Newport Now
Rob Duca
The Breakers stands as testament to a long-gone gilded age, where the opulent
pool room bottom left, was a haven for entertaining.
Who knew there were so many ways to spend a weekend in Newport that didn’t involve traipsing through one “Gilded
Age” mansion after another? Granted, a tour of The Breakers, the 70-room, 138,000-square foot ocean-side summer
“cottage” built by the Vanderbilts at the turn of the 19th century, will take your breath away. When you consider the 15
bedrooms (and 33 more for servants), the 300 windows and the 750 doorknobs, the most remarkable statistic might be
that only two years were required to construct the colossal property.
But that’s not the only way to experience a city that blends Old World sophistication with a modern sensibility. Newport
attracts the celebrated and prosperous alongside the young and ambitious. Venture to Bowen’s and Bannister’s Wharf
and you’ll encounter an eclectic collection of lifestyles, with visitors in t-shirts and cargo shorts walking alongside those
in polo shirts and Nantucket red slacks.
There is a Scottish links feel to Newport National, especially at the par-3 third
hole.
Of course, golf was a major part of the weekend, and that came with a visit to Newport National Golf Course in nearby
Middletown. This Arthur Hills-designed layout is considered one of New England’s finest public courses. With a
dramatic setting near the Sakonnet River coastline, the Orchard Course resembles a Scottish links layout, with a
succession of deep and penal bunkers, wide, sloping fairways, elevated, mounded greens, and subtle undulations on the
putting surfaces.
The par-72, 7,244-yard layout plays to a 74.4 rating and 138 slope. The gold tees (6,553 yards, 71.9, 130) also provide
ample challenge. Newport National has been honored by Golf Digest and GolfWeek as one of Rhode Island’s top public
courses, and it was easy to see why after playing only a few holes. Each hole is unique, with doglegs in both directions,
postage-stamp greens, strategically placed bunkers and forced carries over hazards that demand accurate club selection.
.
The view from Forty 1 North is one of Newport's most spectacular.
The back-to-back par 3 holes on No. 3 and 4 are certainly rare, while the 483-yard par-4 sixth hole (rated the No. 1
handicap hole) is a bear. But the most interesting hole is the par-5 eighth. The blind tee shot on this 90-degree dogleg
right should be hit over a bank of trees, reminding one of the tee shot over The Old Course Hotel on the famous Road
Hole at St. Andrews. Three bunkers guard the right side of the green, with a pot bunker on the left. The hole ends at a
green shaped as a perfect rectangle.
The weekend began at the stylish Forty 1° North hotel, which is centrally located on Thames Street and features
sweeping views of Newport Harbor. Upon check-in, which did not involve a registration desk but a receptionist with a
laptop computer, we were escorted to what was literally the “room with a view.” With an over-sized balcony overlooking
the harbor, it provided the idyllic spot to sip coffee in the morning or Champagne in the evening while watching the
sailboats and the magnificent sunset.
Bowen's Wharf is a favorite spot for waterfront dining and shopping.
First stop after check-in was The Red Parrot, one of the city’s hottest destinations. The building has stood since 1898 and
is listed on the National Register of Historical Places. Originally a meatpacking house, it employed hundreds of people
during the “Gilded Age” and has been home to a wide range of restaurants that have hosted heads of state, diplomats,
royalty and movie stars. The wrap-around bar and the hardwood floors bring to mind the atmosphere of an English pub,
and we had no problem lingering over a glass of wine or two as the late afternoon shifted into evening.
Newport’s downtown offers a plethora of options for shopping, dining or enjoying a beverage, with many of them
located at the lively Bowen’s Wharf and Bannister’s Wharf. The Clarke Cooke House at the center of Bannister’s Wharf
provides the quintessential Newport experience. There are four levels of dining in the 18th-century building (each with
separate menus and pricing), all open to the sights and sounds of the wharf. Not far away is 22 Bowen’s, favored by
diners seeking a classic steakhouse.
Settle back with a beverage and end the day watching the sunset on the rooftop
bar at the Vanderbilt Grace.
After golf we headed to the Vanderbilt Grace for lunch, another legendary location built by Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt in
1909. Today, the mansion is a hotel with 33 rooms and suites, a spa, outdoor pools, two restaurants and a fabulous
rooftop bar with dazzling city and harbor views. Not far away are the pristine grass courts of the International Tennis
Hall of Fame, where a museum honors the legends of the game, from Bill Tilden to Bjorn Borg to Pete Sampras.
And then it was back to the mansions on Bellevue Avenue for a decidedly alternate view of the “Gilded Age” with a
guided tour of the servants’ life at The Elms. Visitors are given a behind-the-scenes look of a world that the aristocrats
never witnessed. We journeyed three flights up the back stairs to the Spartan bedrooms, where an outside wall was built
to block the view, the light and any hint that servants existed. We saw the damp, dingy basement kitchens, laundry room,
coal cellar and boiler room. Bottles of wine, vintage 1936, still waited in the wine cellar, never to be opened.
The “Gilded Age” is ancient history. But Newport is hardly a relic of a bygone era. Sip a drink at an outdoor café along
the harbor. Take a guided ghost tour. Hear the wind and feel the silence on a sunset sail aboard the Madeleine, a classic
72-foot schooner. Bike along the dazzling Cliff Walk. Or sit back in an Adirondack chair on the lawn of the Castle Hill
Inn to watch the waves crash against the jagged coastline. And it will quickly become clear that Newport is alive and
thriving.
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