Rhode Island waterfall visits

Compare 4 Rhode Island waterfall visits by the approach, terrain, and where to start. Some routes have closures or unresolved details; read the individual guide before travelling.

4 visit options

Conservation area trail and parking documented

Rhode Island

Cascade Brook Falls

Short loop; the conservation area has about one mile of trail

Cascade Brook Falls is a 12-foot horsetail and plunge falls off a broad mossy ledge in the 27-acre Ken Weber Conservation Area in Smithfield. The area and its trail were set up by Ken and Bettie Weber. From the parking at the end of the paved road, follow the conservation area trail to the falls on Cascade Brook and return on the loop.

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Location map; no photo available.

Partial guide: roadside view of a dam spillway; parking and listing match not confirmed

Rhode Island

Ponogansett Falls

Roadside; no walk

Ponaganset Falls is a man-made cascade where the Ponaganset River pours over the dam at the southeast end of Barden Reservoir, on Hemlock Road in Clayville. The falls can be seen from the road. This partial guide relies on one travel article: no parking area is described, the land around the reservoir is not described as open to visitors, and this listing's match to the named dam is probable, not confirmed by coordinates. View from the road only.

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Location map; no photo available.

Short path from a parking area on Falls River Road

Rhode Island

Stepstone Falls

About a hundred feet from the parking area

Stepstone Falls is a series of ledge drops totaling about 10 feet on the Wood River in Arcadia Management Area. From RI-165 west, turn right on Escoheag Hill Road, go 2.4 miles, then turn right on gravel Falls River Road and follow it 0.6 mile to parking on the right just before the bridge over the Wood River. Follow the obvious path downstream about a hundred feet to the falls. The falls are partly natural and partly the result of old quarrying. They can also be reached on the longer Ben Utter Trail.

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Location map; no photo available.

Marked preserve trail from the Snuff Mill Road trailhead

Rhode Island

The Falls

Short walk on the Pettaquamscutt Trail, which the trail map lists as 0.5 miles in all; no distance to the falls is published

The Falls is a small set of natural cascades in the shared trail system of the Benson Preserve (Narrow River Land Trust) and the King Preserve (The Nature Conservancy) in North Kingstown. From the small parking lot at the Benson Preserve trailhead on Snuff Mill Road, follow the white-blazed Pettaquamscutt Trail south. The trail map marks The Falls on the Pettaquamscutt Trail where the short Falls Connector leads east to the yellow Stoney Brook Loop. Return the same way, or continue on the Pettaquamscutt Trail past Spruce Row toward the Narrow River.

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Location map; no photo available.

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