The heart of South County is the 20-odd miles of shoreline connecting Point Judith in Narragansett and Napatree Point in Westerly. Cross Route 1 and you can take it into the woods of Richmond and Exeter for a bit, but that's it. Each of these four coastal regions has a distinct personality. Look at a map, and you can see why. Because of the way Narragansett Bay bisects the state and the way the highways are configured around it, city folks who want to head for the shore have to make a decision in Providence about which direction they're going to go.
Block Island is another hop beyond South County, by ferry from Galilee or by air from Westerly.
You don't easily change your tack midstream. Nearly another one. As a result, South County people often know almost nothing about Sakonnet, and vice versa. Newport people would go stir-crazy if they didn't go somewhere else from time to time, so they go both directions, but more often toward South County, because that's where the bridges lead. And a remarkable number of Rhode Islanders have never been to Block Island at all.