Newport: Season Slow Down
Between the last of the major cruise ship visits to Newport on November 3rd and Black Friday on November 24th, the City by the Sea takes on a different aspect, that is less about crowds and more about peacefulness. [In the interest of full disclosure, the city’s restaurant week will run from November 3rd through the 12th, so most of the eateries in town will be bursting at the seams during those ten days.]
It can be the perfect time of year to take a bike ride along the Ocean Drive or enjoy a peaceful stroll along the Cliff Walk or an invigorating hike at Norman Bird Sanctuary, because the heat and humidity (that lasted into October this year) are now gone, less people will be vying to partake of those activities, and the harshness of winter is still at bay.
The water is still warm, maybe not enough for swimming, but it keeps the coastal air warmer than inland areas, especially at night and in the early morning, delaying frosts and freezes; the foliage retains a lush look throughout this time. It may take longer for Spring to arrive in a coastal town, but the same is true for Winter. In Newport, we enjoy a long Autumn season. Last year, I noticed roses still blooming along Bellevue Avenue in early December. Now, as the leaves fall and swirl at your feet, it is a fitting time to celebrate the trees themselves.
The Newport Tree Society, started in 1987, attempts to preserve and foster the urban forest, or Newport Arboretum – a city wide collection of over 500 species of trees. There are also eighteen different arboreta within the citywide arboreta – from private estates to the campus of Salve Regina University and the properties of the Preservation Society: all of which were former private estates, whose owners planted specimen trees from across the globe.
If you are a guest of Castle Hill Inn, it might be hard to tear yourself away from its fireplaced environs; but if you do venture out, you will find some distinct, leisurely shopping to be done in town before the holiday rush, and if you venture a little further out, beyond the beaches, you can sample local wines at two different wineries: Newport Vineyards in nearby Middletown or Greenvale Vineyards a little further north in Portsmouth.
As you return for afternoon tea, the interiors of the Agassiz Mansion will glow with wood burning fireplaces and it will be dark soon. Darker than you might expect. There is very little light pollution out at Castle Hill, though the lights of the Newport Pell Bridge will twinkle in the Northern distance, and to the West over sleepy Jamestown, and the Ocean to the South, the stars will pulse in the sky.
Shea C Nelson