Sunday, August 30, 2009

Aug 22-23, 2009 ::: Newport, Rhode Island

Entering Narragansett Bay we passed Brenton Reef then on past Fort Adams to our marina spot at Bowen's Wharf.



Bowen's Wharf is part of the holdings of Bart Dunbar. Bart was the Operations Officer for a period of time aboard the USS NEWMAN K. PERRY (DD883) when Charlie was the Chief Engineer. We had hoped to see Bart and his family while we were in Newport, but, he and his family had prior plans to be away for the week end for Bart's birthday and the birthday of one of his children.




We started our re-discovery of Newport by taking a tour with Access Tours. The tour guide, John, started just up the street from the marina and told us of and showed us, many 1600-1700 houses. From there it was to the downtown area and the government buildings of the period before we got into the 1860's and the then location of the Naval Academy.



As it turns out the Yankees were afraid the Rebels would take Annapolis resulting in the Yankees loosing the Naval Academy. With that fear, the Yankees moved the Naval Academy to Newport and it remained there from 1861 to 1865.


Just down the street from the Naval Academy location is a place well known to Charlie and his Destroyer School, Class 16, classmates. This real estate firm, in the late '60's, was a place that all destroyer school students spent some of their extra time . . . and money and was then known as "The Tavern."



Having completed the tour we then started off on the bikes to see the some of the Newport summer mansions. On the way to Bellevue Avenue we passed St. Mary's Parish . . . where JFK and Jackie married.


First stop on Bellevue was the International Tennis Hall of Fame and Museum. See: www.tennisfame.com It was said that tennis was brought to the USA as a result of Cornelius Vanderbilt II and its original location was near to his summer cottage, the Breakers.





The Breakers. Built in 1895, was a summer cottage. It was the 70-room estate of New York Central railroad President Cornelius Vanderbilt.



From the Breakers we continued down Bellevue to the Marble House, built in 1892. This was the grand stage for Alva Vanderbilt's competition with Mrs. Astor as a society hostess, and later became the platform for her "Votes for Women" campaign.


Our last stop was at Rosecliff. Rosecliff has been used in many movies; The Great Gatsby, True Lies, Amistad, Evening . . . and can be rented for an evening with a starting price of $75,000.00.

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