Water Trail Maps:

This page is specifically devoted to water trail maps that are available for free online. For information on the many printed books and maps available for Rhode Island and the Narragansett Bay Watershed see the Maps and Books page.

Blackstone River:

The National Park Service has created a great series of maps for paddling on the Blackstone River. Theses maps break the river up into segments with suggested tours within each river segment. Note that many of the maps and tours overlap. The maps include suggested put-ins and take-outs as well as route information and lots of interesting and useful background information including such thing as historic sites to see along the route. For general information about paddling on the Blackstone River, see this National Park Service web page. The PDFs below can also be downloaded there.

In many cases the maps are available in both 8x11 format and 11x17 format. Each format contains the same information, but the maps on the 11x17 version are larger scale. Since most people do not have access to an 11x17 printer the 11x17 maps are listed here as "alternates" with the primary link going to the 8x11 maps. Note that some of the tours are marked intermediate and some are marked beginner. The intermediate tours require more skill on the part of the paddlers.

The tours are listed below from north to south, from the upper reaches of the Blackstone in Massachusetts to near the mouth in Rhode Island.

Massachusetts Tours:

Rhode Island Tours:

Roger Williams Trail, East Providence & Providence

In 1636, when Roger Williams arrived in Rhode Island with his followers to settle and start what would become the State of Rhode Island he arrived by boat, paddling from what is now East Providence down the Seekonk River, around Fox and India Points to Providence. The Ten Mile River Watershed Council and the Rhode Island Blueways Alliance teamed up to make a map and guide to this route, with funding from REI and assistance from the National Park Service. The map and guide provide information on retracing parts of Williams' route and also provides some interesting history about how Roger Williams came to Providence.

Roger Williams Trail Map and Guide

Taunton River Watershed

The Rhode Island Blueways Alliance and the Taunton River Watershed Alliance teamed up to produce two, 2-page maps and guides to paddling selected parts of the Taunton River watershed. One covers the upper Nemasket River from Vaughn Street in Lakeville to Oliver Mill Park in Middleborough. The other covers the lower Taunton River from Weir Village Park in Taunton to Dighton Rock State Park in Berkley. Printable copies of both are available below, in Adobe Acrobat format.