New England Islands

 

by Mary Jo

This is definitely my year for islands! In July, I visited Orkney  and Shetland , and now we're back from a shorter, more low key New England cruise.  (I took the picture above on Block Island.)

We were traveling on American Cruise Lines, a small ship cruising company that specializes in American waters, from the coast of New England to Southern rivers, the Mississippi, the Pacific Northwest, and Alaska. We've cruised on ACL once before, traveling from Baltimore to Charleston, SC on the IntraCoastal Waterway, and we had a fine time.

Our ship, the American Star, held fewer than a hundred passengers, which was great. The food is also very good, and on the New England cruises, ACL heavily emphasizes lobster. This one is from the New England boiled dinner served on the first night. I'm not particularly fond of lobster--this one belonged to the Mayhem Consultant. Wait staff went around breaking open the lobsters so people could actually eat them. <G>

But this was only the beginning! Over the week, there were lobster soups, lobster rolls, both Maine and Connecticut, lobster mac and cheese, and even lobster bread pudding. By the end of the cruise, even the most devout lobster lovers were sated. <G

 

The itinerary was from Providence, RI and back to Providence with stops in Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard, and Block Island as well as several Rhode Island ports. At least, that was the plan. <G> At sea, things can change!

We got a brief tour of Providence, which is the handsome beneficiary of years of city renewal.  I'd love to go back to spend more time. The city dates back to 1636 and was founded by Roger Williams, who founded Rhode Island as a colony with religious freedom and separation of church and state, which were pretty radical ideas in the 17th Century. Those ideas got him kicked out of the Puritan Massachusetts Bay Colony. (He was also one of the first abolitionists. A very cool guy!)

Our first stop was New Bedford, the whaling town, which turned out to be so interesting that I'll blog about it separately.

The next stop was to be Nantucket. I've wanted to visit that island ever since my mother read Cheaper by the Dozen to us when we were kids. The book is a memoir of growing up as one of a dozen children with an exuberant father, and the family went to Nantucket ever summer.

Sigh. It was not to be. Wind and waves made the captain decide to cancel that stop, and we'd get two days in Martha's Vineyard. Except that the same wind and waves sent us sailing away after a half day to the safety of Newport.

Still, half a day was better than none. I can see why the Vineyard is so popular. Lots of history and a mixture of long time island families and insanely rich people who live there part time. (We were told that joining the high end golf club cost $300,000. Urk! But there is a community golf club where anyone can play for the cost of the greens fees.) The buildings are classic New England architecture. Very efficient, too. This one building held the visitors' center, a shop, the post office, and all important public restrooms.

Newport is a seriously interesting place. In the Gilded Age, the mega-rich from New York City built their summer "cottages" there, by which they meant humongous and sumptuous. The Breakers, a Vanderbilt mansion, made me think of Blenheim Palace in England, the home of the Duke of Marlborough. HUGE. Extravagant. (I can't even guess the heating bills!) Click the link to see some pictures on Wikipedia.

Newport is also one of the great yachting centers and a hang out of the rich and famous. Our ship moored by Fort Adams, a vast fort designed to protect Newport, which was a key location between Boston and New York City. Named for President John Adams, it's the second fort on the site and was designed by Napoleon's top military engineer.

What happens when your emperor is kicked out? You become a consultant, which is what Brigadier General Simon Bernard did. <G> He was  welcomed by the US government and granted citizenship and given a great job.

This ship, the Oliver Hazard Perry, is moored right in front of the fort.  It's open to visitors but we didn't have time for a tour.

Block Island is a delight, low key and with about 43% of the island in conservation so it won't be developed. They have one of the best lighthouses in New England, an area in which lighthouses are rampant. They also have magnificent bluffs and beaches. Lovely 

Bristol, RI is a town I had no opinions about, but it turned out to charming--I can imagine living there. They have the oldest Fourth of July parade in the country, and the parade route is marked by a red, white, and blue stripe in the middle of the streets that the parade follows. <G 

I could say much more, but I won't. Suffice it to say that there is an amazing amount of history, beauty, and charm in a very small area. If you have a chance to visit this part of New England, jump on it!

Mary Jo, adding a misty morning view of Newport.

 

 

Comments

[Andrea Penrose]

A wonderful post, Mary Jo. This is my neck of the woods, and I can second your nice words on the charms and history of this part of New England. Block Island is a wonderful, low-key place, and mainland Rhode Island has so many historic places to explore. The nooks and crannies of the coat have many small charming towns that make poking around so much fun.

So sorry you didn't get to Nantucket, which is amazingly beautiful—and the whaling museum there is fascinating, as you can imagine, as the island was one of the great whaling ports of of the country.

I think you need to come back in better weather!

[Mary Jo Putney]

Andrea, I was disappointed to miss Nantucket, but as you say, there is so MUCH to see in your part of the world! I've always had an affinity for New England (my ancestors lived there for a couple of centuries), and it's been too long since I've visited.

[Andrea Penrose]

Well, as I said, you just have to come back soon. (Hint, hint: Connecticut has LOTS of wonderful history, and some charming coastlines and quaint New England towns! I'm just saying . . .)

[Maggie Robinson]

Jealous! I used to live in Connecticut and Massachusetts, and have vacationed on RI's coast and Nantucket. Park me near water and I am happy! I had a lobster roll just Saturday on my daughter's island of Islesboro when I went to visit. Or should I say two and a half lobster rolls, LOL. So glad you had a wonderful trip!

[Sue McCormick]

While we lived in the greater NYC area and worked in Manhattan, we once made a flying trip to Mystic Connecticut, We toured Mystic, but there were no beds. So we ended up in Providence (and, as a bonus, had a tour of some Providence high spots the next day). I have fond memories of that trip.

(And, should you be interested the time-line places this trip BEFORE the filming of Mystic Pizza.)

[Kareni]

I attended graduated school in Providence in the eighties and went back last year for my first visit since; there have been significant changes but some places still remain as I remember. My husband and I also visited Bristol on our trip which was a first for both of us. Lots of history all around. Thanks for a fun post, Mary Jo.

[Andrea Penrose]

Ha, ha, ha! As it happens, a good friend of mine wrote the screenplay for Mystic Pizza! It's a fun movie–but yes, put sleepy little Mystic, an old seaport town , on the tourist map. (It was also Julia Roberts's first movie!)

[Mary Jo Putney]

Maggie, you showed great restraint in not going for the second half of the third lobster roll. *G*

[Mary Jo Putney]

I enjoyed Mystic Pizza, and even though she was unknown then, Julia Roberts had a quality that riveted the attention.

[Mary Jo Putney]

Kareni, I'm glad you enjoyed it. Isn't Bristol great? I want to go back and spend more time!

[Karin]

I once spent a lovely weekend in Block Island. While we were eating out one night there was a power outage, apparently a frequent occurence, because the staff brought out lamps and candles, and dinner continued to be served without missing a beat. It was a very dark walk back to our B&B however! I'd love to visit Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard, I can't believe I've missed them despite living on the East Coast of the U.S. my entire life!

[Mary Jo Putney]

Karin--this is why I keep a mini-flashlight in my purse--because you just never know. *G* Block Island now has what I think is the first offshore wind farm so they have a lot better access to electricity. But even so, the lights can go out! I'm still hoping we get to Nantucket one of these days.

[Anne Gracie]

It sounds like a lovely trip, even with the bad weather and the missed stops. It's an area I've always wanted to see more of. One day . . .

[Lynda X]

I live in and love RI. The best time to come is around Columbus Day. It's cooler then and the leaves are usually turning. If you like history, you are surrounded by it, as well as the most spectacular beaches in the US, if not the world. RI is so small that you can drive through it in about 2, 3 hours--tops--and across it in a couple of hours. That makes Rhode Islanders feel put upon if we have to drive anywhere over say, 20, 30 minutes. If I could only see one town in RI, it would be Newport with its many mansions, open to the public. It also has more colonial houses, still privately owned and also many open to the public, than any other city in the US. Many were restored by Doris Duke. As a former tour guide, I saw all the mansions and my favorite is Ava Vanderbuilt's Marble House. She was a fascinating, headstrong woman who forced her daughter Consuelo to marry an English Duke (momentarily, I can't remember which one). Ava kept her confined to her room on bread and water, literally, until she gave in. Historians say that when Ava divorced her husband (keeping their mansions), she became a pariah. Consuelo, was very unhappily married and she, too, divorced her husband. Her mother went on to become a strong supporter of women voting. In the gift shop you can buy the blue and white china she designed that says, "Votes for Women." Newport's visible history goes back to colonial days; the dastardly British burned the city down during its occupation when the French freed it with their fleet. Right now, we think we have found Captain Cook's Endeavor in which he discovered Australia in the first circling of the world. The Endeavor, renamed Lord Sandwich, was sunk--along with the rest of the English fleet--so the French could not use the ships during the Revolution. I could go on and on about RI and what to see, but I will spare you. It's a lovely little state.

PS. I graduated from Bristol High, and the town is associated with the richest colonial family--the DeWolfs who were big slave traders and a later descendant married Samuel Colt (you know, the inventor of the six shooter) and the Barrymores. My high school was built by the Colts. I'll stop now. Really.

[Mary Jo Putney]

Lynda X, in just the three short days we spent in Rhode Island, I was dazzled by the richness and variety of the history! I was told about the DeWolfes during our personally guided tour, and they were a fascinating lot, though the slave running revolts me. Bristol is lovely, though. I'd love to return to Rhode Island and spend a week or two poking around.

[Laura Tilley]

Great post! I went to Block Island this summer for the first time, but still want to see all the other places you named. What a disappointment to have to miss a few places. I guess you'll have to go back!