Entry No. 3 — the Providence file — filed under: shipwrecks
Green Jacket Shoal Ship Graveyard at Bold Point Park
URI marine archaeologist David Robinson has mapped 29 wrecks across 33 acres of shoal just off Bold Point: 17 scow barges, four sailing ships, three harbor steamers, a schooner barge, and two Victorian excursion sidewheelers — the 193-foot Mount Hope and 182-foot Bay Queen — that once hauled day-trippers to Newport and Block Island. At low tide their ribs and dock pilings break the surface a stone's throw from shore, with the downtown Providence skyline lined up behind them. It is Rhode Island's largest ship graveyard, and Bold Point Park makes it a legal spectator sport: free, public, and open to anyone holding a tide chart. Providence River Boat Company also runs a narrated tour of the shoal out of 101 Dyer Street if you'd rather float over the bones than squint from the seawall.
→ Three more weird outdoor & roadside oddities in Providence — never the same twice
The story
Green Jacket Shoal — named for the eel grass that once coated it — is 33 acres of shallow water where the Seekonk meets Providence Harbor, between India Point and Bold Point. On it lies Rhode Island's largest ship graveyard: 29 vessels by the count of URI marine archaeologist David Robinson, who surveyed the shoal in November 2015, documented 26 wrecks, and had revised the tally to 29 by 2018. The inventory runs to 17 scow barges, four sailing ships, three harbor steamers, two steam or diesel boats, a schooner barge, and two Victorian sidewheel steamers, all lying a stone's throw from shore.
The sidewheelers are the celebrities. The 182-foot Bay Queen worked Narragansett Bay for 37 years, from 1865 to 1902, hauling excursion crowds to attractions like Rocky Point; the 193-foot Mount Hope carried day-trippers between Providence, Newport, and Block Island. That they died here is no accident: Bold Point held the Providence Dry Dock & Marine Railway Company, the harbor's main ship-repair yard from 1884 to 1919, with two patent slips and the first floating dry dock in Narragansett Bay. When a vessel stopped paying, an owner could strip what was valuable at the yard and leave the rest on the mud next door — a convenience that, wreck by wreck, built a graveyard.
The state eventually formalized what the tides had preserved: a 2018 designation drew a restricted perimeter around the wrecks and authorized law enforcement to protect them. Bold Point Park, free and public on the East Providence side, is the legal grandstand — at low tide, ribs, pilings, and paddlewheel-era remains break the surface with the downtown skyline lined up behind them — and Providence River Boat Company runs a narrated Green Jacket Shoal tour out of 101 Dyer Street for anyone who would rather float over the bones.
What it's like
Everything depends on the tide chart. Arrive near dead low and the shoal reads as a boneyard — ribs, keel lines, and dock pilings breaking the surface just off the seawall; arrive at high water and you'll see a river and three sticks. Park free at Bold Point Park off Veterans Memorial Parkway, bring binoculars, and work the shoreline until the two big sidewheeler silhouettes separate themselves from the barge skeletons. It's an unstaffed public park: no fees, no hours drama, no interpretation beyond what you brought with you. The wrecks sit inside a protected perimeter, so look and photograph but pry nothing loose. The narrated boat tour runs seasonally from downtown if you'd rather have the history told to you with the skyline going by.
The move: Check the tide table, land at Bold Point an hour before dead low with coffee and binoculars, pick out the two steamboats from the barge skeletons, then stay while the skyline lights up across the water.
📍 Before you go Free parking at Bold Point Park. Timing is everything: at high tide you'll see water and three pilings, so aim for low tide. The wrecks are documented archaeological sites — look and photograph, don't pry anything loose. The riverboat tour runs seasonally; book ahead.
- 📍 East Providence
- 💸 Free
- ⚡ Up for anything
- 🌗 Outdoors
Where: Pier Road (off Veterans Memorial Parkway), East Providence, RI 02914
Hours: Added 2026-08-25 — confirm current hours before you go.
Pair it with
- Crook Point Bascule Bridge (the "Stuck-Up Bridge") — The Stuck-Up Bridge is a few minutes north along the same riverbank, so one drive covers both of the city's monuments to productive neglect.
- Ladd Observatory — Cross the river to College Hill after sunset and, on a clear in-season Tuesday, finish at the free 1891 telescope — from drowned Victorian machinery to working Victorian machinery in one evening.
- Lovecraft Arts & Sciences (Weird Providence) — The boat tour docks at 101 Dyer Street, a short walk from the Arcade, where the weird-fiction shop supplies exactly the right reading for a drowned-ships afternoon.
More weird in Providence
Good to know
When exactly should I go?
Pull a tide chart for Providence and plan to arrive about an hour before low tide — that's when the most wreckage clears the surface. A late-day low is the jackpot: bones in front, lit skyline behind. At high tide there is essentially nothing to see.
What does it cost?
Nothing from shore — Bold Point Park is public with free parking. The only paid option is Providence River Boat Company's narrated Green Jacket Shoal tour, which runs seasonally from 101 Dyer Street downtown; book ahead.
Can I take a piece of a wreck?
No. The wrecks are documented archaeological sites inside a restricted perimeter the state designated in 2018, with law enforcement explicitly authorized to protect them. Photograph anything; pocket nothing.
Which ships will I actually be able to identify?
The two sidewheel steamers — the 193-foot Mount Hope and the 182-foot Bay Queen — are the largest and most recognizable. Most of the rest are scow barges reduced to ribs and outlines, which is where low tide and binoculars earn their keep.
Can I see it by kayak?
The shoal is best viewed by boat or at low tide, and paddlers do drift over the site — the water is shallow and close to shore. Stay off the wrecks themselves and treat the protected perimeter as look-don't-touch.
Plan a visit & invite your people →
Further reading: tourblackstone.com · Wikipedia · providenceriverboat.com
last checked: 2026-08-25