Newport, RI - The Yachting Capital of New England

One of the great boating capitals of the east coast, Newport, RI was our next stop.  Newport has it all.  Shops, restaurants, provisioning, and boats, boats, and more boats.  All manner of boats from small to "very large".

Here are just some of the boats we saw

This boat used to be owned by Olivia Newton John

Here is the classic Newport Sailboat

Can you spot Southern Style docked here (hint, look for the blue kayak on the swim platform)

Keith and I bought "hop-on/hop-off" tickets for the Newport/Jamestown ferry and explored Narragansett Bay.  Our first stop on the ferry was Fort Adams.   Although the fort was established in 1799, the current fort was built between 1824-1857 and sits on a point of land jutting out into Narragansett Bay.  It is the largest fort in the United States.  To give you some reference of size, Fort Adams can contain Fort Sumpter and Fort McHenry inside the parade grounds.

Fort Adams has many features making it state of the art for its day.  Our tour guide explained how they built in ventilation for venting the smoke from the cannons and rifle fire.  There were also many underground tunnels for accessing different parts of the fort. This is the largest and most complex coastal fort in the United States.  In 1854 the fort was armed with 100 32-pounder seacoast guns, 57 24-pounder seacoast guns, and 43 24-pounder flank howitzer guns.  That is quite a bit of fire power.  In spite of all this, the fort never saw active combat.  Over the years, both the US Navy and the US Army have used the fort.  In 1965 the fort was vacated by the Navy and given to the state of Rhode Island for use as the Fort Adams State Park.

The innermost portion of the fort known as the parade grounds

The arches were built for extra stability and the stairs are slopped to help with drainage of rain water and to help eliminate snow and ice from forming on the steps.

Some of the casements where cannons were located were turned into housing for officers in the 1900's.  You can see here that they constructed wood slat walls over the original brick work, then put plaster on top of this.  Once finished it would look like a normal plastered wall.  The rooms were said to have been very opulent.  The park service is trying to restore some of these for the future. 

From the top of the fort we could see the Claiborne Pell Bridge across the bay.  This is the longest suspension bridge in New England.  We could also see Rose Point Lighthouse which would be our next stop for the day.

Rose Point Lighthouse

Rose Point Lighthouse was built on Rose Island in Narragansett Bay in 1870.  It was built atop an old bastion of Fort Hamilton which was built in 1798-1800.  The lighthouse was decommissioned in 1970, but it is open for tours and can even be rented for overnight stays of up to a week.

View into Narragansett Bay

Bedroom in the lighthouse

Light in the tower

View from atop the lighthouse

Although the clouds kept getting more ominous looking, it did not rain on us.  We rode the ferry from Rose Island to the village of Jamestown on Conanicut Island.  Here we grabbed lunch before returning to Newport.  We had a lovely day exploring and learning about the area and its history.  We could have explored Newport for another day or two, but once again it is time to move on.  Our next big stops are Block Island, RI and Montauk, NY and the Montauk Yacht Club for Labor Day weekend.

Fairhaven

From Provincetown we crossed back over Cape Cod Bay and went through the Cape Cod Canal to Onset, Massachusetts.  After an overnight in Onset, MA on Friday August 23rd, we were off to New Bedford/Fairhaven, MA Saturday morning August 24th.   It was only about 30 miles and since we left early, we arrived by about 10:30 AM giving us a lot of time Saturday.  A quick boat wash and some lunch and we were off on our bikes.

Coming into New Bedford Harbor

Like many of the towns here, there was a great bike trail.  Keith and I took a ride after lunch on Saturday.

Here are some of the sites along the bike trail.  It was a "chamber of commerce" day.

Creative shot of moss on the fence

Back in town after our bike ride, we got to see some of the gorgeous historic buildings here in Fairhaven.

Town Hall

The Town Hall building was financed by Henry H. Rogers and given to the town as a gift from his wife Abbie.  Designed by architect Charles Brigham this French Gothic building features quartered oak paneling on the interior, solid brass fixtures and leaded stained glass windows.  There is a four faced clock at the top of the tower.  Mark Twain, a close friend of Henry Rogers, appeared on stage here Feb. 22, 1894 as the keynote speaker for the building's dedication ceremony.

The Unitarian Memorial Church

The church is a beautiful English, Gothic style cathedral also designed by architect Charles Brigham and  built in 1904 by Henry H. Rogers in memory of his mother Mary Rogers.  It uses local granite and Indiana limestone in its structure.  Artisans from Italy cut the stone and woodcarvers from Bavaria sculpted the woodwork inside the cathedral.  The stained glass windows were created by New York impressionist painter Robert Reid.   Tours are given on Tuesdays and Thursdays (unfortunately we were in town on the weekend).  The inside is supposed to be stunning as well.

A brief word about Henry Huttleston Rogers may be in order.  Born here in Fairhaven, Massachusetts, Rogers was a descendent of  the Mayflower Pilgrims.  He made his fortune in the oil refining business and became a leader at Standard Oil.  He also had numerous business enterprises in the gas, copper, steel, banking, and railroad industries.  Despite his enormous success, he was a generous philanthropist.  Along with the above cathedral and town hall he also built and donated to his home town of Fairhaven a library, high school, Masonic lodge and several other buildings and parks.  

Sunday August 25th had some showers around in the morning.  Once the rain appeared to have stopped Keith and I biked over the bridge from Fairhaven to New Bedford and the New Bedford Whaling Museum.  They have an extensive collection of artifacts and displays.

This was just one of 4 full whale skeletons in the museum.  This is the skeleton of a sperm whale.

The largest animal in the world is the Blue Whale.  An adult Blue whale can grow to 100 feet and weigh 20,000 pounds.  The heart of a Blue whale can weigh 1,000 pounds and circulates 1,400 gallons of blood.  It beats approx. 8-10 times per minute.

Captain James H. Sherman

This pictures is of Captain James H. Sherman in 1933 at the age of 88.  He is considered the "Dean of US Whaling".   He first went whaling in 1862 at the age of 18.  By 1890 he had made eleven whaling voyages all around the world, had been shipwrecked in the Western Arctic, had been several times in boats stoved (severely damaged) by whales, and quelled mutinies, visited ports around the world and commanded 4 whaling voyages.  

From Fairhaven we will be off to the yachting capital of New England, Newport, RI.

Provincetown, MA

Provincetown is located at the extreme tip of Cape Cod, Massachusetts.  The area is a crescent shaped peninsula stretching out into the Atlantic Ocean approximately 30 miles.  For thousands of years it was inhabited by the Native Americans of this region, the Nauset.  They had settlements and farmed, hunted, and fished for their food.  It was May 15, 1620 that the Mayflower carrying the Pilgrims first landed at what is now Provincetown.  It was also here that they drew up and signed the Mayflower Compact.  Although they soon sailed across the bay and settled permanently in Plymouth, MA; Cape Cod was still a valuable fishing grounds.  So in 1654 the Governor of the Plymouth Colony purchased Cape Cod from the chief of the Nausets for a selling price of 2 brass kettles, 6 coats, 12 hoes, 12 axes, 12 knives, and a box.  Cape Cod became a whaling and fishing powerhouse for many years,  After the whaling boom declined, the town of Provincetown also had ups and downs over the years.  Through the years, it has become an important tourist and vacations destination. 

This coastal town has a population of approximately 3,000; but can climb to 60,000-90,000 during summer.  The two days we were in Provincetown was actually their busiest time of the year.  The town has a week long celebration of the LGBTQ community, arts and culture.  On the final day they have a parade through town and this year's theme was Enchanted Forest.  Let me tell you, town was PACKED.  There was not a table in a restaurant or park bench unoccupied.

To stay out of the fray for a bit, Keith and I did the Provincelands Bike Trail Thursday morning.  It is a very nice, paved bike road through the maritime forest and dunes of Cape Cod National Seashore.

We saw some wild turkeys that were not very wild.

After biking in the morning, we returned to the boat to relax a bit before the parade.  I took this picture of the Pilgrim Monument from the boat.  This is the tallest all granite structure in the United States.  It commemorates the history of the Pilgrims landing on the cape and the signing of the Mayflower Compact.  This was the first self governing document to be drawn up in the New World.

The Pilgrim Monument

Once we had a little break, we had to go back into town to see what the Carnival Parade was all about.  This is Provincetown's big yearly LGBTQ community celebration.  Let's just say, Keith and I had not seen anything like this before.  I include some of the pictures so you can get an idea.

Creative shot here

Even pets participated

Pengi played along.

So there you have it.  Definitely a different experience.  Would definitely not need to do it again, so we are off to our next stop.  Friday morning we head to Onset, MA.