On August 2, 1844, three days after the New York Yacht Club in Midtown Manhattan opened its doors, the founders’ eight yachts got underway from the Battery bound for Newport, Rhode Island, on the club’s maiden summer cruise.
The town was already established as a summer refuge for the well-heeled. During the 19th century’s Gilded Age, Newport’s open, oceanfront landscape, bypassed by industrialization, became a fashionable summer enclave.
The original Newport “cottages,” such as The Breakers, a seaside mansion built by Cornelius Vanderbilt II in the late 1890s, and Beechwood, the summer home of “The Mrs. Astor” remain beautifully preserved.
Today’s Newport has more yacht dockage than Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard, Block Island, and Montauk.
Seafarers can take in views of Rhode Island’s rugged, rocky coastline, the Claiborne Pell suspension bridge, and Newport Harbor Lighthouse from the bay and then dock at the exclusive Forty 1° North marina for a full suite of luxury services.
Over the last few years, it’s become a draw for superyachts. Safe Harbor Shipyard, “New England’s yachting hub,” is a full-service marina and shipyard which boasts more than 3,500 linear feet of dock space that can accommodate yachts up to 90 m (300 ft), three Marine Travelifts (including a 500-ton lift), and many marine trades and provisioning options.