Louise and Matthew Bibeault, of Glocester, walk with their daughter, Olivia, 2, and their boxer, Chopper, in Lincoln Woods. The family walks the perimeter of the park several times a week.

The Providence Journal / Frieda Squires

Isn’t it time to finally feel good about something?

Then think about the award-winning state parks that have been created across Rhode Island during the last century.

Better yet, go to one of the 123 beaches, campgrounds management areas or parks that range from South County beaches to the deep woods along the Massachusetts border.

Those were key points made yesterday as state officials celebrated the 100th year of state parks in Rhode Island.

They gathered in the Hearthside House, a mansion preserved by the Town of Lincoln, in the same room on the same day that members of the Metropolitan Park District of Rhode Island authorized purchase of the state’s first park, Lincoln Woods, just across the road. It was exactly 100 years ago yesterday.

“This is a monumental occasion,” said Larry Mouradjian, associate director for natural resources at the state Department of Environmental Management. “You can only do this one time in 100 years.”

Mouradjian and others said Rhode Islanders should be grateful for the foresight of previous generations that preserved what now totals some 60,000 acres of urban parks, forested management areas and campgrounds.

State Tourism Director Mark Brodeur thanked the DEM’s parks personnel for helping to give him a “beautiful product to sell.”

Brodeur said the state’s parks help attract 18 million visitors to Rhode Island each year and generate billions of dollars in spending.

A month ago, Rhode Island became the first state in the country to receive the International Star Diamond Award, which usually goes to five-star hotels and resorts. Previous destination winners include New York City and Lucerne, Switzerland.

“This is the highest, most prestigious tourism award in the world, and they are sending the news to 1,000 media outlets around the world. It’s huge,” said Brodeur.

He added he lives near Colt State Park and he can gauge its importance to his life by noting it’s where he became engaged to his wife, taught his kids to ride bikes and learned to walk again after an injury.

“It’s a good day to forget about all that bludgeoning about the bad economy,” said Bob Billington, president of the Blackstone Valley Tourism Council.

Without its parks, he said, Rhode Island would look like much of Long Island.

He and others noted that staffing cuts have hit the DEM’s parks division badly, eliminating about one third of the jobs. That’s the wrong place to cut back, Billington said.

Albert Klyberg, a seasonal parks ranger and former director of the Rhode Island Historical Society, said state leaders began mapping a new park system around Providence in the early 1900s to provide some relief to a population that was booming with new industry and heavy immigration.

There was a lot of competition for open space, Klyberg said, but the population “desperately needed the air holes provided by the parks.”

By the 1930s, the parks commission had expanded its vision and created Burlingame State Park in Charlestown, Goddard Memorial State Park in Warwick, Scarborough State Beach in Narragansett and Beach Pond State Beach in Exeter.

The end of World War II provided the opportunity for a lot of military properties to be transformed into state parks, Klyberg said.

DEM officials said one family has held reunions at Goddard every year for 70 years and wants to show its appreciation this year by planting a tree. The DEM will help with that.

The agency also plans to resume its Great Outdoor Pursuit activity this year that seeks to connect children and their families to the state’s parks. Last year more than 1,000 people participated.

“Parks and recreation improve people’s lives,” said Mouradjian. “We know what we do is effective. We just have to find ways to continue.”

For information on the game, a new state parks logo and a list of state parks and beaches, go to: www.riparks.com.

plord@projo.com