Moraine Preserve, Charlestown RI

This trail isn’t very long, it takes maybe thirty minutes to get through both loops if you hustle. But what it lacks in length, it more than makes up for it with the views. The first section of the trail goes down into laurels off the road, and heads toward rt 1, as you climb the hill and ascend up and start to hear the traffic you wonder why anyone would want to walk so close to a main road. But once you hit the peak and take a look around, you realize why the Moraine Preserve trail goes this way.

Exceptional Views

The best part about this quick trail is that during the fall and winter months, when the leaves have fallen, you walk along a ridge with views of Block Island in the distance. It was not what I expected to see when I first got there, but it was welcome. The second time I hiked the trail I was surprised by a large buck hiding just off the trail, he jumped up and headed down the hill side after seeing me.

Pictures never do it Justice

This is the problem with being too stubborn to update my old iphone, I just end up with terrible pictures. Maybe I’ll start a patreon account and some of you who enjoy my content can help me make the upgrade. Until then expect to see very basic photos without a whole lot of detail, and trust that if you make the effort to see these trails in person, you’ll be delighted with what you see. Honestly, sometimes I find a place so gorgeous that I just stop and take it in, and I just keep the camera in my pocket because I know it will never look as good as I will remember it.

For a longer trail system in Charlestown check out Carter Preserve.

Ghost town

Just off the far end of the trail you can see some rooftops in the distance, at first, I didn’t go anywhere near them, unsure of what they were. I checked my maps and found a road in, upon driving up the road I found it was gated off. A sign explained that it was a Narragansett tribal neighborhood built for lower income families. But something was off, the road looked overgrown with weeds and the gate looked like it hadn’t been opened in some time.

The second time I hiked the preserve I walked through the woods towards the rooftops and found what looked like a small ghost town. Small, single-family homes stood in a neighborhood circled by unpaved roads and overgrown yards. most of the windows were missing and almost every door and basement bulkhead was open. I’m not sure what happened, whether the project lost funding, permits or other issue. The homes seemed like they had been close to completion when they stopped moving forward.

According to this article, the elderly housing project was stopped by the Charlestown CCA because they feared the Narragansett tribe was attempting to build a casino on the land. Not sure how big of a casino could be built on thirty-one acres, or could be hidden in single family homes, but it seems the buildings stand as a testament to how much Charlestown fights to keep open land open. Or it’s a testament to how the CCA works to keep the tribe too burdened with lawsuits to do well by their tribal members.