Newport is Rhode Island’s best city in my opinion. While Providence has some great history with a lot to see and do, I really liked the small town charm that Newport offers. Newport has some pretty dense neighborhoods and shopping areas, but you won’t find any tall buildings here. The photos above show the liveliest parts of Newport along the waterfront. This is where the majority of the shops and restaurants are located, and you can even arrive here by boat, or take a sailing tour!

Almost all the shops and restaurants here are unique; I actually don’t recall a single chain store while here! On the left you can see an art store through its open window, where paintings and photos line the wall. Other stores like this one on the right are ocean themed. If you like walking, you can get to most places in the main parts of Newport by foot, especially in this area I photographed above. I walked from here quite a distance to other parts of the city. If you don’t feel like walking, you can take one of these change little rental cars things and drive around the neighborhoods. I always prefer walking since you can see and experience more, and don’t miss out on details like many of the small alleys in Newport.

This is a bit random, but while walking around I came across the International Tennis Hall of Fame while in Newport. If you’re into tennis, then this is a must see for you. This place holds the only professional tennis court that has grass in the United States, and has the largest collection of tennis memorabilia in the world!

The scenery, houses and hotels in Newport and an impressive site. I’m not even sure if this photo on the left was of a restaurant or someone’s house. I was walking down the street and saw this impressive dining room through a window and couldn’t resist taking a picture. Unlike a normal restaurant, there weren’t other tables and the place seemed empty, so it could have been privately owned. The hotel on the right was probably the biggest I saw while in the city. I’ve know idea what the rates are at places like that, but I’d imagine them around $200 a night during the peak season.

Newport has the highest number of colonial houses that have survived the past few centuries in the entire country. In addition to its colonial houses, the city is also known for its mansions. There are over a dozen mansions that you can visit in Newport, and there are so many they actually have organized mansion tours. I just visited one, the Elm mansion photographed above. I will say that I’ve been some pretty amazing houses around the world, and this one was definitely one of the most elegant and beautifully decorated! This mansion was owned by a couple who had gotten rich off the coal mine business and used the house as a summer home. Eventually it was sold off and turned into a museum in order to preserve it.

Newport was founded at a time when colonists were constantly in confrontation with each other on religion and governance. The famous religious leader Anne Hutchinson who lived in Portsmouth had a falling out with several citizens who founded what is now Newport in 1639. Newport was primarily a Baptist town, and quickly grew to be one of the most important cities in Rhode Island. Also during this time, Jews were being persecuted by Portugal and Spain in the new world, and many had fled to New York. At the time New York was controlled by the Netherlands, and after being denied refuge, they were accepted into Newport. Newport actually has the oldest Synagogue in the country, named the Touro Synagogue that was founded in 1736. With so much history in Newport, there are dozens of old cemeteries here. These two photos above are from different places, but date back old enough that their English on the tombstones still uses colonial words. On the right is a photo of a Jewish cemetery that holds the graves of the first Jews to settle in Newport and some of their descendants.

In the same neighborhood where all the mansions are located is the Newport’s famous cliff walk; a three and a half mile (5.6 km) trail that follows the coast. The walk itself is enjoyable and give some great views of the coast. On top of that, you’re free to go swimming or fishing here and I’ve even heard people go scuba diving. Many impressive houses and mansions are also built along the Cliff Walk.

Along Newport’s Cliff Walk you’ll eventually come across this famous area known as the 40 steps. These steps have been around since Newport’s Golden Age which lasted while America was a colony and ended immediately when the Revolutionary War began. The steps provided a meeting places for many locals who would play Irish music and other cultural activities from back home. I didn’t bother counting the steps, so I trust here are actually 40 of them. The signs around the steps warn about slipping on the rocks, and knowing the risk I was too tempted to see what looked like a little sea cave. My flip flops didn’t perform well over the wet mossy rocks, and I did take a tumble, but at least I got the photo on the upper right so it was all worth it!

An important part of Newport is Fort Adams. The fort was built in 1799 as a simple coastal defense site. When the war of 1812 rolled around, the fort was prepared for battle but never saw fighting. After the war, it was determined the fort should be rebuilt and better defended. The new Fort Adams resulted in the most complex fortification in the western hemisphere. Fort Adams has plenty of other history, such as being the home of the Naval Academy during the Civil War when the US government didn’t trust its original location in Maryland. I reached the fort late at night when it was sadly off limits. I was able to get these surrounding photos showing some of the buildings and walls of the fort. It is often used today as a place for weddings and festivals because of it’s beautiful location. When I visited there was some kind of event going on and I was asked to leave the area. The best I was able to do was find this other entrance that was barred shut with a gate, and stick my camera through for the photo on the lower left. This is definitely one of those places I’ll have to revisit next time I’m in Newport!

These two photos above were taken from Fort Adams, and were my last sight in Newport. The weather had been perfect on this summer night, and I took some time and just relaxed by the harbor, enjoying all the sailboats and yachts passing by.