Waterfront vs. Non-Waterfront in Scarborough, Galilee & Jerusalem, RI
Scarborough, Galilee, and Jerusalem are not a separate town -- they are villages within the Town of Narragansett, Rhode Island, and this site's own Narragansett waterfront-vs-non page already covers the town's water-to-land ratio and its town-wide 2025 pricing signal. This page goes narrower and deeper: inside these three specific villages, what does waterfront actually mean? Galilee is a working fishing port, homeport to roughly 240 commercial fishing vessels, where waterfront often means a dock or a view of draggers unloading rather than a quiet private beach. Jerusalem sits across the harbor, so geographically isolated from the rest of Narragansett that its only land border is with South Kingstown's Matunuck section -- its fire and police protection comes from South Kingstown, not Narragansett, even though it is legally part of town. Scarborough, a few minutes south, is a different character entirely: a state-beach-anchored stretch where the two-section Scarborough North/South complex defines the shoreline. A neighborhood-level data source, described below, also suggests that a very large share of housing in this corner of town is seasonal rather than year-round -- which reframes "waterfront vs. non-waterfront" here as partly a question of working-harbor vs. beach-town vs. see-it-a-few-weekends-a-year.
Not a Separate Town -- Three Villages With Three Different Waterfronts
Galilee, Jerusalem, and Scarborough are villages/neighborhoods within the Town of Narragansett, Rhode Island -- not incorporated towns of their own. That matters for a waterfront-vs-non comparison because "waterfront in Narragansett" is actually several distinct propositions depending on which of these villages a property sits in, and this page focuses specifically on these three rather than repeating the town-wide picture already covered on this site's Narragansett waterfront-vs-non page.
Galilee faces Point Judith Pond and the harbor -- a working commercial waterfront. Jerusalem sits directly across that same harbor from Galilee, on Point Judith, at the east end of East Matunuck State Beach -- but per Wikipedia's own Jerusalem, RI entry, it has no land connection to the rest of Narragansett at all; its only land border is with South Kingstown's Matunuck section, and as a direct result, fire and police service there is provided by South Kingstown rather than Narragansett. Scarborough, a short distance south along Ocean Road, faces the open Atlantic directly, anchored by the Scarborough North and South state beach complex. Three villages, three different relationships to the water -- waterfront in one does not resemble waterfront in another.
Galilee: A Working Waterfront, Not a Resort Waterfront
Galilee is home to the largest commercial fishing fleet in Rhode Island, and per National Fisherman, the Port of Galilee is homeport to roughly 240 fishing vessels and crews. That is the defining fact for what "waterfront" means in Galilee specifically: a dock here is as likely to face working boats, fish houses, and ice plants as a private beach. Named, verifiable seafood businesses on that working waterfront include George's of Galilee (250 Sand Hill Cove Road, founded in 1948 when Norman and Edna Durfee bought the earlier "George's Lunch" coffee shop and turned it into a seafood restaurant) and Champlin's Seafood Deck (256 Great Island Road, founded in 1944 as a clam shack, today a seasonal family-run restaurant with an adjacent retail and wholesale seafood market selling fish straight off boats unloading at Champlin's own landing docks). Both are genuine, dock-adjacent Galilee waterfront businesses -- a different texture than a beach-resort waterfront.
Rhode Island's commercial fishing industry, which Galilee's fleet anchors, is also a real dollar figure, not just a tonnage claim. Per a Boston Globe analysis (July 2023), the statewide industry was worth $100.6 million in 2022; per a Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management press release (November 25, 2024), the more recent statewide figure was $81.7 million in 2023. These are two different years from two different sources and should not be blended into one trend line, and neither figure is Galilee-specific -- but Galilee is documented elsewhere as home to the state's largest fleet, so both numbers help size what that working waterfront represents economically. That same November 2024 DEM release also confirms a real, current infrastructure investment: Rhode Island was awarded $15.5 million from FEMA's Hazard Mitigation Grant Program, matched with state funds for a total $17.2 million project, to elevate structures and 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 Wickford Marine Base. That Jerusalem has its own named DEM Division of Marine Fisheries facility, separate from Galilee's docks, is itself a small but real piece of evidence of how distinct these two harbor-facing villages are from each other, even sitting a few hundred yards apart.
Jerusalem and Scarborough: Isolation on One Side, Open Beach on the Other
Jerusalem's land-locked-within-another-town status is a genuine governmental oddity worth understanding before considering waterfront property there: per Wikipedia, Jerusalem is legally part of Narragansett but reachable by land only through South Kingstown's Matunuck section, and South Kingstown -- not Narragansett -- provides its fire and police coverage. A lower-confidence source (an AI-generated reference work, not independently corroborated here) adds detail about the land isolation dating to breachway digging around 1910-1914 and other population and fisheries-share figures; those specifics were not independently confirmed in the research behind this page and should be treated as reported rather than settled before relying on them.
Scarborough, by contrast, is Narragansett's more conventionally beach-facing waterfront in this corner of town. Per Wikipedia and Rhode Island State Parks' own history page, the beach was first developed with a pavilion in 1937 (now Scarborough North, 26 acres with roughly 2,325 feet of frontage); the state later added two adjoining private beaches, Lido's Beach (7 acres, acquired 1981) and Olivo's Beach (9 acres, acquired 1986), redeveloped from 1987 into what is now Scarborough South. The combined complex totals 59.7 acres with 0.85 miles of shoreline. Walking the shoreline from the beach toward Black Point also leads to the stone ruins of Windswept, a 21-room 1895 mansion built by the Davis family (whose fortune came from Perry Davis's Vegetable Pain Killer, a patent medicine); the mansion later became a restaurant called Cobb's by the Sea before a string of arson fires led to its demolition, with DEM acquiring the land in 1974 -- a real, walkable, dated historic site adjacent to today's beach. Worth knowing before buying near this stretch: local reporting via CitizenPortal.ai describes the town manager stating the Scarborough-area wastewater treatment plant is overwhelmed during summer months, with a 20-year facilities plan submitted to RI DEM and residents raising recurring sewer-odor complaints at public hearings -- a current, honestly-disclosed issue rather than a purely historical one, confirmed here through secondary/aggregator reporting rather than a fully-fetched primary article, so its current status is worth reconfirming independently.
Village-Level Real Estate Data: Seasonal Ownership Looks Dominant Here
Unlike Narragansett's town-wide waterfront-vs-non page, which relies on town-wide Census and Redfin figures, this research found a source reporting data specifically for "Galilee & Jerusalem" as its own distinct neighborhood: NeighborhoodScout's own Galilee & Jerusalem neighborhood profile for Narragansett, RI. Per that source, the median home price there is $1,091,913 -- described as 95.2% above the typical Rhode Island neighborhood -- and the average rental price is $3,012 per month, about 85.0% higher than the Rhode Island average. Housing stock skews toward small-to-medium single-family homes and mobile homes, much of it built between 1940 and 1969, with further construction through 1970-1999.
The single most relevant figure for a waterfront-vs-non discussion is vacancy: NeighborhoodScout reports a 43.4% vacancy rate in Galilee & Jerusalem -- described as 98.2% higher than the U.S. average -- with 39.6% of housing seasonally occupied. That is a striking number, and it lines up with the intuitive picture of this corner of Narragansett: a fishing port and a harbor village where a large share of homes are second homes, seasonal rentals, or vacation properties rather than year-round primary residences. It is a genuinely different signal from a strict home-price premium, and it is worth weighing alongside price when comparing waterfront and non-waterfront options here -- a high vacancy/seasonal-occupancy rate can mean less winter foot traffic and services, alongside strong rental-season demand. NeighborhoodScout is a commercial, largely automated data aggregator rather than a government statistical agency, so treat these figures as a real, named, citable estimate at the village level -- distinct from, and not to be blended with, the Narragansett hub page's own town-wide Census/ACS and Redfin figures -- rather than as Census-grade fact.
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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; this site's Narragansett, RI pages cover town-wide history, population, and pricing data in more depth and are cross-referenced rather than repeated here. Village-specific facts on this page are sourced to: Wikipedia's Galilee, Rhode Island and Jerusalem, Rhode Island entries (Jerusalem's land border only with South Kingstown's Matunuck section, and South Kingstown-provided fire/police service); National Fisherman ("Port of Galilee ensures commercial fishermen's future," roughly 240 fishing vessels and crews); the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management's November 25, 2024 press release (2023 statewide commercial fishing ex-vessel value of $81.7 million; the $15.5 million FEMA Hazard Mitigation Grant Program award matched to a $17.2 million total project replacing eight docks across the Port of Galilee, the Division of Marine Fisheries' Jerusalem facility, and the Wickford Marine Base); the Boston Globe's July 3, 2023 analysis (2022 statewide commercial fishing industry value of $100.6 million, presented as a separate year/source from the 2023 DEM figure rather than the same statistic); George's of Galilee's own About/history page (founded 1948) and Champlin's Seafood Deck's own About page and Hey Rhody Media coverage (founded 1944); Wikipedia's Scarborough Beach (Rhode Island) entry and Rhode Island State Parks' own Scarborough history page (1937 initial development as Scarborough North; Lido's Beach acquired 1981 and Olivo's Beach acquired 1986, redeveloped from 1987 into Scarborough South; 59.7 combined acres and 0.85 miles of shoreline); Durkin Cottage Realty's Windswept Mansion history piece (1895 construction, Davis family, Perry Davis's Vegetable Pain Killer fortune, later Cobb's by the Sea restaurant, demolished after arson fires, land acquired by RI DEM in 1974); CitizenPortal.ai's aggregated local reporting on the Scarborough-area wastewater treatment plant and its 20-year facilities plan submitted to RI DEM, and on resident sewer-odor complaints at public hearings; and NeighborhoodScout's Galilee & Jerusalem, Narragansett, RI neighborhood profile (median home price $1,091,913; average rental price $3,012/month; 43.4% vacancy rate with 39.6% seasonally occupied; housing stock and construction-era detail). A lower-confidence, AI-generated source (Grokipedia) offers additional detail on Jerusalem's isolation and demographics that was not independently corroborated here and is not stated as fact on this page. NeighborhoodScout's figures describe the Galilee & Jerusalem neighborhood specifically and are a separate data source from, and should not be blended with, the Narragansett hub page's own town-wide Census/ACS and Redfin figures. Fishing-industry value figures, infrastructure grant amounts, and wastewater-plan status should be reconfirmed with RI DEM before relying on them, and any specific property purchase should be confirmed with a licensed Rhode Island real estate agent and current FEMA flood-zone data. Nothing on this page is financial, insurance, or legal advice.