Newport Rhode Island

Friday 6/28/13 We took the jeep this morning and ran back to the Textile Museum. The America Thread Company’s six story granite buildings still sit on the shores of the Thames River in Willimantic. The mills were closed in 1985 and recently they have begun to renovate them as condos and offices.

Across the street at the Willimantic Textile Museum we saw some of the thread processing machinery that was salvaged from the mill. They also have a collection of antique sewing machines and a reproduction of company housing for the mill workers. In addition to the cotton processing and thread spinning machinery they also had an early automated weaving loom. It used a punch card system (think player piano) to weave cloth with a design made of different color threads. 

After lunch back at the RV we packed up and headed for our next destination. We stayed off the main roads and traveled the scenic roads to a campground just outside of Newport, Rhode Island. Along the way we stopped briefly at Waskenau Beach to put our feet in the sand and smell the ocean air. 

We had planned on one day on Block Island and One in Newport, but as of Saturday morning we’re waiting to see what the weather is going to do. The air is very heavy with moisture here, everything is wet.

The skies lightened up around noon and we decided to drive to Newport. I’m at a loss for words on how to describe this place. As a yachting center it makes Annapolis Maryland look like a Mom and Pop marina, the rich and famous vacation homes sell for ten’s of millions, it has colonial history dating back to the 1600’s and it has a vibrant waterfront Mecca full of harbor view watering holes, restaurants, shopping, etc. I would definitely say put Newport Rhode Island on your travel wish list, it’s an interesting place. Go to the visitor’s center and take a bus tour, then explore on your own.

As I was finishing this entry and was thinking back at all the things I learned on the tour I couldn’t help but wonder about one woman. The 82 year old is going to be one of the new residents on mansion filled ocean drive later this summer when her house is finished. I wonder how she will be received in the neighborhood, for she is not old money, but just a lucky winner of the second largest lottery jackpot. The reason I wonder about this is because just down the beach from her new home is a private beach club.  The club would not let John Kennedy enter without his in-laws signing him in, even after he was elected president. It is said they considered the Irish Catholic Kennedy to be at a lower social level than primarily WASP membership.