• 1. Where to Stay
• 2. Where to Eat
• 3. What to Do
• 4. Insider’s Tip
• 5. An Oddball Day

Norman Bird Sanctuary    (Photo: Courtesy of the Norman Bird Sanctuary)

At Norman Bird Sanctuary in Middletown, look for red-bellied woodpeckers and great horned owls as you climb to the top of 70-foot-high Hanging Rock, which yields views of the Sakonnet River to the east and Gardner Pond to the south. To the west, the gothic spires of St. George’s School rise above red- and gold-tinged maple, oak, and beech trees. After working up an appetite on the sanctuary’s seven miles of trails, stop at 100-acre Sweet Berry Farm on the way back to Newport, where you can dig into a slice of pie made from apples grown on the premises. Wash it down with coffee milk—a sweet Rhode Island specialty—from Tiverton’s Arruda Dairy, then select a potential jack-o'-lantern in the farm’s pick-your-own-pumpkin patch.

Published on October 10, 2007 as a web exclusive.