Seawall & Bulkhead Guide: Misquamicut, Rhode Island
Misquamicut sits on a narrow barrier beach and sandbar along Westerly, Rhode Island's Atlantic-facing southern shore, with Winnapaug Pond, a saltwater lagoon, on one side and the open ocean on the other. That geography is exactly the kind of setting where a seawall or bulkhead question comes up, and Misquamicut has real, documented reasons to ask it: the built environment here was repeatedly, catastrophically destroyed by hurricanes in 1938, 1944, and 1954, and erosion has remained a live, ongoing problem since. What makes Misquamicut's story genuinely useful background for that question is not a hard structure at all -- it is a soft, sand-based shore protection project the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers completed here in 2012-2014. That project, and the distinction between it and a seawall or bulkhead, is the center of this page. This page does not have a confirmed current permitting fee, a typical private construction cost, or Misquamicut-specific CRMC requirements for a seawall or bulkhead -- none of that was confirmed in the research behind it, and none is invented here. What follows is general education about the choice between hard and soft shore protection on this stretch of coast, not permitting or legal advice.
A Barrier Beach Between a Pond and the Ocean
Misquamicut is a census-designated place and fire district within the Town of Westerly, sitting on a barrier beach that separates Winnapaug Pond, a saltwater lagoon, from the Atlantic. The developed stretch runs roughly three miles along Atlantic Avenue, with an estimated 218 homes and 50 businesses sitting on that narrow strip of sand. A barrier beach like this is naturally mobile: it absorbs wave energy, and storms can move its sand around or through it, which is precisely why shore-protection questions -- hard structures versus soft, sand-based approaches -- come up here more often than on a stretch of mainland coast.
This geography is also why Misquamicut's history of storm destruction matters directly to anyone considering a seawall or bulkhead today. A barrier beach that has already been overtopped and rebuilt multiple times is not a hypothetical case for coastal engineering -- it is documented local history, covered next.
Real Storm History: 1938, 1944, and 1954
Per Rhode Island State Parks' own history page, "in 1938, 1944, and 1954 just about every structure along the beach was flattened, washed out to sea, or damaged." The 1938 Great New England Hurricane destroyed what was then a genuine resort community of cottages along the beach; a second major hurricane struck again in 1944. Hurricane Carol, on August 31, 1954, brought a storm surge of up to 14.4 feet to Narragansett Bay and, per Wikipedia's account, washed away roughly 200 homes in Westerly alone. A widely reproduced historical photograph shows cars buried at the Andrea Hotel on Misquamicut Beach after Carol -- a specific, dateable image of the storm's severity on this exact stretch of shoreline.
Following that cumulative destruction, the State of Rhode Island moved to acquire a roughly mile-long stretch of the devastated, privately held beachfront, which opened as Misquamicut State Beach in 1959. That is the state's answer to repeated storm destruction on the public beach. Erosion on the developed, privately owned stretch of Atlantic Avenue has remained an active concern since, most recently after Superstorm Sandy in October 2012 -- which is where the Army Corps' nourishment project, discussed next, comes in.
Hard Structures vs. Soft Nourishment: A Real Distinction, Already Made Here
A seawall is typically a vertical or near-vertical wall -- concrete, steel, or masonry -- built at the shoreline to block wave energy directly. A bulkhead is usually a lighter structure, often timber, vinyl, or steel sheet piling, built mainly to retain soil and hold a property line rather than absorb heavy surf. A revetment is a sloped covering of rock or armor placed against an existing slope. All three are forms of shoreline hardening: fixed structures meant to hold a line against moving water and sand.
Beach nourishment is a different approach entirely: it adds sand to the beach itself, placed to a designed berm and slope profile, so the beach continues to function as a natural, sacrificial buffer that absorbs wave energy rather than a wall that resists it directly. Misquamicut's most significant documented shore-protection project used exactly this soft approach, not a hard structure, and understanding that choice is useful background for anyone weighing a seawall or bulkhead on this coast today.
The Army Corps 2012-2014 Nourishment Project
After Superstorm Sandy caused significant erosion at Misquamicut State Beach in October 2012, the state first relocated about 30,000 cubic yards of sand back onto the shoreline as an emergency measure. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers then ran a federally funded beach erosion control project, funded under the Disaster Relief Appropriations Act of 2013, that placed approximately 90,000 cubic yards of sand to restore the beach to a designed profile: a 150-foot berm at +7.5 feet mean low water on a 1:15 seaward slope. That project was completed by May 23, 2014.
Per the Corps' own public notice, the purpose was explicitly framed around protecting public infrastructure -- the bathhouse, parking, and the roadway that serves as an evacuation route -- and mitigating backshore flooding during future coastal storms, not simply widening the beach for its own sake. That is a materially different tool than a seawall or bulkhead: rather than building a fixed wall to block the ocean, the project rebuilt the beach's own sand profile so the shoreline itself could keep absorbing storm energy. As of the most recent reporting found in the research behind this page (early 2025), a much larger, separately proposed nourishment effort -- extending the shoreline roughly 200 feet seaward across Misquamicut's full three-mile developed stretch, estimated at $24-30 million and advocated for by the Misquamicut Business Association -- remained in the proposal and advocacy stage, not funded or under construction. Confirm its current status before treating it as settled.
What CRMC and Any Coastal Structure Question Still Requires
Rhode Island's Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC) is the state agency that generally regulates coastal structures, including seawalls, bulkheads, and revetments, statewide. That general regulatory role applies to Misquamicut's stretch of coast as it does elsewhere in Rhode Island, on top of whatever local permitting the Town of Westerly applies. This page does not have, and does not invent, any Misquamicut-specific permitting rule, fee, or approval timeline beyond that general fact -- no such figure was confirmed in the research behind this page.
The Army Corps' 2012-2014 project is public infrastructure built after a federal disaster-relief appropriation and a public agency review process; it is not a template for what a private property owner could or should build on their own parcel. A private seawall, bulkhead, or revetment question on this barrier beach is a genuinely different undertaking, both in scale and in the review it would require, from a public nourishment project of that kind.
Practical Takeaways for a Misquamicut Waterfront Buyer or Owner
If you are evaluating a property along Misquamicut's beach, keep both real, documented facts in mind: this is a barrier beach with a genuine history of repeated storm destruction (1938, 1944, 1954, and ongoing erosion since), and the most significant shore-protection work actually done here in recent years -- the Army Corps' 2012-2014 project -- used soft sand nourishment rather than a hard structure. Neither fact tells you what is right for a specific private parcel; they are context for the question, not an answer to it.
This page is general education, not permitting or legal advice, and it is not a substitute for direct professional guidance. Contact Rhode Island's Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC) for current, parcel-specific permitting requirements, and consult a licensed coastal engineer or marine contractor for site-specific guidance on whether a seawall, bulkhead, nourishment, or another approach entirely is the right fit for a given Misquamicut property.
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Get a Free Agent Referral →Independent research. No ads. No sponsored listings. Misquamicut's geography -- a barrier beach separating Winnapaug Pond from the Atlantic, within the Town of Westerly, Rhode Island -- and its status as a census-designated place and fire district are sourced to Wikipedia's Misquamicut, Rhode Island entry. Storm history (the 1938 hurricane, the 1944 hurricane, and 1954's Hurricane Carol, including Carol's 14.4-foot storm surge in Narragansett Bay and the roughly 200 homes washed away in Westerly per Wikipedia's Hurricane Carol entry) and Misquamicut State Beach's 1959 opening are sourced to RI State Parks' own Misquamicut history page and Wikipedia. The 2012-2014 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers beach erosion control project -- the 30,000 cubic yards of emergency sand placed after Superstorm Sandy, the approximately 90,000 cubic yards placed to a 150-foot berm at +7.5 feet mean low water on a 1:15 slope, completion by May 23, 2014, and the project's stated purpose of protecting public infrastructure and mitigating backshore flooding -- is sourced to the Army Corps' own public notice. The proposed larger-scale 2024-2025 nourishment effort, its estimated $24-30 million cost, and its proposal-stage status as of early 2025 are sourced to Turn to 10 and Westerly Sun reporting; a build agent or reader should confirm its current status before treating it as settled. This page's central disclosed gaps: no specific current seawall, bulkhead, or revetment permitting requirements, fees, or typical private construction costs for Misquamicut parcels, and no Misquamicut-specific CRMC regulation beyond CRMC's general role as the state's coastal permitting authority -- neither is filled in here with an invented figure. Confirm all current permitting requirements, fees, and costs directly with Rhode Island's Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC) and with the Town of Westerly's own building or planning office, and consult a licensed coastal engineer or marine contractor before planning any shoreline structure. Nothing on this page is engineering, permitting, or legal advice.