Our next stop was Newport, RI. I had mixed feelings about Newport. On the one hand, I loved driving along Bellevue Avenue and looking at all the gilded age mansions. We visited two of them - The Breakers which was a summer home for the Vanderbilts, built by Cornelius, and The Elms built by the Berwind Family, big name in the coal business. They were amazing, especially the Breakers. It's hard to imagine a lifestyle like that. Most of these mansions have now been taken over by the Newport Historical Society so they may be preserved and enjoyed by visitors like us.
The harbor in Newport is great with lots of yachts and sail boats. We stayed in a wonderful inn called the Francis Malbone House. The original owner was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, so that will tell you how old the house is. We loved it and the hospitality shown to us. Plus they had the best scones I think I have ever had!
But Newport is also full of lots and lots of tourist shops and some of the absolute worst women's clothing shops I have ever seen. Lots of traffic and people, and this is early in the season, so I can only imagine what it's like in the middle of the summer. So for me did not quite live up to expectations. David loved it.
Had lunch at Castle Hill outside overlooking the water - wonderful!
The Vanderbilt mansion - and this is the back side seen from the cliff walk!
The Cliff Walk is a wonderful pathway just for people on foot and runs along the cliff behind a lot of the beautiful old mansions. We walked here our last morning.
The other mansion we visited, The Elms. It was within 3 weeks of being torn down when it was saved by the Historical Society.
No comments:
Post a Comment