For visitors interested in art and shopping, there’s still time to catch the tail end of the Warren Walkabout — a downtown street event held on Oct. 15, 22 and 29 from noon to 5 p.m. Many participating spaces exhibit local work, including the Imago Foundation for the Arts, a gallery this year celebrating its 20th anniversary of championing local art. But on any day of the week, shops on Water and Main Streets sell thoughtfully curated wares, like the vintage jewelry at Muse or metalwork and home goods at Beehive Handmade.
South of Warren, the town center of Tiverton Four Corners also offers delightful art and shopping. Having earned its spot on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974, the two-block stretch is currently full of galleries, antique stores and eateries. Standouts include Four Corners Gallery, the Ashley Ainsworth Art gallery and studio, and Arch Contemporary Ceramics, which serves as a ceramics studio, an artist residency program and a high-end pottery shop.
In 2020, Groundswell joined the Four Corners community by setting up shops, each with their own unique offerings, in three separate historic buildings — a brainchild of David Fierabend, a landscape architect and principal of Groundswell Design Group, as well as a Tiverton resident. In the buildings that now house a cafe, home-goods store and gardening shop, shelves brim with baked goods, kitchenware, gardening décor and terrariums. Outside are gardens adorned with fountains, cafe tables and pollinator plants. Visitors are invited to explore.
“Like most hidden gems, Rhode Island is nuanced, but as you peel back its layers, you are privy to the beauty, the bounty and the community that binds us,” Mr. Fierabend said.
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