Where Inspiration Finds Root

I love Rhode Island for its scale. It's small enough to cross in an afternoon and varied enough to feel like many places at once. Little Compton, one of my favorite corners, gathers all of this into a calm and confident stretch by the sea. The roads curve, meandering through the land without a single traffic light. Stone walls trace the horizon. Shingled cottages fade to silver beside brambly, salt-heavy pines.

 

In summer, the town opens up. Artist studio days invite you into barns and workshops, where the work reflects both the maker and the landscape.

Take a Tour of Sakonnet Garden

At Sakonnet Garden, decades of care and curiosity have created a series of green rooms, each with its own distinct climate. You wander along winding paths, coming across unexpected plant pairings that shift with the season—a hidden world shaped with both whimsy and precision.

Swim or watch the surfers at the Town Landing

A rock engraving at the Town Landing promises the rocky shoreline will be forever free and accessible. South Shore beach holds all the geographies at once: marsh to one side, ocean to the other, sand, rock, and shell underfoot. You can float, take a surf lesson, or watch the sun fade while eating mussels, steamed beachside.

“It is my express desire that this tract of land shall not be commercialized but shall always be used for recreational purposes, free to all.” 

Explore the roadside stands

Roadside stands, like Greenwood Chicken, in front of houses line the drive home, lush with fresh vegetables, cut flowers, eggs in muted blues and browns, and stacked wood. Payment is an honor box and a handwritten sign.

Pick up pre-ordered plants at Issima

No trip to Little Compton is complete without picking up a pre-ordered plant at Issima, where each one feels less like a houseplant and more like a magical botanical creature.

I come here to reset. In Little Compton, restraint isn’t the absence of design; it’s the evidence of it.