Newport, Rhode Island is one of those extraordinary places where efforts to cling to the past manifest as streets of restored homes from the 18th and 19th centuries and historical pockets that punctuate the city.
Newport's importance during the Revolution was immortalized handsomely by historical novelist Kenneth Roberts in his sleeper classic Oliver Wiswell.
NEWPORT
During the 19th Century, New York City and Newport engaged their passions for all things Victorian as well-heeled New Yorkers made Newport their summer playground. It was replete with castles, not of sand on the city's beaches, but of stone and exquisite Italian masonry. Here lived the Vanderbilts and the Astors who weren't satisfied with one enormous mansion, but multiple mansions called, euphemistically, "cottages." It was the Vanderbilts who built the oft-visited Breakers and Rough Point, which was purchased for Doris Duke by her father.
From time immemorial through the 1980s, Newport's greatest claim to fame was just off its shores in the Atlantic Ocean where America's Cup races were waged. That was the case until Australians out-designed American shipbuilders with top-secret keels, and sailing's most popular event moved to the shores off Australia.
During the 1960s, Newport became the eastern Mecca of the counter culture as the Newport Jazz Festival brought droves of Flower Children to the city. But, like Woodstock, the clean-up efforts became massive and the festival disruptive, so it had to find new digs.
While these eras, and so much more, make Newport endearing to those who visit, no tourist attraction is more popular than the narcotizing Cliff Walk, a long, narrow passageway through Newport's Gilded Age.
Between Rhode Island Sound and the Atlantic Ocean on one side, and the enormous castles on the other, it runs from Memorial Boulevard through various twists and turns, on pavement, dirt path and slippery rocks, to Bellevue Avenue.
At its essence, Cliff Walk is a conduit through far simpler times when entertainment was found on a stage, not a screen, and time was passed with garden strolls or lawn games. As you walk the Walk, you can envision in your mind's eye young women in tortuous corsets twirling parasols as they stroll, arm in arm, with young gentlemen in starched shirts, wide cravats and hound's tooth knickers and jackets. Croquet masters swatted balls through silvery wickets, while others golfed or smacked shuttlecocks back and forth over badminton nets. Lawn tennis was a staple.
Long studied by historians, contractors and even the Army Corps of Engineers, Cliff Walk's believed to have evolved from the curiosity of animals to the needs of mankind. Most agree that its genesis was a game trail. Narragansett Indians widened it as they made their way to the beaches to fish. Pilgrims and colonists made it permanent as they marched down the path in search of shipwreck booty.
In the modern era, various groups, one headed by the infamous Claus von Bulow, and the Army Corps of Engineers have tried to pave as much of it as possible, but it has taken on a life of its own and thrown off the best in paving technology.
Named New England's first National Recreation Trail in 1975, it's particularly striking in the morning as the city chugs to life. Sea air colognes the 3.5-mile walk as people amble along a path both gorgeous and educational.
On the mansion side, lawns are meticulously coifed, striped like the freshly mowed outfield at Fenway Park. From the immaculate sod rise indescribable palaces built by the moguls of the Industrial Revolution.
Most of Cliff Walk is easy to traverse, but there are areas near its end where one finds one's self carefully leaping from one slippery rock to another-not ideal for those lacking coordination. Comfortable and skid-resistant footwear is a must, and a wary eye should be kept out for poison ivy, which can be lush on the Walk's edges in the warm, humid air.
The journey down this remarkable trail starts at Memorial Boulevard, a street on which you can park, but each place is paired with a blood-sucking meter, so feed it generously if you park there. You can also park at First Beach, where it's free, but further from the Walk's start.
The Walk itself is segmented; the first part paved and easy to navigate. About three-quarters of a mile from the beginning, you find yourself atop 40 steps. They descend to a large colonnade, at which mansion "help" gathered and shared scandalous, whispered tails about which mistress the master was courting.
After this, you begin a stretch from Marine Avenue to Ledge Road. It's here that the pathway becomes a jumble of pavement, dirt and rocks.
The Walk then meanders to tunnels and the Tea House. Built by Mrs. Vanderbilt to entertain her friends, Tea House looks like a "Wok and Roll" Chinese take out without walls. Here, too, are such palaces as Marble House, a spectacular sight; Rosecliff; and, the Astor's Beechwood. If you travel no further, your curiosity about this path and the history through which it travels will be amply satisfied.
But continuing on, one enters the Tea House Tunnel, which runs for some 250 feet, and at Gull Rock there's a second tunnel. That leads to the harshest conditions Cliff Walk offers. This is where you navigate the rocky shore, made treacherous by seaweed and rock mold, and by overgrown vegetation.
Fences to keep you off private property abound and they mean business. Efforts to obstruct the Walk have been made by various homeowners, only to be cleared by devotees of this marvelous path.
When you emerge from the tunnel, you continue on to Rough Point, a rocky shore upon which the Atlantic's waves crash spectacularly.
From this section, the walk reaches Ledge Road. It's here that many people believe they've reached the end. But, from here it continues on a little further to its pleasant terminus on Bellevue Avenue.
As you complete your stroll, you'll have a new appreciation for the history of the Gilded Age left nearly as it was by enormous wealth.
If you are planning on visiting Newport this summer (or at any time of year), a ramble down Cliff Walk is de rigueur. I promise you'll be well pleased by the wonder of it all, and you don't have to walk its entire length to capture its illimitable charm.
Cliff Walk, A Stroll Through Newport's Gilded Age NEWPORT
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