Newport (Part 2) RI USA

Gary’s Handy Lunch – where everyone comes for breakfast!

The day after we arrived in Newport the weather remained dull, grey and overcast so we decided to cheer ourselves up with breakfast at Gary’s Handy Lunch diner, which had come highly recommended by Ray at the Marina Centre the day before.  And it was excellent!  The 1950s style decor was just right, all in black, red and white, and there was a limitless supply of coffee and great breakfast omelettes too.  I could eat breakfast at a place like that every day - I wonder why Nicky won’t let me?

Some of the Newport Mansions

As we ate breakfast several coachloads of passengers from the 2 cruise ships that had arrived overnight drove past, presumably on a tour of the famous Newport mansions or similar.  So, to walk off breakfast, we set off in pursuit, though we didn’t do full interior tours of the buildings.

Tennis Hall of Fame

We stopped off at the Newport Casino, home of the Tennis Hall of Fame.  Here, in 1881, the US Lawn Tennis Association held its first championship, which remained rooted at the Newport Casino until 1914.  By 1950 the resort was struggling financially and the site was in danger of being purchased for development.  However, Jimmy van Alen, a wealthy Newport summer resident and sportsman, bought the site and, in 1954, established the Tennis Hall of Fame and Museum, saving the buildings from destruction.  We admired the Victorian shingle clad buildings and the damp and lush, out of season, grass tennis courts.  It was so wet that the hard courts outside weren’t in use either but there was a steady stream of people into what we assumed was the indoor training centre.

We also stopped by the St Mary’s Parish Church, one of the other places pointed out on the map to us by Ray the previous evening (a little more highbrow than the diner but not as much fun). JFK married Jackie here in September 1953.  Five years after he was assassinated the church was designated a National  Historic Shrine.  Interesting, we think, that they have used the word ‘shrine’ rather than calling it a National Historic Site.

Take your sailing tour around Newport Harbour here.  Old America’s Cup 12 Metres predominate but you can get out on the water on almost any type of boat you please

On the dinghy ride back to BV, we took a detour to ogle the myriad late 50s to late 70s America’s Cup 12 Metre yachts available for day trips out around the harbour.

BV in the rain again

A brighter view of the cruise ships in port

By the afternoon the weather had cheered up somewhat, so we took a walk around Fort Adams State Park at the entrance to the Naragansett River.

Fort Adams

The Eisenhower House, Newport State Park.  This became
 the summer residence of Dwight D Eisenhower during his
presidency as it was more convenient for the golf course at the
Newport Country Club than the Naval War College where he started
 off spending his summers

This current iteration of Fort Adams was designed by  Brigadier General Simon Bernard, a Frenchman who had served as a military engineer for Napoleon.  He designed the new fort in the classic style and it became the most complex fortification in the Western Hemisphere.  Looking at the model of the fort outside its main entrance, the similarities to the European forts of the Napoleonic Wars are clear.  Apparently, Fort Adams is the third largest fort in the US; only Fort Monroe in Hampton, VA and Fort Jefferson on the Dry Tortugas, FL are larger.  It certainly looks jolly impressive and, if the number of canon emplacements are anything to go by, it was well armed too.

Breton Bay

We walked for a very pleasant couple of miles around the fort and the State Park, ending up back at Breton Bay where there was a most attractive yawl on a mooring.

OCC gathering at Harry’s Burger Bar. Left to right:  Murray (Coolchange), Linda (Ile Jeudi), Nicky, Bob (Ile Jeudi), Cate (Coolchange), me

America’s Cup 12 Metre Yacht, Columbia

And we got back in time for a very convivial dinner out at Harry’s Burger Bar with Murray and Cate (Coolchange) and Bob and Linda (Ile Jeudi).  We had met Bob and Linda on the OCC’s Chesapeake Rally but there had been so many people on that rally that we had hardly spoken to them.  We rectified that on this evening and…..

OCC gathering on BV.  Left to right: Murray (Coolchange), Nicky, Cate (Coolchange), Julie and Richard (Escapade of Rame), Bob and Linda (Ile Jeudi)

…..a couple of days later on board BV, by which time Richard and Julie in Escapade of Rame had caught us all up and joined us too.  It was a fun evening, the conversation flowed and we could easily be there now, still talking!  But after 4 days in Newport, the weather gods were still looking favourably upon those of us heading west and then south (Bob and Linda were planning to haul out in Newport before returning home for the winter), so the party had to break up for final preparations for ‘the off’ the following morning.

Newport, Rhode Island, USA