7 Best Sights in South County, Rhode Island

In Ninigret Park but independently operated by a nonprofit, the observatory offers the state's best views of the night sky. Frosty Drew opens every Friday around sunset for stargazing and stays open until 10 pm or later if the skies are clear and visitors keep coming. It's also open on nights when meteor showers and other astronomical events are forecast. On cloudy nights, astronomers give presentations and offer tours. The place isn't heated, so dress for the season.

Spring brings opportunities to view the male American woodcock's mating ritual at this 858-acre refuge, but bird-watchers flock here year-round to commune with nature among 4 miles of hiking trails and diverse upland and wetland habitats, including grasslands, shrublands, wooded swamps, and freshwater ponds. There's an abandoned naval air station on Ninigret Pond, the state's largest coastal salt pond, and a fine place to watch the sunset. Wear blaze orange while hiking between November and January, when permitted hunters are allowed to cull white-tailed deer. Explore an impressive collection of wildlife and natural history displays at the Kettle Pond Visitor Center on the southbound side of U.S. 1 at 50 Bend Road.

This 227-acre park off Old Post Road, formerly a World War II–era naval air training base, now features picnic grounds, ball fields, a playground, a bike path, tennis and basketball courts, a criterium bicycle course, nature trails, a disc-golf course, and a 3-acre spring-fed swimming pond (with lifeguards on duty in the summer). The Charlestown Seafood Festival is held here in August, and the excellent Rhythm & Roots concert festival rolls into the park every Labor Day weekend.

From the Port of Galilee, it's a short drive to this 1857 lighthouse and a beautiful ocean view. Because the lighthouse is an active Coast Guard Station, only the grounds are open to the public. At times when the grounds are closed, head back out Ocean Road and watch for a tiny white sign on the left for the Fisherman's Memorial. A dirt road drive leads to this elevated park, from which you'll have a spectacular view of the 65-foot lighthouse, as well as to Camp Cronin, a secret beach and fishing area.

A tiny museum at this 1856 lighthouse contains the original Fresnel light, letters and journals from lighthouse keepers, documentation of famous local shipwrecks, and photographs of the hurricane of 1938 and 19th- and early-20th-century sailing vessels off Watch Hill. Parking is for the handicapped and senior citizens only; everyone else must walk down the peninsula along a private road off Larkin Road.

The library, in the heart of downtown Westerly, also serves neighboring Pawcatuck, Connecticut. The library's Hoxie Gallery holds art exhibitions. Adjacent to the library, Wilcox Park, a 14½-acre Victorian strolling park designed in 1898 by Warren Manning—an associate of Frederick Law Olmsted, co-creator of New York's Central Park—has a pond, a meadow, an arboretum, a perennials garden, sculptures, fountains, and monuments. The Runaway Bunny, a sculpture inspired by the children's book of the same name, is popular with the little ones. A garden market, arts festivals, concerts, and Shakespeare-in-the-park productions are held periodically.

Dating to 1709, Wickford began as a fishing village, later a modestly busy port, and today retains its colonial charms with street after street lined with preserved buildings dating from the 18th and 19th centuries, including a number of sea captain's homes. One of the oldest Episcopal churches in America, the circa 1707 Old Narragansett Church, was originally located about five miles away but moved to Wickford in 1800. Wickford Harbor is a popular haven for pleasure boaters, and the calm waters also attract kayakers and standup paddleboarders. Fresh fish can still be bought off the town dock at the end of Main Street, and a pair of petit bridges over tidal coves help define the pleasantly walkable shopping area on Brown Street. Several walking trails access undeveloped areas on the outskirts of town, and the town beach is a short walk or bike ride south along scenic route 1A. Wickford hosts Daffodil Days in the spring, the Wickford Art Festival in July, Wicked Week Halloween festivities late October, and the Festival of Lights in December.