Narragansett Town Beach

In the late nineteenth century Narragansett Pier was a premier summer resort, its shore lined with hotels and a sprawling casino complex designed in 1883 by the celebrated firm of McKim, Mead and White, the same architects behind many of the era's landmark buildings. Wealthy families arrived by steamer and rail to see and be seen.

A great fire in 1900 destroyed nearly the entire casino, leaving only the stone Towers that spanned the road as a grand entryway. Those Towers survived and remain the town's defining landmark, now holding a visitor center and event space. They are a monument to a vanished world of Gilded Age leisure, and the reason the beach has such a dramatic front door.

Narragansett's exposure to the open Atlantic gives it more reliable surf than most New England beaches, and it has been the center of Rhode Island surfing for decades. On a good swell the lineup fills with surfers, and the town supports a genuine surf culture of shops, schools, and regulars.

In summer the beach is also a straightforward family destination, with lifeguards, a bathhouse, and soft sand, though the surf that draws board riders means swimmers should heed the flags and currents. The mix of serious surfers and casual beachgoers gives the place its particular energy.

The beach anchors the village of Narragansett Pier, a walkable stretch of restaurants, ice cream stands, and shops just up from the sand. A seawall and walkway run along the shore, a favorite for evening strolls with the ocean on one side and the town on the other.

The wider town of Narragansett spreads along a scenic coast dotted with smaller coves, lighthouses, and the ferry landing for Block Island at nearby Point Judith. The town beach is the social center of it all, the place the summer gathers.

The town, the bay, and the beach all carry the name of the Narragansett people, who have lived along these shores for thousands of years and whose tribal nation continues in Rhode Island today. The abundance of the coast, its fish, shellfish, and sheltered waters, sustained Native communities here long before it drew summer resorts.

Keeping that in mind adds depth to a day at the beach. The name on every sign is not a relic but the living identity of a people still present in the state, a thread that runs from the earliest use of this shore straight through to the crowds on the sand today.

The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.