Newport Wrap Up

On Thursday, July 9, before leaving Newport and heading back to Nantucket we stopped at the Preservation Society of Newport County’s conservation offices. The group has 11 properties that have thousands of square footage each and contain thousands of artifacts, yet they only have three full-time conservators! I’m guessing they do a lot of outsourcing, but still. They’re just plugging leaks and not thinking long term. Lack of funding for preventative maintenance is a recurring theme in historic preservation, and it’s no different in luxurious Newport.

Some of the repairs we saw: A collapsed ceiling at Chateau-sur-Mer and a tedious restoration of a fraying chair from Marble House.

Our packed schedule and poor weather prevented me from seeing more of Newport, but here’s some other photos I took.

We stayed at Ochre Lodge, a residence hall at Salve Regina University.

Many colonial houses still stand in the Newport Historic District.

Many of the restorations kept most of the historic integrity intact.

Cardines Field is one of the oldest ballparks in the U.S. There's evidence a park was here in 1893. Many top black baseball players have played here, and big leaguers (Yogi Berra, Bob Feller, Phil Rizzuto) stationed at the nearby Navy base also played here.

The grandstands date to 1936. The park gets a lot of use. High school, college, Babe Ruth League, and New England Collegiate Baseball League teams all play there.