Category: Stillhouse Blog Page 1 of 4

On June 24, 2025, Save the Bay’s Executive Director Topher Hamblett and Restoration Coordinator Wenley Ferguson hosted a site visit to Stillhouse Cove by  members of the national board of Restoring America’s Estuaries who were visiting Rhode Island  for their national conference.  

Members of the group from Texas, San Francisco, Maryland, North Carolina, Long Island, and other distant coastal communities learned about the decades- long collaborative effort of EWPA and STB to preserve Stillhouse Cove’s salt marsh and improve the water quality of Narragansett Bay.

Senator Lammis J. Vargas met with members of the Edgewood Waterfront Preservation Association board on June 25, 2025 to present a RI Senate grant to support their work at Stillhouse Cove.

American beach grass (Ammophila breviligulata) helps preserve the sandy areas that guard the salt marsh at Stillhouse Cove. Erstwhile members of the EWPA board, Donna Fieldman, Greta Francis, and Colin Murphy and former board member Joe Cooney, recently planted 200 “plugs” of beach grass in an exposed area near Strathmore Place. These will have to be nurtured and watered during the coming summer to turn into established plants such as those pictured above.

THE INFILTRATION AREA ON NARRAGANSETT BLVD., BELOW THE TROLLEY MONUMENT, POSES CONSTANT CHALLENGES.

Because of its steep banks, it very difficult to maintain the grass on the area. In an experiment, the EWPA just planted several plugs of special drought resistant Zoysia grass. We will monitor their survival in the coming months.

When friends view Tom Wojick’s spectacular photos of bird life, they imagine them taken in South County or some other exotic locale. But no, these were all shot right here in Stillhouse Cove. You can find Tom’s best images at https://www.heartofresiliency.com/wildlife.

Every Friday morning for the last six weeks, approximately 40 Cranston school kids from all over the city (grades K -6) came to Stillhouse Cove as part of a the Cranston Parks and Recreation Department’s summer STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics) camp program. Their teachers used the Cove as a laboratory regarding local ecology. EWPA’s Barbara Rubine and Donna Fieldman explained the challenges that erosion poses to the marsh and park and highlighted the different ways the problem is addressed at this location.

On July 26, two educators from Mystic Aquarium led the group in collecting and analyzing samples from the marsh and cove. This is the fourth consecutive year that Stillhouse Cove has hosted a STEM program.

July, 2024: Hibiscus Moscheutos is a cold-hardy perennial wetland plant that can grow in large colonies.

On June 29, 2004 several hardy volunteers addressed the damage in Stillhouse Cove Park caused by the storms of the previous week.

DATELINE MAY, 2024. Once again, the beautifully landscaped rotary at the end of Narragansett Blvd. ( managed by EWPA) has been abused by trucks and even a pedestrian.