Bristol Ferry - August 24, 2024

Heading out under the Mount Hope Bridge

Usually a warm summer weekend will find me on one of several dam-release rivers around New England with my whitewater canoe. This summer I have been trying to get out more in my sea kayak, so when I saw that Tony had a Level 2 sea kayak trip scheduled at Bristol Ferry in Portsmouth I decided to join. He described it as a “real” Level 2 - about 6-miles in mild conditions. There were 6 sites we would visit - Bertha K. Russell Preserve, Mount Hope Bridge, a small saltwater inlet, a large triangular pier, a tiny waterfall and a coastal skyscraper.

I met Tony, Mike and Don at 10:30 at Bristol Ferry Town Common, a.k.a. Mount Hope Park. Before the completion of the Mount Hope Bridge, this was the site of a ferry between Portsmouth and Bristol. We would be paddling in Mount Hope Bay – an estuary at the mouth of the Taunton River that flows into the East Passage of Narragansett Bay and the Sakonnet River.

Founders Brook against the tide

High tide was 12:29. Forecast was winds out of the west around 5 kt, becoming south in the afternoon with waves 1-foot or less. We put-in and headed out under the shadow of the Mount Hope Bridge. Completed in 1929, the Mount Hope Bridge is one of three bridges crossing Mount Hope Bay – the Sakonnet River Bridge to the southeast, the Charles M. Braga Jr. Memorial Bridge to the north, and the Mount Hope Bridge to the southwest.

The Mount Hope Bridge connecting Portsmouth and Bristol is a 6,130-foot suspension bridge with a main span of 1,200 feet between piers. The deck is supported by two massive cables, each eleven inches in diameter, and 2,020-miles of wire. The Mount Hope Bridge was the first bridge not to be painted black. It was painted green to better fit into the surrounding scenery.

Hog Island Shoals Light

We headed east to the Bertha K. Russell Preserve. With the tide coming in, there was a strong current running down Founders Brook, where Anne Hutchinson and the founders of Portsmouth came ashore after signing the Portsmouth Compact of 1638. This was the first document in American history that severed both political and religious ties with England. It was easy to get down the brook, but a little more challenging to paddle back out against the current.

Then we headed west under the Mount Hope Bridge and along the beach to a small saltwater inlet with great views of the Mount Hope Bridge and the Hog Island Shoals Lighthouse. The Hog Island Shoals Lighthouse was built in 1901 to protect ships from the rocky shoals around Hog Island. The lighthouse is now privately owned and the property is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Portsmouth Station

From there we continued west to explore an old wooden pier and small waterfall before taking a break for lunch at the beach. There were lots of boats out on Mount Hope Bay, and we had great views of Bristol Harbor and Hog Island.

After lunch we continued west out into the East Passage and down to the Carnegie Abbey Tower condominiums. This 22-story high-rise seems out of place in otherwise suburban Portsmouth. The complex is built on the site of the Kaiser Aluminum plant that fabricated aluminum and copper wire in the 1960’s and 1970’s. When that industrial complex was demolished in the 1990’s, this residential development was allowed to replace it at the same size and height.

Sailboats under the bridge

We paddled into the marina that was part of the original Portsmouth Station. Built in 1855, Portsmouth Station was a critical piece of Rhode Island’s coal mining industry. In the early 19th century this area was the center of a vast network of mines crisscrossing the northeast of Aquidneck Island.

From there we headed back in light winds and easy waves to the put-in. Tony said my kayak stroke was looking more “kayaky” compared to the vertical, canoe-style stroke that I had when I paddled tandem with him at Fort Wetherill back in 2018. I took that as a compliment. We had a nice flotilla of sailboats come through just as we were leaving. 

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