Episode 3/Takin A Walk on Block Island with Rich Tretheway

Buzz Knight:

Walking is a joy to never be taken for granted. At its core, it is one of the most mindful moments that allows us to escape to unique and beautiful places. It can be a moment of solitude, alone in reflection, or it can represent a bond with a companion enjoying sights, sounds, and smells.

Walking was a habit of my father who used the practice to blow some stink off, as my mom used to refer to it, as his fuse was lit by the aggravation of the day. Hours later, and a pack of cigarettes lighter, he would return to the house, a more content soul.

Philosophers use walking for their mindfulness and productivity. As Aristotle was famous for walking and talking, facilitating learning, and Henry Thoreau believed walking through nature allows us to grow spiritually. The Vietnamese monk, Thich Naht Hanh, believes when we walk, it is possible to enjoy every step we make.

I’m Buzz Knight, and today on Taking a Walk, we go for a stroll with one of my favorite people on the planet. Rich Trethewey is a Renaissance man who lives on Block Island, Rhode Island, which happens to be one of the most beautiful places in the world to do everything, including taking a walk.

Buzz Knight:

Taking a walk here on Block Island with one of my favorite people. I referred to him in the introduction as a bit of a Renaissance man, Rich Trethewey.

Rich Trethewey:

Hey, how are you?

Buzz Knight:

I’m great, Rich. And I’m even better when I’m with you. How do you take the notion that I suggested of you being a Renaissance man, first of all?You looked at me when I said it, and I thought you were going to punch me in the nose.

Rich Trethewey:

Well, I’m not even sure I really understand that whole concept of a Renaissance person, but let’s just say I’ve been ever evolving, I think, in my own way.

Buzz Knight:

I would say that’s an understatement. As long as I’ve known you, you’ve done many different things. Tell the audience about some of the things that you’ve done throughout your storied life and career.

Rich Trethewey:

Well, I’ve started as a paper boy, and then a dishwasher, and I became kitchen manager at a restaurant out here on, we’re on lovely Block Island. And eventually a friend of mine and I, we opened up a restaurant together. And in the wintertime, I’ve done care taking. I was asked to be in a short film and I ended up appearing in, oh, I don’t know, about 30 different films. It was a lot of fun. I like that. And my most recent endeavor with my friend Marc is a podcast, which we’re really enjoying doing.

Buzz Knight:

Two Guys On Block Island.

Rich Trethewey:

Yeah, that’s the name of it. Keep it simple. Two Guys On Block Island. And, we interview everybody from the waitress at The Oar, to the summer homeowner, to the guy who was born here in 1938.

Buzz Knight:

And, congratulations on the success of it. You’ve built this in a short amount of time into something very special. Tell me how much fun it’s been, going through the process of talking to all these many characters that are on the podcast.

Rich Trethewey:

Well, it was terrifying at first because, I really was like, “How are we going to fill up an hour of time?” And then it’s just been great. Everybody’s got a story in there, and just some of them don’t know it. I’ve had so many guests who said, “Oh, I’m not funny.” Or, “Nobody’s going to want to know about me.” And I’ll be like, “We’re done, an hour’s up. We got to wrap this up.” And they’re like, “Really? We just did an hour?” And, it’s been a blessing. And I really, and I feel great that we’re capturing some of these people, that their great, great-grandkids will be able to hear their stories. And I think it’s just wonderful.

Buzz Knight:

Well, if somebody has never been to Block Island, because I know there’s many people that I still encounter to this day who go, “What?” And they live in Massachusetts, by the way, which is the funny part. So if somebody’s never been to Block Island, tell them what Block Island is about.

Rich Trethewey:

It’s …

Buzz Knight:

How much time do we have?

Rich Trethewey:

I don’t know. Yeah. It’s, people come here for what it’s not. There’s no golf courses. There’s no, you don’t pay for parking at the beach in a big lot. It’s, there’s dirt roads you can go down, and you find Mansion Beach, and you just park in an old foundation of a mansion that burned down years ago. And, the whole island speed limit’s 25, and people are pretty laid back most of the time. And it’s just a really, it’s a different place. It’s different. There’s no commercial McDonald’s and Dunkin’ Donuts, and all that stuff. So, it’s what makes it different. It separates us from a lot of the other places.

Buzz Knight:

Well, because my sense of it is, it knows what it is and it’s not trying to be something that it isn’t.

Rich Trethewey:

No. And, there is a battle because there are people that do try to change it, and we try to hold back as hard as we can. I like to say we like to, I feel we kind of drag behind about 20 years. From, as other things evolve, we catch up. For example, we’re in 2021 and we’re just about to get high speed internet.

Buzz Knight:

Which says it all right?

Rich Trethewey:

I mean, doesn’t that kind of sum it up? I mean, the other thing about Block Island is the nature. We have species here of insects and plants that are the last grounds for them. We’ve even said, “If they’re gone here, they’re gone everywhere.” And, so the nature walks, the beaches are pristine, the water. I mean, it’s just everything about it. Besides the people, the community, and the location. It’s just gorgeous here.

Buzz Knight:

And, I think there’s a few characters maybe that inhabit the island 12 months a year, is that correct?

Rich Trethewey:

Oh, yeah. I like to say, we live here year round with, I don’t know what the last count was. It’s a bunch of guys, sit at a bar and say, “Who lives on that road?” And they write down the numbers. I think that’s how they come up with how many people live here. Well, let’s say it’s 900. It’s like a family of 900, and instead of having one crazy uncle, you got 20 of them. But, we take care of each other, and I think that’s, it’s a family feeling out here.

Buzz Knight:

And, how did you end up on Block Island?

Rich Trethewey:

My, oh gosh, my great-grandmother and her sister, one of them worked in an office with someone in Brooklyn, New York who owned a cottage here and said, “You should really go check out this island.” I’m not going to get the year right, but I’m going to go with around 1930s. And they came out and they bought a bunch of land. And so for generations, our family, this is our summer vacation spot. My first, probably when I was about 10 years old, we didn’t have running water or electricity at the cottage. Still, the outhouse and the pump. We’d pump rain water, but that’s how I came to be and got my summer job. And I knew in high school that I never wanted to leave, as soon as I didn’t have to. I knew that I was going to graduate high school, and move here and stay here, and been here about 32 years.

Buzz Knight:

And, you do go off island from time to time.

Rich Trethewey:

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, when we were younger, a little poorer, it was a big event to go off island, but now, there’s very different ferry schedules. You can hop on boats and not to mention they’re not, the size of a rowboat, which used to be the case and you’d get sick. So this bigger boat’s more comfortable. And so, we go off now. Yeah. In the winter, I’ll try to go off once a week if I can. And we got a lot of family in the Rhode Island area. So, we go visit brothers and sisters, and it’s really nice.

Buzz Knight:

So since we’re on the Taking a Walk Podcast, we’re walking on Block Island, right near a place called Fresh Pond.

Rich Trethewey:

Yep.

Buzz Knight:

And, it’s one of many special places, but what are some of the other special places here within the island that come to your mind?

Rich Trethewey:

Well, I love the Southeast Lighthouse, which there’s a great story about how they moved it about, oh, I don’t know, 25, 30 years ago because erosion was going to cause it to fall into the sea. I love the beaches, the sunsets on the west side, Dory’s Cove, Gracie’s Cove. I’m a big fisherman. So, I love all the spots we can fish. I mean, I was just out in Fresh Pond yesterday fishing, and caught a couple of nice large mouth bass. Put them back, of course. We encourage catch and release. But yeah, I mean, I’ve lived here 30 something years and I’ll go to a different driveway that I’ve never been down. And, it’s like a totally new view that I never even knew existed here, even though it’s only a few miles wide by a few miles long. And, that’s always taken me back, every once in a while.

Buzz Knight:

I love that new find that you just mentioned. Yeah. That you just find something you hadn’t seen. Yesterday, as we were out at the lighthouse, we saw, for us the first time, all the seals.

Rich Trethewey:

Oh, up at the North Light.

Buzz Knight:

Yeah. First time ever. I mean, we’ve seen seals from a distance, but never all congregating there, which was just freaking magical. I mean, special.

Rich Trethewey:

Yeah, I mean, it’s very cool. And I guess, as of this podcast here, they’ve just, piping plovers have returned after a decade away. So, down in the same area. So, in that seagull nesting ground up there. I mean, that’s gorgeous, too. You want to be a little careful what time of year you walk through there, but you can borrow my seagull costume. But yeah, it’s a beautiful, beautiful spot out there. I mean, and I always feel by that North Lighthouse, when you look out at that point, so that’s where the, for those of you listening and don’t know Block Island, but Block Island has a north point. It comes with a very sharp point as a reef out there. It almost feels like you’re at the end of the earth, and you can see the two tides coming together. And it’s really just an amazing … Malcolm Greenaway is one of our characters and he’s an amazing photographer. And he’s got a shot of that, of this, of the tides clashing, and the waves going up in the air, and causing a rainbow. And, it’s just one of those natural wonders.

Buzz Knight:

So, when you think of what happens to people, when they come to Block Island, and they go for walks and they go to the beach, I think people lose their problems to a great degree when they come here, which is the idea of coming on vacation, isn’t it?

Rich Trethewey:

I think that it, there’s certain people that when you’re around them, they give you that peace and tranquility, just talking to them. Like you. But, if there’s a place where you can drop back, and just enjoy being instead of surviving. And, I think it takes them out of survival mode, that day-to-day survive, survive, survive into this, “I’m just going to be while I’m here and that’s it. And there’s not, I don’t need to do anything else other than just be.” Enjoy the nature, enjoy the walks, enjoy the people. You get a lot of smiles. You get a lot of hellos, and at least from most people. And, if there’s a few that don’t, we try to compensate for them a little bit, if we can.

Buzz Knight:

Well, I have to say, taking a walk in Block Island is always a spectacular occurrence wherever it is, but taking a walk with Rich Trethewey is extra special. And, I thank you.

Rich Trethewey:

Hey, I got one quick question.

Buzz Knight:

Yes, sir.

Rich Trethewey:

Did you know that you’re supposed to say on Block Island, not in Block Island? So there’s a, just got to teach you that one. The local lore.

Buzz Knight:

See?

Rich Trethewey:

You’re on an island. You’re not in it.

Buzz Knight:

In, that’s right.

Rich Trethewey:

Yeah, well.

Buzz Knight:

Next time I’ll get my cue card ready.

Rich Trethewey:

It’s no fun with cue cards. This is much better.

Speaker 3:

Taking a Walk with Buzz Knight, available on Spotify, iTunes, and wherever podcasts are available.

Buzz Knight is an established media executive with a long history of content creation and multi-platform distribution.

After a successful career as a Radio Executive, he formed Buzz Knight Media which focuses on strategic guidance and the development of new original content.