Erik Rock troll (Ninigret Park)

Charlestown, Rhode Island, United States

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Public art

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Listed, not yet checked · Oct 2026

This Big Thing is recorded as still being here.

Erik Rock is a giant troll sculpture of recycled wood by Danish artist Thomas Dambo, beside Little Ninigret Pond in Ninigret Park, Charlestown, Rhode Island. The South County Tourism Council unveiled it on May 3, 2024, with a second troll, Greta Granit, elsewhere in the park.

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Erik Rock troll (Ninigret Park)

This pin marks the Big Thing itself. If stopping, choose a safe and legal place nearby.

Site-level location · 41.3702° N, 71.6643° W

FIELD GUIDE

The story

Follow the yellow footprints and a wooden giant is lounging at the edge of a pond.

Erik Rock sits beside Little Ninigret Pond in Ninigret Park, Charlestown. It is the work of Thomas Dambo, a Danish artist who made his first troll, Hector the Protector, on the Puerto Rican island of Culebra in 2014, according to Rhode Island Monthly. Blue Dot Living describes the Ninigret trolls as 16 feet tall wooden sculptures made from recycled and scrap wood. The head, fingers and feet were made in Dambo's workshop in Denmark and shipped over, and his team spent three weeks in Rhode Island in spring 2024 building the rest with volunteers. Faye Pantazopoulos of the South County Tourism Council told Blue Dot Living that more than 170 volunteers helped, from clearing land to pulling nails from salvaged wood. Erik Rock wears a wooden birdhouse charm necklace.

The idea came from tourism council president Louise Bishop, who saw Dambo's trolls at Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens. The council unveiled Erik Rock on May 3, 2024, with a ribbon cutting attended by state officials. The troll holds clues to the location of the second, Greta Granit, which sits about a half-mile away past the disc golf course. Her name is also spelled Granite.

Bishop told Blue Dot Living that more than 60,000 people came through the park to see the trolls in June and July. In 2025 three more Dambo trolls opened elsewhere in Rhode Island, Young Boulder, Iver Mudslider and Mrs. Skipper, extending the Rhode Island Troll Trail.

Visit Rhode Island describes the visit as free and self-guided, and says to park near the playground in the main lot for Erik Rock. Dambo has said his wooden trolls will not last forever; the stones, he says, will.

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PRACTICAL

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WHAT TO EXPECT

Free, self-guided visit according to Visit Rhode Island. Park near the playground in the main lot and follow the yellow footprints to the troll beside Little Ninigret Pond. Leashed dogs are welcome. The second troll, Greta Granit, is about a half-mile further on, past the disc golf course.

ACCESS

Ninigret Park is a public park in Charlestown. Visit Rhode Island lists its address as 4800 Ninigret Park Rd or 5 Park Lane, Charlestown, RI 02813. Check with the park for current hours.

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Greta Granit troll (Ninigret Park)

Charlestown, Rhode Island

Greta Granit (also spelled Greta Granite) is a troll sculpture about 16 feet tall, built from recycled wood by Danish artist Thomas Dambo with local volunteers. She sits among boulders in woods at Ninigret Park, Charlestown, Rhode Island, and has been there since May 2024.

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