Moving on from Providence, it’s time for a mini-road trip around the smallest U.S. state: Rhode Island. You might even say that this is a Rhode trip… eh? eh?
In mid-March, spring was only just beginning to reveal itself on these cold New England shores. We were lucky to have a beautiful sunny day to explore because the next day the rains blew in and put an end to most of our adventuring. Big ol’ thanks to Jason for being my host, driver, tour guide, and bro. 🫶🏼
Wickford Village, RI
If you’re not familiar with New England, you should know that it is named that for a reason. This region in the Northeast of the US was “basecamp” for the English colonizers as they constructed what is now as the United States. As such, this was some of the earliest land to be settled (i.e. stolen) by Europeans. From a strip mall in Atlanta, this history feels like the distant past, but in small towns around Massachusetts, Maine, and Rhode Island, it feels like just yesterday.
Wickford, Rhode Island is one of those towns, where the colonial past of New England feels closer than ever. And while the destructive injustice of colonialism should always be kept top of mind… towns like Wickford are undeniably charming.
Many online publications have ranked Wickford among the most charming towns in New England. These articles usually have pictures of it on some cozy fall day or on a beautiful summer afternoon, and it looks pretty idyllic. We, however, stopped through Wickford on a cold spring day in March. It wasn’t exactly post-card material, but part of the beauty of New England is that it manages to feel classic in every season—fall, winter, spring, and summer. 🍁❄️🌸☀️ And as an added bonus, the cold weather helped ensure that we were among the only visitors that day.
Here are a few pictures from our wanderings around Wickford.
At the bottom of the gallery above, there’s a picture of a rock with old Norse writing on it. This is actually a historical monument in Wickford—it’s been here for a VERY long time. I did the research on it, and while there are some shaky theories about how Viking expeditions from long ago may have conceivably come this far south at some point, the disappointing summary is that nobody has any idea what the story is there. 🤷🏻♂️
Norse history aside, there is no shortage of American history on display around Wickford. Many of the houses have plaques on them commemorating the original owners and construction dates.
Those plaques definitely spark the imagination, but the most fascinating piece of history I saw in Wickford was the Old Narragansett Church, which is believed to be the oldest Episcopal church building in the region. This church was founded in 1706 🤯 and was closed from 1774 to 1787 because of the Revolutionary War. It was actually commissioned by a religious group back in England, which withdrew support for this church and its congregation because of their support of the American cause.
This building looks like something out of the Hocus Pocus origin story, but we spent the majority of our time here in the adjacent cemetery plot. Check out how the trees have grown around the metal railings, eventually snapping the old stone posts that used to surround the plot. Even though this site sits in a heavily developed, densely populated, action-packed region, here in this graveyard it was completely still, just as it has always been.
Newport, RI
From there we continued our drive southward towards Newport, Rhode Island. Even though I’ve traveled through this region before, and even lived nearby for a spell, I don’t think I had ever really looked at the geography of Newport until now. It’s pretty cool! Seeing how this little piece of land juts out into the Atlantic definitely made me a lot more interested in visiting.
Prior to this trip, I was peripherally aware of the “Newport Mansions,” but had never been very interested. So, I arrived with low expectations, but this place was MUCH more dramatic than I was expecting. These really are MANSIONS, in the truest sense of the word. And they are NUMEROUS. You’ll find them all lined up on either side of a very long street that drives southward down the peninsula. And as you drive down this street, it’s impossible not to slow down. Perched on every property, sometimes behind gold-crusted gates, are the most decadently opulent houses imaginable. Many of these homes actually date back to the Gilded Age (roughly 1877 to 1896), when Newport was the playground of America’s elite. However, some of these houses still seem to be actively inhabited, so there are at least a few rich people still hanging around here.
Here’s a gallery of pictures from our time here. The beach shown below was one of the coldest and windiest things I have ever experienced. If I looked directly into the wind, tears would flow down my cheeks.
More than one of these homes actually belonged to the famous Vanderbilt family, whose exploits have been explored on this blog before. Remember our visit to America’s largest private residence: the Biltmore Estate, outside of Asheville, North Carolina? That was also the Vanderbilts. In addition to the Biltmore, they also owned some of the biggest and most notable mansions here in Newport, including “Marble House” and “The Breakers.” Yes, just like ships, all the mansions here have names, apparently. Although, the Vanderbilts referred to these places as “cottages” 🙄 Most of the bottom half of the gallery above is all from the grounds of Marble House and The Breakers. Marble House is also the cover image for this article.
Marble House struck us as particularly extravagant—it looked like the White House!—so we decided to attempt to enter.
We took a walk around the property and discovered a random Japanese temple in the backyard, facing the ocean. You’ll see it pictured in the gallery above.
However, when we attempted to enter the house, we discovered that you had to pay to go inside, and indeed to be on the house grounds at all. Oops!
I’m a baller on a budget, so the only picture I have of the interior of any of these homes is this one. This is what you’ll see when you walk through the front door of Marble House, whose construction was commissioned by William Vanderbilt as a 39th birthday present for his wife, Alva Vanderbilt.
I see why you might opt to pay for all of this. There are so many mansions here that you could easily fill 2 days solely exploring this place. There are trolleys that go up and down the length of this street carrying visitors. We, however, were running low on time, and we still wanted to see the actual city of Newport, so we had to move on.
With a population of only ~25,000, Newport might be better described as a “town” than a “city.” Whatever it is, it’s one of the prettiest New England places I’ve ever seen! It’s like if Boston was only Beacon Hill. Founded all the way back in 1639, it completely embodies the best of this region, with historic buildings, charming local shops, cobblestone streets, and all sorts of plaques and details on each street to remind passersby of its seafaring, colonial past. I think this place becomes quite the tourist destination in the summer, but on this cold spring day, we could walk these city streets in relative anonymity. Here are some snapshots from Newport. 👇📸
This concludes our 2-part series on Rhode Island! On the way back we stopped through the URI campus and explored the Kingston area a bit, but that will be just for me. After all that, here’s my verdict: I like Rhode Island! It’s like a smaller, friendlier, more livable version of the Boston metro area. I look forward to the day life brings me back here.
For now, I’ll leave with a selection from the Rhode trip playlist that really stuck in my memory from this trip. We were driving over the Claiborne Pell/Newport Bridge when this was playing.
