A house on West Reach Drive. Last week, 20 houses were listed in Jamestown Shores.

Even in summer, when many of the people who use “summer” as a verb descend on Rhode Island’s shores, Jamestown is a place where it is still possible to find peace, quiet and space to think.

Like most areas of this island town, Jamestown Shores has its share of summer residents, but this neighborhood on Conanicut Island’s west shore near the Jamestown Bridge also shares the town’s character of unrushed charm.

The town, even in its commercial center, Jamestown village, seems to have resisted the establishment of tourist traps such as T-shirt and sunglass emporiums. There are a few nice places to eat, a hardware store, a bead shop, a sporting goods and clothing store, and a few real estate offices; but this is not a place for people who want to be near scores of gift shops, crowded beaches and noisy waterfront bars.

Unlike East Shore Road, which is dotted with waterfront mansions isolated on large lots, the Shores has the feel of a suburban neighborhood, with smaller lots and a mix of housing styles, sizes and ages.

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Jamestown Shores

There are tiny cottages and sprawling contemporaries, raised ranches and traditional Colonials. Seaside Drive is the avenue closest to the shore, and it is home to some of the neighborhood’s most extravagant houses. There are a few off-road parking spaces here for the Shores Beach area, also known as Head’s Beach.

No neighborhood on this island can be called affordable; last year, the median house sales price in Jamestown was $740,650. This was a 35-percent increase from 2006 — a statistically insignificant number because there were only 62 sales — but it is a reflection of the strength of the real estate market here.

There were 81 houses listed for sale in Jamestown last week, ranging in price from $305,000 for a 432-square-foot cottage in the village, at 4 Swinburne St., to $7,995,000 for a house at 223 Hull Cove Farm Rd., off Beavertail Road, in the southern tip of the island.

In Jamestown Shores, there were 20 houses listed for sale last week, and 6 were priced under $400,000. The least expensive was $329,000, for a “recently remodeled” log home at 160 Beach Ave., with 2 bedrooms and 1 bath, and 812 square feet of living space. The most expensive house was listed at $799,900, for a 1973 contemporary at 82 Umiak Ave. with 3 bedrooms, 3 full bathrooms and 1 half-bath, and 3,029 square feet of living space.

POPULATION:

(Jamestown, 2000) 5,622

MEDIAN HOUSE PRICE:

(Jamestown, 2007) $740,750

INTERESTING FACT:

A summer exhibit at the Jamestown Museum, “School Days,” traces the history of education on the island, from 1750, when Jamestown’s first school was built on the west side of Southwest Avenue near Mackerel Cove, to the present.

cdunn@projo.com