Passing through and wanted to take a quick break. This location was a great little spot to have a…read morequick snack and relax next to the roaring water sounds from the falls!

Nice little waterfall. Part of it is still under construction and there was also a wedding going…read moreon when I was there so I couldn't fully explore but what I did offered some nice views and tranquility. Was tempted to follow the tracks to see where/what else I could see but didn't have it in me this day.

04/2018 The Newport…read moreMansions in Rhode Island are magnificent pieces of history that are an absolute Must-see! I toured several of these amazing mansions during my first trip to Rhode Island. The architecture & furnishings are opulent & so beautiful. The self-guided audio tours, filled with history, personal stories & tragedies of these mansions & the Gilded Age, allow for meandering at your own pace. The Bellevue Avenue area feels safe & clean. Of the spots I visited, parking is easy & free. Staff members were very nice. You can purchase individual mansion tickets or I'd suggest a package as they are unique & worth seeing. Currently, I'd say my favorite is the Marble House. I highly recommend the Newport Mansions tours & look forward to exploring more on future trips and taking the Cliff Walk, weather providing!

Stunning & majestic grandeur at 360 degrees for these historic mansions. Amazed and grateful that…read morethese have been restored for us to view this piece of lavish history. We joined the Historic society for the well worth is discount and toured 3 homes in a day, which is just the right amount. A must in the self guided audio tour via the mansions phone app. It really adds to the history of the mansion and gives great insight to the families and their world. Please explore these fabulous gems when in the area. Can't wait to see the rest!

This lighthouse is located on the campus of UConn and so it's a little harder to find than most…read more You're also going to have some parking restrictions but if you look for "visitor" parking and don't overstay your welcome, you should be fine. Construction on this brown concrete structure completed in 1943 and is officially listed as the last lighthouse built in the state. It fell into disrepair after it was deactivated in 1967 but an extensive restoration project brought it back to stability in 2006. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002. The building is 41 feet tall and is an octogon-shaped tower. The building is not open to the public but you can press your nose (and camera) up to the ground level windows to see inside. The grounds are mostly handicapped accessible. [Review 18664 overall - 81 in Connecticut - 2186 of 2022.]

Great place to bring a sack lunch & watch the boats & water, or swim & enjoy the beach!read more

Benefit Street is a nice little walk and The Shunned House is a sweet little surprise. What I like…read moreabout The Shunned House is that you would have NO CLUE that this house was significant amongst the others in the surrounding areas. The armory down the street stands out a lot more than the lil house that HPLovecraft wrote about. Still it's a great side trip that will only take seconds out of your day if you are in or around the colleges in the area. This is obviously a residence and they have since named the house after someone but you can see the wall that used to be used as the front of the house and the descriptions stand strong in Lovecraft's writing. No big deal but I liked being there and seeing it.

I was going to write about this curiousity, but I realized I couldn't do any better than what…read morebrought me in the first place: "The house was--and for that matter still is--of a kind to attract the attention of the curious. Originally a farm or semi-farm building, it followed the average New England colonial lines of the middle eighteenth century--the prosperous peaked-roof sort, with two stories and dormerless attic, and with the Georgian doorway and interior panelling dictated by the progress of taste at that time. It faced south, with one gable end buried to the lower windows in the eastward rising hill, and the other exposed to the foundations toward the street. Its construction, over a century and a half ago, had followed the grading and straightening of the road in that especial vicinity; for Benefit Street--at first called Back Street--was laid out as a lane winding amongst the graveyards of the first settlers, and straightened only when the removal of the bodies to the North Burial Ground made it decently possible to cut through the old family plots. "At the start, the western wall had lain some twenty feet up a precipitous lawn from the roadway; but a widening of the street at about the time of the Revolution sheared off most of the intervening space, exposing the foundations so that a brick basement wall had to be made, giving the deep cellar a street frontage with door and two windows above ground, close to the new line of public travel. When the sidewalk was laid out a century ago the last of the intervening space was removed; and Poe in his walks must have seen only a sheer ascent of dull grey brick flush with the sidewalk and surmounted at a height of ten feet by the antique shingled bulk of the house proper. "The farm-like grounds extended back very deeply up the hill, almost to Wheaton Street. The space south of the house, abutting on Benefit Street, was of course greatly above the existing sidewalk level, forming a terrace bounded by a high bank wall of damp, mossy stone pierced by a steep flight of narrow steps which led inward between canyon-like surfaces to the upper region of mangy lawn, rheumy brick walls, and neglected gardens whose dismantled cement urns, rusted kettles fallen from tripods of knotty sticks, and similar paraphernalia set off the weather-beaten front door with its broken fanlight, rotting Ionic pilasters, and wormy triangular pediment. "What I heard in my youth about the shunned house was merely that people died there in alarmingly great numbers. That, I was told, was why the original owners had moved out some twenty years after building the place. It was plainly unhealthy, perhaps because of the dampness and fungous growth in the cellar, the general sickish smell, the draughts of the hallways, or the quality of the well and pump water. These things were bad enough, and these were all that gained belief among the persons whom I knew. Only the notebooks of my antiquarian uncle, Dr. Elihu Whipple, revealed to me at length the darker, vaguer surmises which formed an undercurrent of folklore among old-time servants and humble folk; surmises which never travelled far, and which were largely forgotten when Providence grew to be a metropolis with a shifting modern population." H.P. Lovecraft, The Shunned House Be mindful that this is a private residence. Please be respectful.

To live in a…read morelighthouse Latimer Reef Lighthouse is a 49 foot tall, brick lined, cast iron light that was build back in 1884. It is the oldest cast iron lighthouse that is still operational in the east and his area was so important and treacherous that reports indicate that the first small tower was place here back in 1804. This is a typical spark plug type of light that became popular at the time because of it's relatively inexpensive construction costs and durability. The light and surrounding reef was named after James Latimore, the revolutionary war hero. It originally had a 4th order Fresnel lens but the lens was moved to another lighthouse in Delaware when Latimer was modernized. In a bid to say money on maintenance costs the light recently went up for sale. Private bids that started at 10,000 were accepted. Sounds like a pretty cool idea to buy a lighthouse and my first thoughts were that it would make a great little place to entertain, relax and enjoy the water. However there is a catch and a rather big catch at that. The interior of the light of these spark plugs is actually tiny and Latimer will remain an active light. That means the lights stays on and the horn keeps blasting twice every 15 seconds day and night. The horn almost blows me off my kayak from hundred feet away so I suspect that actually being on the light isn't exactly relaxing. Plus the all maintenance must be keep up and paid for by the new owner and the light must keep all historically features. Not an insignificant cost but the light did finally sell for 225,000 dollars a short time ago. No word about why the new owner bought the light or what he or she is going to do with it. There are still several lights for sale in the area but the maintenance arrangements are the same. You aren't just buying the light, but also the responsibilities of maintaining it. Owning a lighthouse would be cool but for now it's enough just to admire them from a distance.

http://www.wheelerlibrary.org/walkingtour.htm…read more You could easily blow right by this place without noticing it. The little village of North Stonington (once called Milltown) is small and quaint. This grist mill wheel was built by Frank Limpert in the early 1800's and the house is known as the Andrew Baldwin House. Limpert also built the series of dams across the Pendleton Hill Brook to access water more quickly in case of fires.

Spotty is a painted dog on the side of Route 165. If you don't know it's there, it's tempting (and…read moreworth it) to turn around after doing a double take. The road is pretty quiet but with a higher speed limit. Spotty was originally painted in 1935 by Stanley Zigtorac.

One of and the first lighthouse on the bay cruise tour. A wonderful inactive lighthouse. One of…read morethe oldest in the country.

To live in…read morea light The Poplar Point Lighthouse is one of the most historically significant lighthouses in the country. In was built way back in 1831 and the tower is the oldest surviving wooden lighthouse still standing. It was discontinued in 1882 because it's location on land made it difficult to see but it is still a wonderful piece of history. The structure is a great example of an integrated lighthouse. One that the tower containing the actually light is blended right into the keepers house. Definitely made it convenient for the keeper in cold or nasty weather. The light originally had a 5th order Fresnel Lens that was removed many decades ago and stand 48 feet high. It has been privately owned for a long, long time and has changed a bit from owner to owner. However it has been restored to beautiful condition and functions as a beautiful home as well as a irreplaceable part of lighthouse history. The lighthouse, house and property recently came up for sale again. The home has 12 rooms. and totals roughly 4,500 square feet. The property is 1.66 acres of water front land right at the entrance of Wickford Harbor. A lovely and stunning house and piece of land. If you happen to have the asking price of 6,450,000 dollars hanging around this is a chance to live in a real lighthouse and own a great piece of history.