Portsmouth, RI
Tuesday, May 20, 2025
Life long resident of Rhode Island; first-time ever visit to Prudence Island. How is that possible? After sixty years, I finally made the trip, but only because of an invite from Providence Journal retired editor, author of
Walking Rhode Island, and friend John K. Hopefully John will have an article on our trip published in the fall in the Providence Journal and on
his Facebook page. With thanks to Adrian Massie for a lot of valuable input, we had three areas to consider for our hike today, each with its own pluses and minuses:
- Northern: great ocean views off dirt roads, but essentially an out-and-back
- Middle: the most actual "trails" (single and double-track) and highlights of a lighthouse and one-room schoolhouse, but a lot of grass trails and potential for ticks
- Southern: some cool WWII military remains, but overgrown
For a trail run, I think it would be great to combine two or three sections (as Adrian has), but with the island's perimeter being 18 miles, this was out of the question for us for a morning hike, as we were returning on the ferry at 2:30pm and looking to take our time and enjoy the place. So after weighing options a few days before departure, John and I had decided on the middle section, and ended up with the following route that we would hike in a counter-clockwise direction:
I bought my round-trip ticket for the bargain price of $11, drove the hour to the Bristol Town Hall, where I parked my car for free in a municipal lot, walked the five minutes to the ferry launch, met up with John K and George, and boarded the ferry with plenty of time before departure.
The ferry was basic but utilitarian with bathrooms. I had read beforehand that there is basically no infrastructure on the island (there is a small store with limited hours, but no restaurants, etc), so I had everything I needed in my pack for the day, which basically amounted to cell phone, packed lunch, snacks, and water.
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With John, just before ferry departure.
Excited for the day's adventure! |
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30 minutes later, preparing to dock and disembark at the small
Prudence Island Ferry Terminal |
It was about 50℉ and breezy upon arrival, a chilly date for late May. After arriving, we checked out the small but functional local Prudence Variety store (cash only), and then began our walk. Heading up a short hill on Pier Street, we stopped briefly to take in the attractive Union Church, when serendipitously one of the church volunteers drove up, unlocked the church, and offered to show us around inside.
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Prudence Variety and adjacent Post Office,
with Narragansett Bay in the background |
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Picturesque Union Church, overlooking the east passage
of Narragansett Bay |
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| Stained glass window and pulpit inside the church |
From there it was onto the trails, which for most of our trek consisted of wide grassy double-track trails mowed periodically by local volunteers. We started off on the Buzzy Rice Trail, and then followed the Diamond Trail and Bob Clachrie trails southbound, with a stop in the middle at 17th century Baker Farm. Next, it was a short walk through the "Crows Nest" up to the very attractive Sandy Point Lighthouse, where people had left hundreds of kindness stones along its walls.
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Start of our first trail, Buzzy Rice Trail, not far from the
ferry terminal. Most of the trails we took today were wide and grassy. |
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| View from the Crows Nest |
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| Sandy Point Lighthouse |
We retraced our steps back through the Crows Nest, and then walked about 3/4 mile on Broadway before arriving our next highlight, the one-room Prudence Island School. Before the trip, I was looking into alternate routes to avoid "Broadway" as its name alone gave me the false impression that this might be a wide, busy, paved street. On the contrary, it was a near-deserted dirt road with just a few houses. The Prudence Island School is the only operational one-room schoolhouse in Rhode Island. While there are no students in the current school year, the school was unlocked and hearing voices inside, I asked if I could go inside and look around, which I was welcomed to do.
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| Prudence Island School: inside and ... |
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| ... outside |
From the schoolhouse, we headed northeast back towards Baker Farm, via the appropriately named "Schoolhouse Trail". We then took the Heritage - Army Camp Trail north to Division Wall. Division Wall is an east-west stone wall bisecting the island. The stone wall dates to the 17th century and divided the island between Roger Williams and Governor John Winthrop, as both purchased the island from the Native Americans Canonicus and Miantonomi in 1637. After checking out the stone wall, we opted to take the Ballard Trail westward instead of the Division Wall Trail, mostly because it seemed more interesting meandering just north of the wall instead of the straight path along Division Wall.
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| George and I at Division Wall |
The Ballard Trail rejoins with the Division Wall Trail just before its terminus at Division Rock, overlooking the west passage of Narragansett Bay. Here John, George, and I stopped at a picnic table to have lunch that we each packed and brought. I was pretty hungry by then.
From the Pulpit Rock, we took the very short Blind Allen Trail to the Deer Chase Run trail, running across the Chase Farm property and bringing us back to Buzzy Rice Trail where we started the day. We took the 2:30pm ferry back to Bristol. By then, I was pretty tired, but so thrilled I made the trek and visited the island with John and George. Now I just have to make sure that my second trip to the island won't take another 60 years!
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Along the Deer Chase Trail on our
way back. This was the most interesting
section of trail to me, in the middle of
pitch pine barrens. |
