diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 82107c69c..40bd8a16e 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -15,3 +15,5 @@ python/build
 python/dist
 
 notebooks/.ipynb_checkpoints
+
+**/.hypothesis
diff --git a/python/lancedb/db.py b/python/lancedb/db.py
index f905aae3b..9782163fc 100644
--- a/python/lancedb/db.py
+++ b/python/lancedb/db.py
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ import pyarrow as pa
 
 from .common import URI, DATA
 from .table import LanceTable
+from .util import get_uri_scheme
 
 
 class LanceDBConnection:
@@ -26,10 +27,12 @@ class LanceDBConnection:
     """
 
     def __init__(self, uri: URI):
-        if isinstance(uri, str):
-            uri = Path(uri)
-        uri = uri.expanduser().absolute()
-        Path(uri).mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
+        is_local = isinstance(uri, Path) or get_uri_scheme(uri) == "file"
+        if is_local:
+            if isinstance(uri, str):
+                uri = Path(uri)
+            uri = uri.expanduser().absolute()
+            Path(uri).mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
         self._uri = str(uri)
 
     @property
@@ -43,7 +46,11 @@ class LanceDBConnection:
         -------
         A list of table names.
         """
-        return [p.stem for p in Path(self.uri).glob("*.lance")]
+        if get_uri_scheme(self.uri) == "file":
+            return [p.stem for p in Path(self.uri).glob("*.lance")]
+        raise NotImplementedError(
+            "List table_names is only supported for local filesystem for now"
+        )
 
     def __len__(self) -> int:
         return len(self.table_names())
diff --git a/python/lancedb/util.py b/python/lancedb/util.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..92bb93158
--- /dev/null
+++ b/python/lancedb/util.py
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+#  Copyright 2023 LanceDB Developers
+#
+#  Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+#  you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+#  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+#  Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+#  distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+#  WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+#  See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+#  limitations under the License.
+
+from urllib.parse import ParseResult, urlparse
+
+from pyarrow import fs
+
+
+def get_uri_scheme(uri: str) -> str:
+    """
+    Get the scheme of a URI. If the URI does not have a scheme, assume it is a file URI.
+
+    Parameters
+    ----------
+    uri : str
+        The URI to parse.
+
+    Returns
+    -------
+    str: The scheme of the URI.
+    """
+    parsed = urlparse(uri)
+    scheme = parsed.scheme
+    if not scheme:
+        scheme = "file"
+    elif scheme in ["s3a", "s3n"]:
+        scheme = "s3"
+    elif len(scheme) == 1:
+        # Windows drive names are parsed as the scheme
+        # e.g. "c:\path" -> ParseResult(scheme="c", netloc="", path="/path", ...)
+        # So we add special handling here for schemes that are a single character
+        scheme = "file"
+    return scheme
diff --git a/python/tests/test_util.py b/python/tests/test_util.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..1090fa3de
--- /dev/null
+++ b/python/tests/test_util.py
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+#  Copyright 2023 LanceDB Developers
+#
+#  Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+#  you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+#  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+#  Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+#  distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+#  WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+#  See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+#  limitations under the License.
+
+from lancedb.util import get_uri_scheme
+
+
+def test_normalize_uri():
+    uris = [
+        "relative/path",
+        "/absolute/path",
+        "file:///absolute/path",
+        "s3://bucket/path",
+        "gs://bucket/path",
+        "c:\\windows\\path",
+    ]
+    schemes = ["file", "file", "file", "s3", "gs", "file"]
+
+    for uri, expected_scheme in zip(uris, schemes):
+        parsed_scheme = get_uri_scheme(uri)
+        assert parsed_scheme == expected_scheme