08/24/2008

Neighborhood of the week: Grants Mills
The rural neighborhood, carved from dense woods, is almost entirely surrounded by parks and lakes.

08/17/2008

A beautiful and unspoiled coastline on Buzzards Bay
A street lined with historic New England Capes and Colonials… A wharf busy with masts being stepped and sails hoisted beside a classic harbor… An array of inviting shops… A café with great homemade chocolate chip cookies... A harbor-front Irish tavern to try for dinner.

08/10/2008

Neighborhood of the week: Yachting Village
Eleven single-family houses were for sale in the Yachting Village last week, ranging in price from $365,000 to $795,000.

08/04/2008

SWAP tackles a commercial project
The organization Stop Wasting Abandoned Property is well on its way to completing a mixed-use commercial and rental project — SouthSide Gateways — on Broad Street in Providence.

08/03/2008

City Farm: In the city, a shining community garden
In the past 30 years, many formerly abandoned houses and buildings in upper South Providence have been reclaimed and restored. And many of these properties are on the streets surrounding the City Farm urban garden operated by the Southside Community Land Trust, which has brought its own brand of renewal to the neighborhood.

07/27/2008

Waterfront retreat offers views of Wickford Harbor
Tucked far enough away from Route 1 traffic, this North Kingstown neighborhood is perfect for families.

07/20/2008

Within a decade, many ups and downs
Gentrification became a concern in Olneyville during the housing boom of 2000 to 2005, when median real estate prices doubled in Rhode Island. Olneyville, a former industrial center of Providence’s West Side, had experienced an even more dramatic price escalation.

07/13/2008

Laurel Park is a haven between the beach and the bustle
It’s an older neighborhood in Warren with newer residents on a slope overlooking the Kickemuit River.

07/06/2008

Jamestown Shores: A summer’s amble along West Passage
Even in summer, when many of the people who use “summer” as a verb descend on Rhode Island’s shores, Jamestown is a place where it is still possible to find peace, quiet and space to think.

06/29/2008

Galilee beckons
Galilee is a center for fishing, beach tourism and transport to another state tourism center — Block Island.

06/22/2008

Spring Grove: Off the beaten path, ‘quiet and peaceful’
The area was once home to Glocester’s earliest residents.

06/15/2008

Hummocks: Between the bridges, 3 hills and waterfront
The Hummocks is a waterfront neighborhood in Portsmouth named for its hilly topography. Located just north of the Island Park neighborhood, with the Sakonnet River to the east and Blue Bill Cove to the west, it was first developed as a summer retreat by Fall River merchants, according to one longtime resident.

06/08/2008

An established, mature hideaway in bloom
After a mansion owned by John M. Dean, a Cranston furniture retailer and longtime city councilor, was destroyed by fire in 1933, his estate, which was known for its extensive gardens and apple orchards, was subdivided and sold as house lots.

06/01/2008

Plum Beach: Where residences run in the family
Many properties in this shoreline community have been in the same family for three or four generations, agents say.

05/25/2008

In Phillipsdale, shaky markets slow projects
GeoNova Development Corp. says its plans for the Phillipsdale waterfront have been put on hold because of conditions in the housing and credit markets.

05/18/2008

Avondale is home to historic houses and the oldest marina in the nation
The neighborhood is quiet and the houses are not as grand as Watch Hill.

05/11/2008

Bonnet Shores: Where living’s easy — summer and winter
There were 30 houses listed for sale last week in Bonnet Shores, with prices starting at $279,900 and peaking at $2 million.

05/04/2008

Mapleville in Burrillville is a village dominated by its textile mill past
Since 2005, when a metals recycling company, Metech, left Burrillville, taking 42 jobs with it, the old Mapleville Mills have remained vacant.

04/27/2008

Larger, upscale houses ‘are the trend’ in Barrington’s Rumstick Point
It is uncertain how the name Rumstick originated, but most stories involve the demon rum.

04/20/2008

Oaklawn in Cranston: History and a bike path run through the Victorian village
A painted sign at the entrance from Oaklawn Avenue to the historic district of Oaklawn village in Cranston is placed over a former railroad bridge and adorned with an image of a train.

04/13/2008

Coventry's Summit and Greene remain rural village centers amid development
In the western end of Coventry, Summit and Greene, both former stops for the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad, remain village centers in a rural area that has seen increasing suburban development in recent years.

04/06/2008

Newport’s the Point: A mingling of mansions, modest residences
Named for one of Newport’s founders, Nicholas Easton, and a point of land that has since eroded, Easton’s Point, more commonly known as The Point, is one of Newport’s most historic residential neighborhoods.

Spring real estate: Buyers drive up price of foreclosures
The decision to price a house so low that it appears to be a steal can appeal to the psychology of wary buyers, says Cranston real estate broker Yannee Doeur.

03/30/2008

Oakland Beach: Like the tides, this district keeps coming back
It’s a quick walk to the water from just about anywhere in the Oakland Beach section of Warwick.

03/23/2008

Wannamoisett: One of the quietest and greenest spots in East Providence
Houses in this area are the priciest in East Providence, starting at about $250,000.

03/16/2008

Shannock: Pastoral mill village straddles Charlestown, Richmond
It’s not likely that many people ever wander by mistake into Shannock, a pastoral neighborhood in Charlestown and Richmond. For outsiders, it’s not easy to find this former mill village — a National Register Historic District settled on curving, hilly, scenic roads by the Pawcatuck River.

03/09/2008

Stone Bridge: At evening tide, the living is easy
Stone Bridge in Tiverton is a neighborhood with a view. The Sakonnet River is visible from almost every street, including Highland Road, a hilltop street that runs parallel to Main Road.

03/02/2008

Layfayette: New England charm in an old mill village
Today, the sprawling farmhouse with the porch filled with rocking chairs at 751 Ten Rod Rd., in the Lafayette section of North Kingstown, is known as McKay’s Front Porch, a patio furniture retail shop. It’s also the former home of Robert Rodman, who in 1877 built a nearby woolen mill that was once the center of the village economy.

02/24/2008

New housing trend: The marriage gap
Only 41 percent of first-time homebuyers in the Ocean State were married — less than the national average.

Ashton: Renovated mill dominates the village landscape
The historic Ashton Mill has been converted into a luxury apartment complex.

02/17/2008

The Narrows: Where the water is a neighbor to all
By line of sight or in fact, residents of this Bristol neighborhood are close to the Kickemuit River and Mount Hope Bay.

02/10/2008

Greenbush: A bit rural, but ‘close to everything’
Greenbush, a suburban community in the southern end of West Warwick surrounding the Greenbush Elementary School, is near Routes 2, 4, 95, and 401, the town center of East Greenwich, and Warwick’s Cowesett neighborhood. Greenbush also borders Coventry.

02/03/2008

Neighborhood of the Week: University keeps a historic village in South Kingstown young
Were it not for the University of Rhode Island, and its 15,650 students, Kingston might be a sleepy, if historically significant, village in South Kingstown.

01/27/2008

Neighborhood of the Week: Smith Hill
Planning has already begun on Smith Hill in Providence for the annual St. Patrick’s Day parade, which is held on Smith Street every year, ending at the State House. The parade committee is chaired by Patrick Griffin, owner of Patrick’s Pub, also on Smith Street, which has sponsored the parade for the past 15 years, reviving what had been a lapsed tradition in Providence.

01/20/2008

Neighborhood of the Week: A mill village with room to grow
The Lincoln Town Council recently created a redevelopment agency for part of the mill complex called the Lonsdale Bleachery.

01/13/2008

Neighborhood of the Week: Many residents find a way back
East Providence's Kent Heights neighborhood is mostly single-family residences with a few multifamily and condo properties.

01/06/2008

Neighborhood of the Week: There’s only one way in, one way out
Separated from the rest of Warwick by Greenwich Bay, Potowomut could be mistaken for a part of East Greenwich. On land, the only way into Potowomut is through East Greenwich. From Post Road, Old Forge Road and then Ives Road form the path to this peninsula neighborhood. Sandy Point Beach is at the end of Ives Road.

12/30/2007

Neighborhood of the Week: At the intersection of Scenic and Charm
Tiverton Four Corners is a small, artsy village surrounding the intersection of East and Main roads in south Tiverton, near the border of Little Compton, a remote area in one of Rhode Island’s most remote towns.

12/23/2007

Neighborhood of the Week: Revitalization brings ‘positive buzz’ to village
Peace Dale has a mix of residents, including professors, artists, families and retirees.

12/16/2007

Neighborhood of the Week: It’s secluded, exclusive and mini-booming
Two new houses are being built in Barrington's Adams Point neighborhood — one for $3,850,000 for just the shell and mechanicals. A buyer would provide the interior.

12/09/2007

Neighborhood of the Week: Tall trees, stone walls and a pocket of quiet
A visit to the post office in Clayville, on the Scituate-Foster border, is a trip back in time.

12/02/2007

Neighborhood of the Week: Armory District mixes Victorian charm with busy eateries, markets
The Armory District/West Broadway neighborhood in Providence’s West End is known for its variety of Victorian-era architecture. Since the 1980s, as houses have been restored and rehabilitated, new exterior paint, often in bold color combinations, has announced their revival.

11/25/2007

Neighborhood of the Week: It doesn’t get more New England than this
A lunch of jonnycakes and quahog chowder, a historical cemetery, a white steepled church and a rambling general store make the charm of the Commons hard to match.

11/18/2007

A bustling community packed with heart
The neighborhood, whose main street is Mineral Spring Avenue, was named after a town in Quebec that was home to many French-Canadian immigrants.

11/11/2007

Despite market, people still buy in Eden Park
The convenience and relative affordability of the Cranston neighborhood has kept the local market active.

11/04/2007

Neighborhood of the Week: A bucolic seaside charm with few rivals anywhere
Earlier this year, actor Nicolas Cage bought a mansion on a private road that leads to a hilltop overlooking the Norman Bird Sanctuary for $15.7 million.