Museum sights in Rhode Island
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A
Museum of Art
Wonderfully eclectic, the Rhode Island School of Design's art museum showcases everything from ancient Greek art to 20th-century American paintings and decorative arts. Pop in before 1pm Sunday and admission is free.
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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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B
International Tennis Hall of Fame
The world's largest tennis museum is housed in the club where America's first tennis championships took place in 1881. For $90 you can jump into your whites and play a game on those classic grass courts.
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C
Culinary Archives & Museum
This offbeat museum contains half-a-million items devoted to the history of dining – everything from ancient cookbooks to early-20th-century dining cars. It's at Johnson & Wales University; take I-95 exit 18, turn right on Allens Ave and follow the signs.
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D
Providence Children's Museum
If you like to watch younger kids freak out, this well-designed, hands-on museum genuinely delights most of its guests. Try walking into a giant kaleidoscope, doing experiments with water fountains, pretending to be a veterinarian or playing with marionettes made by some renowned puppeteers. It’s intended for kids aged one to 11.
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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.
reviewed
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E
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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F
Planetarium and Museum of Natural History
In 1871, Betsey Williams, great-great-great-granddaughter of the founder of Providence, donated her farm to the city as a public park. Today this 430-acre expanse of greenery, only a short drive south of Providence, includes lakes and ponds, forest copses and broad lawns, picnic grounds, a Planetarium and Museum of Natural History, an operating Victorian Carousel, greenhouses and Williams’ cottage.
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G
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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