LOBSTAH! Yes, that’s how they say it, and lobstah has become our favorite word, we can manage to get it into about any sentence. Like, “this is delicious, but it’s not lobstah” or maybe “those are pretty earings, but they’re not lobstahs”, how about “what was that in the bushes, maybe a lobstah”.
We’ve had steamed lobster in New Jersey, lobster salad on Block Island, and since we’re about to leave New England I’m determined to get a few more lobster meals. The Lobster Bar restaurant is located on the pier and has a loading dock door near the restaurant entrance. We watched the fishermen off load their catch.
The little critters are stored in tanks until someone orders one up for the steamer.
The American Lobster can be found from Labrador to New Jersey and they thrive in cold, shallow, rocky waters. Lobster traps (which Makai dodges anytime we go somewhere) are shaped like big boxes with an escape hole for juveniles to get out through and a float attached to mark their location. When the trap is checked, the fishermen measure, check for females with eggs, or females marked as breeders, band the claws to protect them from each other and toss them in the live well for transport.
What else do they do here in Newport, how about sailing?
Once again, these people are tough! We’ve seen them flock to the bay in weather that makes me cower in the cabin. We still have plenty of rain and fog and the wind is either blowing like crazy or not at all. The boats are all beautiful, bright, clean and highly polished. I’m guessing that when the boats are all hauled out for the winter, owners spend the winter spiffing them up.
Marinas aren’t too common here, most boats are kept on mooring balls, and there are launches cruising the mooring fields ready to transport the crew. There are charters of all kinds available here. We’ve seen everything from modern power boats offering bay site seeing trips and dinner cruises to classic sailing yachts that actually sail! Yes, they put up all of their canvas and turn off the engines.
Newport is also the home of the International Yacht Restoration School. They take on 12 foot Beetle Cats, pre 1946, and 20 Herreshoff sail/power boats as school projects. Out in the yard you can see dozens of these boats falling apart, with waterlogged, peeling and stained wood work, missing planks, exposed screws and splintering keel, waiting their turn to be the next project. In the front of the building is a row of finished projects that sparkle. You can just see the smiles on their little boat faces as they away a new owner to take them sailing.
The Coronet has a restoration blog. This 131 foot racing schooner is another symbol of the gilded age here in Newport. This big beautiful boats were designed for pleasure and not as work boats.
To stretch our legs Eric led us on a 4 mile city hike to see Newport’s famous mansions.
Along our path we passed St. Mary’s Parish
Newport is also know for it’s “summer cottages”. In the mid 1800′s wealthy southerners started building summer homes here to escape the heat. Soon wealthy Yankee families like the Vanderbilts, Astors and Widener families built larger mansions. The Preservation Society of Newport County cares for many of these homes which their owners could no longer afford due to the new tax laws of the 1930s and the great depression. Their website contains some great information about the history of these homes, their amazing architecture and decor and their use as museums.
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Forty Steps at Narragansett Ave was a gathering place for servants from nearby mansions.
There were great views across the water on one side and mostly the Salve Regina University on the other side.
Salve Regina University is a private Catholic University that, since the 1930s, has accumulated 21 Historical buildings and mansions and 23 modern buildings on its 75 acre campus.
Lucky for us the rest of the Cliff Walk was closed due to Hurricane Sandy damage. Everyone was hot and tired and we were left in front of Cornelius Vanderbilt’s summer cottage, The Breakers. This 70 room mansion has four floors. The bottom floor has rooms like the dining room, library, kitchen, billiard room for the men and a sitting room for the women among other specialized rooms. The second floor is mainly bedrooms for Mr. and Mrs., the sisters of the family and a few guest rooms. the third floor was for the brothers, and fourth floor for servants quarters.
The Breakers is the ultimate example of wealth during the Gilded Era with platinum wall coverings, gold leaf everywhere, painted ceilings, carvings and sculptures all over the walls and ceiling. There were something like 20 bathrooms, and the tubs are a solid piece of carved marble.
We wrapped up our walk with a stop at the grocery store for ice cream treats, milk and a few extra pieces of fruit. On the way home we also passed the International Tennis Hall of Fame. The place seemed to be a magnet for people with tennis racquets coming from every direction. I guess the Lawn Tennis Club explains that.
Back to the City of Newport Maritime Center. This place really felt like home. The city provided this facility to make boaters more comfortable. There are clean bathrooms with coin operated showers, a large laundry room with 8 washers and driers, a big central meeting room with several tables and chairs and a big screen TV running the weather channel, plenty of electric outlets and free wifi.
The kids were impressed with the vending machines, they liked to see their selection drop off the shoot.
We managed to get rid of our trash and wash 2 weeks of clothes, all of our sheets, and towels. Marie helped me defrost the two refrigerator holding plates and the freezer to get ready for grocery shopping.
We got a lot done in 48 hours.