The Gem Hunt
America decides what makes the map.
Every state has a spot the algorithms miss — the one locals send strangers to. Name it. Vote on the finalists. The winners get built into Roamward, the scenic road-trip app that proves you actually went. No download required to play.
Nominate
What does Rhode Island do better than anywhere?
One hidden gem — a place a chatbot would never know. The most-named spots become finalists, and the crowd votes the winner into Roamward.
Vote
Rhode Island gems, most-loved first
- 1Big Blue BugA 58-foot bright-blue termite perched atop an exterminator's building beside I-95 in Providence — the unofficial mascot greeting everyone driving through the capital.
- 2Fantastic Umbrella FactoryA rambling 1968 collection of rustic shops, overgrown gardens, and resident emus tucked into the countryside of Charlestown along Route 1A.
- 3Green Animals Topiary GardenThe country's oldest topiary garden, with sculpted hedge elephants, bears, and birds overlooking Narragansett Bay in Portsmouth — a whimsical, photogenic stroll.
- 4Swamp Meadow Covered BridgeRhode Island's only covered bridge on a public road, a red wooden span over a quiet creek in rural Foster in the state's wooded northwest corner.
- 5Blithewold Mansion and ArboretumA bayside estate with 33 acres of gardens, a giant sequoia, and sweeping water views in Bristol — especially lovely when the spring daffodils bloom.
- 6Beavertail LighthouseThe site of the third-oldest lighthouse in North America, perched on the wave-battered southern tip of Jamestown's Conanicut Island, with four overlooks and a small seasonal museum over the bay.
- 7Purgatory ChasmA narrow 150-foot-deep cleft in the rock that drops straight to the sea in Middletown, reached from an unmarked little lot — a quick stop with cliff-edge Atlantic views that punch above their size.
- 8Tomaquag MuseumRhode Island's only Indigenous-run museum, tucked in rural Exeter, sharing Narragansett and Southern New England Native culture through rotating exhibits and a 20,000-piece collection.
- 9Frosty Drew ObservatoryInside Charlestown's Ninigret Park sits the darkest sky in Rhode Island, where a public observatory opens its dome on summer Friday nights to show Saturn's rings and the Milky Way.
- 10Nine Men's MiseryThe oldest war-veterans memorial in the United States, a 1676 stone marker a half-mile down a wooded trail at Cumberland's old monastery grounds — a quiet, history-rich leg-stretcher.
Not your state’s turn yet?
Want Roamward to map Rhode Island next?
Add your vote — the loudest state gets mapped first.
How it works
Nominate
Drop the most underrated spot in your state — the gem an itinerary generator would never surface.
The crowd ranks it
Name a place someone already nominated and it rises. The most-loved gems become the state’s finalists.
Vote the winner in
Finalists go to a public vote. Winners get built into Roamward — credited to the people who found them.
Go verify it
Drive it, GPS-verify the stop, earn the badge, and share the map that proves you were first.
Don’t miss the winners
Be the first to find what the crowd picks.
Join early access and we’ll tell you when your state’s gem wins — and when Roamward opens for iOS testing.
Get early access