The Boston Globe — Finding a 50-foot-wide path to the shore in Westerly, R.I.

An April 1939 plat map, unearthed by attorney Michael Rubin, shows what he considers the smoking gun: The town of Westerly accepted Spring Avenue extension as a public right-of-way. MICHAEL RUBIN

Sep 30, 2021

By Brian Amaral — An April 1939 plat map, unearthed by attorney Michael Rubin, shows that a blocked off path on Weekapaug Point used to be accepted as a public right-of-way

PROVIDENCE — Every few weeks over the summer, Michael Rubin would climb down the narrow, twisting staircase into the windowless basement vault at Westerly Town Hall.

It smelled like what it was — a musty repository for yellowing old documents, illuminated with artificial light.

Rubin, a lawyer by trade, was on a mission: He wanted to prove that a 50-foot-wide property along the shore belonged to the public. That involved going into the dark vault in this beautiful beach town and flipping through the stacks of maps and property records.

“Rhode Islanders need to get to the beach,” Rubin told the Globe. “It’s the Ocean State.”

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