1. Norman H Olson Memorial Complex

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Cranston, RI

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Norman H Olson Memorial Complex

4.0 (2 reviews)

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Meshanticut State Park - swan

Meshanticut State Park

3.4(11 reviews)
2.5 mi

Right when I started walking towards the park, I was greeted with action: a mink was chasing a rat…read moreand eventually did have it for lunch. This led me to pay close attention to what other animals were around. I came across a couple birds, one more mink, and a lot of Canada geese, some of which were chilling on a house's lawn. They were fearless and started coming towards me but stopped about 6 feet away. The loop around the body of water is about half a mile so it makes for a perfect casual stroll; a lot of people were walking their dog, talking on the phone, or on a run. Two sides of this park has houses, and it seems like people respect the neighbor's privacy and peace since it was quiet. There's a dock to fish, along with other spots. There's a little library where you can take/drop off books. They have lots of benches along the way and the entire path is paved. There is a parking lot across the park; it seems like it belongs to a school so in the summer it's convenient to park there but it might be a different story during the school year.

The lake and views are beautiful, but unfortunately the people who live here made the overall…read moreexperience very unpleasant. Some residents were rude, unfriendly, and made it feel like newcomers were not welcome. There was also a lack of consideration for others, which made the community feel uncomfortable rather than friendly and inviting. It's a shame because the location and lake are genuinely nice, but the atmosphere created by some of the residents really takes away from it.

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Meshanticut State Park - Swans

Swans

Meshanticut State Park
Meshanticut State Park

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Roger Williams Park - Just hanging out, just like us

Roger Williams Park

4.3(79 reviews)
1.6 mi•South Elmwood

Swan Boat Restaurant…read more We were looking for a place for lunch to celebrate my adult daughter's birthday and spotted tables and chairs from across the water, the location of the swan boat. We ordered a chicken flat bread, roast beef flat bread, Greek salad, and some pasta. Not knowing what kind of food to expect at a boat house we were all pleasantly surprised at the quality of the food. The chicken flat bread was wonderful, crispy on the outside, warm and moist on the inside. The roast beef sandwich was also delicious and warm. Both good sized sandwiches were served with homemade chips and a pickle. The Greek salad was refreshing and plentiful full of mixed greens, tomatoes, olive, cheese, and cucumber. Siting by the water front was so peaceful and relaxing after walking much of Roger Williams Park. The park had other restaurants by the carousal and in the zoo, but those served fast food hot dogs and such. We finished off our meal with a couple of ice creams. The Swan boat restaurant was such a wonderful and tasty surprise that my group all agreed, it was the best and most memorable part of our day in the Park. The waterfront atmosphere made it perfect! Roger Williams Park in general was very nice and quaint. We enjoyed walking through the botanical garden, Japanese garden, and the next day the zoo since we were short on time the first day.

I love this park. I feel transported to somewhere outside of the city when I visit. There's lots of…read moredifferent sections which makes it perfect for me to walk and take photos. I like the Japanese garden area with the bridges. The old seal house is interesting and I often walk that loop around the water. There's a carousel, swan boats, botanical gardens, some historic buildings, and more. I've always felt safe here.

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Roger Williams Park - Swan nesting

Swan nesting

Roger Williams Park - Turtle

Turtle

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Goddard Memorial State Park

Goddard Memorial State Park

4.3(72 reviews)
7.7 mi

We are here in Beautiful Goddard State Park for a week early Father's Day celebration with our five…read moreboys! This park is a vast well maintained full service state park in the smallest state in the union, Rhode Island! For a small fee, we rented a gorgeous little private shaded spot with two picnic benched and real bathroom facilities. We brought out food and a small grill to cookout. They did come check our permit, which you need to reserve to grill. Dell's lemonade truck is often present, so we treated ourselves to the famous Dell's frozen lemonade-yay! We were there a good 5 or 6 hours and it was a perfectly lovely and enjoyable day for our family to relax and enjoy our rare time to reconnect in person. What an invaluable experience. I can't stress enough having uninterrupted time with those you love. Cell service is non existent, so take this time to disconnect off the grid and just live and love. This place is a true simple gift-a Beautiful way to reconnect and just feed the soul. Take my advice, do it now, while you can. Make a happy plan before life makes other plans! Thanks for following me, Happy summer 2026! ~Tami from Miami

Beautiful, large park with many different sections. A great boardwalk by the narrow beach. A…read morewonderful place to take dogs, lots of benches to take rests, and an ample parking lot whose potholes were recently fixed, yay! Sometimes it's hard to find out what part of the park you're meant to meet someone in since there are so many sections. You can walk along the long beach or try a woodsy hiking trail. The trails on the right of the beach have either steps or a gradual slope to get up to the top of them, and you can look down over a small cliff to see the water below. The trails on the left of the gazebo are beautiful and give you many options, but people ride horses here, so be mindful of the droppings! This park has fantastic sunsets and multiple picnic areas, plus multi Porta potties that are usually in decent condition to use if needed. The bridge is great to look at, but can get crowded with families doing holiday photo shoots in the fall, so I've become wary of coming here since being stuck on one side of the bridge while a family made us wait to cross until they were done with pictures (ugh). I've come here for walks/hikes and even to wade at multiple times of year and always enjoy a beautiful day and peaceful experience here.

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Goddard Memorial State Park
Goddard Memorial State Park
Goddard Memorial State Park

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Governor Notte Park - What a beautiful night

Governor Notte Park

4.4(26 reviews)
6.0 mi

Governor Notte has been in my life for around 6 years now. I have come here so many times and had…read moreso many great memories here. It doesn't matter what season you come it's always so clean here and just a relaxing place to be. It's well up kept which I appreciate and everyone who seems to come here has respect and I appreciate that. They do have a tennis court, place to go fishing ( not sure if it's legal or not but people do), a place to swim during summer time, a baseball field and a children's playground area. It's not huge but it's big enough for our little town. They do have a concession stand who's run by Bobby and he's pretty cool, he's really nice and has amazing prices. This place is like a sanctuary to me. The grass is always so nice and the Views are always amazing. They have a very small maybe 10 car parking lot beside the park where the tennis court is but if you follow the signs you can find the bigger parking lot. Give it a go, make memories for free.

I grew up in this area and remember coming here for camp as a kid. Honestly, I remember hating it…read moreback then, but I also think I didn't have all the things I have now to appreciate it with, lol! We stopped by today to check out the playground, and it was such a nice little spot! There weren't many people there, so it felt open and peaceful. It's a smaller playground, but it has all the basics you need to let the kiddos play and burn off some energy. Everything was clean, well-maintained, and just made for a nice, relaxing outing with the kids. It's funny how your perspective changes when you come back to places from your childhood as a parent. I wish they had something like this here when I was little! We had a great visit and will definitely be back!

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Governor Notte Park
Governor Notte Park
Governor Notte Park - The beach.

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The beach.

Oakland Beach

Oakland Beach

3.1(67 reviews)
6.2 mi

This space is right next door to Iggy's, beach, and the beach parking lot. They renovated and added…read morea playground and splash pad as of June 2025. It's a beautiful space with plenty of benches and picnic tables. There are playscapes and climbing structures; there are no swings. There is a gazebo and plenty of places to eat nearby. It's a great spot to let the kids play and have a picnic!

I've always been more of a lake guy than an ocean guy, but we ended up at Oakland Beach because we…read morewere meeting friends for dinner nearby. Since we had some time to kill, we decided to take a walk along the beach and see what it had to offer. The first thing I'll say is that this isn't the place to visit if you're looking for that classic Rhode Island beach experience. If you've spent any time at the beaches in South County, whether it's Misquamicut, East Matunuck, Charlestown, or one of the quieter stretches of shoreline, it's hard not to compare the two. Oakland Beach just doesn't have the same wide-open feel, rolling surf, clean sand, or salt air that makes those beaches worth the drive. It's a bay beach, and it feels like one. That said, it isn't without its positives. The views across Greenwich Bay are pleasant, there were plenty of families out enjoying the afternoon, and it's an easy place to take a casual stroll. The boardwalk area and nearby restaurants give it more of a neighborhood gathering spot than a true beach destination. You can grab an ice cream, watch the boats, and spend an hour or two relaxing without much effort. The beach also has restrooms, parking, and easy access, so it's convenient if you're already in the area. What kept this from being a higher rating for me was the beach itself. The water looked murky compared to what I'm used to, the sand wasn't particularly inviting, and the whole area felt a little worn around the edges. It wasn't dirty enough to make me want to leave, but it also wasn't somewhere that made me think, "I can't wait to come back and spend the day here." I found myself appreciating the scenery more than the actual beach. Overall, Oakland Beach is perfectly fine for a quick walk before dinner or if you live nearby and want to enjoy the waterfront for a little while. I just wouldn't go out of my way to make it a beach day destination. For me, South County will always be where I head when I want to spend time at the ocean. Oakland Beach serves its purpose, but it never quite escapes the feeling that it's a pleasant neighborhood waterfront rather than one of Rhode Island's great beaches.

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Oakland Beach
Oakland Beach
Oakland Beach

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Roger Williams Park Botanical Center

Roger Williams Park Botanical Center

4.5(58 reviews)
1.5 mi•South Elmwood

Amazing garden and beautiful layouts with many species of plants and flowers! The space is very…read morebeautiful and the workers are very friendly!!! they even have goats!!

I wanted to pay a visit to the goats they have outside the botanical gardens so we ended up going…read morein to check out the holiday displays. The botanical gardens are much more spacious than I remember there are 4 different greenhouses with a wide variety of tropical plants, trees, a kid's play space, and an herb and vegetable garden. They even have a mini koi pond with some huge koi. Everything was decorated for the holidays with multiple christmas trees, several different train sets and poinsettias everywhere. One of the train sets has a model city that is supposed to look like Providence. I love model trains so this was fun to see. I do wish they had made the settings a little bit more detailed and realistic. Overall a very cool place and a nice retreat from the coldness of winter. It's very warm and humid in there so it really does feel like you're somewhere tropical. They have some truly gigantic monsteras, jade trees and elephant ear plants. Definitely inspiring for my home plant collection! I had no idea how huge some of these plants could get under the right conditions. I do wish there were more labels on the plants - we found some interesting trees (a fruit tree that was maybe papaya) but there was no sign to indicate what it was. Check it out - a fun, family friendly spot to go on a winter weekend. And don't forget to visit the goats on the way in!

Photos
Roger Williams Park Botanical Center - Graduation Photos at the Botanical Garden

Graduation Photos at the Botanical Garden

Roger Williams Park Botanical Center - Graduation Photos at the Botanical Garden

Graduation Photos at the Botanical Garden

Roger Williams Park Botanical Center - Graduation Photos at the Botanical Garden using trees as props

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Graduation Photos at the Botanical Garden using trees as props

Norman H Olson Memorial Complex - parks - Updated November 2026

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