Deborah & William Hillyard
Deborah & William Hillyard
Deborah & William Hillyard
Deborah & William Hillyard
Deborah & William Hillyard
Several general views of the buildings, streets and wharfs around Newport.
St Mary's Church where John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Bouvier married on September 12th 1953.  Click on the picture to see it enlarged, and to see a detail of the commemorative plaque. 
A statue of Christopher Columbus situated on Memorial Boulevard. 
A beautiful vintage automobile driving down Bellevue Avenue. 

Newport

Visit:

Some pictures of Annie's where we usually take lunch when we are in Newport.  Located at the beginning of Bellevue Avenue, it is an ideal situation. 
Most of the Newport Mansions, or "cottages" as they were know, are found on Bellevue Avenue, going south from Memorial Boulevard.  Here there are four interesting historic buildings. 

The first two, shown in the first picture, are the Travers Block (designed by the architect Richard Morris Hunt and built in 1870-1871) and to the right the Newport Casino (which was built in 1880 for James Gordon Bennett).  Although called a "casino", this was not a gambling establishment, but rather a place for entertainment for wealthy visitors.  Diversions included archery, billiards, bowling, tennis etc., as well as tea parties, plays, concerts and dancing.  The Newport Casino building is now home to the International Tennis Hall of Fame, the entrance to which is to the right in the first picture, through the curved green canopy.  The center picture is just inside the entrance.  A couple of early pictures from 1880 and 1900 respectively are included. 

The third building, seen on the left in the third picture, is the King Block which was built between 1893 and 1894.  The final building is the Audrain Building, built between 1902 and 1903. 
Travers Block & Newport Casino
International Tennis Hall of Fame (Grounds)
King Block &
Audrain Building
Newport Casino
Exterior (c. 1880) &
Grounds (c. 1900)

Vacations -

Rhode Island - Newport
By contrast, this is the Blue Plate Diner in Middletown, just north of Newport.  Good food, service, and prices make it a regular hangout in the evening.  They serve an amazing meatloaf!
The Ida Lewis Yatch Club is named for a famous Newport lighthouse keeper who was often called the "bravest Woman in America" for her amazing rescues.  The Lime Rock lighthouse was re-named the Ida Lewis Light in her honor.  The lighthouse is now the clubhouse of the yatch club, and is seen at the end of the pier. 
Newport, Rhode Island, really is a very attractive New England town.  One of the things for which it is most well known is the collection of Gilded Age Mansions along the coast.  We visited some, and I have included some photographs in this section.  These were not the owners full time homes; they were used for vacations and entertaining for, perhaps, six to eight weeks a year.  Newport was founded in 1639, and soon grew to be the largest and most important town in Rhode Island.  Benedict Arnold became the first Governor of the colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations In 1663 when Newport was the capital.  It remained the capital until 1790, when Rhode Island became the 13th state of the Union, and the capital was moved to Providence.  Due to the liberal attitude to religion, there were several waves of Jewish immigration, escaping the inquisition in Europe.  In fact, the Newport Jewish congregation is the second oldest in the United States and meets in the oldest standing synagogue in the United States.  There were also settlements of Quakers and Baptists, and later a large Irish community.  In late 1776, during the American Revolution, the British occupied Newport.  The inhabitants were permitted to leave and the town was garrisoned in hopes of preventing an attack on New York, then occupied by the British.  In the Summer of 1778, the Americans and French started to take back Newport but failed, although the British abandoned the town in 1779 in any case, and moved its troops to fortify New York.