Great Salt Pond Stroll

Episode 1: OVF Naturalist Kim Gaffett kicks off a new, 7-part series, walking the entire shoreline of the Great Salt Pond. In the premiere episode, Kim pauses to examine the ruins of the old Marine Railway, which serviced the Block Island fishing fleet in the 1920s and 1930s.

Episode 2: OVF Naturalist Kim Gaffett continues her clockwise stroll around the Great Salt Pond shoreline. Highlights include egret and bank swallows, rusting "sculptures", elegant, seaside Victorian homes, and retracing the old lane where horse-drawn trollies once carried passengers to Mosquito Beach.

Episode 3: The Great Salt Pond is connected by the tides to two smaller waterbodies: Trim's Pond and Harbor Pond. Starting from the Hog Pen, OVF Naturalist explores this important working waterfront, introducing us to four aquaculturists along the way.

Episode 4: Continuing around the Great Salt Pond, OVF Naturalist Kim Gaffett finds her way around a heavily developed stretch of the pond's shore. Familiar landmarks include Dead Eye Dick's, the Boat Basin, the Taffy Tent, Payne's Dock and the Harbors Department. Tucked in between, nature co-exists with people, on little beaches, marshes and dunes... notably in conserved places like Ball-O'Brien Park.

Episode 5: Leaving the marinas in her wake, OVF Naturalist Kim Gaffett heads up the west side of the pond, with a stop at serene Bonnell Beach. There, she catches up TNC's marine scientists, monitoring the population of juvenile fish found in the shallows. Charismatic shorebirds like American Oystercatchers and Ruddy Turnstones highlight the second half of the walk.

Episode 6: Revel in the finding of unexpected things, as OVF Naturalist Kim Gaffett rounds Cormorant Cove and heads for the Coast Guard Station. From shorebirds to moon snails to mysterious gelatinous egg sacs, Kim stops along the way to point out many of the living creatures that are dependent on a healthy Great Salt Pond. The walk ends with magnificent views of the Station House and Beane Point, across the channel.

Episode 7: In the finale, OVF Naturalist Kim Gaffett takes us through the low dunes, marsh and mudflats that line the northern edge of the pond. Truly a stunning landscape and a dynamic natural system. Kim describes the "Old Breach" - a hand-dug channel that connected the pond to the ocean in the 1700s and 1800s, while at the same time pointing out how the sand has been rearranged by Tropical Storm Henri.