We make an easy shift from Plymouth, MA down to Westport, MA. This puts us within easy striking distance of Newport, RI and also the whaling town of New Bedford, MA.
We made the 20 minute drive to New Bedford on the first day and were surprised to discover what a cool town it is and that there is a New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park.
It was a pretty quick visit but we enjoyed the New Bedford Whaling Museum. Boy these things are big!
It was the home of Herman Melville, author of Moby Dick and also a major center for the underground railroad in the Civil War days. It was a sanctuary city where all were safe.
Day two we made our way down to Newport, Rhode Island and signed up to visit two of the nine mansions that are open for tours.
The first was The Breakers, summer cottage of Cornelius Vanderbilt II who made his fortune with the New York Central Railroad. He was worth some $200 Million in the early 1900s - imagine what that is in today's dollars.
The amount of gold leaf and fantastic art in this beast is just unbelievably over the top.
Unfortunately no inside photographs allowed ...
but maybe that was a good thing ...
Next was The Elms
This was the summer retreat of coal magnate Edward Berwind.
A much more reasonable level of stupidly over the top excess ....
Simply amazing how much money was just wasted by all these guys.
On our final day here we decide to stick closer to camp and visit the actual town of Westport which turned out to be another very cool area,
Based on a recommendation from the campground hosts we have lunch at The Back Eddy restaurant.
Their concept is that a 'back eddy' runs counter to the main stream and that defines their restaurant. It has a really good menu in a great location right on the water.
Also their location is right where the incoming tide meets a river which results in lots of eddies right in front with lots of kayaks in action.
Finally the campground held one of their special bonfires for all of the campers.
It was pretty impressive and we figured it was our version of the Burning Man event.
No comments:
Post a Comment