I live in Rhode Island. My favorite town to visit in the summer has great seafood, quiet beaches, and a bamboo forest.

Charlestown is a cute, cozy beach town near Watch Hill. Arthur D'Amario III/Shutterstock As a local, one of my favorite Rhode Island towns to visit in the summer is Charlestown. There are cute coffee shops, delicious seafood spots, and quiet, peaceful beaches. One of my favorite things to do is visit the Fantastic Umbrella Factory, a quirky village of shops. Between freezing temperatures and blizzards dumping feet of snow that last for weeks, Rhode Island can be brutal in the winter. Once it gets warm enough for ice-cream stands to put out their "Open" flags and hydrangeas to bloom, though, everything changes. As a lifelong local, I've always believed that summer in New England is well worth the long, dreary winter. Luckily, my hometown in Rhode Island is the ultimate shoreline spot, with waterfront restaurants, a quaint downtown, and a beach near Taylor Swift's iconic summer house.