After the hustle and bustle of the last two days there was a complete change of pace as we neared today’s port of call, Newport.
For the first time on this trip this was a tendered stop and the ship anchored in the bay around a twenty minute ride into the town itself. Normally the tendering process involves a lot of hanging around waiting for your turn to board the lifeboat, but today we walked down to the lounge and were ushered towards the shuttle straight away. Very shortly we were walking around the quiet streets of this historic city.
Newport was founded in the 17th century by immigrants fleeing Europe to obtain political and religious freedom and there are many examples of historical properties such as the Colony House.
It was here that the Declaration of Independence was read to the residents in 1776 and it became the State House when Rhode Island became the first State in the USA. A small museum nearby contained an interesting exhibit of the early days of the town, including details of how slavery was prevalent even in these Northern states.
Newport played an important role in the American War of Independence with the British invading as a result of the locals refusing to pay their taxes. They were later deposed by a combined force of French and colonial soldiers lead by Colonel Perry. A statue nearby commentates this victory.
We continued our walk down the Main Street in the blazing sunshine to Trinity Church, the oldest church in the town dating back to the early 1700s. Unfortunately we were unable to go inside which was disappointing as it looked very interesting from looking in the windows.
Several years ago we visited Disneyland Paris and stayed at the Newport Bay Hotel, a white weatherboard style building. It’s not too difficult to understand why it was named that when you see the houses in the town.
In addition to playing its part in the history of the beginning of the USA, Newport has also been important in modern history as it was here that JFK married Jackie in 1953. The Catholic Church of St Mary’s was built by Irish immigrants coming to Newport to escape the potato famine, and it was here the ceremony took place.
It is said that JFK and his wife spent three hours in the receiving line at their reception greeting all of their 1300 wedding guests. The reception was held at the summer home of Jackie’s family which we didn’t have an opportunity to view. We did however see ONE of the Kennedy family’s summer residences on the sail out in the afternoon…..
….Not too bad for a summer house.
Although the town is steeped in history it was nice to see that they also have their eye on the future with these solar powered dustbins which were dotted around the town.
Newport was a lovely town and the weather today was gorgeous and sunny. We have been so lucky with the weather so far this trip, I only hope we don’t make up for it on our journey back home.