Newport, Rhode Island: The Story Behind the Travel Photos:
- 5 days ago
- 12 min read
The NYC Traveler in Newport, Rhode Island
One place that I, as The NYC Traveler, like to visit is Newport, Rhode Island. It's a city, but nicely, it is a small one, making it easy to explore, enjoy and savor in a brief trip while having so much to do, that you can save other places to see for another visit. Like other places we visit, Newport has its own special feel, making it distinct.
Newport, Rhode Island. For those in the know, it conjures up images of mansions called cottages, tea parties on the lawn overlooking the ocean, beautiful women coming down grand staircases, socialites in white playing tennis on a grass court, fabulous cars zooming down stately tree lined avenues and boulevards.
Or perhaps you envision yachts and sailboats cruising along the harbor, with lovely people lounging around sipping champagne as the sun literally sets along a perfect horizon.
For those who like watching period films and television series, Newport is the home of The Gilded Age, not just the television series, but also the actual historical era. The time when industrial millionaires built, bought and sold mansions for cash money, where deals were made in smoke filled billiard rooms while their corseted society wives sipped tea and gossiped while alternately either building or destroying someone’s reputation.
Young people lounged on verandas and gazebos, with problems no bigger than whether they were invited to the next soiree, what to wear to said soirée, whether the right crowd would be there and if they would be matched with the appropriate spouse, which was being orchestrated by their mothers inside.
What does one do in Newport, Rhode Island now, in modern times? One could still lounge in a mansion, stroll along the shore or sail on a yacht.
*Walk Along Bellevue Avenue: The Preservation Society of Newport County manages 10 Gilded Age mansions and gardens that you can tour. Other mansions on and around this area are still privately owned. While walking along Bellevue Avenue, respect the privacy and property.
*Play Tennis on a Grass Court: The International Tennis Hall of Fame is more than just a tribute to tennis greats, although you can enjoy the museum. There's shops, restaurants and activities. And yes, you can make a reservation to play tennis or take a lesson on their grass court. Look for community events such as the annual antique car show.
*Stroll on Cliff Walk: Easton Bay (leading out to the Atlantic Ocean) is the backyard of some of those mansions on Bellevue Avenue. Walk on Cliff Walk on a self-guided tour (there are QR codes along the way). If you're ambitious, you can actually hike it, climbing on rocks and all. Part of the oceanside path is paved, accessible for strollers and wheelchairs. But roughly halfway through the 3.5 mile walk, the terrain changes (don't worry, there's a path to the streets from there for the less ambitious). Sturdy shoes and determination will get you to the end, but your four legged friends should not make that part of the journey.
*Stay for Only One Day: Newport is on many New England and Canada cruise itineraries, particularly those leaving from New York, Boston and Canada. There is plenty to do here for a week or a weekend but you can squeeze out a mansion tour, shopping and dining if you are here for only one day. You'll dock not from from America's Cup Boulevard and Thames Street. Enjoy the wharfs and the view of the bay.
*Browse and Shop and Eat: Pay attention to the intersection where America's Cup Boulevard, Thames Street and Memorial Boulevard meet. Then follow Thames, still narrow and charming with cobblestones although it is lined with souvenir shops. But tucked in between are inexpensive eateries, honest boutiques and art galleries. Want something quieter? Head up one of the side streets until you get to Spring Street and antique and thrift to your heart's content.
*Did We Mention Eat? Newport has a delicious combination of New England fare heartily seasoned with its historical Portuguese and Irish communities. You'll find interesting combinations of traditional stews, bisques, chowders and all the oysters and lobster you can afford. In between, there are seemingly more ice cream shops per block than there should be. But that's ok, because when a cruise ship is in port, you'll need alternatives.
*Brush Up on Your History: Newport was front and center in the American Revolution even though it doesn't seem to get its fair share of space in the textbooks (in print and digitally). There was activity here, but not much actual fighting. The destruction of any buildings back then actually came at the end of the war, when they were abandoned because of a lost economy, not because of a battle. But, many buildings, houses and churches are still there. Look at the maps around town.
*Get Your Culture On: Along with the mansions, enjoy art, culture and artifacts at the Newport Art Museum, several auto museums (really cool), sailing museums and the National Museum of American Illustration. Fort Adams State Park is multi-functional: there are military artifacts, it's a public park and it hosts music festivals.
*Enjoy the Sunset and the Sunrise: Sunrise along Cliff Walk while you're taking in your morning constitutional can be amazing. Sunsets in Newport Harbor are big business. Sail on a yacht or catamaran (sometimes with a drink) and take in the fabulous colors of nature. When you dock, Bowen and Bannister Wharfs loop around to each other. Maneuver your way through the crowds for one final drink and dessert as window shop.
Newport is not only for the rich and famous and those aspiring to be. Believe it or not, its a great family vacation location. Beaches, arcades, kite festivals, summer collegiate baseball and all the ice cream you can eat. Strolling along Thames Street will give you more choices of ice cream than you could think of. That and every kind of seafood fare recipe, influenced by the aforementioned Portuguese and Irish cultures that flavor the city.
Part of the influence of being rich has remained with Newport. Staying here ain't cheap. And, since Newport is more than a summer resort town, their seems to be not much of an off season. No sooner have the summer people and the cruisers have left than the holiday season arrives, which in the Northeast starts with autumn. Harvest seasons bring some sunset cruises along the bay, mulled cider and wine that leads into Halloween. No sooner have the ghosts and goblins packed up then you have Thanksgiving and then the December holidays. January to March can be cold and there are some businesses that are seasonal but northerners are hardy people. Plus, there are colleges in town that help to keep the city alive all year long: Salve Regina University (which has some of those summer cottages as part of its campus), Naval War College (carrying along the long history Newport has with the US Navy), and one of Rhode Island's community colleges.
This brings us back to the story of Newport.
These seemingly calm images contrasted with what was truly going on behind the scenes of this lifestyle: servants, maids, butlers, footmen, drivers, landscapers, cooks, gardeners, governesses and the like, organizing chaos into control at the whim of their employers to either support this magnificent lifestyle or to create a facade that simulates this desired lifestyle.
It did not seem feasible to those living during this time that the Gilded Age era was appropriately titled: gilded implies a coating of something applied to cover or give the impression of what it is not. Something gilded in gold is only covered in gold, the object is not made of gold. And the gold that is covering the object may not be the best quality. And let’s discuss one of the properties of gold. It is technically a soft metal in its purest form, so it needs to be mixed with other metals to increase its durability. Meaning, all that glitters is not 100% gold. And therefore, less valuable. Without support and maintenance, it loses its luster and ultimately is discarded or remade into something else.
Newport is what is called a resort town, which in travel lingo, means that people vacation there more than anything else, which may or not be precisely correct. It is a city, with a rich American history that preceded the mansions on and around Bellevue Avenue that would appear in the 1870s.
It’s a sports mecca, even if major events do not happen all of the time today, they did, with their beginnings in Newport, such as The US Tennis Open and the US Golf Open. The America’s Cup Challenge called Newport its home for 53 years, with the last one in 1983, bringing lasting images of yacht races to the region. Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy summered here, with the latter marrying Jacqueline Bouvier in one of its very own churches in 1953.
If they were alive today, the Gilded Age folks would love to believe Newport began when they deigned to acknowledge its existence and grace their presence (and dollars) in this seaside city on Aquidneck Island. But that’s not quite correct. 1639 was when some settlers from Portsmouth, Rhode Island decided to create their own settlement, making it the largest of the four original settlements in what would ultimately be the state of Rhode Island.
Religious freedom and seemingly, tolerance came early here, also. Those early settlers were mostly Baptist but nearly 20 years later, Jewish congregants would be welcomed.
Believe it or not, the first governor was someone named Benedict Arnold, though not the famous traitor. That would ultimately be his great-grandson. I’m sure Benedict the first was rolling over in his grave at his grandson’s role in American history. Though Newport was not really called the capital of Rhode Island, it was the seat of government until the state house was completed over in Providence. That first government building, the Old Colony House, is still there.
Being on an island and in Narrangansett Bay made Newport prime real estate into developing into a rich port. By the mid-1700s, another wave of Jewish settlers arrived, from Portugal, bring with them a rich heritage and culture that you will find to this day in Newport: the food has a Portuguese flair. The newcomers also brought with them something else: wealth and connections. Their business acumen helped Newport to thrive, giving it its first tasted of a wealthy heritage culture.
It was during this period that oil from whales was manufactured. It’s easy to cry out against the unfairness of this industry today, and that thinking is certainly valid. But true historians and travelers understand how life was lived in certain times and locations. For all of its beauty and charm, Newport is an island in a northern bay in the Atlantic Ocean. To say that the city experiences cold weather could be considered an understatement. The use of sperm oil, derived from sperm whales would be a natural occurrence during that time. However, once other developments come along, the shame of using such oils starts when there are options and people do not use them for the sole sake of making (more) money.
Political and environmental issues aside, Newport did use other oils and became a leading area for candle making. In fact, one could say they had one of the first monopolies in an area of business.
Although Newport invited people to come to live there, for some reason, total religious tolerance did not extend to citizenship. Some were denied citizenship on religious grounds. This all happened before the American Revolution. It’s puzzling and something to ponder when you pass by Touro Synagogue, the second older set Jewish congregation in the United States. Some appealed to Massachusetts, where their request was granted.
Benedict Arnold the First was not the only one to provide a home for future famous Americans. Ben Franklin’s brother, James, was a publisher, as was his son.
The history of Newport reflects the times as they unfolded. Again, it is easy to be judgmental today, but it should honestly be no great surprise that with easy access to sailing, Newport would actually be a major slave trade port, although technically it was illegal even then. For some, the surprise might be because it is a northern city, but history buffs know that slavery was practiced in all of the colonies;. The sugar that came from the Caribbean was distilled into rum in Newport, which still has some distilleries now.
The largest slave trader was the De Wolf family, who owned a rum distillery in nearby Bristol among other businesses. Today, you can visit this building as DeWolf Tavern, a dining establishment.
Despite Newport being a major location for the illegal slave trade and its numerous huge profit making businesses, there were free blacks there by the time the American Revolution rolled around, where politics turned first to gaining independence from England before other matters close to home could be resolved. Pirates and privateers inhabited the area but it wasn’t a secret. Britain actually captured Newport before foolishly deciding to give it up leaving room for the French to come in and occupy while they helped the Americans.
One of the British admirals reflected what a dumb move it was for the British to abandon Newport. They could have controlled New York, Boston and Philadelphia if they had kept it. That admiral could not have known that about 250 years later, those ports would be connected a different way: as cruise ports of call on an itinerary for tourists to visit.
When the French arrived, they brought with them Rochambeau, yes, the same one that started his famous Washington-Rochambeau march from Newport to Virginia that led to the British to surrender in Yorktown that ended the American Revolutionary War. You can see signs and a monument in Newport where the march starts.
However, the victory of the war actually destroyed the economy of Newport. Not to worry, rich folks from the south discovered the cooler summers and started flocking here, followed by northern industrialists. Newport was centered around its port, but the wealthy built their "cottages" further uptown, where there was water as well, giving them lovely views of what is now Easton Bay. The path along this edge would become Cliff Walk, their road would become Bellevue Avenue and their summer cottages would become the Newport mansions.
Yes, these cottages are the very extreme of a garish and extreme display of how to spend money when you really don't know what to do with it. But, below the surface, they are a great history lesson in the development of technology from about the 1830s to the 1950s.
The Gilded Age people left more than their cottages behind: along Spring Street, you can find one of the nicest area for antique and vintage shopping so that you can take a piece of wealthy history home with you.
At the same time as the wealthy were started to discover Newport, ironically, the poor came flooding in as well. The Great (Potato) Famine in Ireland drove some of its victims into Newport, carving out their own space with their own culture, including their own St. Patrick's Day parade, a big event to this day.
Despite Providence being the capital, believe it or not, the state had a legislative building but meetings still rotated amongst the cities, narrowing down to Newport and Providence until as late as 1900. It actually took a state constitutional amendment that finally stated that legislative sessions would meet in Providence. Therefore, all pun intended, you still see several stately looking buildings around Newport because of their stately history.
Music fans might scoff at the fuss about the links to the wealthy in Newport: tennis, golf, sailing, yachting, mansions. Their ties to Newport center around its music festivals, made famous by the live recordings that would come from those events. In fact, when Hollywood remade The Philadelphia Story into the musical High Society (check out that title), the backdrop was Newport and its jazz festival. The Newport Folk Festival and the Newport Jazz Festival are two huge events. Both are hosted in Fort Adams Park, itself a historical tourist attraction. The folk festival had its own pivotal event: was Bob Dylan a folk singer (with an acoustic guitar) or a rock singer (with electric instruments? Apparently, this festival decided those two genres could meld, but not without some controversy that seems trivial now but was a big deal back then. Newport is home to the band The Cowsills, the group that the sitcom The Partridge Family was based on. Look for other alternative music by local underground groups.
Like its other New England neighboring cities, Newport is no stranger to the film community. Along with High Society, the 1974 The Great Gatsby and many other productions have descended upon the city to temporarily set up shop. Most notably, the television series The Gilded Age has intertwined the cottages into its plots.
Finally, enjoy the surrounding towns and the smallness of Rhode Island itself: you can broadly tour the whole state in one summer. Then, once you've found your favorite hidden gems, it can take a whole lifetime to discover what the entire state can offer.
Lots of stuff to do, see and enjoy in the small city of Newport, Rhode Island. Happy Travels.
The NYC Traveler Presents Tips for Your Trips
Subscribe to our blog!
Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use.
All photos and videos created and copyrighted by Marcia Crayton, unless otherwise noted.
Comments