Westerly-an unknown treasure

Walking Napatree Point Watch Hill,swimming at Misquamicut Beach,visiting the Lighthouse Museum,taking a ride on the Flying Horse Carousel,spending time in the Westerly Library.

Quick Tips:

Traffic is heavy with limited parking at Watch Hill...get there early in the morning for free 2 hour parking Parking lot fees can run a day during the summer months.

Best Way To Get Around:

You will need a car to explore Westerly and the coastal areas and beaches.

This place, close to the sea, has 23 comfortable rooms. There is a warm, relaxing ambiance here with rooms with a decor of old farmhouses and barns. Some units have fireplaces.

There is no restaurant nor food served here but if you''re looking for decent lodging, this is an O.K. place to stay.

This recently opened restaurant is located right on Pawcatuck River and has a large picture window looking out to the river. If your looking for fish, this is THE place to eat in Westerly. The house specialty is Seafood Shepherd's Pie($10), they also have a Fish of the Day (ptm), a delicious chef's seafood omelette, and a traditional fish and chips dinner($8). There is a neat, all oak pub which serves drinks and sandwiches such as the toasted lobster roll ($12) and the three fish burger($7).

There is live music on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights in the River Pub. Monday Night football is a big event here and along with beer, is served 10 cent buffalo wings.

Watch Hill is a very wealthy area of Westerly with old mansions and a beautiful beach that extends into Napatree Point, a mile long, narrow peninsula which at one time, prior to the 1938 hurricane,was the site of hotels and cottages.The hurricane totally destroyed the buildings, which were never replaced. The land is now a nature preserve, open to the public. You can walk, swim, and explore the old World War 1 defense battery.

After a hike and swim, do take a ride on the Flying Horse Carousel at the end of Bay Street. The colorful carved wooden horses with real tails and manes do fly through the air. Local residents claim that this carousel, built by the Dere Company of New York, in 1879, is the nation's oldest.

Why journal a library...sounds pretty boring but then,perhaps you haven't been to this particular library. I happen to love libraries...for many reasons. One, in particular, while travelling the internet is usually available and free of charge. I seek out libraries to check my e-mails during extended travels.

The Westerly Public Library was opened in 1894 through the initiative of local industrialist-inventer Stephen Wilcox. He donated the land on which the library is situated and built a beautiful adjoining park. Today this library holds over 150,000 volumes, has a number of internet connections, and an extensive CD collection. The interior of this building is beautiful, with stain glass windows and granite arches...worth a visit just to check out the building.

Wilcox Park is a lovely place to walk and picnic during pleasant weather. During the summer, there are numerous concerts here. Most people travelling through Westerly are heading for the beaches and miss this quiet treasure of a park, right in the heart of Westerly.

This is a 1734 two-story gambrel, handsomely paneled and filled with old Connecticut and Rhode Island furniture. Built by Westerly's first physician, Dr.Joshua Babcock, this man was also a chief justice of Rhode Island, a general in the Revolutionary army and a friend of Ben Franklin. Franklin was a frequent visitor to this house and, according to tradition, provided the lightening rods for the house roof. An engraving of Franklin hangs over the dining room mantel. An avid angler, Franklin frequently fished off of nearby Weekapaug Point.

The exterior of the house is particularly notable for the hand-carved corners and the broken-scroll pediment over the main entrance.

Westerly, sad to say, is often passed by as thousands of tourists head for the beaches. Those of us who live fairly close to this town have learned to appreciate the rich history of this community.

In the 19th century, textile mills and a quarry produced good construction grade granite and fine-grained, easily carved granite for monuments. There is plenty of evidence of this granite throughout town. These two industries brought great wealth to this community...of course, those days are long gone and only a few imposing houses and public buildings are reminders of the rich past. Today, it's the Watch Hill and Misquamicut Beaches that support the local economy and bring fame to this area. Watch Hill, after Newport, is Rhode Island's most select beach resort, with fancy shops and turn of the century cottages and mansions. Set on hills overlooking Little Narragansett Bay and the Atlantic, this area is a summer trasure, with very expensive boats spending time in the sheltered harbor.

When the English arrived in the 17th century, this was all Native American land(as names like Weekapaug, Pawcatuck and Misquamicut suggest)

The first permanent white settlers are said to habe been an eloping couple-John Babcock from the Plymouth Bay Colony and Mary Lawton of Newport-who fled Mary's father's wrath in an open boat that took them from Newport across Narragansett Bay.