The Revolution changed that. Newport became an English command post with troops and ships stationed here. The first act of revolution sprang from Newport when a local captain with intimate knowledge of Narragansett Bay lured a revenue ship, the HMS Gaspee, up the bay and onto a sandbar off what is now Warwick. That night, three years before the Boston Tea Party, the Gaspee was burned. The Revolution had begun.
By the time the Revolution ended, 480 structures in Newport had been destroyed in fighting. The city's fate was changed. Many argue it was for the better.
Newport has always been an easy destination from New York, even in the days of sailboats and steamships. With the natural air conditioning offered by the Atlantic Ocean, it became a haven for writers and artists in the early 1800s. Later that century it was discovered by America's wealthiest families. The Astors and Cabots built their "cottages," as did the Rockefellers and the Vanderbilts.
The harbor was shared for two centuries by the Navy, the fishing fleet, merchants and recreational sailors. The New York Yacht Club, with its home on Thames Street, defended the America's Cup yachting trophy for more than 100 years. From our deck you can see the dock where the crew of the Courageous threw their skipper, Ted Turner, into the salt water after winning the race in 1976.
Newport was also lucky enough to be home to the late tobacco heiress, Doris Duke. In the 1960s, when most cities were thinking Urban Renewal, she founded the Newport Restoration Foundation which was fantastically successful at preserving and protecting Newport's past. The result is that Newport has more homes from the eighteenth century than any other city on the East Coast.
Newport boasts the oldest operational tavern in America as well as the oldest Synagog and a stone tower that many insist was built by Vikings before Columbus arrived. You can walk on streets paved with Belgian cobblestones that came over from Europe as ballast on sailing ships and are worn from a century of traffic. You can see churches and homes built in the 1600s and rub shoulders with Navy officers and marine architects and engineers whose plans won't be seen until well into the 21rst century.
Newport is waiting for you. Come see.
From NY, CT
& NJ
I-95 North to Rt. 138 East (R.I. exit 3). Follow Rt. 138 East to Jamestown Bridge
and on to the Newport Bridge. Take the first exit once over the Newport Bridge to scenic
Newport. Follow Connell Street to Farewell Street to Thames Street. Take a left on
Mill Street to Spring Street. Left on Spring Street past Trinity Church and home to the
Pilgrim House Inn.
From Boston,
VT, & NH
Rt. 128 South to Rt. 24 South to Rt. 114 South. Follow Broadway to Thames Street. Left on
Thames Street. Take a left on Mill Street to Spring Street past Trinity Church and home to
the Pilgrim House Inn.