For years, the 160-acre Canonchet Farms in Narragansett went largely unnoticed and unused, trees and other vegetation filling the once-plowed spaces between ancient stone walls.
The town had taken the property, located across Route 1A from Narragansett Town Beach, by eminent domain in 1973 in part to prevent residential development. Then plans to convert it into picnic groves and camping areas – complete with a band shell – fell by the wayside.
Now, nearly four decades later, town officials and residents find themselves grappling with what to do with the undeveloped property nestled among ponds and marshland but located close to Narragansett’s main commercial district and its beach.
Not everyone agrees on the future of Canonchet Farms.
The town’s Planning Board has floated a proposal that would induce more use of the land, with a paved access road and a bike path, and with vegetation cleared away for community events.
“We want to create a space that will allow for a variety of uses,” Michael DeLuca, the town’s community-development director, said recently.
Others oppose the proposed road, bikeway and extensive clearing, favoring instead improved hiking trails and the removal of a grassy parking area that serves overflow beachgoers in the summer.
“This is quite a remarkable piece of nature in the middle of a densely populated coastal town,” said Charles Lee, a member of the Friends of Canonchet Farms, a nonprofit group of residents that has advocated for a more passive use of the farm.
For generations, the use of the property was not in question.
The land had been a farm beginning in the 1650s when it was sold by the Narragansett Indians to English settlers as part of a large land purchase, according to James Carothers, executive director of the South County Museum, which has leased a small portion of the farm since 1985.
In the 1850s, William Sprague, the Rhode Island governor and future U.S. senator, purchased 600 acres of land near the Narragansett Pier, including the property now owned by the town. After slicing off parcels of the 600 acres for sale over the years, the Sprague family sold the rest of what it owned in the 1950s, and it was operated as a horse stable for several years.
A 1978 plan to develop the land into a park never materialized, and then a 1993 master plan recommended a more passive use.
What touched off the discussion – and ultimately the disagreement – about Canonchet Farms’ future after years of remaining mostly dormant? A 2006 proposal to build a 10-acre polo field on the property.
While the idea drew protests from residents and the Town Council soundly rejected it, the proposal stirred up interest in the property.
DeLuca said he could tell early on that coming to consensus in drafting a plan for the property wouldn’t be easy.
When the town’s parks and recreation department conducted a mail survey of 2,500 town households, the 165 responses to an open-ended question on the future of Canonchet Farms ranged from suggestions that the town leave it untouched to the town should build ball fields.
DeLuca, however, said the most common response was a request that the town improve the trails.
A special committee was assembled, and after countless public forums and meetings, it produced a report last year on which the Planning Board relied to draw up its own master plan for the farm, according to DeLuca.
The plan is now under consideration by the council.
Officials say some parts of the Planning Board’s recommendations have gained nearly unanimously approval:
• Improving the site’s existing hiking trails, which were made by Boy Scouts several years ago, and add several more.
• Allowing the South County Museum to remain on the roughly 7 acres it leases on the property.
• Clearing of invasive vegetation in several meadows to expose old stone walls, and preserving a grove of beech trees.
• Creating a linear park along the portion of the land that abuts Route 1A, otherwise known as Boston Neck Road, complete with walking paths.
Opinions vary on other aspects.
The Friends of Canonchet Farms have lobbied for the removal of two parking lots that handle cars of beachgoers when the lot at the beach is full, arguing that the lots are an environmental hazard.
DeLuca acknowledged that town officials are hesitant to eliminate the lots since they bring in about $150,000 in parking fees for the town.
Lee said his group instead supports methods of preservation and conservation, “thinning” of vegetation on the property instead of clearing. The group also objects to the proposed roadway, even though the Planning Board recommends that it be gated, and the bikeway proposed to run from nearby Sprague Park to Route 1A.
Instead, he would like to see observation platforms and boardwalks along the marshes so walkers can view the wildlife. “It would be spectacular,” he said.
The roadway, which is currently slated to encircle the South County Museum property, has officials at the museum concerned.
The museum includes a small working farm, carpentry and blacksmith shop as well as a visitor’s center and a collection of 25,000 historic items ranging from a 1921 Model T used to ferry tourists in town to a hatpin believed to be worn to Abraham Lincoln’s inaugural ball.
“The road will be so close to our property, we’re worried about the security of the collection, and the safety of our visitors,” Carothers said recently.
He also is fearful that significant clearing of the property might lead to more active uses of the site, such as athletic events that might require lighting in the future. Such changes would ruin the ambiance of the location, it’s “step back in time” feel, Carothers said.
“Why mess with it if it isn’t broken?” he said.
But DeLuca envisions not large-scale athletic events at Canonchet Farms, but kite-flying or a Civil War re-enactment.
“We want to work with the museum to make this work,” DeLuca said. •
