Boston Globe — In Barrington, a battle is brewing over beach access

Ken Block, a Barrington resident, poses for a photograph on the beach in Barrington on Tuesday, July 20. He says parking rules and enforcement choke off access.BRIAN AMARAL/GLOBE STAFF

July 22, 2021

By Brian Amaral — BARRINGTON — The quiet, wealthy community has several public points of access to the shore -- and prominent “no parking” signs near many of them, limiting who gets to go to the beach 

 If you want to see the tension over beach access in Rhode Island, even in a sleepy and wealthy suburban community like Barrington, you can find it in the span of just a few feet.

At the end of Annawamscutt Road, just before the pavement turns to seashells and sand, there’s a five-foot-high concrete pillar emblazoned with the words “PUBLIC POINT OF ACCESS.” On a telephone pole to the left, however, there’s another sign: “NO PARKING EITHER SIDE OF STREET.”

Ken Block, a resident of Barrington whose tax dollars have helped fund both of those signs, stands in between them and shakes his head in disbelief. He lives miles away, so how on Earth is he supposed to get there?

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