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The history of Rhode Island is truly remarkable. The Story of Rhode Island is my humble attempt to tell you some of the stories about the people, places, and events that have made Rhode Island the state it is today.
To learn more about the show visit the Story of Rhode Island Podcast website at https://www.storyofrhodeisland.com/
Intro
If you live in southern Rhode Island, odds are you’ve walked, run, or ridden a bike on the South County Bike Path.
But what you might not realize is that this quiet trail was once a bustling railroad.
Long before joggers and cyclists began leisurely using this path, freight trains piled high with coal and passenger cars filled with summer travelers barrelled through this same narrow corridor.
Known as the Narragansett Pier Railroad, the line existed during the height of America’s railroad boom — a time when rail lines stretched into some of Rhode Island’s most remote corners and played a pivotal role in driving the state’s industrial economy.
But that world didn’t last.
As the 20th century unfolded, many of these railroads faded away - their tracks torn up, stations demolished or repurposed, and corridors reborn as bike paths.
One of the clearest examples is the transformation of the Narragansett Pier Railroad into the South County Bike Path.
This is “Forgotten Railroads of Rhode Island”, where we uncover the hidden tracks, lost stations, and forgotten stories of the state’s vanished railroads — and today, we’re visiting a quiet bike path in southern Rhode Island to resurrect the Narragansett Pier Railroad.
Birth of the Line
The birth of the Narragansett Pier Railroad is largely the doing of Rowland G. Hazard, a powerful industrialist and member of one of Rhode Island’s most influential families.
He and his brother, Isaac, were the owners of the Peace Dale Manufacturing Company, a set of textile factories that turned the once rural village bearing the company’s name into a thriving factory town.
In its early years, the company grew by producing what were then known as “Negro Goods”—cheap textiles sold to southern plantation owners. But In the decades before the Civil War, the mills shifted to higher-quality woolens and from water to steam power, the latter creating a new demand for coal.
But getting that coal was cumbersome as it had to be shipped into Narragansett Pier, loaded onto wagons, and hauled into Peace Dale.
It was slow, expensive, and inefficient.
it didn’t take long for Rowland Hazard to realize that a railroad make his mill operation more efficient.
But Hazard’s industrial goals weren’t the only factor that gave rise to the railroad.
Because By the latter half of the 19th century, Narragansett Pier had become a well established summer resort—a seaside destination that drew visitors from Providence, Boston, New York, and beyond.
But for all its popularity, getting there was still a challenge.
While the Stonington Railroad could get visitors as far as West Kingston, they then had to endure a long, dusty stagecoach ride to the beach—an uncomfortable introduction to what was supposed to be a relaxing vacation.
It quickly became clear that a railroad linking Narragansett Pier, Peace Dale, and West Kingston would benefit Hazard’s mills and the resorts further south.
And so, after battling through the nationwide financial panic of 1873, the Narragansett Pier Railroad was up and running by 1876. It came equipped with stations at Curtis Corner Road, in Peace Dale and Wakefield, and two in present day Narragansett—one at present-day Sprague Park and another along Ocean Road, the latter later replaced by a more modern station on Boon Street.
It’s fascinating to think of the route we now know as a bike path once being used by trains, and to consider the impact it had on the surrounding communities. One can imagine families living in rural South Kingstown annoyed about the railroad disrupting their once peaceful surroundings. Or the animosity the people of Kingston felt, as the line—and the business it would inevitably bring—bypassed their village, an outcome Kingston’s leading resident, Elisha R. Potter Jr., desperately tried to prevent, but to no avail. However, that negatively must have been overshadowed by those who benefited from the railroad. I mean just picture how excited Rowland G Hazard was over in Peace Dale as he watched trains shuttle in coal to his textile factories or the thrill summer travelers felt when they arrived at their resorts at Narragansett Pier. But no one had more reason to be grateful for the Narragansett Pier Railroad than Senator Roscoe Conkling on the afternoon of August 8, 1879. Conkling, a powerful New York politician, had been carrying on a not-so-secret affair with Kate Sprague, the wife of Rhode Island Senator William Sprague. When Sprague caught Conkling with Kate at the family’s Narragansett mansion, he threatened Conkling, prompting the New Yorker to flee to Narragansett Pier so he could catch the next train out of town. But Even there, the danger followed him—Sprague soon appeared in the streets near the station, shouting threats and brandishing a shotgun. Thankfully, the incident subsided without anyone being harmed and Conkling was safely whisked away on the Narragansett Pier Railroad.
And so, needless to say, this line had quite the impact on life in southern Rhode Island.
Along with escorting at least one senator to safety, it fueled the mills in Peace Dale and brought thousands of visitors to Narragansett Pier each summer—making it a perfect fit for Rhode Island’s industrial and resort economy.
But the 20th century would not be so kind to the railroad. Advancements in transportation were just around the corner and like we saw with the Newport and Wickford railroad, these advancements would initiate the line's slow decline.
Decline/Closing
Like other railroads across America, the rise of automobiles in the early 20th century initiated the steady decline of the Narragansett Pier Railroad.
With cars offering flexibility the railroads simply couldn’t match, the line watched its passenger traffic begin to wither away, leaving the railroad to increasingly rely on freight.
The decline continued throughout the 1920 and 30s and then intensified after World War II due to an increase in competition from cars, trucks, and highways.
By 1946, the Hazard family cut ties with the line for good and passenger traffic finally came to an end in 1952.
Freight service lingered on for decades, but by 1981 the railroad was abandoned entirely.
Tracks were torn up and bridges dismantled, but the corridor itself survived—quietly keeping the route alive, even without the rails.
Today, most of the Narragansett Pier Railroad’s old right-of-way lives on as the William C. O’Neill Bike Path, more commonly known as the South County Bike Path.
Opened in 2000 and extended in 2010 to within a mile of Narragansett Pier, it offers space for exercise and quiet reflection along a route once dominated by steam and steel.
But if you know where to look, traces of the railroad can still be found.
The Narragansett Pier station on Boone Street is now a food hall, The Peace Dale station an acupuncture studio, and the road it sits on—Railroad Sreet—still bears the name of the routes original purpose.
So the next time you find yourself on the South County Bike Path, remember that you’re following more than a trail.
You’re traveling down a route shaped by an ambitious industrialist named Rowland G. Hazard.
A path that was once traveled by summer passengers escaping city heat and coal trains feeding the furnaces at Peace Dale.
These ambitions, lives, and resources once moved along the Narragansett Pier Railroad.
And though the trains are gone, the path it carved continues to carry us forward.