Newport Ocean Drive and Sakonnet

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Newport

   Newport lies at the southern tip of Aquidneck Island, in Narragansett Bay, and it is a town built on a double identity. For a century and a half it was a rich colonial port, with a synagogue dating to 1763, the oldest in the country, and a harbour full of ships. Then, in the late nineteenth century, America's richest families chose it for their summer cottages, which were mansions in everything but name. The Breakers, built for the Vanderbilts in the 1890s, has seventy rooms of marble, gilt and carved stone, and several other great houses along Bellevue Avenue are open to the public. It was, by any measure, an extraordinary display of money.

   Read the complete Newport write-up.

2. 2. Tiverton

   Tiverton lies on the eastern shore of Narragansett Bay, in the part of Rhode Island that feels more like a long, quiet farm than a state, with stone walls, salt marshes and views of the Sakonnet River glinting between the trees. About seven and a half thousand people live here, and the nearest larger town, Portsmouth, with seventeen thousand, lies across the water on Aquidneck Island, linked by a bridge. The ride finishes here, in a place that suits an unhurried end to a day.

   Read the complete Tiverton write-up.

3. 3. Little Compton

4. 4. Sakonnet Point

5. 5. Back to Newport

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Newport write-up.