Ninigret National Wildlife Refuge

Location: Charlestown, RI

Ninigret is an old airport used during World War II for flight training. They've torn up most of the asphalt runways and taxi strips in order to promote natural reclamation, but it's still an historically interesting place as well as naturally quite beautiful.

There are crushed stone walking paths around the perimeter of the refuge, overlooking the bay and meadows full of wildflowers. As we walked out to Grassy Point we saw a group of kids wading in the bay, trying to catch some crabs or clams.

The walking here is very easy -- all the better to look at your surroundings, rather than at your feet.