The Jamestown Press reported that the Jamestown Town Council unanimously adopted the wording "Presents Fort Getty first as a park" on June 29, 2026. It came from the ad hoc committee that had spent months studying the town's 41-acre property on the west side of the island. Committee members were concerned that most information about Fort Getty online presented it as an RV park. They wanted it described as a place that "encompasses open space, water access, a campground, boating, fishing and a wide range of active and passive recreation."
That wording now describes the calendar as much as the land. The town's RV page says Fort Getty is closed for camping, and the 2027 waitlist opens October 1, 2026. Over the next seven months, the park is at its most open for residents. It's also the only time the town can take apart the things summer depends on. Everything happening at Fort Getty this fall ties back to that one decision about what the place is.
The Rules Change When the Season Does
The quickest way to see the shift is to look at the rules. The Jamestown Press reported the dog rules in 2024. Unleashed dogs were allowed at Fort Getty at any time from October through May 15. During the season, off-leash hours were limited to 7 to 11 a.m. and 3 to 7 p.m.
| Summer season | Off-season | |
|---|---|---|
| Off-leash dogs, as reported in 2024 | 7–11 a.m. and 3–7 p.m. | Any time, October through May 15 |
| RV and tent camping | Open | Closed |
| Nonresident parking and launch fees | Apply during summer months | Summer-only, per the town |
| Posted park hours | 7 a.m.–10 p.m. | 7 a.m.–10 p.m. |
The town lists a public boat ramp and dock at Fort Getty. It says nonresident parking and boat-launch fees, along with the resident beach sticker requirement, apply in the summer months. It doesn't publish the exact date when those fees end. The walking side of the park is older and harder to date. A Jamestown Press feature from 2010 described Fort Getty as open to hikers year-round at no charge. It covered the Kit Wright Nature Trail, a wildlife-viewing platform, views across Fox Hill Marsh, and osprey, herons, egrets and ducks. The trail and the marsh are still there. The town's current pages list the 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. hours but don't restate the year-round trail policy. For the latest details, check with Parks and Recreation.
A Year-Round Building Arrives This Fall
The Jamestown Press reported that, until now, the Conanicut Island Sailing Foundation taught from tents and trailers in the park. The foundation broke ground on a permanent campus last October. The campus now has two buildings totaling 3,550 square feet, built for year-round marine education. Executive director Meg Myles hopes to open by Thanksgiving, and the Press headline puts the target at December. Classes could start within the next couple of months.
The details show what a heated building makes possible. Union Studio designed the 2,320-square-foot education building with mechanized panels. The panels can divide the room so more than one class meets at once, or open it up for a large group. The foundation gave up a second office to make room for a bigger wet lab. It added a kitchenette with a back patio for its foraging class. Myles told the Jamestown Press, "the kids will go and collect periwinkles and things like that, and then they'll cook them." An 8-foot aquarium will anchor the entry. A rack system that controls both salinity and temperature replaces the smaller tanks the foundation kept in a rented trailer, which cost about $650 a month to heat. A separate 1,230-square-foot workshop has garage doors. Out back, a rain cistern feeds a rain garden.
Myles is most excited about something simple. She told the Jamestown Press, "To have a facility where we can put a screen up and run a slideshow, and a speaker could come in and give a talk," and added, "We haven't had any of that before." The foundation hopes to run adult programs. The seventh grade at Lawn School has already reached out. Outreach coordinator Cam Chadronet, who was one of the foundation's early campers, sees room to work with Save The Bay on raising vulnerable species for release.
For most of its history, Fort Getty's public programming followed the camping season. This building doesn't.
The Work That Needs an Empty Park
The lower bathroom work shows why the town schedules its projects around the season. The Jamestown Press reported that the building is 660 square feet. It went up in 1910 to house gas-powered generators during World War I. In early September, the council voted unanimously to spend $275,000 to renovate it. Town Administrator Ed Mello told the Jamestown Press the job was "a complete rebuild," meaning the outside, the roof and "a complete gut inside, out to the walls."
The town also looked at building a new 936-square-foot facility just to the north, estimated at $795,600. That option would have needed approval from both the Department of Environmental Management and the Coastal Resources Management Council. Renovating the existing building avoids that permitting process and costs nearly half a million dollars less. According to the Press, work started the week of September 21, with crews stripping paint from the exterior and repointing it.
The RV electrical upgrade follows the same seasonal logic on a longer timeline. According to the Jamestown Press, voters approved a $500,000 bond in 2025 to install pedestals at all 62 sites. The estimate now stands at $875,000. Mello told the Jamestown Press that metal, copper and construction labor costs "skyrocketed over the last three years." He wants the work done in the off-season. He told the Jamestown Press, "We would have to close the park for a summer, which naturally we would try to avoid doing for a lot of reasons." He also said the work won't happen this winter, and the Press reported it probably won't take place until the winter of 2028–29.
The numbers behind the upgrade are straightforward. Right now the town pays about $30,000 a year to power the campers. Individual pedestals would let it meter each site and bill campers after the season ends. Individual water spigots would cost about $30,000 to install and save the town about $10,000 a year. With $595,000 left in the Fort Getty account, the electric and water work falls $310,000 short. Mello named two ways to close the gap. One is his fiscal 2028 capital plan, which goes to the 2027 financial town meeting. The other is a bond referendum.
One Night When the RV Park Becomes a Street
Fright Night uses the park's empty stretch for a single evening. Fright Night VI takes over Fort Getty on Saturday, October 24, 2026, from 4 to 8 p.m. The rain date is Sunday, October 25. According to the town, more than 1,800 people came last year. The lineup so far:
- Live music from Purple Honey
- Carnival games
- "Halloween Town," a trick-or-treat route through the haunted RV park
- A bonfire
- Food trucks, still to be announced
The sites that hold campers all summer become a trick-or-treat route for one evening.
What the Committee Wants the Quiet Months to Build
According to the Jamestown Press, the ad hoc committee submitted a 55-page final report on June 15. It came out of 17 meetings and input from nearly 1,100 residents, and it made 16 recommendations. Among them were extending trails, better access to the historic batteries along with interpretation of them, restrooms near the boat ramp, upgraded water lines, and moving tent camping closer to the gatehouse. The committee also recommended cutting the RV park from 75 sites to 62 and managing invasive species.
The Jamestown Press also reported that, at the June 29 meeting, the council adopted the committee's guiding principles. One of them reads "let revenue serve the park, not drive it." The council also backed a vegetation plan to replace invasive species with native plantings. Councilwoman Mary Meagher pointed out that the accessibility standards include making part of the Kit Wright Trail accessible. The council also adopted the recommendation to assess and interpret historic assets, possibly with the Jamestown Historical Society. Meagher called that "one of the gems of this report." Council vice president Erik Brine spoke about Batteries Tousard and Whiting. "I definitely want to uncover those things," he said, and he added that the park shouldn't become "a historic site that we can't do anything else with."
The council held off on the biggest question. It directed Mello to develop a budget for a 62-site RV park with improved water and electrical service, which is 13 fewer sites than today. The Jamestown Press reported that the council tabled another request on September 8. In an August 19 memo, the harbor commission had asked for five trailer spaces near the Fort Getty pier, set aside for the aquafarming tenants who keep boats at the dock. The commission said "adverse weather events can come upon us quickly" and that having trailers on site would let those tenants haul out before storms. Mello said the council needed to understand the revenue question and how the space could be used before it decided.
So this fall at Fort Getty, the sailing foundation is finishing a year-round building, crews are gutting a 1910 generator house down to the walls, and the RV sites will fill with trick-or-treaters on October 24.
If you're weighing a home near the island's west-side open space, or thinking about how Fort Getty's next chapter might shape your street, ONE Residential offers private, unhurried conversations grounded in close attention to Jamestown. Request a Private Consultation.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
