The History of Newport in the State of Rhode Island, USA
Good morning from Rhode Island, U.S.A.
Since its founding by English settlers in 1639, Newport has bustled with diversity. The policy of liberty of conscience and religion embodied in the Newport Town Statutes of 1641 resulted from the religious beliefs of its founders and their frustration over political intervention in their religious life in Boston. This policy was a beacon to settlers with wide-ranging religious beliefs, who first came primarily from other colonies and co-existed in the rapidly growing settlement, unaware that their town’s religious diversity was a prototype of America to come.
However, a central paradox in Newport and Rhode Island’s early history was the combination of a commitment to liberty in the religious realm with a willingness to participate in the practice of enslaving other human beings. This contradiction was recognized from the earliest days by many. Still, the abolition movement took over 100 years to gain prominence in the community.
The first English settlers arrived on Aquidneck Island in 1638 following a remarkable woman named Anne Hutchinson. She had been driven out of Boston for her religious beliefs, which challenged the very foundation of Puritanism. She and her supporters followed Roger Williams’s path when he was banished from Massachusetts for religious reasons. After consulting with Williams, her group arranged with the Native Americans to settle on Aquidneck Island.
What the English settlers found on their arrival was hardly an empty wilderness. Native people had been in the area for at least 5,000 years and had established sophisticated land management and fishing practices. Current evidence points to the existence of a large summer settlement in what is now downtown Newport, and the work these native people had done clearing the land was one of the factors that made this area attractive to English settlers.
View from the top of Washington Square, or “The Parade.” It is an oil on canvas painted by an unidentified Hessian artist in 1818.
Ann Hutchinson’s group settled at the island’s northern end in an area known as Pocasett. In just over a year, however, that settlement split in two. A group led by William Coddington and Nicholas Easton moved south to form Newport in 1639.
When they arrived in Newport, many of these settlers were becoming Baptists. They embraced a belief central to the Baptists of Europe at the time – the separation of church and state. These early settlers founded their new town based on liberty of conscience and religion. Newport became one of the first secular democracies in the Atlantic world. The founders’ commitment to religious freedom profoundly impacted all aspects of the town’s subsequent history.
Among the religious groups attracted to this haven in a world of threatening intolerance were Quakers and Jews. Their presence and international trade connections helped transform the town from a small agricultural outpost to one of colonial America’s five leading seaports (along with Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Charleston). Although the Jews came to Newport in the 1650s, their actual contribution to the cultural and economic life came in the 1750s. The Quakers also came to Newport in the late 1650s. The Society of Friends flourished and grew; by 1700, over half of Newport’s population were members of the Society of Friends.
The Quakers became the most influential of Newport’s numerous early congregations, influencing the town’s political, social, and economic life into the 18th century, and their “plain style” of living was reflected in Newport’s architecture, decorative arts, and early landscape.
The Quaker’s neighborhood on Easton’s Point was home to some of the most highly skilled artisans in colonial America. Among the best-known were the Townsend and Goddard families, who made outstanding and beautiful furniture.
Trade and the export of rum, candles, fish, furniture, silver, and other goods were the main engines of economic growth during the 18th century, activities inexorably linked to Newport’s participation in the slave trade and widespread ownership of enslaved people by families throughout the City.
During this time, the waterfront bustled with activity, with over 150 separate wharves and hundreds of shops crowded along the harbor between Long Wharf and the southern end of the harbor. As Newport’s trade throughout the Atlantic basin grew, the City became an epicenter in the development of modern American capitalism.
During the 17th century, the cornerstones of Newport’s architectural heritage were laid. The buildings that survive from that period – the Old Stone Mill, the Wanton-Lyman-Hazard House, and the White Horse Tavern – are part of Newport’s rich architectural tapestry that today also includes the great “cottages” along Bellevue Avenue. By the 1760s, economic growth spurred a building boom that included hundreds of houses and many of the internationally essential landmarks that survive today, such as Trinity Church, the Colony House, Redwood Library, and the Brick Market (now home to the Museum of Newport History).
Newport helped lead the way toward the Revolution and independence. Because the City was such a well-known hotbed of revolutionary fervor and its long history of disdain for royal and parliamentary efforts to control its trade, the British occupied Newport from 1776 to 1779, and over half of the town’s population fled. The British remained in Newport despite efforts to drive them out by patriot forces in partnership with the French for the first time in the Revolution.
Eventually, the British did withdraw, and the French, under the leadership of Admiral deTiernay and General Rochambeau, began a sojourn in Newport that lasted until 1781 when they left Newport on their historic march with General Washington to Yorktown to assist in the decisive victory there.
The British occupation had done irreparable damage to Newport’s economy. Faced with a bleak future, Newport was forced to reinvent itself in the early 19th century. Industrialization bypassed Newport, and its landscape became frozen in time. Ironically, this became an asset for the town as it transformed into a summer resort and used its picturesque qualities to attract visitors.
In the antebellum period, Newport became a center for an influential group of artists, writers, scientists, educators, architects, theologians, and landscape designers. These men and women reshaped the cultural underpinnings of American life. They included Henry and William James, Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Julia Ward Howe, William Ellery Channing, William Barton Rogers (the founder of M.I.T.), Alexander Agassiz, and many more.
Later summer colonists during the Gilded Age included elite families from South Carolina, the King and Griswold families of New York, and later the Vanderbilts. These families and many more whose presence here helped transform Newport into the Queen of the Resorts built the mansions for which Newport has become famous, employing architects Richard Morris Hunt, McKim Mead, White, Peabody, and Stearns, among others. Several of these mansions have become significant tourist attractions.
Newport’s history has always been tied to the Sea. During the colonial period, the City’s harbor teemed with trading ships. With the arrival of the Summer Colony and the New York Yacht Club, Newport was on its way to becoming a yachting capital. The Yacht Club brought the famed America’s Cup to Newport in the 1930s, where it stayed until it lost to the Australians in 1983. Like the United States Navy, the fishing industry is still vital to Newport’s economy.
The U.S. Navy has roots in Newport’s early colonial fleet and has been significant in Newport since the 1860s. Its major components were the Naval War College and the Torpedo Station (now Naval Undersea Warfare Center), founded immediately after the Civil War. The Navy’s presence on Aquidneck Island grew. It eventually included the Naval Education Training Center and the North Atlantic.
Destroyer Squadron had its home port at the Newport Naval base until the 1970s. Despite the loss of the fleet, the Navy is still the largest employer in the area, bringing many industry and service businesses to the area as well.
In the late 19th and 20th centuries, various groups such as the Irish, Greeks, Italians, Portuguese, Filipinos, Cambodians, and Hispanics joined groups such as Jews, African Americans, and Native Americans who had been in Newport for some time, enriching the ethnic diversity of the town. African Americans from Virginia and other areas moved to Newport.
They joined a thriving community that remains vital to Newport’s history. The Irish came to Newport in the 1820s, drawn here by the work available to them at Fort Adams. Despite laws from 1719 that discriminated against Catholics by denying them the right to become “freemen,” Catholics who immigrated to Aquidneck Island found a relatively tolerant haven from the virulent anti-Catholic and Irish sentiments in Boston and other towns at the time. Many Irish families who made Newport home during the early 19th century still live and prosper in Newport, maintaining close links with the land of their ancestors.
Northern Thames Street, 1968. Within approximately ten years, the western section of Thames Stree was demolished to make way for the Brick Market redevelopment project.
After World War II, one of the country’s most successful historic preservation movements saved hundreds of structures throughout Newport County. That effort began in the 1840s when George Champlin Mason, writer and editor of the Newport Mercury (a weekly newspaper still published today by the Newport Daily News), fought to save Trinity Church. He helped found the Newport Historical Society, which preserved the Seventh Day Baptist Meeting House in 1884. He later acquired and restored the Wanton-Lyman-Hazard House and the Great Friends Meeting House.
Other groups who have taken the preservation movement to heroic levels include the Preservation Society of Newport County, the Newport Restoration Foundation, and several grassroots organizations such as Operation Clapboard.
With the success of the preservation movement, Newport began to recover from the economic downturn that came when the destroyer fleet was pulled out of Newport.
The Navy continued, and a new kind of tourism – now called “Heritage Tourism”- began to develop slowly. Visitors to Newport now come to learn about the area’s remarkable history and to enjoy the beauty and hospitality of the City by the Sea. There is, of course, more than mansions for visitors to see in Newport. There are beautifully restored colonial landmarks for visitors to explore, along with fine small museums, such as the Museum of Newport History in the Brick Market, which is a perfect place to begin a visit to the area where visitors can get an overview of the City’s history.
The Newport Art Museum, the Tennis Hall of Fame, Audrain Automobile Museum, Fort Adams, Redwood Library, Touro Synagogue, Trinity Church, and many other attractions offer visitors an unrivaled opportunity to explore aspects of this country’s history. Music festivals, such as the Jazz and Folk Festivals and the Newport Music Festival, draw thousands to Newport every summer.
The stereotype of Newport solely as a playground for the wealthy during and after the Gilded Age contrasts local reality. While Newport continues to be home to summer visitors of dazzling wealth, some of them have made Newport their year-round home, and most of the City by the Sea residents continue to be middle and working-class. Given Newport’s image, it is ironic that the City also has the most significant number of low-income housing units in Rhode Island.
Newport’s history is remarkable in many ways. However, the most unique aspect is that so much of its history is still visible on the landscape in an unparalleled concentration of preserved architecture. It continues its commitment to liberty of conscience and religion. Newport’s resilience and creativity in meeting the economic changes that have overtaken it offers decisive proof that diversity keeps the City alive and vibrant.
Newport, Rhode Island, is well-known for its stunning coastal beauty and historical landmarks. Still, it’s not typically associated with vineyards or winemaking. The climate and geography of Newport may not be as conducive to grape cultivation as some other regions. Still, vineyards and wineries exist in other parts of Rhode Island, particularly in the southern part of the state. If you’re interested in exploring some of the wineries, here are a couple of them that you might want to check out:
– Newport Vineyards: Although Newport Vineyards is not directly located in Newport, it’s one of the closest options. It is just a short drive from Newport in Middletown, Rhode Island. At Newport Vineyards, you can enjoy tours, tastings, and a variety of wines made from grapes grown on their property. They also have a marketplace and restaurant, making it a great place to spend an afternoon.
– Greenvale Vineyards: Greenvale Vineyards is in nearby Portsmouth, Rhode Island. This family-owned winery is set in a picturesque coastal area. It is known for its vineyards overlooking the Sakonnet River. They produce various wines, including whites, reds, and rosés, and you can visit for tastings and often enjoy live music events on weekends.
While Newport may not have an abundance of vineyards, you can still enjoy wine in the many restaurants, bars, and events the City offers. Additionally, Rhode Island has several other wineries scattered throughout the state, so you can explore beyond Newport to discover more options for wine tasting.
CWCS
There is a constant, recognizable thread in Walter Potenza's career to elevate the level of Italian culinary culture in the United States. Besides his unquestionable culinary talent and his winning business perspective, Chef Walter has been a relentless educator with passion and knowledge who contributes to defeating stereotypes. His life, career, and values are a model, an example to follow, by any Italian gastronomy chef working outside Italy. A native of Mosciano Sant' Angelo in Abruzzo, Italy, is known as one of the most passionate and accomplished practitioners of traditional and historical Italian cooking in the nation. His fields of expertise include Terracotta Cookery, Historical Cookery from the Roman Empire to the Unification of Italy, the Cuisines of the Sephardim Italian Jewish Heritage, and the Mediterranean 21 Health & Wellness, with major emphasis on Diabetes, Celiac and the Cuisines of the 21 countries present in the MED basin.
