flowers and of bamboo, as well as a number of animals.  Much to Tarynn’s delight -- the lover of all animals -- there were chickens and guinea hens wandering around, a couple of emu, and even a cute little toad in a birdhouse.  Tarynn was in her element exploring the grounds of the umbrella factory,and she was very excited when we gave her $2.00 to pick out something in one of the shops.  She spent a lot of time choosing the perfect purple and white sea urchin shell, which I’m sure she’ll treasure for years to come.

Fantastic Umbrella Factory

Umbrella Factory Gardens

Umbrella Factory Gardens

Birdhouse or toadhouse?

Who's there?

Guinea hen family

Tarynn the chicken whisperer

Bamboo grove

Emu!!!

We rounded out the day on the beach at the Charlestown Breachway.  This was a new beach to us, and it is beautiful. The waves were big and yet not overwhelming, and it was pretty uncrowded.  This is one of the most scenic beaches we’ve visited in this part of the state, and although we’ve heard that the parking lot fills up quickly in the morning, we had no trouble getting in at 3:00 in the afternoon. ​

Charlestown Breachway

Waves!!!

Not a cloud in the sky!

We finished up our visit with a quick stop at the Historic Bell Schoolhouse (where we left a rock) and a longer stop at the Charlestown Rathskeller for a casual socially-distanced outdoor dinner of appetizers & drinks to wind down the day. The Rathskeller had such an enjoyable environment - lots of families were happily eating and laughing, and if it was a regular year, we imagine that people would have been using the bocce courts, cornhole games, and would be playing horseshoes as well.  We had visited the Rathskeller in the winter and had enjoyed it, but this is definitely a great place to be on a summer evening and was the perfect place to end our visits to Charlestown and Richmond.

Refreshing drinks at the Rathskeller

Dinner of appetizers at the Charlestown Rathskeller

Bell Schoolhouse, Richmond

We left this rock on the schoolhouse steps

Other places we've enjoyed in Charlestown and Richmond: 

• Burlingame State Park & Campground - We've tent camped here, hiked on the trails and swam in Watchaug Pond.  Burlingame is beautiful and it's location near several ocean beaches can't be beat. 
• Ninigrit Park & National Wildlife Refuge- Ninigrit consists of nearly 900 acres set on a former Naval auxiliary air station. There are kettle ponds and salt marshes here that we have explored with Girl Scouts, and there are also athletic fields, courts, and playgrounds in the park.  
• Frosty Drew Observatory & Science Center - Located on the grounds of Ninigrit, Forsty Drew Observatory is equipped with an automated high power telescope.  We have been to Girl Scout star watching events here, and have always been impressed with the knowledge, patience, and kindness of the astronomers at Frosty Drew. 
• East Beach - This is a beautiful state beach in Charlestown.  However, the waves here are usually too powerful for our girls, so we don't often go here.  
• Blue Shutters Beach - This beach is also very beautiful, and is run by the town of Charlestown.  Blue Shutters beach is also the starting point of the North South Trail. 
• Holy Cow Ice Cream - On our short list of outstanding ice cream shops in Rhode Island.  Holy Cow makes its own ice cream in small batches and often has unusual (and delicious) flavors such as Green Tea and Honey Lavender. Check the hours and give them a call before you go - they have been a little unpredictable this summer. 
• General Stanton Inn Flea Market - It's fun to browse this flea market which takes place outdoors on the weekends in the summer. Sunday usually has more vendors than Saturday. You never know what you might find....
• North South Trail - This trail starts at Blue Shutters Beach and continues north for the whole state of Rhode Island, finally ending at the Massachusetts border in Burrillville.  Brian and I hiked it 22 years ago, before we were married, and we hiked it again in 2019.  For our 2019 hike, we had to alternate the hikes between the two of us since life is more complicated now with our three kids. This trail is awesome, and the Charlestown portion of the trail goes through some lovely areas in Burlingame Park.