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.