Bordering the Ten Mile River to the west, Seekonk is a city on the Massachusetts-Rhode Island border and part of the Providence metropolitan area.
Seekonk has an unusual layout on a long and rather narrow piece of land. They range from busy shopping districts between Route 6 and Interstate 195 in the South to wildlife sanctuaries, preserves, and country clubs in the northern squares.
A series of ponds along the Ten Mile River separate Seekonk from neighboring Pawtucket and East Providence. On the Rhode Island side, you can visit several beautiful riverside parks, all connected by the Ten Mile River Greenway Trail.
1. Seekonk Grand Prix
Among the shops and attractions along Route 6 is the Seekonk Grand Prix, a huge motorsports-themed family entertainment center.
Here you will find different kart trucks like family trucks, rookie trucks, kids trucks, and slick trucks for drifting.
There’s also an indoor high ropes course, rock climbing wall, virtual reality experience, 18 holes of mini golf, bumper cars, and a new arcade with redemption counters and bumper cars.
2. Old Grist Mill Tavern
A slice of classic New England, this cozy tavern looks like a million miles from the Route 6 powerhouse.
Old Grist Mill’s history dates back to the early 18th century when the Lanins River was dammed and a hydraulic mill was built on the south bank of the pond.
A sawmill was then added on the first floor, and over time the complex became a restaurant.
In 2012, a semi-truck overturned and exploded, destroying a building.
Old Grist Mill Tavern opened in 2014 after a two-and-a-half-year renovation. There are still clues to the past, especially in the granite millstones that remain at the entrance.
Menu highlights include Boston Skrod, mussels sautéed in garlic, onions, and white wine, crab cakes, baked stuffed shrimp, and cooked-to-order lobster.
3. Jacob Hill
One of the things to do in Seekonk is explore some of its country’s back roads. A great place to do this is Jacob Hill, where you can tour the largest collection of historic houses in Seekonk.
These are located at several points on Jacob Street, Prospect Street, and Ledge Road just off US 44. Many of the fine old homes that line these quiet country lanes have commemorative plaques.
Look for the old schoolhouse at 102 Jacob Street, 736 Ledge Road (1785). 120 Jacob Street (1723), 385 Jacob Street (1690), 150 Broad Street (1785), 540 Prospect Street (1800), and the magnificent Aziel Carpenter House at 80 Walnut Street, built in 1720.
4. Slater Memorial Park
In Pawtucket, the Ten Mile River Greenway passes through the city’s oldest and largest public park, located on former farmland acquired in 1894. An early remnant is the Daggett House (circa 1685), the oldest surviving house in town.
The park is named after Samuel Slater (1768-1835), an English-American businessman who built America’s first water-powered textile mill in Pawtucket in the early 1790s.
Slater Memorial Park is a great free attraction, lined with his early 20th-century buildings, including the historic Potter Casino (1917). A family favorite for over a century, the Roof Carousel was built in the 1890s and installed in the park in 1910.
In the summer, catch Thursday night concerts by the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra. Mid-September is the Slater Park Falls Festival with numerous craft sales, food, live entertainment, and children’s activities.
5. Fear Town Haunted House
When the haunted season begins, Seekonk Speedway will be home to New England’s most popular haunted experience.
Feartown is advertised as a “Haunted Event” consisting of three haunted houses offering nearly an hour of terror. Before or after your haunted house challenge, you’ll enjoy a stop-off filled with games, food, and spooky entertainment.
What fascinates you most about Fear Town is the creativity and variety that presents scenarios that surprise you in unexpected ways.
Diehard haunted house fans may not necessarily be intimidated, but they will be impressed by the production value, backed by a large staff of enthusiastic actors in terms of make-up, costumes, props, and sound design.
6. Celebrate Seekonk Day
The Seekonk Public Library and its surrounding park, Library Meadows, host an annual festival that began in recent years.
Celebrate Seekonk Day is held on the first Saturday in October and features live entertainment, educational activities, culture, commerce, fine dining, and lots of fun for kids.
To give you an idea of what to expect, there will be music by award-winning musicians such as Bill Hurley, comedy, Pokanoket Indian performances, gallery exhibitions by local artists, painting workshops, community blankets, shadow puppets for toddlers, local food trucks, raffles and more.
7. Hunts Mills Picnic and Recreational Area
This idyllic spot on the Ten Mile River just across the East Providence border has centuries of history.
The first mill on the river was on site. Evidence of this period can be seen at the Hunt House (1750), designated as a museum by the East Providence Historical Society, open every other Sunday.
In the early 20th century, the landscape was turned into an amusement park, with the river serving as the town’s main water supply and a pumping station replacing the old gristmill.
Today, where the river’s former pump station was, there is a picnic area next to a beautiful waterfall, and a fishway allows the herring to reach upstream spawning grounds.
8. Seekonk Fire Museum
Opened in 2016, the museum is located at 211 Newman Avenue in the city’s old fire station, built in the late 1920s and serving as the headquarters of the fire department for decades.
Inside, you’ll find a wealth of memorabilia from the local fire department, including equipment, helmets, newspaper clippings, trophies from decades of collecting competitions, and the sirens that used to sound when school was closed on snowy days.
There is also a set of four of his fire trucks, including his 1953 Maxim fire truck that was used in the city from the 1950s through the 1980s.
At the time we made this list, the Seekonk Fire Museum was open from June to He for a special event on the first Saturday morning of September.
9. Funcity Trampoline Park
If you have super-energetic kids, you’ll love this indoor trampoline park near Highway 6 in Seekonk.
Funcity offers a variety of attractions that will keep you entertained for hours. At its heart is a giant trampoline area with a bouncy area and a ‘Kids Area’ for the little ones.
Other features include a foam pit, obstacle course, dodgeball court, Slam Dunk basketball hoop, battle beam, climbing wall, bumper ball area, and more.
Parents with older, unsupervised children can relax in a comfortable armchair with a light snack.
10. Monster Mini Golf
Among the many family-friendly activities in Seekonk is the location of the national chain of indoor miniature golf parks, perfect for rainy days.
All year round, you can go to Monster Mini Golf for 18 holes of spooky fun, a large black light room filled with animatronic glow-in-the-dark monsters, and walls adorned with stunning art and lighthearted pop culture imagery spanning decades.
Monster Mini Golf’s own radio station plays upbeat music, and there’s an arcade with classic ticket-redemption games like a basketball hoop and ski ball.
11. Four Town Farm
Now in its fifth generation, this family-owned fruit and vegetable farm dates back to the early 20th century.
For decades, Four Town Farm has been a wholesaler, but what started as a humble melon wagon has grown from a farm estate to a thriving storefront that was renovated in 2015 and welcomes you today.
From June onwards, you can go to the fields and harvest produce such as strawberries, peas, flowers, and pumpkins in the fall. During pumpkin season, you can drive a tractor to a field and spend a few minutes solving a corn maze.
12. Seekonk Speedway
This 1/3-mile asphalt oval racetrack has been managed by the same family since it opened in 1946. Seekonk Speedway’s season kicks off in May with the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly series on his circuit on Saturday short.
Categories include Pro Stock (Division 1), Late Model (Division 2), Sportsman (Division 3), and Sport Truck (Division 4).
There are also inexpensive races on Friday night for those who want to qualify for Saturday’s big stage. On select Sundays during the season, you can attend special thrilling shows that combine drag racing, enduro cars, monster trucks, and demolition derbies. Throughout the season, people also visit the circuit on Sundays for the weekly flea market. Before and after Halloween, there are spooky experiences that we will discuss later.
13. Audubon Caratunk Wildlife Refuge
More remote north of Seekonk is a nature reserve with about 200 hectares of forest, fields, streams and ponds, and miles of marked trails.
The Karatank Wildlife Refuge is located in Seekonk but is managed by the Audubon Society of Rhode Island.
As you stroll through this tranquil space, you’ll spot a variety of wildlife including muskrats, otters, loggerhead turtles, white screech owls, wild turkeys, and a variety of songbirds in summer.
Here, charming old barns host educational programs and Audubon Society events and stop after the snowfall for excellent snowshoeing and cross-country skiing on the 1.9-mile loop trail.
14. Ten Mile River Greenway
Some sections of the Ten Mile River are accessible from the shores of Seekonk, but if you cross into East Providence you can hike this 3-mile multi-use trail.
Opened in 2004, the Ten Mile River Greenway meanders an undeveloped green corridor and connects many public open spaces, including Slater Memorial Park (details below).
This trail is one of the paved bike trails in Rhode Island and may not be built on railroad tracks. It has great views of the riverside ponds, making for an unforgettable sight in autumn.
15. Gammino Pond Conservation Area
You may not know it now, but half a century ago, this quiet natural space on Newman Avenue was a sand and gravel quarry.
The difference since then has been great, and the once deserted shores of Gammino Pond are now densely covered with trees, shrubs, and other vegetation.
The nature reserve covers an area of about 60 hectares and is crisscrossed by paths, such as the blue-marked paths that adjoin the pond and border the shore at various points.
The property also provides access to trails leading to East Providence, bypassing the shores of Central Pond and crossing the pond from the southern trailhead to the Ten Mile River Greenway to the secluded forested Seakonk Sanctuary.