Riding Along Rhode Island’s Route 1

Ok, technically we started in Connecticut, in Mystic, but whatever.

On a recent late summer/early fall trip to New England we found ourselves along the shores of Connecticut and Rhode Island and along the byways of Routes 1 and 1A. If we kept going south, we’d hit Key West and if we kept going north we’d run into Canada at its border with Maine, which makes Route 1 the longest north-south route in the USA. But we just stuck to it in America’s smallest state: Rhode Island.

Mystic CT. As I mentioned, we didn’t actually start our Route 1 sojourn in the Ocean State, but next door, about 6 miles or so away from the border, in Mystic.

All of you Julia Roberts fans out there may know Mystic from her 1988 breakout role in the film Mystic Pizza, loosely based on the restaurant (with fictional storylines and characters) which was subsequently renovated to look more like the restaurant in the movie.

Mystic was founded by European settlers in 1654. Interestingly, the village is actually part of two other towns, Stonington and Groton, and is evenly divided by the river (aptly named the Mystic River) which runs through it. The drawbridge which connects the two sides opens an average of 2,200 times per year. And Mystic’s film making history doesn’t end with Mystic Pizza, almost 10 years later Steven Spielberg filmed parts of The Amistad here as well.

When we told people we were in or had been to Mystic, they all asked if we’d visited its aquarium (we didn’t) so it must be something. Granted, the all here is a universe of 2 people.

We spent our one, pre-Nor’easter afternoon in Mystic wandering around its streets and looking at its fantastic 18th century houses many of which have the names of the ship captains and business people who built them adorned on their clapboards. After our stroll, we stopped off at the S & P Oyster Bar overlooking the drawbridge for some appetizers and beverages before our scheduled dinner at the Shipwright’s Daughter.

Watch Hill, Westerly. We entered Rhode Island at Westerly and bee-lined for Watch Hill. The calm before the predicted storm was starting to be impacted as we walked the windy beach.

We admired seaside mansions (included in the local mix is that of Taylor Swift about which she wrote in her song The Last Great American Dynasty).

We’d planned to have lunch at the majestic hilltop Ocean House but our hotel notified us our room was ready so we made way to our next stop, Newport, to accommodate some easier internet connectivity for afternoon meetings.

Newport. I spent many late-20s weekends in Newport Rhode Island in rented 3-4 bedroom houses (rented with 10 or so friends). It had been 30 years since I’d been back, so we booked two nights to relive old memories and create new ones.

We started our reminiscing on Thames Street where I had previously spent most of my time. I recognized some of the old haunts and couldn’t find others but when it came time for sunset, we followed the tips we found on this blog and made our way to the top of the Vanderbilt Hotel for a cool and windy cocktail and a brilliant pre-storm show over Newport Harbor.

The Tennis Hall of Fame. The next morning, I set off for the International Tennis Hall of Fame while Melissa worked (I’m a sucker for looking at uniforms and sporting equipment and, well, she’s not) and spent a couple of hours admiring trophies and tennis garb from the likes of Roger Federer, John McEnroe, Billie Jean King, Martina Navratilova, Coco Gauff and the Williams sisters.

The building in which the hall of fame is situated is a former social club and casino founded by James Gordon Bennett after his membership at another area club was revoked for wagering that his friend, Captain Henry Augustus Candy, wouldn’t ride his polo horse onto the porch of said social club. Captain Candy did him one better and rode the horse up on to the porch and then into and through the club rooms leading to the social club eviction.

The Cliff Walk. All loaded up on tennis memorabilia, we headed to the Cliff Walk, a three mile trail along the ocean lined by mansions built and owned by prominent Gilded Age politicians and wealthy people including Cornelius Vanderbilt II. Several are available to tour (we did not, this time) including Vanderbilt’s Breakers.

Some other interesting facts about Newport include:

The oldest operating tavern, The White Horse, is in Newport.
Newport was the first city to adopt a traffic ordinance (in 1687) and was where the country’s first speeding arrest (in 1904) took place for driving 15 mph.
Newport is home to the oldest typewriter in the USA, was where the first photograph was taken with electric lights (in 1866), home to the first commercial passenger airline service to New York City and site of the first roller skating rink (also in 1866).
It was in Newport that the first auto race took place in 1895, the first U.S. Open golf tournament (also in 1895), the first national tennis lawn championships (1881) and the first ESPN X Games (1995) were held.

While I wasn’t able to find the Bellevue Ave (I think) bar with its table shuffleboard where I spent (ok, wasted) countless hours in my 20s, all in all the trip was a resounding success and we pledged to return on a future New England trip as we headed north, out of Rhode Island, along Route 1, crossing into Massachusetts.