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Savings, which are accumulated over a long time, can be held in reserve for a number of reasons, but one of the most important is that these savings are held to pay for unexpected expenditures resulting from calamitous events, such as hurricanes, floods, and economic recessions, and to cover yearly operations. Should they have been reduced or diverted to other uses?

When: Thursday, July 17 at 6 pm
Where: The Nordic Lodge, 178 Nordic Trail, Charlestown
What: Live music by Jus Tus, a raw bar, dinner, and a silent auction
Why: Support open space preservation and protection in Charlestown and have a fabulous evening with live music

When: Thursday, July 10 (dinner starts at 6 p.m. and the movie begins at dusk)
Where: Ninigret Park by the Playground
What: Lamar Peters (Elvis Tribute Artist) is the performer, the movie is The Goonies, and food trucks will provide dinner
Details in post

When: Wednesday, July 9 from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Where: Cross’ Mills Public Library, 4417 Old Post Road, Charlestown (map in post)
Registration: Please register by calling the Cross Mills Public Library at (401) 364-6211.
Cost: Free

Safe Well Water? Test to be sure.

When: Wednesday, July 9 at 7 p.m.
Where: The Quonnie Grange, 5662 Post Rd, (Rt. 1) between East and West Beach Rd., next to Dunn’s Corners Fire Station (location map of the Quonnie Grange at bottom of post)
What: Learn about the February 1907 shipping collision between Quonochontaug and Block Island that killed over 150 people
Who: Presentation by Dan Harrington

When: Saturdays, June 28, July 19, July 26, August 2, and August 16, at 10:00 am
Where: Ninigret National Wildlife Refuge
Cost: Program is free
Registration: Please pre-register as space is limited
Hands-on experience that introduces children and their families to a variety of aquatic creatures living in the salt ponds.

When: Thursday, June 26 (dinner starts at 6 p.m. and the movie begins at dusk)
Where: Ninigret Park by the Playground
What: Jamie McLean Band is the performer, the movie is Jaws, and food trucks will provide dinner
Details in post

On Wednesday, May 28, at a well-attended meeting, the Planning Commission reviewed a major land development proposed on Ross Hill Road under the state’s Low and Moderate Income Housing Act. The meeting was a Pre-Application Conference, which is held before a formal application is submitted. Details from the meeting and a video are in this post.

When: Tuesday, June 24, from 6 pm to 7 pm
Where: Kettle Pond Visitor’s Center, 50 Bend Road, Charlestown
Join Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM) to learn about plans for the Quonochontaug Breachway in Charlestown.

When: Every Friday – June 20 to August 29 from 9 am to 1 pm
Where: General Stanton Inn, 4115 Old Post Road, Charlestown (map in post)

Local fresh produce, fruits, honey, shellfish, specially prepared dishes, baked goods, and more.

The Town Council repealed the ordinance in its entirety on May 27. Going forward, Charlestown will not charge developers impact fees for new development at a time when a new state law allows developers to force ten times the number of houses allowed by Charlestown’s zoning into new developments. At the meeting, as part of a very lively debate about the issues, Councilors Steve Stokes and Rippy Serra expressed that they are in favor of bringing back impact fees in the future.

Quonochontaug Historical Society (QHS) has enhanced their archive with web-based capabilities. This will enable remote access to their Archive collections. This has been an important goal of the QHS and the culmination of a significant amount of work over the past year.

Only 160 People Voted – Thank You To Everyone Who Did Vote!

• Charlestown’s 2026 Budget passed with 128 in favor of the budget and 32 against.
• The tax rate is estimated to be $5.93 per thousand dollars of valuation

“Human development has divided turtle habitat into small pieces, resulting in islands of resources separated by roads and other uninhabitable landscapes.” Learn about the plight of local turtles in this article from ecoRI.

When: May 30 – June 1
Where: Ninigret Park
Cost: $15 for adults and children over 10, $7 for children 10 and under

This event is rain or shine, no pets allowed.

“You see all the steam coming off the compost, all that vapor,” he said, pointing through the screens of his covered porch in Charlestown to the large pile of organic materials in view, “that’s a product of the microorganisms … they eat that food and break it down to become the best part of our soil.”

When: Friday, June 13th at 7 a.m.
Where: Ninigret Pond (address provided upon registration)
Registration: Registration is required (read post for link to register)
Led by Conservation Biologist Paul Miller, this guided paddle offers a chance to observe bird species up close while learning about the role of conservation in protecting coastal habitats.

When: Wednesday, May 28 at 7 p.m.
Where: Charlestown Town Hall, 4540 South County Trail, Charlestown
What: Pre-application meeting with the Charlestown Planning Commission for this development proposal
A portion of this parcel is currently a sand-and-gravel operation with the rest forest and wetlands.

What: Financial Town Referendum
When: Monday, June 2 from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Where: Charlestown Town Hall, 4540 South County Trail
Monday, June 2, is the annual Financial Referendum on the budget for the upcoming fiscal year beginning July 1. The June 2 vote is on the municipal portion of the 2025/26 budget; the Chariho portion was approved earlier. Read the post for more detailed explanation.

Parade on Old Post Road on Sunday
When: Sunday, May 25 at 1 p.m.
Where: Starts at the South Kingstown line and ends at Charlestown Liquor Store

Parade in Carolina on Monday
When: Monday, May 26 at 11:00 a.m.
Where: Starts at the Richmond-Carolina Fire Station and ends at St. Mary’s Church in Charlestown

The RI Coastal Resources Management Council has denied the Town Council’s request to resurface Charlestown Beach Road along the coastal barrier with asphalt millings. After many years of fighting for different kinds of pavement for this section of the road, some members of the Town Council have finally relented to follow the advice the town has been consistently given by coastal geologists since at least 2013.

When: Tuesday, May 27 at 7 p.m.
Where: Charlestown Town Hall
What: A public hearing to discuss this question and the Zoning Ordinance amendments proposed, which, if adopted, would revoke the town’s Capital Facilities Impact Fees Ordinance.

When: Tuesday, May 20 from 6 to 7pm
Where: At the Charlestown Breachway, 812-774 Charlestown Beach Road, Charlestown (In case of rain the presentation will be at the Kettle Pond Visitor Center at 50 Bend Rd, Charlestown)
What: An update on the status of the repairs at the Charlestown Breachway
Register: Register by May 19

The Friends of the National Wildlife Refuges of Rhode Island announce their 25th Annual Amateur Photo Competition to highlight the beauty of the five refuges that comprise the Rhode Island National Wildlife Refuge Complex. Amateur photographers are encouraged to enter their existing refuge color photos or to take new ones. Photos and a $10 entry fee per photo must be received by September 3, 2025.

When: Saturday, June 7 from 12 p.m to 4 p.m
Where: Ninigret Park
What: Dancing – Music – Games – Food
Tomaquag Museum is Rhode Island’s only museum entirely dedicated to telling the story of the Indigenous peoples of this land.

Parts of the new 2030 housing plan roughly follow Land Use 2025, but the assigned housing production numbers in the plan reverse the goals of Land Use 2025 and enforce the continued population movement toward the more rural areas, with its related loss of forest, farms, wildlife habitat, and natural beauty.

When: Saturday, May 24, from 8am to Noon
Where: St. Andrew Lutheran Church, 15 East Beach Road, Charlestown

Hanging baskets, annuals, perennials, mixed containers, vegetables, and herbs.

What: Budget Public Hearing
When: Monday, May 5 at 7 p.m
Where: Charlestown Town Hall
Municipal spending exceeds the amount of money the town will raise in tax revenue and still maintain a stable, low tax rate long term. The Budget Commission noted that expenditures continue to trend upward while revenues are increasing much slower.

When: Saturday, May 10 at 10am
Cost: Free and open to all, but you must pre-register
Join CLT for a guided walk at Amos Greene Farm, their newest conservation easement property! This historic farm, now permanently protected by the Charlestown Land Trust, offers a glimpse into Charlestown’s rich agricultural heritage.

“That’s a floodplain forest,” he said. “Pin oaks mixed with red maple. When the glacier retreated, a meltwater river likely piled sand here before the moraine, which these pines tolerate, while the lower plain became swampy and friendlier to the forest community across from us.”

The Town Council sent a letter to our legislative delegation requesting authority to draft an ordinance to enact a homestead exemption. A homestead exemption allows one group of taxpayers to receive an exemption, while another group of taxpayers are required to pay the difference.

At the April, 28 meeting, when asked what the meeting was about, Councilor Carney stated that the purpose of the meeting was to discuss “a Second Amendment resolution in support of Second Amendment rights.” It’s unknown why this information wasn’t included in the last two agendas along with the meeting announcement.

When: Saturday, May 3 at 9 am sharp – NO RAIN DATE
Where: Meet at St. James Chapel, 2079 Matunuck School House Rd. (Please park on the far left of lot along the edge)
What: 10 mile bike ride on a route that passes by Charlestown Beach, Green Hill Beach, Moonstone Beach and South Kingstown Beach.
Who: Charlestown’s Block Island Sound Bikeway Committee and South Kingstown’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee invite you to ride with them.

The Tarzan Brown Memorial Fund has been established to preserve the memory of Ellison Brown, the runner who gave Heartbreak Hill its name, by seeking donations for the creation of a life size bronze statue of Tarzan. Once completed, the statue will be housed at Tomaquag Museum’s future location, at the University of Rhode Island. Link to donate in post.

When: Thursday, April 24 at 6 pm
Where: Kettle Pond Visitor Center, 50 Bend Road, Charlestown
Who: Pam Lyons, President of the Charlestown Historical Society
What: Pam’s presentation will provide an overview of Charlestown’s land use history
Cost: Free
This presentation is sponsored by the Charlestown Land Trust (CLT) and is the fourth talk in their 2025 Speaker Series.

Most cities and towns in Rhode Island are “incentivized” to provide 10% of their year-round housing as low or moderate-income housing (LMIH). The “incentive” is that in towns without 10% deed-restricted, affordable units, developers can file development proposals known as “Comprehensive Permits” that allow them to build at much higher densities than zoning or environmental objectives would usually allow as long as 25% of their units are LMIH.

New housing must be supported by clean drinking water both in quantity and quality. The failure to plan for a safe and steady supply of drinking water can have catastrophic impacts. Any housing that will rely on onsite wells for their sole source of drinking water must be low density.

Approximately 70% of all bird species are migratory and 80% of those that undergo migration do so at night. As countless numbers of birds pass overhead as you sleep, many of them will be drawn off course by bright lights scattered across the landscape below them, leading to fatigue and increasing risk of collisions with buildings.

Record-breaking rain at the end of March 2010 caused water to spill over flood plains. The Pawcatuck River rose and Shannock Falls impressed all those who ventured out to see and hear the pounding water. Some pumped out flooded basements, others had more devastating losses. We all learned lessons in wetland protection and storm water management. After the rains ended we received photographs from 12 different photographers and posted those at our website for all to remember what rain can do.

When: Monday, March 31 at 6 PM
Where: Charlestown Town Hall on Route 2 (4540 South County Trail)
What: Special Town Council meeting to review, discuss, and take potential action regarding the 2025–2026 municipal budget recommended by the Budget Commission.

When: Friday, April 11 at 6:45pm
Where: Kettle Pond Visitor Center, 50 Bend Road, Charlestown
Sign up: Preregistration is required at this link
Join the Charlestown Land Trust for a guided moonlit hike through the trail system at Kettle Pond Visitor Center,

When: Monday April 7 and Monday April 14 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Where: Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at URI, 210 Flagg Road, Kingston, RI
Why: A proposal to build a twin-reactor nuclear power plant behind a barrier beach in our town came very close to fruition in the mid-1970s.
Register: You must register in advance for this course by April 6 at noon.

“Given all of what has been able to be ascertained about the Property, the Town’s ability to exercise any rights with respect to the Property are limited by the rights of others. In practical terms, this means that the Town cannot use the Property for public access to the beach, cannot put signage or fencing on the Property, nor occupy it in such a manner as to impede the rights of the other co-owners in the Property.”

When: Wednesday, April 2, 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Where: Kettle Pond Visitor Center, 50 Bend Road, Charlestown
Register: Please use the linked form to register for this upcoming listening session
Staff from the Town of Charlestown and its partners at URI, the Salt Ponds Coalition, and Save the Bay are working to protect water quality in and around Greater Allen’s Cove and Eastern Ninigret Pond through grant funded septic system replacements, stormwater management improvements, water quality monitoring, and community engagement.

When: Wednesday, March 19 at 6 pm
Where: Kettle Pond Visitor Center, 50 Bend Road, Charlestown
Cost: Free
Join the Wood-Pawcatuck Wild and Scenic Rivers Stewardship Council in partnership with the Charlestown Land Trust for a two-part film series on the natural history, latest science and conservation efforts surrounding river herring.

When: Wednesday, March 26 at 6 pm
Where: Kettle Pond Visitor Center, 50 Bend Road, Charlestown
Who: Brian O’Connor and Paul E. Pezza, founding members of Protect Rhode Island Brook Trout (PRIBT)
What: Brian and Paul’s presentation will explain the urgent need to protect Rhode Island’s threatened wild brook trout populations

What: The public hearing on the Chariho Regional School District’s 2025-2026 budget
When: Tuesday, March 4 at 7:30 p.m.
Where: Chariho Middle School Auditorium
Why: The public hearing will concern the proposed school budget for the 2025–2026 budget year and any and all other business that may be lawful at said meeting.
Details in this post …

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