Beach Erosion in Scarborough, Galilee & Jerusalem, RI: What Is Actually Confirmed
Scarborough, Galilee, and Jerusalem are not a separate town -- they are villages within Narragansett, Rhode Island, sitting at the outermost, open-Atlantic edge of a town this site's own Narragansett beach-erosion page already covers at the town-wide level. This page goes narrower and deeper: Scarborough State Beach's own recorded development history, a mansion that once stood exposed on open shoreline nearby, and the real, dated shoreline-stabilization infrastructure and current federal grant money at the Port of Galilee. What it will not do is invent a specific erosion rate for this coastline -- no feet-per-year figure for Scarborough Beach or for the Galilee/Jerusalem shoreline was independently confirmed in the research behind this page, and none is stated here as if it were.
Three Villages, Not a Separate Town, All Facing the Open Atlantic
Scarborough, Galilee, and Jerusalem are villages and neighborhoods within the Town of Narragansett, Rhode Island -- not an incorporated town of their own. Scarborough sits along Ocean Road, home to Scarborough State Beach. Galilee sits at the mouth of Point Judith Harbor and is home to Rhode Island's largest commercial fishing fleet. Jerusalem sits directly across the harbor from Galilee, on Point Judith, at the east end of East Matunuck State Beach. All three face open-Atlantic or unprotected-harbor-mouth conditions more directly than much of the rest of Narragansett, a town that is itself already unusually water-exposed -- per Wikipedia, 62.56% of Narragansett's total area is water, not land.
This site's own Narragansett beach-erosion page already lays out the town-wide picture: real, named, open-water beaches, real engineered stabilization work concentrated around Port of Galilee, and an honest statement that no confirmed erosion rate exists for any of Narragansett's beaches. Rather than repeat that page, this one goes deeper into what is specifically documented in Scarborough, Galilee, and Jerusalem themselves.
Scarborough State Beach's Own Development History Is the Real Erosion-Relevant Detail Here
Per Wikipedia and Rhode Island State Parks' own history page, Scarborough State Beach was first developed with a pavilion in 1937 -- what is now called Scarborough North, a 26-acre facility with roughly 2,325 feet of beach frontage on Ocean Road. The state later acquired two adjoining private beaches to the south: 7-acre Lido's Beach in 1981 and 9-acre Olivo's Beach in 1986, developing them through a multiphase restoration and redevelopment project beginning in 1987 into what is now called Scarborough South. The combined complex today totals 59.7 acres with 0.85 miles of shoreline, at two addresses on Ocean Road, with extensive renovations completed in 1987.
That acquisition-and-redevelopment timeline -- absorbing two private beaches and rebuilding this stretch of shoreline across the 1980s -- is itself a real piece of shoreline-management activity specific to this exact beach, even though none of the sourcing behind it frames the work explicitly as an erosion-control project. It shows that this stretch of coast has a documented, multi-decade history of the state acquiring, consolidating, and physically rebuilding beachfront here, which is a meaningfully different starting point than a beach with no recorded development history at all. It is not, on its own, a stated erosion rate, and it should not be read as one.
The Windswept Mansion Ruins: An Exposed Shoreline Data Point, Not an Erosion Story
Between Scarborough Beach and Black Point once stood Windswept, a 21-room mansion built in 1895 by the Davis family, whose wealth came from Perry Davis's Vegetable Pain Killer, a patent medicine mixing opium and alcohol. After roughly forty years in the family, the estate became an upscale restaurant, Cobb's by the Sea, before a 1952 sale left it vacant. Its actual end was not erosion or storm damage -- the vacant mansion suffered three separate arson fires before it was demolished, and the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management acquired the land in 1974. Today only stone ruins of the outer structure remain, reachable on foot along the shoreline from Scarborough State Beach toward Black Point.
That distinction matters and should not be blurred: Windswept was lost to fire, not to the ocean. What its ruins do offer is a real, dated, walkable historical data point about this specific stretch of coastline -- an oceanfront estate built directly on exposed shoreline ground in 1895, still visible as ruins well over a century later. That is evidence about how this coastline has been used and built on historically, not a substitute for an actual shoreline-change measurement.
Port of Galilee's Real Stabilization Infrastructure, and a Current $15.5 Million Grant
The most directly relevant shoreline-stabilization infrastructure in this village cluster sits at Port of Galilee, home to Rhode Island's largest commercial fishing fleet. Over the 19th and 20th centuries, the port received real, substantial engineering: dredging to maintain navigable depth, stone jetties, and a three-mile U.S. Army Corps of Engineers breakwater system. That is a genuine, sustained amount of coastal-defense infrastructure concentrated in one stretch of this shoreline -- built to manage a working harbor, not framed by its own sourcing as an erosion-rate study, but real engineering nonetheless.
That investment is also current, not just historical. Per a November 25, 2024 press release from the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, the state was awarded $15.5 million from FEMA's Hazard Mitigation Grant Program, matched with state funds for a total $17.2 million project, to strengthen climate resilience at state marine facilities. The project will elevate structures at the Port of Galilee and at the Wickford Dock, and will replace a total of eight docks across three DEM marine facilities: the Port of Galilee, the Division of Marine Fisheries' own Jerusalem facility, and the Division of Law Enforcement's Wickford Marine Base. That grant independently confirms that Jerusalem has its own named DEM marine-fisheries facility, separate from Galilee's docks across the harbor, and that shoreline-resilience spending here is active and dated into 2025 and 2026, not a settled, decades-old matter.
What This Page Cannot Tell You: No Confirmed Erosion Rate for This Coastline
Here is the honest gap, stated directly: no specific feet-per-year, or any other quantified, erosion rate for Scarborough State Beach, for the Galilee harbor shoreline, or for the Jerusalem shoreline was independently confirmed in the research behind this page. Beach-town websites frequently attach a precise-sounding erosion number to a stretch of coast without a traceable source. This page will not do that. Where a number cannot be confirmed, the more useful and honest answer is to say so plainly and point to the agency that actually tracks it.
That agency is Rhode Island's Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC), the state body responsible for shoreline-change data, setback rules, and coastal permitting, including along Scarborough, Galilee, and Jerusalem's shoreline. CRMC is a far better source for parcel- or beach-specific erosion information than any general overview page, including this one. Anyone evaluating a specific property or stretch of beach here for erosion exposure should go to CRMC directly rather than relying on an unsourced number found elsewhere online.
What This Means If You're Evaluating Waterfront Property in Scarborough, Galilee, or Jerusalem
Put plainly: this is a genuinely ocean-exposed corner of Narragansett with a documented, decades-long history of beach acquisition and rebuilding at Scarborough State Beach, a historic exposed-shoreline structure in the Windswept Mansion ruins, and real, sustained, currently-funded stabilization engineering concentrated at Port of Galilee -- dredging, stone jetties, a three-mile Army Corps of Engineers breakwater, and a November 2024 $15.5 million FEMA climate-resilience grant. What is not confirmed is a specific erosion rate for any individual beach or shoreline segment here, and this page will not invent one to sound more authoritative.
Before buying, insuring, or building on any waterfront property in Scarborough, Galilee, or Jerusalem, confirm current shoreline-change and erosion conditions directly with the Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council, check FEMA's Flood Map Service Center for an address-specific flood-zone determination, and consult a licensed surveyor or qualified coastal engineer for any property-specific risk assessment. This page is independent research, not an engineering or real estate assessment, and it is not a substitute for CRMC, FEMA, a licensed surveyor, or a qualified coastal engineer.
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Get a Free Agent Referral →Independent research. No ads. No sponsored listings. Scarborough, Galilee, and Jerusalem are villages within the Town of Narragansett, Rhode Island, not a separate incorporated town; Narragansett's town-wide water share (62.56% of 37.8 total square miles, per Wikipedia) and its own beach-erosion overview are covered on this site's Narragansett beach-erosion page and only briefly summarized here. Scarborough State Beach's 1937 first development as what is now Scarborough North (26 acres, roughly 2,325 feet of frontage), the 1981 acquisition of 7-acre Lido's Beach and the 1986 acquisition of 9-acre Olivo's Beach, the multiphase restoration and redevelopment project beginning in 1987, and the resulting 59.7-acre, 0.85-mile combined complex are per Wikipedia's Scarborough Beach (Rhode Island) entry and Rhode Island State Parks' own history page. The Windswept Mansion's 1895 construction by the Davis family (funded by Perry Davis's Vegetable Pain Killer), its conversion into the Cobb's by the Sea restaurant, its 1952 sale, its loss to three arson fires rather than erosion or storm damage, its site's 1974 acquisition by the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, and its surviving stone ruins are per Durkin Cottage Realty's dedicated history of the Scarborough Beach ruins. Port of Galilee's status as home to Rhode Island's largest commercial fishing fleet and its dredging, stone jetties, and three-mile U.S. Army Corps of Engineers breakwater system are per Wikipedia's Galilee, Rhode Island entry. The November 25, 2024 $15.5 million FEMA Hazard Mitigation Grant Program award, the $17.2 million total project, and the plan to elevate structures and replace eight docks across the Port of Galilee, the DEM Division of Marine Fisheries' Jerusalem facility, and the Division of Law Enforcement's Wickford Marine Base are per the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management's own November 25, 2024 press release. This page could not confirm, and does not state, any specific feet-per-year or other quantified erosion rate for Scarborough State Beach or for the Galilee or Jerusalem shoreline. For current, parcel- or beach-specific erosion information, contact the Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC) directly. Nothing on this page is engineering, insurance, or real estate advice, and it is not a substitute for CRMC, FEMA's Flood Map Service Center, a licensed surveyor, or a qualified coastal engineer.