Slumming It With The Ultra-Rich – A Day in Newport Rhode Island
I spent a lot of time along the coast of Rhode Island in my younger days. My relatives on my mother’s side live there, and we visited them frequently growing up. I also spent my young-adult years attending Roger Williams University in Bristol, Rhode Island. And during my time there my friends and I explored the nooks and crannies of the Ocean State. It would have been a shame to have come back to New England without visiting my old haunts! So at the urging of my cousin Joanne, Rhonda and I met up with her in the affluent town of Newport Rhode Island for a day of cheap exploration.
And with our presence, we lowered the property values of the area I’m sure.
First Stop – Beavertail State Park (Jamestown, RI)
The most direct route to Newport was through the Connecticut countryside and across a series of Rhode Island bridges that connected islands adjacent to our destination. On one of these islands is the town of Jamestown, Rhode Island, a well-to-do community with much to see if you enjoy scenery over shopping plazas.
Since Rhonda and I were ahead of schedule for our meetup, we drove through Jamestown and onward to Beavertail State Park at the southern end of the island. This was an excellent decision.
Beavertail State Park is free to visit and boasts two main activities there: visiting the lighthouse museum and enjoying the rocky coastal views.
We went with option 2.
We weren’t disappointed! We love rock hopping on rocky shorelines, so we were in heaven.
Since time was pressing, we explored as much of the shoreline as we could. We climbed down among the rocks close to the water and walked the southern shoreline.
The area was absolutely gorgeous!
We could have easily set up some lawn chairs and umbrellas and spent the rest of the day here. But we were scheduled to meet up with Joanne at our rendezvous location, so we had to move on.
Onward to Newport Rhode Island
We headed back through Jamestown, and onward toward the Newport Bridge.
With the price of gasoline nowadays, it is more economical to pay the bridge toll rather than take the long way to Newport from Connecticut, through the city of Providence. This would have been unheard of 10 years ago.
That being said, the bridge is long and fun to drive across!
Once on the other side, we braved the chronically terrible Newport, Rhode Island traffic and made our way to our next destination, Fort Adams State Park.
Second Stop – Fort Adams State Park
As I’ve mentioned before, Rhonda and I come from families of frugal people. So the idea of paying $25 per day per car to park in downtown Newport wasn’t appealing to anyone. Thankfully, there are workarounds to this problem.
Fort Adams State Park, a defensive site of past strategic importance from the 1800s through World War II, is a beautiful location to visit. And since it is free to enter (and park at), it made the perfect meetup location with Joanne. Our plan was to explore the park together, and then pile into one car and explore the rest of Newport.
We began by walking the 2.5-mile Fort Adams Bay Walk, which began at the Sail Newport public sailing facility…
And then along the harbor area.
Sadly, a music festival was scheduled for the upcoming weekend, so the fort itself was not really accessible to the public.
Nothing stopped us from getting a closer look at the outer walls though!
It was around lunchtime when we finished the Bay Walk, so we headed into Newport proper to get a bite to eat at the local Newport Creamery. For the uninitiated, Newport Creamery is a local restaurant chain similar to Friendly’s, or a Rhode Island version of Denny’s (except with more milkshakes and ice cream).
Stomachs full, we decided to explore the local mysteries hidden in plain sight within the town of Newport!
Third Stop – Unraveling the Mysteries of the Newport Tower
The Newport Tower is somewhat of a local enigma.
Residing in Touro Park near downtown Newport, the tower has been the subject of much discussion over the last 200 years.
Specifically, who built it?
There have been many competing ideas. Vikings? Chinese explorers? The Knights Templar? Early American Rhode Island colonists? Ancient Aliens? There are no clear records that explain the origin story of this structure, so rampant speculation abounds. There is even an episode of America Unearthed dedicated to it.
We love a good mystery! So after finding a lucky free spot to park we thoroughly explored the Newport Tower site hoping its secrets would be revealed.
Sadly, a close examination of the site did not solve any hidden mysteries. But we did notice a small museum dedicated to the Newport Tower in Touro Park square. Surely the answers we sought would be found there.
We salivated at the thought of what hidden secrets would be revealed. In the display window, teaser information, printed on the finest generic copy paper, was displayed.
We rounded the corner to enter the museum and were met with the following message…
Well, crap.
I guess the answers to one of New England’s biggest mysteries will have to wait.
Fourth Stop – Newport Cliff Walk
Still licking our wounds from our Newport Tower disappointment, we decided to practice self-care by stalking the ultra-rich citizens of Newport Rhode Island, and their homes.
And since we were not in the mood to pay $25 per person per mansion for entry into these places, we did the next best thing. We hiked the Newport Cliff Walk, where we could legally peer through iron-wrought gates into the lifestyles of old-money rich families for free.
A recent collapse of a section of the Cliff Walk incentivized us to access it at the Marine Avenue entrance. Parking is free at adjoining Wetmore Avenue, so this worked out well.
We entered the Cliff Walk…
And were immediately reminded that we were not in the same tax bracket as the local residents.
We walked southward, viewing gorgeous scenery and homes along the way.
The path continued through a tunnel, and we were met with more epic views.
To a rocky shoreline, used by the local wildlife.
By this point, we had walked about 1.5 miles down Cliff Walk and it was getting late. So we decided to return to our car parked on Wetmore Avenue, and then finally back to Fort Adams State Park where we parted ways with Joanne.
A fantastic afternoon! And about 7 miles of total walking.
Aside from gas and lunch, we had a free day exploring some of the best sites in Newport. You don’t have to spend much money to have a good time, even in Newport Rhode Island!
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4 thoughts on “Slumming It With The Ultra-Rich – A Day in Newport Rhode Island”
Looks like a great day!
It was! And a hot one too!
Thank you for that stroll down memory lane. I have many fond memories of being in Newport! I also remember field trips to BeaverTail State Park with Dr. Gould. Fun times 🙂
Our pleasure Shannon! We enjoyed ourselves way too much.