Above is a map of the Big River Management Area. Notice that Big River lies in a bend of Route 95; much of Big River is south and east of Route 95.
Is it just a coincidence that Big River is in a bend of the highway? Did the builders of the highway make a bend to avoid the river? It’s not a big river, despite its name, but it seems to have a flood plain and marshy land around it, creating problems for highway-builders. The Big River isn’t scenic because it’s hidden by undergrowth.
The Big River Management Area was intended, at one time, to be the site of a reservoir. Could this be the reason for the bend in the highway? Click here for an article in the Providence Journal about hiking in Big River; the article is by John Kostrzewa, and was published in 2021.
Kostrzewa says, “The reservoir plans called for excavating 90 cemeteries and moving more than 700 graves to a new cemetery.” So if you walk in Big River, expect to see old cemeteries (as well as old foundations). Kostrzewa says that, in the 1960s, many houses were taken by eminent domain and razed. But the only foundations I saw were much older.
Big River is popular with mountain-bikers. It has an abundance of trails, so it can be confusing on a first visit; Kostrzewa speaks of, “a spaghetti-like tangle of paths.”
Below is a 4-mile route in Big River. About one mile west of my parking spot, the Nooseneck River meets the Congdon River, forming the Big River, which flows north and joins the Flat River. (Kostrzewa says that Big River flows north to “Johnson’s Pond,” also known as the Flat River Reservoir. The Flat River Reservoir seems to be a chain of ponds/reservoirs in Coventry RI.)
Big River is 8600 acres, about 85% in West Greenwich, about 15% in Coventry. Big River has lots of NativeAmerican stone-work. Click here for information about plants in Big River.
Below is a map of RhodeIsland towns.
