South County Museum

Narragansett Town Beach

Wait long enough and you're likely to see anything at Narragansett Town Beach (even, at left, a gull posing atop a sand sculpture depicting a giant squid swamping a boat). Despite high-season parking and beach fees, this is the most popular surfing venue in New England: even in midwinter, heads can be seen bobbing in the water waiting for a good wave. The town controls the southern half of the 1-plus-mile-long beach, with its two pavilions, cabanas and parking areas. Piping plovers can be seen on the northern end of the beach for much of the year, and some areas, near the mouth of the Narrow (Pettaquamscutt) River, are cordoned off at times to safeguard their nesting areas. The beach is fabulously popular in the summer, and can attract a crowd on sunny spring or fall days even when the temperature is having trouble breaking 60.

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