Adventures with Four Legs

Fall is a perfect time to explore the Blackstone River Valley and checking out just a few of the scenic spots in this heritage area is a great way to spend a day with a little bit of driving and a lot of great walking. We picked a perfect Saturday in October for this particular adventure and the foliage was turning into the most beautful fall shades. As a bonus, we found some really great barbecue and spent time in unexpected beauty.

Plus, the great thing about the Blackstone River Valley is that it covers a huge portion of Rhode Island and Massachusetts and while you could check out the places we visited, you could have an entirely different adventure with your pup!

We started our adventure in Woonsocket (which we haven’t spent much time in since moving to Rhode Island) and ended the day in Uxbridge (at a gorgeous historic farm), covering an area less than 10 miles north to south. This is only 20% of the 48 mile length of the Blackstone Rivery Valley and there is so much more to explore than we could fit in one day.

Woonsocket: Historic Train Station and River Scenery

Woonsocket is a small city at the northern edge of Rhode Island, adjacent to Massachusetts. This is a perfect place to start exploring the Blackstone River Valley. We parked near the Museum of Work and Culture and explored downtown, checking out the River Island Art Park, views of the Blackstone River, and the historic Providence & Worcester Railroad Station (pictured above).

There is a lot of gorgeous historic architecture in downtown Woonsocket. While a number of buildlings are vacant, there is a lot of potential and possibility in Woonsocket. And the river views were worth the visit alone!

Lunch at Goodstuff Smokehouse and Southern New England Trunkline Trail

We planned to head north for a good walk on the Blackstone River Valley Bikeway and looked for a place with outdoor dining to grab lunch. We found the Goodstuff Smokehouse and ordered what turned out to be absolutely delicious barbecue (this is on the list of places we will definitely return too!). We plannned to eat at the restaurant but ended up going over to the parking area for the Blackstone River Greenway parking area. This ended up being a perfect place to eat lunch as we were able to take a short walk along the Southern New England Trunkline Trail. This pathway was wide, well-maintained and featured gorgeous foliage and views of the Blackstone River.

Choosing to have lunch here instead of staying at the Goodstuff Smokehouse was an spur of the moment choice and was absolutely the right decision. After walking off some of the incredibly good barbecue, we headed off to the next stop on our Blackstone River tour to visit the Blackstone Gorge.

Blackstone Gorge

This is probably the location we ended up spending the least amount of time at, mostly because we ended up not hiking here. That said, it was absolutely worth a stop here to check out the gorge and read the wayfinding signage on the history of the location.

This is a stop that we may revisit when we’re interested in hiking the area but for this tour, it was a quick stop as we had other areas we wanted to explore.

River Bend Farm

River Bend Farm is a scenic public space in Uxbridge, Massachusetts with gorgeous historic farm buildngs and lovely walking paths. We ended up spending a good amount of time exploring this site as there were a number of different pathways to explore.

According to the website, there is over a 1,000 acres to explore so while we didn’t explore all of the grounds, we really enjoyed what we were able to see.

Choose Your Own Adventure

The Blackstone River Valley is huge and stretches through much of Rhode Island and Massachusetts. We spent the day exploring only a few spots and will probably create another day trip with different spots the next we go. If you’re looking for dog-friendly adventures, there are a lot of historic spots, parks, and trails to explore with your four-legged friend.