Things to do in Newport
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Cliff Walk
A narrow footpath that snakes for 3.5 miles along the eastern edge of a peninsula, the Cliff Walk provides one of the finest excuses for exercise you'll encounter. From its northernmost point, beach traffic and noise will recede behind you as you make your way south. Just steps to your left, a cliff - your faithful companion for the duration of your walk - drops dramatically to a foaming, bubbling Atlantic, which swells against rocky outcroppings.
While a short stone wall occasionally protects you from an accidental plunge, often the only barrier is grass, flowers and squat bushes dotted with orange beach plums. For much of the first half mile, a tall hedge will impede yo…
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Rough Point
In 1889, Frederick W Vanderbilt built Rough Point in the tradition of English manorial estates on a rocky piece of land jutting out into the ocean. Later purchased by the tobacco baron, James B Duke, the mansion fell into the hands of Duke’s only daughter, Doris (aged 13 years). She left the estate to the Newport Restoration Society upon her death. While the splendor of the grounds alone is worth the price of admission, Rough Point also houses much of Doris Duke’s impressive art holdings, including medieval tapestries, furniture owned by French emperors, Ming Dynasty ceramics, and paintings by Renoir and Van Dyck. These and other extraordinary objects formed the backdrop …
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Elms
Nearly identical to the Château d’Asnières built near Paris in 1750, the Elms offers a ‘behind-the-scenes’ tour which will have you snaking through the basement operations, servants’ quarters and up onto the roof. Along the way you’ll learn about the activities of the army of servants and the architectural devices that kept them hidden from the view of those drinking port in the formal rooms. Taking the regular tour in addition to the behind-the-scenes variant will give you the best idea about how a Newport mansion functioned, though a double tour is exhausting. The place was designed by Horace Trumbauer in 1901. Of all the mansions, The Elms easily possess the most l…
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Wharves
Bannister's and Bowen's Wharves typify Newport's transformation from working city-by-the-sea to a tourist destination. While much of the experience of downtown and Thames St involves shopping and eating within a cobblestone context, it is at Bowen's Wharf that you'll feel commercialism most tangibly.
Fishing boats and pleasure vessels sit around the periphery of fudge shops, places selling sculpture made of shells, and lots of clothing stores (some local, some chain) all housed in an outdoor mall on a former wharf meant to blend into the old city by virtue of the liberal use of grey shingles. The shear number of people hanging out here lends it the air of excitement. Near…
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Newport Mansions
During the 19th century, the wealthiest New York bankers and business families chose Newport as their summer resort. This was pre-income-tax America, their fortunes were fabulous and their 'summer cottages' - actually mansions and palaces - were fabulous as well. Most Newport Mansions are on Bellevue Ave, and they frequently turn up as settings for films like The Great Gatsby and PBS series featuring actors with British accents. One of the best ways to see the mansions is by bicycle. Cruising along Bellevue Ave at a leisurely place allows you to enjoy the view of the grounds, explore side streets and paths, and ride right up to the mansion entrances without having to worr…
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The Breakers
Most magnificent of the Newport mansions is the Breakers, a 70-room Italian Renaissance megapalace inspired by 16th-century Genoese palazzos. Richard Morris Hunt did most of the design, though he imported craftsmen from around the world to perfect the sculptural and decorative programs. The building was completed in 1895 and sits next to Ochre Court at Ochre Point, on a supremely grand oceanside site. The furnishings, most made expressly for the Breakers, are all original. The content of the tour is well conceived and presented. Don’t miss the Children’s Cottage on the grounds.
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Isaac Bell House
Built in 1883, Isaac Bell House is one of the earliest Bellevue mansions. This subtly grand wooden home not only exemplifies 'shingle style' architecture (the thing is covered in graying cedar scales) but, if you compare it to the stone behemoths that would soon arrive in Newport, helps you to understand the changing forms of the city's grandest buildings.
While places like the Breakers overpower you with palatial spaces and over-the-top materials, this McKim, Mead and White structure feels more livable, graceful and American (most other mansions imitate European palaces).
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Ochre Court
Designed by Richard Morris Hunt and built in 1892, Ochre Court offers a grand view of the sea from its soaring three-story grand hallway. Elsewhere find a rainbow of stained glass, pointed arches, gargoyles and other emblems of an architecture inspired by a medieval (and mythical) French Gothic. Ochre Court is now the administration building of Salve Regina University, and as such provides an interesting example of the repurposing of a Newport mansion. You can visit much of the main floor anytime during opening hours. In summer there are guided tours.
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National Museum of American Illustration
Well worth the pain it takes to arrange a visit (one needs advance reservations for time-specific tours), this acclaimed museum features an impressive collection of Maxfield Parrish’s impossibly luminous works in color, NC Wyeth prints, Norman Rockwell’s nostalgia and the illustrations of other American graphic heavy weights. The goods are displayed within the palatial Vernon Court (yet another mansion, this one from 1898) set within Olmstead-designed grounds. No kids under 12.
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Cardines Field
Likely the third-oldest-standing baseball field in the US (after Wrigley Field in Chicago and Fenway Park in Boston), this relic, home to the Newport Gulls, allows you to see some surprisingly skilled ball for cheap. Because of the seating’s close proximity to the field and because the games are sparsely attended, you can easily hear the players trash-talk each other. According to local legend, Babe Ruth once played a game here.
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Whitehorne Museum
A few decades ago, colonial Newport was decaying and undervalued. Enter Doris Duke, who used her huge fortune to preserve many of the buildings that now attract people to the city. One of them is this Whitehorne, a Federal period estate, which visitors view through hourly guided tours. Rooms contain a collection of extraordinary furniture crafted by Newport’s famed cabinetmakers, including pieces by Goddard and Townsend.
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Old Stone Mill
A curious stone tower of uncertain provenance, some people believe the Old Stone Mill was built by Norse mariners before the voyages of Columbus, making it the oldest-existing structure in the US. Others say it’s a windmill’s base, built by an early governor of the colony. Whatever myth you believe, it is set in a grass park and enjoying a picnic in its shadow won’t hurt your day.
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White Horse Tavern
If you’d like to eat at a tavern opened by a 17th-century pirate that once served as an annual meeting place for the colonial Rhode Island General Assembly, try this historic, gambrel-roofed beauty. It opened in 1687, and is one of America’s oldest taverns. Menus for dinner (at which men should wear a jacket) might include baked escargot, truffle-crusted Atlantic halibut or beef Wellington.
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Wanton-Lyman-Hazard House
For some serious timber framing, visit the oldest surviving house in Newport, Wanton-Lyman-Hazard House, constructed circa 1697. Used as a residence by colonial governors and well-to-do residents, it’s now a museum of colonial Newport history operated by the Newport Historical Society. Tours depart from Colony House. It’s open other times by appointment.
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Black Pearl
For a bowl of superb clam chowder seasoned with lots of dill, enter the good-looking black-beamed tavern of this old reliable, covered in old maps and nautical charts. They’ve also got hearty corned beef sandwiches, fish and pot pie. Attached to the tavern is the more formal Commodore’s Room, where you can eat oysters, steaks and racks of lamb. A Hot Dog Annex supplies cheap snacks.
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West Deck
With lots of open-air seating at the end of a wharf, the West Deck attracts big crowds ordering bottles of beer from two separate bars. Most evenings you can find Rhode Island’s preferred form of entertainment – lame cover acts playing the tunes of stereotypical bands from the last half of the 1980s. The crowd ranges from young guns to dudes with overdeveloped retirement plans.
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La Forge Casino Restaurant
This joint stands out for one reason only: seats in the back are not only inside the famed Newport Casino, some of them practically sit on an enclosed grass court. If you eat here (Irish-themed decor), avoid the front room. Passable food ranges from burgers and calamari to more expensive entrees. Some forego solids and stick to booze – the bar’s open till midnight.
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Newport International Polo
Tranquilly set amid the stone barns and walls of the 100-acre Glen Farm (established in the 1600s), bring a picnic basket for a fieldside tailgate and watch the US team take on Egypt, Jamaica and other Olympic-caliber squads. Crowds aren’t large and you’ll be close enough to hear snorting horses and walloping mallets. The season runs from May to September.
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Salas’
Above Percy’s Bistro but with a separate entrance, this Newport institution for the hearty, hungry and thrifty serves simple and tasty Italian and seafood dishes, plus a children’s menu. Huge plates of pasta in red-clam sauce are sold by weight, and you’re likely to be a little sentimental for the place after eating their fantastic clam boil.
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Museum
Want to look at some boats? Head inside this bad boy museum for a collection of model yachts, a handful of craft being restored by an onsite restoration school and pictures of the New York Yacht Club winning the America’s Cup regatta for 130 consecutive years until Australia ruined sporting history’s longest winning streak in 1983.
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Scooters
Newport is a fine town for biking, with only a few gentle slopes. A scenic and satisfying ride is the 10-mile loop around Ocean Ave, which includes Bellevue Ave and its many beautiful mansions. Bike rental is available at Scooters. You can rent wheels with a baby seat for $8.50 per hour. Motor scooters cost $39/50/61/89 for one/two/three/eight hours.
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Scales & Shells
Enter this half-casual, broad, noisy room for small linen-clad tables set with grated parmesan and Tabasco sauce tended by waitresses in T-shirts. The decor is marked by an open kitchen and a blackboard menu. Have your squid, swordfish or lobster mesquite grilled for a change. In summer, a swamped U-shaped bar serves a huge waiting crowd.
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Stable & Carriage House
The Breakers’ grand Stable & Carriage House, also designed by Hunt, is inland several blocks, on the west side of Bellevue Ave. It is now a museum of Vanderbilt family memorabilia, much of which provides a detailed look at the lifestyle of one of the USA’s wealthiest families at the turn of the century.
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Kingscote
An Elizabethan fantasy complete with Tiffany glass, Kingscote was Newport’s first ‘cottage’ strictly for summer use, designed by Richard Upjohn in 1841 for George Noble Jones of Savannah, Georgia. It was later bought by China-trade merchant William H King, who gave the house its name.
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Brick Alley Pub & Restaurant
This centrally located, ever-popular place has a huge menu of snacks, sandwiches, bar food, Mexican specialties and a salad bar, as well as Newport’s most elaborate drinks list. A large patio holds many yellow umbrellas and brightly colored Adirondack chairs. The pub is not a chain, but it feels like one.
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