Days 2-3, July 21-22, 2013, were spent in Newport, RI. In simplistic definitions, this city is comprised of three built environments. One is the portside/hillside colonial city whose land use looks like many in Great Britain I'd visited. The second is the mansions, er, summer cottages built by the industrial tycoons of America during the Gilded Age (between the Civil War and the Great Depression). And the third is the suburban areas which I didn't photograph -- except perhaps the arrival across the bridge.

 

This part of the trip doesn't show up (except the Green/Day 2 line coming into Newport) on this map because the area traveled was too small to see here.

 

On Sunday evening, July 21, 2013, my sister and I head east across Narragansett Bay on the Senator Claiborne Pell-Route 138 Bridge into Newport, which is on the 15-mile-long Aquidneck Island. Newport was incorporated as a town in 1639 by persons relocating from nearby Portsmouth, RI.

 

In 1663 the colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations received its Royal Charter and Benedict Arnold (1615–1678, and grandfather of the American officer who turned his coat red) was elected its first Governor at Newport [from Wikipedia]. Upon its completion in 1741, the Old Colony House at the head of what is now known as Washington Square served as a seat of Rhode Island's government. Newport was one of the largest cities in the colonies by 1700 and was a major port city where whaling ships arrived providing the energy source of the 1700s and 1800s -- whale oil, which fueled lanterns, stoves and heaters nationwide.

 

As the whaling industry faded due to a declining whale population, Newport's economy turned to recreation and became a major resort -- especially for the wealthy. They preserved the charming old part of the city. Today, Newport now contains among the highest number of surviving colonial buildings of any city in the United States.

 

We travel into downtown on Touro Street, named after the Touro Synagogue, America's oldest and founded by Jews fleeing the Spanish Inquisition in the 1600s. The synagogue still stands.

 

 

 

We stayed at the Inn on Bellevue, which is actually comprised of multiple houses.

 

This is the house (B&B) we stayed in.

 

I welcome you to Newport, now one of my favorite cities in the USA! It is an international city, as many B&B workers come from Eastern Europe and draws visitors from all over the world. One of the biggest origins of tourists is China. There were dozens of tour buses around town from China, and locals at restaurants said it is pretty common to see so many Chinese. In fact, they were happy to talk with us because we were Americans and spoke English quite fluently!

 

More of our B&B at the Inn on Bellevue (Bellevue is a main street through Newport which has frequent bus and scheduled trolley services to all tourist stops including most of the mansions, shopping, restaurants, etc). It is across the street from the ultra-expensive Viking Hotel ($600+ per night) where there is a public shuttle bus to/from Providence Airport (which also has MBTA trains to Providence, Attleboro and Boston's Back Bay & South Station).

 

 

 

So my sister and I walked to dinner then strolled over to Touro Park.....

 

 

Near the harborfront.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A reminder of how old most of these structures are.

 

Notice how narrow the sidewalks are? Because the sidewalks were added after the street and structures were built. Before 1800, the street was more for pedestrians than any other method of travel. Most could not afford horses and even fewer could afford wagons and carriages. The street was a neighborhood meeting place, playground, market and transportation route.

 

SIM City, 19th-century style.

 

Accessories of a pedestrian-friendly town.

 

 

 

 

 

Welcome to Trinity Church (http://www.trinitynewport.org/) built in 1726 as a congregational church, most New England churches were. My sister waits for me to complete my photography.

 

 

 

Most colonial New England churches were much smaller like this one -- but it's not a church. Instead it's Trinity School House built in 1799, now a B&B in the Historic Hill neighborhood.

 

This is Channing Memorial Church, a Unitarian church built in 1880 across from Touro Park. The statue is set in the park and is of William Ellery Channing (1780-1840), founder of Unitarianism in America and a Newport native.

 

I switch briefly away from Touro Park to show you the Viking Hotel (across Bellevue from our B&B). This luxury hotel was built in the 1920s and named for the alleged "Viking Tower" in Touro Park.

 

My sister asks "Is the Newport Tower really an 800-year-old Viking Tower or the remnant of a 400-year-old windmill?" This site was once part of the farm belonging to Governor Arnold in the 1600s and he built a windmill here that looked like one near his home in native England. Ironically, when Italian explorer Giovanni da Verrazano surveyed the American coast for the French, he entered Narragansett Bay and noted a "Norse Villa" in the approximate location of the Newport Tower. Some researchers believe Arnold used the stones from the ruins of the Norse Villa to build his windmill, citing stone weathering consistent with a structure much older than stones shaped and fitted in the 1600s. We will probably never know for certain, but it's fun to debate.

 

 

 

This is Bellevue Street, which takes us from our B&B to the intensely opulent mansions summer cottages of the 1-percenters of the Gilded Age http://www.newportmansions.org/. These "cottages" were the result of one-up-manship of American industrial tycoons who sought to build more extravagant summer homes than their neighbors. They staffed the homes with dozens of servants yet stayed at these cottages for 4-8 weeks at a time, only to return to New York City, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago and other financial centers and industrial boom towns of the era.

 

The grounds of these mansions are as incredible as the homes themselves, as their occupants spent much time outside hosting parties and events.

 

In 1852, Chateau-sur-Mer was first mansion built in Newport, a summer home for William Shepard Wetmore who made his fortune in the import/export trade with China, which may explain Newport's popularity with Chinese tourists today. The High Victorian architecture was the most palatial residence in Newport until the appearance of the Vanderbilt houses were constructed in the 1890s. It was the scene of memorable entertainments like the "Fete Champetre" -- an elaborate country picnic for over 2,000 guests.

 

 

There are also mansions that still serve as private residences, but you can still peek in on them, like the next four.

 

 

 

 

As nice as those are, they pale compared to the homes that are open to the public. The reason why they're open to the public is because the mansions were too expensive for even the rich to continue to afford and staff in addition to their city and country residences. This is Rosecliff, commissioned by Nevada silver heiress Theresa Fair Oelrichs in 1899. Architect Stanford White modeled Rosecliff after the Grand Trianon, the garden retreat of French kings at Versailles. After the house was completed in 1902 for $2.5 million (in 1902 $$), Mrs. Oelrichs hosted fabulous entertainments here, including a fairy tale dinner and a party featuring famed magician Harry Houdini.

 

Interior shots aren't allowed, so I borrowed this photo of the ballroom for Rosecliff.

 

This is Marble House, built in the 1880s for William K. Vanderbilt and his wife. He was the grandson of Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt earned the family's fortune in steamships and the New York Central Railroad built from New York City to Buffalo, and later absorbed lines west to Cleveland, Chicago, Columbus, Cincinnati and St. Louis.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An oriental pagoda behind the Marble House, next to Easton Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. Today it is a gift shop and restaurant.

 

More "borrowed" interior views. This is the dining room at The Elms, the summer residence of Edward Julius Berwind of Philadelphia and New York. He made his fortune in the Pennsylvania coal industry. In 1898, the Berwinds engaged Philadelphia architect Horace Trumbauer to design this house modeled after the mid-18th century French chateau d'Asnieres outside Paris. Such French opulence led to the French Revolution, just as such American copycat opulence led to progressivism here, manifesting itself in the income tax in 1913 and later, the New Deal of the 1930s.

 

The staircase at The Elms.

 

At the gates of the most extravagant house in Newport -- The Breakers, built in 1893 by Cornelius Vanderbilt II. The house was designed and built by an international team of craftsmen and artisans to create a 70 room Italian Renaissance- style palazzo inspired by the 16th century palaces of Genoa and Turin.

 

 

 

Lavish. Magnificent. Luxurious. Obscene wealth. No matter what label you choose, sometimes you just say "wow" when walking into each room at The Breakers. I wish I could share more with you. But if you want to see more, check out http://www.newportmansions.org/explore/the-breakers

 

A semi-outdoor patimento at The Breakers. It was the only semi-indoor photo I could take.

 

My sister listens to the audio tour program while surveying the grounds at The Breakers. That's Easton Bay and the Atlantic Ocean in the background.

 

A Newport mansion undergoing restoration, including replacement of its roof.

 

Easton Bay, Newport. The waters off Newport host many famous yacht races.

 

 

At the south end of Aquidneck Island on which Newport sets is Bretton Point and Goose Neck Cove where you can get a ferry to Block Island.

 

 

 

 

So it's time for me to fly....

 

A signpost at Bellevue and Victoria avenues in Newport. Yep, sadly it's time to leave this lovely town and go to another great city of New England -- indeed THE greatest -- and now my favorite American city to visit. Boston.

I LOVE Newport.  My Aunt lives just outside in Middletown and I visit semi regularly.  Bicycling in Newport is wonderful, and a walk along the Cliffwalk is bliss. 

 

There is still a large population of "elite" that frequent there though.  I almost got into a bar fight once because some guy said something to me and I said, "What?"  His response was "Don't you f---ing ever say 'what' to me ever again you Midwestern f---!"  I was a bit confused so I said "What?" again and he almost jumped me before his girlfriend stepped in. 

 

Outside of those little moments though, it's a beautiful town and I love spending my spring breaks there.  I'm glad you found the time to explore.

Newport is like Rhode Island's Charleston (SC).  Nice tourist strip, spectacular homes, a harbor, old money with a mix of new money, and tennis.  Lots of tennis.

Thanks for posting and please keep them coming!

Love the photo thread, and welcome to my neck of the woods (New England).  I don't post much, but I do enjoy following the site.

 

I am very aware of the good work you do for public transportation.  On the subject of Newport, I thought I'd point out the fun little factoid that you can go all the way from Boston to Newport via a combination of MBTA train and RIPTA bus (#60).  It may take the better part of a morning (or afternoon), but the fact you can do it is cool.

 

Stuart

 

One of my favorite places!