Built in 1852 as one of America's first seaside resort hotels, Block Island's oldest and largest property, thirty-two rooms in the white-clapboard main building with its 200-foot rocking-chair veranda commanding the Spring Street bluff over the Atlantic.
"Built 1852. Block Island's oldest and largest hotel, on the Spring Street bluff, with the rocking-chair veranda that the rest of the island measures itself against."
The Spring House Hotel was built in 1852, the year the first regular steamer service between Providence and Block Island began, and is the oldest continuously operating hotel on the island. The architect-builders worked in the early Victorian summer-resort idiom that was beginning to define the New England coast: a long white-clapboard main hall on a stone foundation, mansard cupola, and a generous wraparound veranda that runs roughly two hundred feet along the Spring Street facade. The hotel sits on a high bluff above the Atlantic at the southern end of the village, the highest hotel position on the island, with uninterrupted ocean views to the south and east and the Old Harbor village walking-distance below.
The thirty-two guest rooms occupy three floors of the main building, with all the irregularity of plan and ceiling that comes with a building of this age: standard kings and queens, doubles in the smaller historic stock, studios with sitting areas, and a small handful of suites on the corner positions with full ocean views. Every room has been refreshed in the past five years with new soft goods and bathrooms, but the historic envelope is intact: original heart-pine floors, ten-foot ceilings on the second floor, period-correct millwork, and the original window proportions that frame the ocean. The corner ocean-view suites are the headline category and book first; the rear-facing rooms are quieter and less expensive without losing the building's character.
The Spring House Restaurant operates seasonally on the ground floor in the original 1852 dining room, with a contemporary New England menu anchored in Rhode Island seafood (Point Judith calamari, Block Island swordfish, Narragansett Bay oysters) and a strong local-vegetable programme. The wraparound veranda is the property's social heart and one of the island's most iconic public spaces, set with original-style white wooden rocking chairs across its full length, the right place on Block Island for a long cocktail before dinner and a long coffee after breakfast. The hotel also runs the Spring House Tavern, a casual all-day room with a smaller menu, and an outdoor lawn that hosts weddings and live music on summer weekends.
Spring House is the obvious first booking on Block Island. The position (Spring Street bluff, the highest hotel position on the island, walking distance to Old Harbor village and to Mohegan Bluffs), the scale (thirty-two rooms, large enough to disappear into and small enough to feel personal), the age (the original 1852 building, intact), and the character (the rocking-chair veranda, the original dining room, the lawn) combine in a way no other Block Island property matches. For honeymoons, anniversaries, and family summer weeks the Spring House is the address; the rest of the island works back from it.
A corner ocean-view suite at the Spring House is the Block Island honeymoon room. The Atlantic fills the windows, the rocking-chair veranda is the right pre-dinner cocktail, the original 1852 dining room handles dinner, and the position above Old Harbor village means the rest of the island is a walk away. Four nights is the right length.
For a Block Island anniversary the Spring House is the unambiguous answer. The Standard Ocean View King is the right milestone room, the dining room is the island's most considered, and the property handles every variant of the brief, low-key fifth, substantial twenty-fifth, or quiet retirement weekend.
The larger studio rooms and the suites sleep four comfortably; the lawn handles children naturally; the Spring House Tavern serves a casual menu that works for kids; and the position above Old Harbor village makes the rest of the island walkable without a car. Three-generation family weeks are a Spring House staple.
52 Spring Street
New Shoreham, 02807
United States
Spring Street Bluff
32 guest rooms
From $425/night
Four-Star Historic Victorian
Rated 4.7/5 across 894 reviews
Check-in: 3:00 PM
Check-out: 11:00 AM
Built 1852, the oldest hotel on Block Island and one of America's earliest seaside resorts
200-foot rocking-chair veranda
Spring House Restaurant (original 1852 dining room)
Spring House Tavern (casual all-day)
Outdoor lawn and event garden
Free WiFi throughout
Walk to Old Harbor village and Mohegan Bluffs
Seasonal property (May-October)
From $425/night. Peak summer and holiday weeks book three to four months ahead; shoulder weeks generally available with two weeks' notice.
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