There’s a sadness that comes with the end of the summer, which can lead to borderline anxiety when Starbucks begins peddling pumpkin spice lattes and you are yet to let go of your lemonade. For some, leveraging summer’s end can become a ritual to crystalize memories and help ease into the autumn transition. And if there’s one place that gets summer, it’s Newport, Rhode Island, where locals wear foul weather sailing gear even on nice days and you can salivate over inventive lobster dishes on chic restaurant menus.
The lobby at the Wayfinder Hotel reinforces its modern retro style.
Lodging
After traveling over roads misted from the aftermath of Hurricane Grace, we arrived at the Wayfinder Hotel to celebrate summer’s last hurrah. In a historic resort town where rooms are available above taverns, the Wayfinder has a refreshingly hip vibe. It’s just off the highway but there is an inclusive resort feel with a restaurant, pool bobbing with tons of fun floats, bicycles and young staff who were most likely recruited from college campuses.
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- The suite leverages spaces.
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- A beautifully appointed bed delays a beach visit.
Beaches
If you only have 48 hours in Newport, the challenge is to edit a schedule. We did not take a sunset cruise or hike along Cliff Walk but we did get some time in at Sachuest Beach (also known as Second Beach). While a bit crowded, you can easily move away from the clusters of beachgoers for seclusion. The walk is an enjoyable activity that allows for some good real estate lusting. Though there is no shortage of marquee homes to view, Newport is known for its mansions, or “summer cottages,” which were erected during the flamboyant Gilded Age. Currently opened are The Elms, Marble House, Green Animals topiary garden and The Breakers, which we luckily were able to visit.
Outside the Breakers, where Cornelius Vanderbilt II spent summers with his large family for only a year before he passed away from a stroke.
The Breakers
Neighbors of Salve Regina University, The Breakers shares the school’s European, castle-like splendor marking it as possibly the most attractive campus in the country. You enter The Breakers through the kind of majestic doors you’d expect to see at a monarch’s estate or theme park. Cornelius Vanderbilt II, member of the Vanderbilt railroad fortune, purchased the home in 1885 for $400,000, which was a record for real estate in the area at the time. After the home was destroyed in 1892 by a fire in the kitchen, the Vanderbilt’s hired noted architect Richard Morris Hunt of Biltmore Estate fame, and was instructed by Cornelius to give special attention to fire safety.
The 13-acre estate is considered the most opulent Newport mansion with 70 rooms, a 45-foot high great room, walls detailed with gold and platinum and closets a fashion influencer would squeal over. (It was customary for the Vanderbilt women to change at least seven times a day.) Touring the home and you can’t help but feel transported to an Upstairs Downstairs existence with its system of intercoms, dummy waiters and kitchen with an entire wall devoted to stoves. The home includes other high end features of the period like gas lights, a billiard table, dramatic staircases, breakfast room, conservatory and multiple en suite bedrooms to accommodate the large family. Most summer estates had few bedrooms with the assumption that they socialized with other local summer people.
My son questioned what the miniature porcelain tubs were in a few of the bathrooms. Gary Ruff, Associate Communications Manager of The Preservation Society of Newport County, explained that they are “sitz baths for soaking one’s posterior, generally used after taking carriage rides or riding horses.” We hope to visit in another season, most notably during the holidays when the estates will be decked for the Christmas season with thousands of lights and holiday vignettes along the Serpentine Path through the grounds.
A fusion of food and atmosphere at Forty 1° North.
Dining
After shopping in Newport’s thriving town center that caters to resort tastes with everything from nautical styles at Kiel Patrick James to kitschy Newport souvenirs, Forty 1° North sits at the edge of town and is a fantastic destination for waterfront dining. Beautiful people come via land and sea, literally, as they drive their boats to the launch. The waitstaff is friendly in that have-we-met before way.
Says Food and Beverage Director Michael Jreidini, “We often see our marina guests at the restaurant, many treat it as their living room and space to meet, gather and imbibe.” It’s not just the ambience that makes Forty 1° North a memorable visit, despite our predictable orders that included fired roasted tomato soup and seared tuna, the tastes were fresh, unexpected and flavorful for a perfect sensory culmination to end a trip that will be sealed in the memory vault.
