Newport's Waterfront: Then and Now

Everyone is always interested to see what our quaint little colonial waterfront town, now loved by pedestrians, really looked like "Before" ... in this case before 1973 when the Navy fleet of ships left to go south.        Talk about a "base closing" ... about a third of the population of the city left that year.       Newport's answer was tourism with its waterfront parks, timeshares, marinas, condos, chic restaurants and retail stores, and great sail and power boats. "Didn't it always look like this?"        But Newport prior to 1973 had a long history as a commercial waterfront. Most of our fuel, building supplies, and naval stores came in by sea and were loaded on trains to be shipped throughout New England. There were boat yards and lots of marine related businesses. A strong Greek fishing fleet was famous during Prohibition for helping Newport be a major entry port for Canadian wiskey.        This page presents a quick look at the past hundred years or so. For more information on this part of the Newport Waterfront please see Newport Harbor Walk South. (This page is still under construction.)

Old Gravelly Point and Long Wharf, now home to the Marriot, Inn on Long Wharf, Fairchild Resorts, etc. was a warehouse district for the boat cargos, fishing industy etc., before it became a fuel tank farm. Corner of Long Wharf and America's Cup. About the only things left here are the two church steeples. This salt marsh pond was filled to make our Cardine's baseball field. Waterfront colonial and Victorian buildings demolished to open up America's Cup Ave. Most of the area used to make America's Cup Ave. had historically interesting colonial and victorian buildings that had survived many hurricanes. Commercial Wharf was the center of the city, now the Newport Yachting Center and home of the yearly Newport Boat Show. No we don't see live bait at J.Ts anymore ... now mostly upscale chic clothing for the tourists. In the bottom photo that's Christies at the left, an empty lot now the Inn on the Harbor, the shorty Ann St. pier and the Armory. Between the two docks on the right former Brown and Howard shipyard became Brown and Howard On Shore Timeshares as they filled in the water almost to the ends of the docks. Well, a good chunk of the waterfront was a coal based gas generation plant which helped light our lights and cook our food before they ran the electric wires. The top photo is from King's Park Wellington Time Shares, after a number of colonial and Victorian homes were demolished, filled this southeast corner of the harbor..

All images and content © 2005 v.9.15.2005 Friends of the Waterfront, Inc., P.O. Box 932, Newport, RI 02840 Web site hosting and design: WebGhosts