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.