Momboisse Family Adventures in Newport, Rhode Island

Monday, September 25, 2017

Newport, Rhode Island 
Historic Downtown and Cliff Walk 

After an overnight passage of 148 nautical miles we arrived in Newport, Rhode Island. The above is looking toward Clairborne Pell Newport Bridge from the Crown Princes anchored in Narragansett Bay.

Tender to Newport Harbor (above).
Crown Princess in background (below).

In a very abbreviated history, the Narragansett people were the first to inhabit this area of Newport, Rhode Island.  Later in 1639, a small group of Puritans, who had been banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for their religious views settled here.  Than after the Revolutionary War, wealthy industrialists from New York City and Philadelphia built summer homes along the coast of Newport.  

After purusing all of the possible tours offered by Princess Cruise, we decided to formulate our own walking tour using Google Maps. 

It consisted of two parts, the Washington Square Historic District and the Cliff Walk.  Approximately 7 miles of walking. From the harbor we walked down Long Wharf Mall through Washington Square.

Two colonial buildings sit at either end of the square, the Brick Market (now home of the Museum of Newport History) built in 1772 and 

Newport's Colony House built in 1739. 

We pass the Court House
 at the end of Washington Park and 

turn left on Farewell Street to Marlborough Street.  Here we find what is alleged to be the oldest tavern in America, White Horse Tavern (c. 1673).  It is a bit early and buttoned up tight. 

Continuing on Marlborough 

we make a U turn at Broadway past 

the Wanton-Lyman-Hazard House, build c. 1697, it is the oldest surviving house in Newport. Built for the founding member of Newport’s Seventh Day Baptist Stephen Mumford, it takes its name from John G. Wanton, a Quaker merchant who purchase the house in the 1780s, and his two son-in-laws, Major Daniel Lyman, a Revolutionary War veteran, and Benjamin Hazard, Newport lawyer. 

Down Courthouse Street we pass behind the the Old Colony and Court House on our way to Spring Street 

and Trinity Church (Episcopal). The present building was completed in 1726, and George Washington worshiped there. 

At the corner of Spring and Memorial Blvd is Rhode Island's oldest Catholic church, Saint Mary's.  Founded in 1828, it is best known as the site of the wedding of Jacqueline Bouvier to John Fitzgerald Kennedy in 1953.  Sadly it was locked up tight as a drum. 

Continuing down Memorial Blvd we pass Newport's first shopping mall, Travers Block, located at the intersection of Bellevue Avenue. Built between 1870 and 1871 by Richard Morris Hunt the architect who introduced the Beaux Arts style to American building design. Mr. Hunt designed and built many of the mansions along Cliff Walk.   

 Cliff Walk 

"Cliff Walk most probably began as an Indian trail along Newport's ocean cliffs.  It was a place for "tea and romping" in colonial times and functioned as a public path through sheep pastures in the middle of the nineteenth century.  At the turn of the century, it was, as it stands today, a manicured right of way, sunken below eye level for the privacy of the great high society parties held in Glided Age palaces." (1) 

The Cliff Walk is a 3.5 mile public right-of-way over private property that hugs Newport’s eastern shoreline from Easton’s Beach to Bailey’s Beach with amazing view of the Atlantic Ocean on one side and spectacular Gilded Age mansions on the other.

We entered at Easton's Beach where the trail was well paved and walked the path to Land's End at Ledge Road where the trail traversed the rugged shoreline.  

A six foot beach rose hedge blocks our view of  The Chanler, currently a luxury hotel. 

This was originally  called “Cliff Lawn” and built between 1870 and 1873  for New York Congressman, John Winthrop Chanler and his wife, Margaret Astor Ward. Margaret was the great-granddaughter of John Jacob Astor.  

First major landmark after The Chanler - Forty Steps. Originally built out of wood in the 1830s.

The current 44 steps were funded by donors whose names are noted on the steps.  

Continuing east the Cliff Walk intersects Webster Street.  Here we find Ochre Court which was built of Indiana limestone between 1888 and 1891 for $4.5 million. 

Richard Morris Hunt designed this Beaux Arts style mansion for Ogden Goelet a New York City real estate developer. Ochre is the second largest mansion after the Breakers. Its grounds were used for beginning scene of the movie True Lies.   

  

Salve Regina University (Catholic), founded by the Sisters of Mercy in 1934, was given this estate in 1947 as well as six others along Cliff Walk.  The university uses this as its administration building.  

 Salve Regina University campus 

Next is the brownstone, Queen Anne style Vinland, built between 1883 and 1884 for tobacco heiress Catherine Lorillard Wolfe.  Today this is McAuley Hall, classrooms and academic offices of Salve Regina University. 

Another Richard Morris Hunt masterpiece, The Breakers was completed in 1895 for Cornelius Vanderbilt II (grandson of Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt)  who had inherited $67 million on the death of his father, William Henry Vanderbilt in 1895.  

Modeled after the Italian Renaissance palaces in Turin, The Breakers built of Indiana limestone is 138,000 square feet.

The inside of The Breakers is a popular tour, one we did not have time to take in.  Above is a video taken in 2016 that I found on YouTube of the inside.   

Anglesea (now private residence) built in 1886.

Seawall and gazebo at Anglesea

In front of a number of private residences along the Cliff Walk, the path becomes a bed of boulders.  

MidCliffe

MidCliffe, Fairholme, Angelsea

The Cloister

Belmont Estate

Rosecliff rest area blocks view of the Rosecliff mansion.  Built in 1902 for Theresa Fair Oelrichs, a Nevada silver heiress and her husband.  Famous for the filming of Great Gatsby, True Lies, and Amistad.  

Just past Rosecliff looking
 back at Belmont Estate
and MidCliffe

The Beechwood, currently owned by Larry Ellison, was hidden behind temporary tents.    This estate was originally built in 1851 as a summer estate for the Astor family. 

Marble House 

Neighbor to Beechwood is Marble House which is blocked from view by the Tea House. Designed by architect Richard Morris Hunt, Marble House was built for another grandson of Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt, William. William's brother Cornelius Vanderbilt II lived up the walk in The Breakers.  Another one of William's brother, Frederick lived down the walk at Rough Point. 

William gave the house to his wife Alva for her 39th birthday. But alas that didn't save their marriage, she divorced William and married  Oliver Belmont and moved down the path to Oliver's estate, Belcourt.  After Oliver died Alva moved back to Marble House and built a Chinese Tea House on the cliff where she hosted women's suffrage meetings.  

Tunnel under the Tea House 

Beaulieu, one of the oldest mansions on the Cliff Walk, was built by Calvert Vaux (Central Park landscape architect fame) between 1856 and 1859 for Peruvian ambassador Frederick de Barreda. 

Exiting Clarendon Court Tunnel at Sheep Point

Miramar was built for George Widener of Philadelphia who, with his son died on the Titanic in 1912.

Rough terrain and 

rock climb to Rough Point.

Rough Point the Tudor-style sandstone was built in 1891 for Frederick William Vanderbilt another grandson of  Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt.

We made it.  A few more yards and we exit the Cliff Walk at Ledge Road. About 1/4 mile to the RIPTA bus stop on Bellevue Avenue for a ride back to Newport Gateway Center and our tender back to the Crown Princess.  

Tomorrow Boston, Massachusetts 

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For an interactive map and guided walking tour covering many of our tours please be sure to download the GPSmyCity App from the iTunes store. The App covers an extensive library of articles and walking tours from over 470 cities worldwide, and now features articles from Adventures of a Home Town Tourist covering Carmel and Monterey (with more cities on the way).

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(1) Morris, Ed. A Guide to Newport's Cliff Walk. The History Press, 2009. 

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Photography (with iphone 5s) by L.A. Momboisse and R.M. Momboisse unless otherwise listed below:

Black and white picture of Ochre Court 1904 - Wikipedia
Video of The Breakers by kkashly808
Photo of the Rosecliff rest area from http://www.cliffwalk.com/
Photo of Marble House from Wikipedia