Beach roses flourish as the surf crashes at Beavertail.

The Providence Journal / Kathy Borchers

Southwest Avenue and Beavertail Road lead across a narrow sliver of land that connects southwestern Jamestown to the rest of Conanicut Island. Three former military forts in this southwestern section now serve as parks that offer the public a chance to enjoy the unspoiled Jamestown shoreline.

At the extreme southern tip of the island is the 170-acre Beavertail State Park (formerly Fort Burnside, owned by the Navy), acquired by the state of Rhode Island in 1980. Visitors can park and bike or walk along the nature trails, picnic on a stretch of grass or rocky shore and enjoy the panoramic ocean views.

Work is ongoing now to restore the granite tower of the Fort Beavertail Lighthouse. The original 58-foot wooden lighthouse, the first in Rhode Island, was built in 1749, but burned in 1753. It was rebuilt but was burned by the British in 1779. The 64-foot-high granite tower was built in 1856.

In 1993, the Beavertail Lighthouse Museum was established. In 2008, the Champlin Foundations granted $227,000 to the Beavertail Lighthouse Museum Association to restore the lighthouse.

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Just south of the town beach at Mackerel Cove is Fort Getty Park, owned and managed by the Town of Jamestown. During World War II, Fort Getty was used as a prisoner of war “reeducation” camp for German soldiers, according to town officials.

Today the 33-acre waterfront park is primarily used as a campsite. Renting a seasonal parking space for a recreational vehicle in the 2009 summer season costs $3,700. Tent sites are also available for $25 per night.

The town also rents out an open-air pavilion at the park for $300 per day.

Officials said the park brings in about $400,000 in annual gross revenue, and about $250,000 in net revenue, a significant sum for this small island community.

From Fort Getty Park’s Kit Wright Nature Trail, visitors can view the protected, 45-acre Fox Hill Salt Marsh.

Just south of Fort Getty Park, on Prospect Hill, is the 22-acre Conanicut Battery National Historic Park, also owned by the town. The site includes remains of fortifications built by American Colonists in 1776 and later taken over by British forces, which remained on the island through 1779.

Town Administrator Bruce R. Keiser and municipal planner Lisa Bryer said that in 2006, the town adopted a master plan that outlined desired improvements for Fort Getty Park to increase its use by town residents. Bryer said plans included moving the RV park down the hill, which means renters would lose their enviable views of the water, to create a waterfront town park. The Harbor Commission would rebuild the boat ramp, and plans call for a family sailing center that would offer sailing lessons, Bryer said.

Bryer said a lack of money has delayed implementation of the plan for Fort Getty Park, but the town has been approached by a private group that would fundraise and build a sailing center in exchange for a long-term lease. This group wants to offer advanced sailing training in the off-season “for kids who are serious sailors,” she said.

Keiser said plans also include enclosing the existing pavilion to make an attractive building that could be rented throughout the year for special events, including weddings. Bryer said another open-air pavilion would be built for casual dining by park users.

Beavertail Road is the only main road in this section of town, starting at the town beach and leading south to Beavertail State Park. Shooting off the main road are a number of smaller streets, mainly dead-ends, with single-family houses.

Bryer said that except for the park areas, all of the Beavertail section is zoned for single-family houses. She said there has been no subdivision activity in the neighborhood; most new houses are “infill,” replacing or expanding existing structures, she said.

On some streets, smaller, older cottages, some without central heating, are next to newer architect-designed year-round residences.

The neighborhood also includes a small farm, Beaverhead Farm, of just under 60 acres, run by Nonie and Bill O’Farrell.

Nonie O’Farrell, a Newport native who studied literature at Brown University, said they bought the farm nine years ago, and they raise cattle there.

She said they have an arrangement with another farmer who uses the land to graze sheep and chickens. They use a “rotational grazing” system, she said.

There are four houses on the farm property; an older farmhouse, a new house built by the O’Farrells when they moved to Jamestown, one house owned by another family and used as a summer residence, and another cottage.

Liz Brazil, of Jamestown Rental Realty, leases the farmhouse and cottage for the O’Farrells.

“They live this very pure farm life,” said Brazil, who jokes that O’Farrell, the mother of four boys, should star in a reality television show about “life on Beaverhead Farm.”

O’Farrell and Brazil said many property owners in Jamestown rent out their property, for a week or two in the summer, for the entire summer season, or for the entire “off season,” depending on their circumstances.

“There are a ton of summer rentals that you’d never be able to see from the street,” O’Farrell said.

Brazil said she specializes in rentals because it is so rare for property in Jamestown to be sold.

Properties for rent range from tiny rustic cottages with no heat to rambling, shingle-style oceanfront mansions, she said.

Owning a house in Beavertail requires very deep pockets. There are just seven houses listed for sale there, and only one is priced under $1.5 million — a 1971 ranch at 44 Bonnet View Drive, listed at $629,000.

Two houses are priced between $1.5 million and $2 million, and three others are priced at $2.7 million, $3.98 million, and $5.595 million.

The most expensive listing in Beavertail, $8,495,000, is a property at 228 Hull Cove Farm Rd., a Nantucket shingle-style house built in 1994 on close to 4 acres overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.

The property includes a private path to the beach, and comes with two small cottages and an 864-square-foot carriage house, according to the listing information.

POPULATION:

(Jamestown, 2000) 5,622

MEDIAN HOUSE PRICE:

(Jamestown, 2008) $525,000

ET CETERA: The infamous 1938 hurricane uncovered the original 1749 foundation of the Beavertail Lighthouse. The present tower, built in 1856, is located just north of the first lighthouse.

cdunn@projo.com