Point Judith Lighthouse

Point Judith earned its fearsome reputation honestly. Ships bound in and out of Narragansett Bay, or running the coast between New York and Boston, had to round this exposed elbow of land where fog rolls in fast and shoals reach out under the water. Wrecks were common enough that a lighthouse was ordered here early, and the first one was lit in 1810 to mark the western side of the bay's entrance.

The sea was not easily tamed. The Great Gale of September 1815 destroyed the wooden tower entirely, and its 1816 replacement eventually proved inadequate too. In 1857 the government built the sturdy octagonal granite tower that stands today, roughly fifty feet tall, and later gave it the distinctive two-tone paint scheme, white on the lower half and brown on the upper, that makes it so easy to recognize from land or sea. The light was automated in 1954, and the keeper's house was torn down that same year.

The lighthouse shares its point with an active United States Coast Guard station, and the two have long worked side by side. The station building that stands near the tower today dates to 1937, replacing an earlier lifesaving station, and the crews stationed here have always done far more than tend a light: they run search-and-rescue missions and law-enforcement patrols across these busy, dangerous waters.

The point saw the closing act of the war in the Atlantic. On May 5, 1945, just days before Germany's surrender, a Coast Guard lookout at Point Judith watched the coal ship Black Point suddenly stop and then explode, torpedoed by a German U-boat within sight of the light. It was the last American merchant ship sunk by a U-boat in United States waters during World War II, and the drama unfolded almost at the foot of the lighthouse.

Because the lighthouse sits on an active Coast Guard station, the tower and its immediate grounds are closed to the public. That is no great loss for a visitor, though, because the best of Point Judith is the setting: a small public viewing area before the station gate gives clear, close views of the tower against the sea, and the whole point is dramatic, with waves breaking on the rocks and open water stretching away on three sides.

Just to the west lies Galilee, one of Rhode Island's busiest working fishing ports, where draggers unload their catch and the ferries leave for Block Island. Roger Wheeler State Beach curls along the shore nearby, calm and family-friendly, and Scarborough State Beach is close by too. It all makes Point Judith less a single stop than a hub: the light for its history and its photograph, the harbor for the boats and the seafood, the beaches for the day.

Point Judith Lighthouse sits at the end of Ocean Road, about six miles south of the village of Narragansett, a straightforward drive down the peninsula past the beaches. Parking near the point is limited, so it helps to arrive outside peak beach hours or to fold the lighthouse into a loop with Galilee and one of the state beaches nearby.

This is an open-air stop, so plan for the weather. The point is genuinely windy and exposed, bracing and beautiful on a clear day, wild and moody in fog or a blow. Give yourself time to walk the little viewing area, watch the surf on the rocks, and take in the sweep of Rhode Island Sound, then wander over to the harbor to watch the fishing boats come and go. It is a quintessential slice of the Rhode Island coast in a single windswept spot.

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