Summer Travel: Watch Hill, Rhode Island

The New England coastline is dotted with quaint towns and villages. But perhaps no coastal village is more quintessentially New England than Watch Hill, Rhode Island.

Located on a peninsula in the Atlantic waters of Block Island Sound, Watch Hill, sits at the western-most edge of Rhode Island. Watch Hill includes everything a vacationer might expect from a New England getaway - beaches, a picturesque harbor, great dining and shopping - even a lighthouse.

In colonial times, Watch Hill got its name as a result of it being an important sentry point atop a hill at the entrance to the bay during the Revolutionary and French & Indian wars. Fort Mansfield once sat at the end of a spit of land extending from the harbor. After World War I the fort was razed, but concrete gun placements remain.

Through the 19^th-century, the tiny Rhode Island village was the home to magnificent Victorian mansions and seaside hotels. But weather and changing economic times took their toll. Many of the mansions were destroyed by hurricanes - particularly a 1938 storm that wiped out all 39 stately beachfront homes between the center of town and the fort. The last of the two Victorian hotels, the Ocean House and the Watch Hill Inn, survived to the 21^st century, but eventually underwent extensive reconstruction and conversion to luxury, multi-million-dollar condominium complexes.

But not all of the historic nature of Watch Hill is gone. The waterfront along Bay Street is lined with shops and restaurants, each with a front-door view of ships moored in the harbor, some also with a back-door view of the beach. Boutiques and galleries mingle with souvenir shops, an old-fashioned ice cream parlor, and a private yacht club. The low-slung buildings are weathered shingle, white-washed clapboards or yellow-painted - all as you'd expect from a New England resort town on Rhode Island's upscale coast.

At the center of downtown is a vibrant reminder of Watch Hill's past. The Flying Horse Carousel is the oldest continually-operated carousel in the country. For over 120 years, children have delighted in its "flying" horses, suspended from chains rather than attached to a wooden platform, allowing them to swing as the carousel spins. The highlight of each ride is the age-old opportunity for kids to grab a brass ring, which are lowered down during the ride. Pluck one, and you get a free ride!

The Watch Hill carousel, believed to have been abandoned by a traveling carnival in the years following the Civil War, has operated in this Rhode Island community each year since. It has since been designated as a National Historic Landmark.

But the town of Watch Hill itself may as well be a historic landmark. From the 250-year old light house to the harborfront main street, itself now recognized in the National Register of Historic Places, this Rhode Island coastal village is the perfect vacation day trip destination.