Rhode Island

For the first time on this road trip, we have become a bit weary. It was nice to stay in one place for a few weeks and spend time with familiar people. It was really hard to leave, but the show must go on! We are grateful to Aunt Susan and Uncle Marshall for being great people!

It was off to Providence to view the Rhode Island State House. This is the 7th State House of Rhode Island, and the second in Providence.


State House Facts:

• Constructed from 1895 to 1904, renovated in the late 1990s.
• It is the fourth-largest self-supporting marble covered dome in the world (largest is of St. Peter's in Vatican City, followed by the domes of the Minnesota State Capitol and the Taj Mahal in Agra, India.)
• It is made of 15 million bricks, 327,000 cubic feet of white Georgia marble, and 1,309 short tons of iron floor beams.

It is a lovely state house, you just have to look past the window A/C units.

Who's the guy on the dome? The Independent Man originally named "Hope." He weighs more than 500 pounds and represents freedom and independence.

We spotted the Governor's ride - a huge GMC SUV with the "1" license plate.

The Coggeshall Farm Museum is a living history museum in Bristol, Rhode Island. It reminded me of the Rural Life Museum in Baton Rouge.

They focus on agrarian life on a coastal Rhode Island farm in the late 18th century. There are 48 acres with typical 18th century structures including a farmhouse that is being restored.

We saw a true pigsty. It was smelly and gross, but the pigs were cute. There were sleepy cows with horns and a shy donkey. It was one of my favorite spots in Rhode Island.


Now a drive to a coastal state wouldn't be complete without finding a lighthouse. And we found Sakonnet Point Lighthouse.

This "sparkplug" style lighthouse is a cast-iron tower that sits on top of a cast-iron foundation filled with concrete. It was built between 1883 and 1884, and the first beacon was a fourth-order lens.

The lighthouse was damaged by a 1938 hurricane, and again in 1954. The Coast Guard almost tore it down after learning of the $100,000 price tag to rebuild it. It was sold to a private owner in 1961, then donated to the newly formed Friends of Sakonnet Point in 1985.


The coastal town of Little Compton has proved a great place to grow grapes, so a tour of the Sakonnet Vineyard was on our list.

The vineyard was opened in 1975. Today, 50-acres are planted and the vineyard produces over 30,000 cases a year.

Our favorite wine was the Cock of the Walk Red. And we even splurged and tried our first Port. Yum!


Newport's Cliff Walk
In the late 1800s, the summer getaway for wealthy New Yorkers was Newport's undeveloped shoreline. Today, there is a 3.5 mile walkway along the coast that allows visitors a closer look at these summer "cottages."

Forty Steps - a former gathering place for the servants
and workers from the nearby mansions.

We didn't tour any of the mansions, but we did visit the grounds of The Breakers - "Conspicuous Consumption."



It is considered "the grandest of Newport's summer cottages," and it is a symbol of the Vanderbilt family's social and financial prominence.

The Vanderbilts are infamous, and Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt is known as the 2nd Wealthiest American Ever, valued at $143 billion. (NY Times, 2007. John D. Rockefeller is #1 at $192 billion.)

So how did Vanderbilt make his fortune?
In steamships and the New York Central Railroad.


Cornelius Vanderbilt II (Vanderbilt's grandson), was the Chairman and President of the New York Central Railroad system. In 1885, he purchased a wooden house in Newport called The Breakers. The wooden house was destroyed by fire, and architect Richard Morris Hunt was commissioned in 1883 to design a fancy villa to replace the wooden home. (NOTE: You'll see Richard Morris Hunt's name again in a later entry. He was also commissioned to design the Biltmore home in Asheville, NC - also owned by a Vanderbilt.)

Some Facts:

• 70 rooms (33 of those rooms were for the staff)
• Built in 2 years
• $7 million
• 40 staff (20 in the house and 20 on the grounds)

The Breakers opened to the public in 1948, and in 1972 the Preservation Society purchased the house from her heirs.



The Old Stone Mill - a Newport landmark.
There is no proof of a construction date, but there is evidence that is was built between 1653 and 1677 by Benedict Arnold, the first colonial governor of Rhode Island. Some say the Vikings built the stone structure back in 1000 A.D., but that was disproven in 1993 by the Committee for Research on Norse Activities in North America AD 1000-1500.