Boating and Water Access in Stonington Borough, CT

The Geography: A Peninsula Between a Sound and a Bay

Stonington Borough sits on a small peninsula jutting south into Fishers Island Sound, with Little Narragansett Bay along its eastern side and Stonington Harbor forming the sheltered inner-facing water. Downtown is laid out in three roughly parallel or connecting streets: Water Street, the main commercial street closest to the harbor; Main Street, running parallel a block over; and Pearl Street, which leads down to the town docks. At the Borough's southernmost tip, Stonington Point offers a water view toward the spot offshore where Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New York waters converge.

Little Narragansett Bay itself is formed by the mouth of the Pawcatuck River, which also marks the Connecticut-Rhode Island state line (ratified in 1840), and the bay is sheltered by Napatree Point -- a barrier spit that sits across the state line in Watch Hill, Rhode Island, not within Stonington Borough itself. That distinction matters if you are trying to picture the water geography accurately: Napatree shelters the bay that Stonington borders, but it is a Rhode Island landform, not a Borough amenity.

Don's Dock: The Borough's Largest Slip Marina

Don's Dock is the largest marina serving Stonington Borough, with roughly 200 slips, located just north of the downtown shopping district along Water Street. It also maintains moorings out in Stonington Harbor for larger vessels that are not berthed at the docks directly. Its location puts it within easy walking distance of the Borough's restaurants and shops, which is a genuine practical advantage over marinas set further from a walkable downtown.

This page does not have current slip rates, waitlist status, or transient-dockage availability for Don's Dock -- that information changes season to season and should be confirmed directly with the marina before you plan around it.

Dodson Boatyard: Full-Service Maintenance and Moorings

Dodson Boatyard is the Borough's full-service boatyard operation, with roughly 110 moorings and a staff of about 35 technicians, plus an on-site yacht broker. Its emphasis is maintenance and service work rather than purely slip rental, which makes it the more relevant stop for owners who need repairs, haul-outs, or off-season work done locally rather than owners simply looking for a place to tie up for the weekend.

As with Don's Dock, current mooring availability, service pricing, and scheduling are not something this page can responsibly state -- contact the boatyard directly for anything time-sensitive.

Coveside Marina: Vessel Limits, Storage, and Waterfront Cottages

Coveside Marina, part of the Lockwood Marinas group, is the third named operator in the Borough, with a stated vessel limit of up to 46 feet. It offers full-service maintenance and off-season storage similar to a boatyard, but it also has a more recreational, stay-and-play side: beachfront cottages and watersport rentals on site, which sets it apart from the other two operators as something closer to a small waterfront resort built around a working marina.

If you are sizing up Stonington Borough as a boating base, Coveside's 46-foot vessel limit is a useful, concrete data point for anyone with a larger vessel to weigh against Don's Dock's harbor moorings or Dodson's mooring field, though current mooring and cottage availability should again be confirmed directly with the marina.

Sharing the Harbor With Connecticut's Last Commercial Fishing Fleet

The detail that genuinely sets Stonington Borough apart from a purely recreational boating town is this: recreational boaters here share harbor space and infrastructure with Connecticut's last commercial fishing fleet. Empire Fisheries, run by Joe and Nancy Gilbert, operates four large scallop and fishing boats out of the Stonington dock -- a named, real local company, not a generic "working waterfront" gesture.

Two separate, dated snapshots of the fleet illustrate how it has changed and should not be merged into one figure: as of 2021, the fleet was described as roughly 10 fishing and scallop boats plus 8 lobster boats; as of October 2025, it was described as 7 active lobster boats plus 1 based in New London -- described at that point as Connecticut's only remaining commercial lobster fleet, with its youngest captain, Roddy Grimshaw, at age 29. Recreational boaters evaluating Stonington Harbor should go in with that context: this is a working harbor first, with real commercial vessels, gear, and traffic sharing the same water as the marinas above -- an honest and, frankly, appealing detail for anyone who wants more than a manicured marina town.

Dodge Paddock and Beal Preserve: Walkable Water Access

For water access that does not require a boat at all, Dodge Paddock/Beal Preserve is an Avalonia Land Conservancy property within the Borough, offering walking trails and water views as a pocket of protected open space. It is a useful stop for anyone staying in or visiting the Borough who wants direct water access on foot -- a walkable complement to the marina and harbor infrastructure described above, rather than a boating facility itself.

What This Means If You Are Evaluating Boating Access Here

Put together, Stonington Borough's boating picture is small in scale but genuinely layered: roughly 200 slips plus harbor moorings at Don's Dock, roughly 110 moorings and full-service repair capacity at Dodson Boatyard, and a 46-foot-limit marina with storage and beachfront cottages at Coveside -- all inside a working harbor still used daily by Connecticut's last commercial fishing fleet. That combination of recreational marina infrastructure and a genuine, still-active commercial fleet is not something every small coastal town can claim, and it is worth weighing honestly rather than glossing over.

What this page deliberately does not do is invent current slip pricing, availability, waitlists, or Stonington Harbor's specific boating regulations and speed zones -- none of that was independently confirmed here. For current boating regulations, contact Connecticut's Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (CT DEEP) directly. For slip or mooring availability and pricing at any of the three named operators, contact Don's Dock, Dodson Boatyard, or Coveside Marina directly, since that kind of information changes too often for a page like this to state responsibly.