Gilded Age, Modern Day and Colonial America Newport in 5 Days

By Lisa Skriloff, Editor, Multicultural Travel News

On the weekend that Juneteenth National Independence Day, commemorating the end of slavery in the United States, was officially recognized as a Federal Holiday, we were touring Newport RI, with its own paradoxical history of the “co-existence of religious freedom with the poison of racism.” So quoted our guide at Touro Synagogue, (the oldest synagogue in the country,) whose informative talk started with the history of how the Newport Jews came to settle in the seaport, starting from Spain to Recife, Brazil, to New Amsterdam (New York City) where they “received no warm welcome from Peter Stuyvesant.” The descendants of these Conversos, who fled the inquisitions in Spain and Portugal, founded the Congregation in Newport in the late 1600s. Following his visit here, George Washington, in his 1790 letter to the Hebrew Congregation in Newport, pledged that the new nation would give “to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance.” Yet at the same time, the “trade and export activities…that were the main engines of economic growth during the 18th century, (were) inexorably linked to Newport’s participation in the slave trade and widespread ownership of slaves by families throughout the city” as we learned at our visit to the Museum of Newport History. Today’s Newport is more human rights forward. During this same visit, Newport was celebrating June is LGBTQ Pride Month, and, with organizations such as Newport Out welcomes the community all year long. We also learned about Newport’s “Sail To Prevail – The National Disabled Sailing Program,” the first sailing program for individuals with disabilities in the United States.

Newport’s most well-known attractions are the Gilded Age mansions, once the summertime homes of America’s wealthiest families, where our audio tour app supplied the stories of how Doris Duke, Cornelius Vanderbilt and Edward Berwind lived.

For Multicultural Travel News, our 5-day itinerary spanned Colonial America, the Gilded Age, and modern-day Newport with a reserve list of attractions for our next visit. Read our detailed itinerary and recommendations in Multicultural Travel News below.

Thursday

Check in to the Sarah Kendall House an 1871 Victorian B&B (Tower Suite room.)

Dinner – walk to the White Horse Tavern (circa 1673)

Walk to nearby Broadway to check out the Live Music venues (for Dance Travel News blog)

Pour J udgement 32 Broadway (live music will be on Sunday nights)

Drinks at Fifth Element 111 Broadway (live music currently suspended)

Rex Liquors – 146 Broadway – Pick up a bottle of wine. (We had noticed a corkscrew and wine glasses in the hotel room)

Walk back to Sarah Kendall House.

Friday

Breakfast Sarah Kendall House (omelet day)

(Walk from Sarah Kendall House to each stop on Friday itinerary)

Newport Shipyard visit and Belle’s Cafe

Newport Visitor Center for brochures and info

Museum of Newport History visit 127 Thames St.

Newport Viking Trolley Tours – Scenic Overview Tour (covers St. Mary’s, Fort Adams, Breton State Park, Ocean Drive,

city, Mansions and more)

Lunch – Black Pearl, Bowen’s wharf

Landing– live music outside

Clarke Cooke House, Bannister’s Wharf (inquired but no live music scheduled)

Thames Street walk south from Memorial Blvd to Waite’s Wharf

The Deck – Frozen Lemonade and drinks at the bar (DOCKSIDE – RIPTIDES ON THE DOCKS no music til after 9 pm)

Dinner -The Mooring Restaurant

Walk by to check out live music venues re weekend schedules and scene:

One Pelham East, 270 Thames St.

Newport Blues Café, 286 East Thames St.

Walk back to Sarah Kendall House – – enjoy wine upstairs in the Tower Sitting Room with its view of the Newport waterfront

Saturday

Breakfast Sarah Kendall House

Today = Drive to all visits

Rough Point mansion tour

The Breakers mansion tour

(audio guide via smart phone app “Newport Mansions“)

Lunch at The Breakers Café

Cliff Walk (car parked at The Breakers)

Pick up Del’s soft frozen Lemonade (343 Thames St) to go

Hotel relax

Dinner The Café at The Chanler (next time: Blind tasting menu dinner)

Sunday

Breakfast Sarah Kendall House

Walk to Touro Synagogue (Loeb Visitors Center exhibit, seated presentation then peek into Synagogue, then walk to Colonial Jewish Burial Ground. Next time: Colonial Jewish Walking Tour)

Drive to The Lawn at Castle Hill Inn – Adirondack Chairs on lawn then inside restaurant Lunch (secured reservation via OpenTable at midnight 14 days ahead of visit)