Exploring Newport This Fall
The City by the Sea, Newport, Rhode Island, is a great place to visit any time of year. During the summer months–from Memorial Day through Labor Day, it’s ‘prime season’ in Newport when visitors come to enjoy the beaches, the Jazz and Folk Festivals, the boating in and around Narragansett Bay, tour the ‘Cottages’ up and down Bellevue Avenue, and enjoy all of Newport’s burgeoning food and nightlife scene.
After Labor Day, the crowds thin out a little while the weather usually stays warm and sunny until well into November. September brings the Newport Boat Show on Bowen’s Wharf (Sept. 12-15) and Oyster Harbors Marine will be exhibiting some of our best cruising yachts from Princess, Mag Bay, Albemarle, Fjord and others, so that would be a great weekend to schedule a trip. Stop in and say hello!
September and October are full of local events and festivals to enjoy, and October is cruise ship season, when the big boxes afloat discharge their passengers onto America’s Cup Boulevard. It makes for a busy local scene until well into November.
So whether you come by boat, tying up on a mooring or slip in Newport Harbor, or by car to enjoy a few days’ visit in one of the city’s many elegant hotels and inns, there are plenty of things for you and your family to do in and around Newport.
Visit the Mansions
In the Gilded Age of the late 19th century, magnates and billionaires from New York competed with each other to design and build the most magnificent seaside ‘cottages’ along Bellevue Avenue. Many of them are now open to the public for tours, thanks to the Newport Preservation Society and others. The Breakers, Rosecliff, The Elms, Rough Point and several others are time capsules of an age gone by and well worth a visit.
Take a Seat on the Sea
Outside the very swank Castle Hill Inn on Harrison Ave. overlooking the entrance to Narragansett Bay is a broad, sweeping green lawn dotted with Adirondack chairs available on a first-come basis. These Seats on the Sea are very popular all summer long for visitors to sit and watch the parade of yachts and boats go by, while the staff of the Castle Hill Inn bring you drinks and snacks. Sitting there and watching the sun go down is almost a religious experience! This popular experience continues after Labor Day but eventually comes to a halt as the weather cools.
Get a Little Beach Time
Newport Harbor, protected by Fort Adams State Park, is all about boats and boating. But on the other side of town is a string on sandy inlets with some pretty spectacular beaches. And once the summer heats up the water of the Atlantic, it takes a month or two to cool down. Easton’s Beach, or First Beach, sits right at the beginning of the Cliff Walk that runs along the shore behind the Bellevue Ave. mansions. A couple of inlets to the east (in the town of Middletown) is Sachuest or Second Beach, which is a little more open to the Atlantic and a favorite of surfers and wind surfers. And it is close to the Sachuest National Wildlife Center, which has lovaley walking trails for hikers and birders. There is a Third Beach closer to the mouth of the Sakonnet River, which is also lovely to visit in the fall.
Take a drive down Ocean Drive
Bellevue Ave. isn’t the only place in town to admire mansions. Ocean Drive runs around the perimeter of Breton Point and winds through some really amazing looking mansions perched on the rocky shores. Along the way is Breton Point State Park, which is a gathering place for people flying kites, including competitive kite flyers and those with decorative dragon kites. Also along Ocean Drive is the small Gooseberry Beach which is open to the public but will make you feel like you’re visiting a Newport hoi polloi’s private beach club.
Wineries and Breweries
The craft beer industry has landed in Newport in a big way. Newport Vineyards, located on East Main Road just outside town, has been making fine wine from grapes grown on its 60-acre site since 1977, and added Taproot Brewing Co., which makes several kinds of handcrafted beers, a few years ago. You can taste either or both and enjoy a fine meal at onsite restaurant.
There are now eleven different craft breweries in and around Newport, churning out some very tasty beers. For a full list and description, visit here.
Fall Festivals
The Newport Mansions Wine and Food Festival (Sept. 19-22) is one of the big events for fall. Food and wine tastings and lectures and discussions take place inside the magnificent mansions on Bellevue, adding a special luster to the occasions. For full details, visit here.
There are other popular events on the calendar this fall, many scheduled in October. You won’t want to miss the Audrain Newport Concours (Oct. 3-6) where antique and expensive cars are displayed on the lawn of Rough Point; Newport Oktoberfest (Sept. 28) at Fort Adams Park; and the Broadway Street Fair (Oct. 12) where all the merchants and restaurants along Broadway come outside and show their wares. For a full line-up of autumn events, visit here.
Get Around Free!
Through October 31st, the old-fashioned trolley car bus #67, which runs from the visitor’s center on America’s Cup Boulevard up to Bellevue Avenue and back operates as a free hop-on, hop-off service. That makes it easy to visit all the mansions, the Redwood Library, the International Tennis Hall of Fame, get access to the Cliff Walk and more.
If you do make it to Newport, either for the Boat Show or on a weekend visit, please stop by our Newport location at 3 Christie’s Landing and Perry Mill Wharf to see our boats in the water – call us at (401) 399-6100. We’re always happy to see our customers!