The Grills">The Grills
The Grills
View from Kedinker Island
Stats
- Distance: over 9 miles, many shorter hikes available
- Level of Difficulty: Easy to Moderate
- Towns: Westerly and Hopkinton, RI
- Property Owned By: Westerly Land Trust, Hopkinton Land Trust
- Hunting Allowed: Yes
- Dogs Allowed: Yes
Description
The Grills (an old family name) properties, owned by the Westerly and Hopkinton Land Trusts, consist of a total of over 1200 contiguous acres on both sides of the Pawcatuck River, and really showcase that river. These are some gorgeous trails. The two properties are connected via the magnificent Polly Coon Bridge over the Pawcatuck, which was paid for jointly by the two land trust organizations.
Highlights
- The blue trail takes you over an island in the Pawcatuck River called Kedinker Island, see photo above. Amazing views of the river abound.
Polly Coon Bridge from the Hopkinton Side of the River
Tomaquag Brook Bridge
- Bridges! The Polly Coon Bridge is not the only gasp-worthy structure you’ll find here. On the Hopkinton Grills you cross the Tomaquag Brook on a fantastic bridge, as well.
“A Revolutionary Soldier”
- Also just off the blue trail you can find an old cemetery, where one of the graves belongs to a Revolutionary War soldier.
Stone Flood Marker
High Water Cairn
- As you might imagine, the floods of 2010 did a massive amount of damage to these preserves. There is a stone marker on the Hopkinton side of the river that indicates the high water mark, and there is also a towering stone cairn on the Westerly side which commemorates the floods. It’s almost impossible to imagine the extent of the flooding as you stand next to this cairn.
Boston-Bound Acela Train
- There are several places on both the orange and yellow trails that come right up against the train tracks, and after the zillions of times I’ve hiked here, I finally got out my camera in time to snap a picture of an Amtrak train whizzing by.
View from atop Big Hill
- There is even a nice overlook called “Big Hill.”
On-line Resources (Links)
- Westerly Land Trust (includes link to trail map of the Westerly Grills)
- Hopkinton Land Trust (includes trail map of the Hopkinton Grills)
- ExploreRI, Westerly Grills page
- ExploreRI, Hopkinton Grills page
- Auntie’s Combined Trail Map
