Newport is the county seat of Sullivan County, which gives a town of under five thousand people a handsome courthouse and a surprisingly grand common. The Sugar River runs through the middle of it, and the old mill buildings that line the water tell you where the money came from a century and a half ago. Today the town works as a service centre for the surrounding hill country, a place where locals buy their hardware and their pizza and where a rider can do the same.
Newport is also covered-bridge country, with several of the old timber spans tucked into the lanes outside town, and a rail trail follows the river for those who like to walk off a stop. The Richards Free Library on the common is a good-looking stone building that makes a fine backdrop, and the main street keeps the scale of a place that was built before the car arrived.
The roads out of Newport are the real reason to be here. Route 10 and Route 103 both run through, and they offer long, flowing hill sections with decent surfaces, broad sightlines and fewer trucks than the interstate side of the state. West toward Claremont the valley opens up, and east toward Sunapee the road climbs into lake country, where glimpses of Lake Sunapee start to appear between the trees. Autumn weekends bring leaf-peepers and slower traffic, so a midweek ride feels like a different place.
As a practical matter, Newport has fuel, groceries and places to sit down, and it is the best-supplied stop for a good distance in either direction. Claremont, about fourteen kilometres away, offers more. Use the town to top off and eat, then take the quiet side roads toward Unity and Sunapee, where traffic thins and the hills do the talking.