Block Island
Island · New Shoreham, Rhode Island
An island of just under ten square miles lying about nine miles off the Rhode Island coast, reachable only by ferry or small plane, and coterminous with the town of New Shoreham. About forty per cent of it is set aside for conservation, which is why it looks the way it does — moorland, stone walls, glacial bluffs and almost no development on the southern coast. The Nature Conservancy includes it among the twelve Western Hemisphere sites it calls The Last Great Places.
Water Street, New Shoreham, Rhode Island, 02807, United States
The island is open year round and the constraint is the ferry, not opening hours. The traditional ferry from Point Judith runs year round, takes about an hour and is the only service carrying cars; the high-speed ferry takes about 35 minutes and carries foot passengers only. Summer-only services run from New London CT, Newport, and Orient and Montauk NY. ⚠ BOOK AHEAD IN SUMMER — vehicle space sells out weeks in advance and foot passengers fill July and August weekends. Ferries cancel in bad weather. Most island businesses are seasonal and many close entirely from late autumn to spring, when ferry service is also reduced. The bluffs, beaches and Greenway trails are free and open at all times.