Advice regarding Westerly

Submitted by PinkSwallowLove t3_10hv6nx in RhodeIsland

Westerly to me is this mystical, magical, geographically isolated, countercultural, blast to the 70’s past (in a good way), little town. It’s like the promised land.

Although I spent pretty much all of my 22 years of life in the dry, semi-arid coast of California, I decided to trade in my Mediterranean climate sunshine for the humid continental variety of tough and gruff Rhode Island.

I ragtagged my way clumsily from odd job to odd job through the cities of West Warwick, Central Falls, Pawtucket, Providence and even neighboring Fall River, MA.

Finally, I found a stable part time job in Newport, RI, where I have been since the late summer of 2022.

However, I have taken several trips to Westerly (the actual town, the core, the downtown, you could say, not the affluent coastal areas like Watch Hill) and I absolutely love it. It has the endearing charm of Newport but without the pervasive old money-classism-vapid wannabe posh materialism-pretentious NIMBY central vibes of Newport. Not to say that Westerly is completely without problems, but every time I go to Westerly, it feels like a breath of fresh air.

Because of its geographic isolation, it seems to have cultivated its own personality and identity. When I step foot in Westerly, it is like a Time Capsule taking you back to the 70’s, Westerly has this classic, somewhat countercultural, rustic, quirky, working class, homely vibe. It feels like home, it feels like a little piece of the live-and-let-live hippie vibes of the West Coast transplanted on the comparatively neurotic East Coast. I have fallen in love with Westerly. I would love to live there and call it home, to volunteer and give it as much time and energy to helping out the community. But where do I begin?

Because of its geographic isolation, the Westerly community does seem rather difficult to break in to. Trying to find a room for rent in Westerly has proved difficult since there are very few online advertisements, they are rather scarce. Which leads me to think that in person word of mouth may be somewhat of a viable strategy for finding a room for rent in Westerly.

I have applied to jobs in Westerly and nearby southeastern CT (Mystic, Stonington, Pawcatuck, even Groton) and I have had some call backs about scheduling interviews but then that leaves me with the dilemma of if I should keep the job I have in Newport and accept another part time job in the Westerly area and just commute back and forth since I don’t have housing figured out in Westerly yet or if I should quit my current job (which admittedly, I do love) and accept either two part time jobs or a single full time in Westerly and stick with the (less than ideal but better than nothing) living situation here in Newport. I don’t know, to be honest. What do you think I should do? What can I do to move to Westerly and to sustain myself there? Any tips, advice, criticism, suggestions are welcome and appreciated immensely.

20

Comments

You must log in or register to comment.

Familiar-Ending t1_j5at11o wrote

Lol I don’t understand your Westerly geographical isolation analogy. Newport part of an actual island.

20

PinkSwallowLove OP t1_j5awgm8 wrote

I should clarify, Westerly seems to be distant from the more populous urban areas in Rhode Island and socioeconomically and culturally more integrated with the southeastern CT communities.

I should also have made it clear that I am writing from a public transportation perspective since I don’t drive, and my observation has been that southern Rhode Island seems poorly connected with itself.

There are frequent buses that take you from Newport to Providence every day of the week, for example, and the bus system coverage (while definitely nowhere near perfect at all and has a long way to improve) is decent enough throughout and within the Providence metro area (Pawtucket to Prov, or Warwick to Prov, etc). Going in the north-south direction from Newport to Providence is not that bad. Going in the east west direction from Newport to Westerly is far worse because there just isn’t enough public transit options to take you directly there. You’d have to go through Providence (via bus or a mix of bus and train) to get from Newport to Westerly for the fastest route. There just doesn’t seem to be an integrated bus line that takes you directly through Newport-Jamestown-SK-Charlestown-Westerly. I guess what I am trying to say is commuting within the populous eastern RI corridor (even from its southern extremity in Newport to the northern reaches of Providence) is much easier than commuting from eastern RI to Western/southwestern RI via public transportation.

3

moreobviousthings t1_j5bio4o wrote

While I live in Westerly, I do spend far more time in Pawcatuck, Stonington and Mystic than I do in RI outside of Westerly. So I agree with your observation that Westerly is more connected to CT than to RI. CT operates a bus under SEAT that serves the area up to Pawcatuck, but I know nothing more about it.

16

Peach_enby t1_j5b4pkr wrote

Yea, public transport in rural areas sucks, welcome to America? Also welcome to towns on a state border lol?

2

SeanRobertsFerngully t1_j5bqa0h wrote

There's not much reason to public transport to Charlestown, richmond, Hopkinson etc if you don't live there or are visiting someone. I'll golf down there from time to time but have never found myself heading there to try out a restaurant or bar or what not. I used to work in westerly per diem but don't often go down there. I honestly go to mystic more as there's more to do and it's faster than getting off exit one and getting stuck behind someone going slightly below the speed limit on RT 3

2

TzarKazm t1_j5avdho wrote

You might want to check out Bristol/warren. Similar features, more housing, can easily commute to Newport.

19

_CaesarAugustus_ t1_j5bry24 wrote

Bingo. That was going to be my recommendation. Great food and breweries up there to boot.

5

GossamerGlenn t1_j5bsokg wrote

Those are not hippies they are crackheads

17

_CaesarAugustus_ t1_j5brwbl wrote

I love your Bourdain-like sense of whimsy in this post. Just wanted to share that.

15

Double_Farmer_2662 t1_j5cx7wy wrote

I lived in CT but worked in westerly for 5 years! It’s definitely more connected to CT then the rest of RI. I live in Providence now and it’s sooo different than the SECT/Westerly culture.

It’s going to be hard to get around without a car. There are some grocery stores, and tons of big box stores, but they aren’t super close to downtown, and it would be hard to carry like supplies from HD back. They do have the Amtrak station which is nice, so if you got a job even in mystic or NL, you have the train you can take.

Mystic and Westerly were my going out places with friends. It does get crowded with beach traffic in the summer, but if you’re not driving you’ll be fine!

It’s a cute town, with tons of shops, restaurants and fun, and if you go a couple miles out it’ll be quiet and rural, and then a couple mile bike ride to the beach also.

I’m not sure what field you work in, but that corner of RI and CT doesn’t have quite the industries and business as more populated areas. Certain fields it might be hard to find work in, and I’m not sure how much apartments cost there.

7

flyingthrghhconcrete t1_j5d4bbp wrote

You nailed it with the 1970s analogy, but not in the way you think. It's hard to get into on purpose because the people there aren't great with change. Notice no Starbucks?....guess who owns local coffee shops (rhymes with "down tonsilmen")

They outlawed food trucks during their boom a few years ago because another tonsilmen owned an ice cream shop and didnt want competition.

We used to joke it was the "Westerly Shore" after the Jersey Shore show because that Italian American bravado was so hardcore in the summer. I worked at the Beach a lot of summers, things get weird.

Definitely some good people and outliers. The locals have a hard exterior because the town transforms into a tourist trap every summer and totally changes. People from actual Jersey and NY summering there tend to wear local patience thin come Labor Day.

6

moreobviousthings t1_j5bhc1y wrote

If you can find housing and employment in the core area, you could mostly get by without a car. A bicycle or scooter would help a lot, I think. It's unfortunate that we don't have at least a local loop to serve the main commercial areas.

5

kolchak-the-elder t1_j5em0az wrote

I was born in westerly 56 years ago and still have a place there. It is not the town it was 50 years ago - in the summer there is a huge influx of tourists from New York. There is a big tax base due to the multi million dollar summer homes of various hedge fund types. This keeps the property tax rate low - but in spite of this investment in the school system is well below par. Aside from service jobs - most of the highly skilled work dried up do to corporate flight to lower cost geographies. This has been replaced by an influx of more transient workers attacked by the casinos.

In short a great town if you are wealthy and like the beaches - otherwise real career opportunities are limited - the middle class has been squeezed out

3

GossamerGlenn t1_j5fq1xo wrote

It’s wild the random people who have ended up here. I met and was talking to rambling jack elliot once within ten years mentioned where I was from. Dropped watch hill as an extra piece not expecting him to know. I forget the time period but it was a long time ago since he’s in his 80s or 90s but he says something along the lines of “o yea Iv been there before Big waves”! It blew me away. Also he’s a bit of a traditional folk singer having traveled along with woody Guthrie and later becoming friends with a young Bob Dylan in the early 60s NYC scene

1

koidrieyez t1_j5bl6av wrote

Westerly is nice. It has a little bit of everything, from the big box stores to the little shops and restaurants in Watch Hill.

2

mrsisaak t1_j5crys2 wrote

Interesting. I'm from Westerly but live in CA now. I was there last month and talking to someone who was renting a room downtown above the shops. If you're really interested, you could take a wander downtown and ask around.

2

GlotzbachsToast t1_j5ehn8p wrote

I live in-and love-Westerly. We have been here 2 years in an apartment close to downtown (our neighbors just moved btw so I know one apartment that may be advertised soon!) and have found a great sense of community here. I work in Narragansett and I’ll be honest, the commute blows. It would not be easy to commute daily around here without a car and even with a car it’s a drag—by Rhode Island Standards of course. 40 min commutes aren’t atypical for the rest of the USA, but I swear that taking Route 1 3x a week has taken years off of my life.

I’ve seen a fair amount od For Rent signs in the area and also across the River in Pawcatuck. I would expand my search to different sites, we found ours on Zillow 🤷🏼‍♀️ but check FB marketplace too

2

PeteZerolle t1_j5q2rku wrote

The Guild guitar company relocated to Westerly in 1967 and stayed there until 2001. 23 Industrial Dr, Westerly, RI, currently occupied by the Johnnycake Center Food Pantry and Thrift Store. I own 3 vintage Westerly made Guilds.

2

SleepyTitan01 t1_j5c5ip1 wrote

While working in the westerly area for a little over a year I will say there’s definitely a nice simple charm. my understanding of area is, its mostly affluential with one real estate company owning most of the properties(old money). As you go towards the quarry and nearby metal shops it gets a bit more suburban Majority of people I’ve met (at my favorite dive bar) work in the nearby towns or during the busy season on the beach restaurants and bars. That being said it is a beautiful area that keeps to itself and I definitely understand the appeal (personally I lean towards Bristol more, cute town but the beaches aren’t as nice)

1

nylaras t1_j5cxfxv wrote

I had not spent much time in Westerly until recently when I moved to SE CT from West Warwick. It’s definitely a special place! I’m glad to have the opportunity to visit more now that we are closer. Never really felt the need to head that way before (typical Rhode Islander haha)

1

Peach_enby t1_j5b4jti wrote

Westerly is full of rich people, so it’s a nicer town. You’re privileged to be able to live in Newport. Do whatever you want. It’s also so close to Connecticut thats there similar culture.

−1