ecoRI News — On Guard: Public Access to Westerly Beaches Tightens
Access to Weekapaug Beach in Westerly, R.I., is guarded by a security officer from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. during the summer. (Frank Carini/ecoRI News photos)
Aug 31, 2022
By Frank Carini / ecoRI News Staff — WESTERLY, R.I. — Thomas Micele lives less than 2 miles from what he calls “the most beautiful beach in Rhode Island,” but between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. from mid-June to mid-September he and the vast majority of Ocean State taxpayers have no access. A guard blocks the entrance.
Micele has written to the Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC) and the attorney general expressing his concern about the limited availability to Quonochontaug Barrier Beach, also called Weekapaug Beach.
In a Feb. 4 email to CRMC, he noted the Weekapaug Fire District is blocking access to the beach.
“They have a guard posted to be sure no one walks across the walkway to the beach,” he wrote. “Next to their beach entrance is a public right of way that is blocked by a fence. … It is on town property designated as a road on older town plats.”
Between June 15 and Sept. 15, the portion of Quonochontaug Beach owned by the Weekapaug Fire District can only be used by Weekapaug residents and their guests and by Shelter Harbor and Shady Harbor Fire District residents and their guests in leased areas, according to the Quonochontaug Beach Conservation Commission.
The commission also notes that from 6 p.m. to 9 a.m. anglers can access the shore over Weekapaug Fire District boardwalks for surf fishing, and clammers can access Quonochontaug Pond for clamming.
During that three-month summer period, the public can access the “Sand Trail” — a 37-foot-wide private/public path/road that leads to Quonochontaug Beach — and walk on the beach for nature walks, but “there shall be no swimming,” according to the commission, which was created to preserve, in as nearly as possible its natural state, one of the few remaining undeveloped barrier beaches in Rhode Island.
Micele, a retired educator, said he has been kicked off the beach because it was a few minutes past 9 a.m., and he said he has seen up to three guards patrolling the Sand Trail.
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