While visiting coastal Rhode Island in early May, spouse and I walked on the Cliff Walk, in Newport, twice. Cliff Walk is a 3.5-mile (one way) walk along the Atlantic Ocean, with mansions, Salve Regina University, 64 private homes, an art museum, and other buildings on the other side.
Note the arrow on the sign: Cliff Walk is perpendicular to this road into town.
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Our first walk, in the evening with darkness coming on and quite a spray in places from a stormy ocean, began at Eastons Beach (where we parked — lots of parking spots in early May!), continued to a detour at Shepard Avenue around The Breakers mansion on Ochre Point Avenue, to where we turned around at Ruggles Avenue and walked back, in light rain; this was almost all paved or hard-packed dirt path.
Here’s a virtual version of our walk that evening, chronologically:
looking back along the path, early onquite a high wall on the ocean side, hedge on the land sidenote the invasive Japanese knotweed, and the surfer in the angry oceanI liked this sea green fencea Northern rough-winged swallowview of the 40 Steps aheadcautionary sign at the 40 Stepsview from 40 Steps of tunnel and Ochre Court at Salve Regina University
swirling oceanthe top of the 40 (wet) Stepsstone wall and metal fenceOchre Court at Salve Regina University – with dandelionscloser view of Ochre Court at Salve Regina Universitywire woman sculpture
poetry boxinside poetry boxVineland Mansion at Salve Regina Universityanother Salve Regina University buildinganother poetry box with a doll insidedetour around The Breakers mansionfront sign – The Breakers mansionfront gate – The Breakers mansionOchre Point Avenuespouse deciding not to walk on flooded part of the walkway beyond The Breakerswalking back, the lights were on at the Vineland Mansion, Salve Regina UniversityIt started raining as we neared the end/start … all the more atmospheric.
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The second time, three days later around 8 a.m., we picked up about where we left off, parking on Wetmore Avenue (which is a small side road) and accessing the Cliff Walk from Marine Avenue, then walking mostly on ledge, rocks, and dirt paths past Rosecliff Mansion and the Chinese tea house on the Marble House property (where Alva Vanderbilt hosted rallies for women’s suffrage), to Rough Point (where Doris Duke’s home is), and then back again. We didn’t make it all the way to Land’s End at the end of the peninsula this time — a visit to the Audrain Auto Museum and motel check-out called — but my calculations with Google’s satellite map suggests that we were 1/3 mile from it, and about a 1/2 mile from the very end of the walk at Bailey’s Beach.
The first half to two-thirds of the walk from Easton’s Beach is quite easy; the second half or one-third is more difficult, especially at high tide when some of the pathway is under shallow water and the rocks can be slippery. The long tunnel near the Chinese tea house is also a bit daunting, as it’s low and dark — you can’t always see where your feet are stepping.
Here’s the virtual walk:
Parking sign on Wetmore Avenue: No parking from midnight to 6 a.m. except with fishing permit, which we took to mean it’s OK for anyone at all other times.
looking back at The Breakers and othersmarble wall, urn, vines, ivystairs and stone wallChinese tea houseChinese tea house and tunnelvery hard to see inside the tunnel even with a camera flashlight at the end of the tunnelview of another tunnel covered in yellow lichen, and the curve of the pathwalkway made up of large stones and gravellichen on stone walls, gravel pathwaylight at end of another (metal) tunnelview of ocean and walkway from inside metal tunnelwalkway of large rocks, view of another mansionwalkway of large rocksgrey boulders and orangish rockscormorant with nest materialsea green fence and black metal fencepatch of red clover foliage along walkwaycairnledge walkway with some cement poured inboulder with a small orange-lichen wallrocks, steps, wall, fencelarge orange mottled rock on pathRough Terrain sign in pathwayDoris Duke Home at Rough Point, with “No Trespassing” sign and fenceDoris Duke Home at Rough Point and mowed lawncurving concrete walkway and fence around Doris Duke Home at Rough Pointsurf below cliffrock cairns again (on the way back)ocean foam and swirlmore ocean foam and swirlsmall tunnel and stone archstairs down into larger tunnelinteresting modern house jutting out over oceanhouse finchesmale house finch
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The Cliff Walk was hands-down our favourite thing in Newport, where if you spend all your time among the shops and bars downtown you can almost forget there is a natural world.
** The post title is from Kurt Vonnegut’s satirical novel The Sirens of Titan:“The town was Newport, Rhode Island, U.S.A., Earth, Solar System, Milky Way.”
No, I’m sorry, I don’t. I did a quick look online and don’t see anything about it! Maybe ask at Newport Chamber of Commerce or the possibly someone with the Cliff Walk Commission (401) 845-5300), which maintains it.
The “interesting modern house’ – do you have any information on this house or any idea how to find it online?
No, I’m sorry, I don’t. I did a quick look online and don’t see anything about it! Maybe ask at Newport Chamber of Commerce or the possibly someone with the Cliff Walk Commission (401) 845-5300), which maintains it.