{"id":97172019,"date":"2015-07-09T14:55:54","date_gmt":"2015-07-09T14:55:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cheapoair.com\/miles-away\/?p=97172019"},"modified":"2015-08-06T18:54:10","modified_gmt":"2015-08-06T18:54:10","slug":"socialites-high-society-and-names-you-cant-pronounce-3-reasons-to-get-to-know-newport-ri","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cheapoair.com\/miles-away\/socialites-high-society-and-names-you-cant-pronounce-3-reasons-to-get-to-know-newport-ri\/","title":{"rendered":"Socialites, High Society, and Names You Can’t Pronounce: 3 Reasons to Get to Know Newport, RI"},"content":{"rendered":"

Your college roommate just called \u2014\u00a0looks like you’ve got yet another Newport wedding to attend<\/a>!<\/p>\n

Part of you is thrilled because hello, nautical beauty<\/em>. But you’ve seen the mansions, the beaches, and the sailboats already\u2014many times over\u2014and now you’re wondering whether there are enough adventures to keep you and your plus-one occupied when you’re not gorging on lobster rolls and lemonade.\u00a0The answer, of course, is a resounding Yes!<\/em> because what you may not be aware of is the history behind this famed destination. And really, isn’t it the backstory that makes everything so interesting?<\/p>\n

Grab a shandy and settle in for a tour of the largest island in Narragansett Bay \u2014 Aquidneck Island. Bet you didn’t know that’s where Newport lives.<\/p>\n

1.) Cliff Walk<\/h3>\n
\"Joseph<\/a>

Joseph Sohm\/Shutterstock<\/p><\/div>\n

Even if you’ve walked it before, Cliff Walk is a must. It stretches for three-and-a-half miles along\u00a0the coast behind\u00a0the Newport mansions, \u00a0and offers a public right-of-way through\u00a0the private properties.\u00a0Though it’s been in place for over a century, Cliff Walk\u00a0has a\u00a0slightly tumultuous history behind its creation. It was\u00a0first formed by the local deer, then the Narragansett Indians, but from 1880 to 1929, the estate owners\u00a0began cleaning it up\u00a0piece by piece, with a slight halt during the Great Depression.<\/p>\n

\"Mary<\/a>

Mary Terriberry\/Shutterstock<\/p><\/div>\n

To this day, the public partners with estate owners take\u00a0care to clear the path for the public to enjoy the walk, though it’s not unheard of for some of the wealthy owners\u00a0to build barriers, re-route the path to make it less convenient, or even\u00a0bring dogs (sometimes bulls) to\u00a0deter people’s pathway. But don’t let that stop you \u2014\u00a0Cliff Walk has centuries of prior use to guarantee the public’s legal right to walk along the cliffs.<\/p>\n

2.) Rough Point\u00a0\u2014 Doris Duke’s seaside mansion<\/h3>\n
\"Reading<\/a>

Reading Tom\/Flickr<\/p><\/div>\n

Think what you will about socialites, but if your favorite pastime is following the antics of America’s heiresses, this house should be high on your list of places to see. As the only child to tobacco tycoon James Buchanan Duke, Doris Duke has quite the eclectic legacy<\/a>. Famed for being known as the world’s richest girl, she used\u00a0her inherited wealth to pursue interests in the arts and travel the world. During World War II, Duke also worked in a canteen for soldiers in Egypt, for a whopping annual salary of one dollar.<\/p>\n

\"Anthony<\/a>

Anthony Ricci\/Shutterstock<\/p><\/div>\n

Though\u00a0short-lived, Duke\u00a0passionately\u00a0tried out various\u00a0interests, including learning how to surf competitively, writing for Harper’s Bazaar, and acting as a correspondent throughout war-ravaged Europe in 1945. Later in life, she kept dogs and pet camels on the grounds of her homes, and contributed to the conservation of wildlife refuges and historical preservation.<\/p>\n

Not one to follow a\u00a0crowd, Duke, who was an avid fan of Jazz, often hosted black\u00a0jazz musicians at\u00a0her parties, well before Newport society\u00a0deemed it socially acceptable. Even today, her legacy lives on\u00a0\u2014 the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation contributes to the arts, environment, medical research, and child well-being.<\/p>\n

3.) Block Island<\/h3>\n

What’s in a name? Since \u00a0Colonial times, Block Island was\u00a0known as Claudia<\/em>, then Luisa<\/em>, after French Royals, but the Narragansett natives first named\u00a0the island\u00a0Manisses<\/em>, or “the little island of Manitou.” In 1614, Dutch explorer Adrian Block named the island after himself, and was officially recognized as such on a map from\u00a01685, which clearly labels\u00a0Block Island as Adriaen Blocks Eylant<\/i> (“Adrian Block’s Island”).<\/p>\n

\"Mona<\/a>

Mona Makela\/Shutterstock<\/p><\/div>\n

But even with all the name changes, Block Island escaped an identity crisis.<\/p>\n

Unpretentiously, Block Island offers a quaint getaway: you can go barefoot in the sand, bike the island, or run through the rolling green hills like they’re alive with the sound of music. There are also hundreds of freshwater ponds, and dramatic 250-foot bluffs\u2014kinda like\u00a0Ireland\u2014which you probably had no idea even existed in the U.S.\u00a0Bonus<\/em>!<\/p>\n

\"Eric<\/a>

Eric Full\/Shutterstock<\/p><\/div>\n

Newport definitely has its charm, but Block Island<\/a>\u00a0is the ultimate stop for\u00a0when your vacations needs a vacation. Leave everyone and everything behind\u00a0\u2014 except maybe a bike and your camera\u00a0\u2014 with just a short\u00a0ferry ride<\/a>\u00a0to paradise.<\/p>\n

\n

Now that you know a few more of\u00a0Newport’s little secrets, don’t keep them all to yourself! Impart some knowledge on your friends, like a local, and if there are any little secrets you know that we don’t, share them in the comments, below.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Your college roommate just called \u2014\u00a0looks like you’ve got yet another Newport wedding to attend! Part of you is thrilled because hello, nautical beauty. But you’ve seen the mansions, the beaches, and the sailboats already\u2014many times over\u2014and now you’re wondering whether there are enough adventures to keep you and your plus-one occupied when you’re not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":97172053,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52,69,67,66,56,31],"tags":[297,641,632,638,633,634,639,637,635,631,630,640],"class_list":["post-97172019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-air-travel","category-arts-and-history","category-beaches","category-interests","category-travel-tips","category-trending-stories","tag-beaches","tag-bid","tag-block-island","tag-block-island-ferry","tag-camels","tag-cliff-walk","tag-doris-duke","tag-ferry","tag-narragansett","tag-newport","tag-newport-ri","tag-rough-point"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cheapoair.com\/miles-away\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97172019","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cheapoair.com\/miles-away\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cheapoair.com\/miles-away\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cheapoair.com\/miles-away\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cheapoair.com\/miles-away\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97172019"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/www.cheapoair.com\/miles-away\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97172019\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":97172533,"href":"https:\/\/www.cheapoair.com\/miles-away\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97172019\/revisions\/97172533"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cheapoair.com\/miles-away\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97172053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cheapoair.com\/miles-away\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97172019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cheapoair.com\/miles-away\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97172019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cheapoair.com\/miles-away\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97172019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}