About Newport Rhode Island (courtesy of Wikipedia)
Newport is a city in Newport County, Rhode Island, about 30 miles (48 km) south of Providence. It is the home of the U.S. Naval War College, the Naval Undersea Warfare Center, and a major naval training center.
Newport was founded in 1639 by William Coddington, John Clarke, and others, who left Boston on account of their sympathy with the Antinomians. A public school was established in 1640. In 1727, James Franklin (brother of Benjamin) was printing in Newport; in 1732, he published the first newspaper, the Rhode Island Gazette. In 1758, his son James founded the Mercury, a weekly paper. One of the first acts of resistance to British authority occurred in 1769 when the British sloop Liberty was destroyed and its boats dragged in Washington Square.
Newport was incorporated from 1784 to 1787 and again in 1853. It was an important port during the slave trade (particularly a key port in the Triangular trade) and has since become a favorite holiday location and well-known summer colony.
The city is the site of the last residence of Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, the birthplace of Commodore Matthew C. Perry and the Reverend William Ellery Channing, and the mansion of General Nathanael Greene.
John Fitzgerald Kennedy and Jacqueline Bouvier were married in St. Mary's Church in Newport on September 12, 1953.[1]
In 1900, 22,204 people lived in Newport, Rhode Island; in 1910, 27,149; in 1920, 30,255; and in 1940, 30,532. The city has long been entwined with the U.S. Navy. Until 1971, it hosted the Cruiser-Destroyer Force of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet, and subsequently it has from time to time hosted smaller numbers of warships. It held the campus of the U.S. Naval Academy during the Civil War, when the undergraduate officer training school was temporarily moved north from Annapolis, Maryland. It remains home to the U.S. Naval War College.
Newport is the home of the International Tennis Hall of Fame, where important tennis players are commemorated, as well as a number of mansions dating back to the Gilded Age, including The Breakers, Belcourt Castle, Chateau-sur-Mer, The Elms, Marble House, Rosecliff, and Rough Point. Some of these are open for guided tours. The nearby Blithewold Mansion, Gardens and Arboretum has a fine collection of trees and plants, including the largest sequoia on the East Coast.
With coastlines on the west, south and east, Newport is a maritime city. Its harbors teem with commercial fishing boats, power and sail pleasure craft. It is known as the sailing capitol of the United States. Many defenses by the New York Yacht Club of the America's Cup yachting prize took place here. Newport Country Club was one of the five founding clubs of the United States Golf Association; it hosted the first U.S. Open and the first US Amateur, both held in 1895. In June 2006, it will host the U.S. Women's open.
Newport is also home to the Newport Tower, Salve Regina University, Hammersmith Farm and the Touro Synagogue, the oldest Jewish house of worship in the United States, as well as Redwood Library and Anthanaeum, the nation's oldest lending library.
The city is also known for the Newport Jazz Festival, the Sunset Music Festival and the Newport Folk Festival, where Bob Dylan shocked the crowd by playing an electric guitar. Each June, the city hosts the Newport International Film Festival. In September, the Newport International Boat Show comes to town.
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