Things to do nearBlock Island

Block Island sits roughly thirteen miles off the Rhode Island coast and has been a destination since the late nineteenth century, when Victorian hotels began welcoming summer visitors seeking sea air and respite. The island's character was shaped early by its isolation, and that quality has endured. More than forty percent of the island's land is permanently protected, giving it a rural openness that feels increasingly rare along the northeastern seaboard.

The landscape itself is the main attraction. The Mohegan Bluffs on the island's southern edge rise nearly two hundred feet above the ocean, and the wooden staircase descending to the beach below offers one of the most dramatic coastal views in New England. The Southeast Lighthouse, a National Historic Landmark built in 1875, stands at the bluff's edge and anchors the scene. To the north, the Great Salt Pond provides calm anchorage for sailboats and kayakers, and the surrounding wetlands attract migratory birds in impressive numbers each fall.

Old Harbor, the island's main village, clusters around the ferry dock with a mix of Victorian commercial buildings, small inns, and casual restaurants serving lobster rolls, chowder, and grilled fish. The atmosphere is unhurried and genuinely local in feel, particularly outside the height of July and August.

Block Island offers something that few places this close to a major metropolitan area can still provide: a landscape that looks and feels largely as it did generations ago, making it well worth the short ferry ride from the mainland.