Saturday, April 7, 2012

Easter In Newport, RI -- After 34 Years

We are in beautiful Newport, Rhode Island for Easter.
We are here amidst the rocky ocean cliffs, the stately mansions and the seafaring ways of this old coastal city with its fresh breezes and its dramatic waterside views.
It's hard to believe that the last time we were here was 1978 -- 34 years ago this summer.
When we visited then the soaring Cliff Walk had just been restored and we walked the better part of it, delighting in its scenic, saltwater-kissed overlooks. We also visited several of the stately mansions that sit like great milestone markers atop the cliffs. In 1978 Hammersmoth Farm (once the home of Mrs. Hugh Auchincloss and her daughters, Jacqueline and Lee Bouvier) had just opened to the public and it was quite an attraction. We enjoyed that as well.
But Hammersmith has since been returned to private ownership and is no longer open to the public. And the all-pervasive shopping areas have grown as Newport's version of gentrification has taken its course.
But St. Mary's RC Church overlooking the sea (where John Kennedy and Jacqueline Bouvier were wed in 1953) is still here along with the mansions and the sailboats and the winding streets and alleyways and the misty docks and hills and clapboard houses and cedar shingles and towering spires and the unmistakable scent of chowdah that tells you you're in New England.
And even though St. Mary's was locked tight on the afternoon before Easter Sunday and even though the parking restrictions and the warnings about where not to tread can make one wonder if he or she is really welcome here, the place still retains a certain charm
How could it not?
Much of it is absolutely picture-perfect.
And you can't help but snoop around and make new discoveries at just about every corner.
We didn't need to visit the mansions (been there, done that) or spend too much time walking the Cliff  (that, too) but this time we did discover the International Tennis Hall of Fame and thoroughly enjoyed an entire room dedicated to its latest inductee, Andre Agassi, Now, that was a treat! The Hall of Fame is the place where tennis was born in this country and it's definitely worth your time if you ever visit Newport.
But more about that (and Flo's Clam House) in a later post.
For now let's just say that it's nice to be here for Easter,
Nice to be able to savor the vistas of this fine old sailors' haven (currently the temporary outpost of Lt. Matt Lorge).
Yes, it's great to enjoy the smallest state with the longest official name -- State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantation.
And you thought plantations were an exclusively southern phenomenon.
Hmmm . . . discover something new everday.

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