IRISH Next Weekend !!!!!!!

from .. Newport Waterfront Events .com ...........9/5 to 9/7..........

Celtic Shenanigans Abound!

Céad míle fáilte! This Labor Day weekend, come join the Newport Yachting Center in celebrating all things Celtic at the Newport Waterfront Irish Festival, one of the largest Irish festivals in the country. Come paint the town green with three festive days of nonstop Celtic shenanigans, including five stages of continuous entertainment by such rollicking acts as The Town Pants, Eileen Ivers, Calley McGrane and the Exiles, The Screaming Orphans, and many more. Indulge in the best of Irish food and drink, discover an array of authentic hand-crafted treasures at the Irish Marketplace, kick up your heels with Irish step-dancers and pipe-and-drum ensembles, savor a pint or two of Guinness’ limited-edition 250th Anniversary Stout, or surround yourself in the spirited sounds of traditional and modern Celtic music in our covered Main Stage concert venue, offering over 400 seats out of the sun and weather. Even the wee folk in your clan can show their Irish colors in the “Rainbow’s End” kidSTOP!

Old and New..........

First Beach" looking west toward the cliff walk area"

and ... If you had entered the Cliff Walk Area back then.......Way ! back then.........the scene below, would have been so different !................the carriages......the horses........the parasols.........the garments !

...........................and .....it was Bath Rd. back then.....to get there.....not Memorial Blvd........and there was a Trolley.........a Real Trolley, on tracks.......

40 STEPS & The Cliff Walk

AGAIN...with friends..........and what's Not to like......!

During Newport's Golden Age, the Forty Steps were a gathering place for the servants and workers from the nearby mansions. They were wooden steps at that time.............and ........it was here, that they would hold weekend dances and play the Irish songs and music that reminded them of home.

So the story goes....

on the Cliff Walk by Salve Regina

This past Spring, with an old friend, on the Cliff Walk.......by Salve Regina......."The best place to walk.......Year'round "............especially with a friend.....



Local historians suggest that the first established paths along the Cliff Walk shore line were outlined by the local deer ... then the Narragansett Indians ... followed by the colonials who harvested whatever they could including the random salvage floating ashore from ship wrecks.



During the last half of the 1800s, the summer getaway for the wealthy New Yorkers spread from the center of Newport's harbor area to this then undeveloped coastal shoreline. The city was a fantastic center of Victorian extravagance in architecture and the social competition of millionaires benefiting from the industrial revolution. Many of the great mansions built during those times were ideally located on this scenic overlook of the Rhode Island Sound and Atlantic Ocean. Serious development of Cliff Walk started about 1880 and a number of the estate owners spent the next 50 years (to about 1929) improving the walk piece by piece.



The Great Depression threw the walk development into the deep freeze. Over the last 150 years the public and some of the wealthy estate owners have often clashed over access rights both along the shore and to the shore. Even today there are disputes at several points both along the walk and at public access points. Owners at times have moved paths to more dangerous areas; erected walls, fences and boulders directly across the Walk; planted bushes and trees to block or discourage access to the Walk; and posted dogs and even bulls to scare people away. Cliff Walk was protected by the combination of long term public use, the "Fisherman's Rights" granted by the Colonial Charter of King Charles II, and a passage in the Rhode Island Constitution that granted the public "rights of fishery and the privileges of the shore to which they have heretofore been entitled."



Now centuries of prior use have guaranteed the legal right of people to walk on the cliffs. The walk's construction was originally just a path along the shoreline. In some areas the public moved a few stones aside, some owners neatened their portions of the walk, while others built tunnels or bridges in a public spirited move to make the walk enjoyable to all.



In effect the walk is a public right of way over private property owned by the waterfront property owners. The walk historically was really a path or trail with many rustic components.

Sea Girt Hotel

George T. Downing

b. New York City, NY, December 30, 1819

d. Newport, RI, July 21, 1903

Prominent Newport citizen, African American entrepreneur, engaged in hospitality sector - restaurant and hotel business. Arrives Newport in the mid 1840's.

Owner of Sea-Girt House or hotel which fronts Bellevue Avenue. The building (five stories) has large stores on first floor and accommodations upstairs. The complex includes the Downing residence and restaurant. Amenities include dinners and game suppers in private parlors and accommodations for gentlemen boarders and families.
Operates confectionery and catering business; supplies the cottages - services include the providing of music.
Arson fire destroys original block on December 15,1860. Rebuilt - various physical changes have been made since Downing ownership. The block that bears his name still exists. Located on Bellevue, bordered by Liberty and Downing Streets.
One of 26 men and women who donate monies for the purchase of land to be known as Touro Park (1865). Downing name is inscribed on stone marker at park.
Member of the committee responsible for the Bellevue Avenue extension to Bailey's Beach.
Uses his influence towards the desegregation of Newport schools (1865); member of the equal rights movement in Rhode Island.
Dies at home, funeral held at Emmanuel Church, located on Dearborn Street.
Ardent advocate of the Negro's cause; works for the advancement of this race, and member of anti-slavery societies.
Learns restaurant business from his father - a proprietor of NYC restaurant and oyster house which is frequented by prominent people from all walks of life.
Makes important contacts through this establishment. Influenced by leaders of freedom movements who frequent this business; Downing joins anti-slavery movement at a very early age.
After the Civil War, Downing realizes increased exposure as advocate of equal rights and is sent to Washington, DC to protect interests of fellow Negroes during reconstruction.
The most prestigious Downing enterprise: in charge of the cafe/dining room of U.S. House of Representatives at the Capitol. This grants Downing the opportunity to influence and lobby policy-makers. Operates this concession for over a decade.
He married Serena Leanora de Grasse, November 24,1841, the daughter of George de Grasse - (considered to be the protègè of Aaron Burr).

FRIDAY NIGHT ...JAZZ.....

a Do Not Miss.......Fri. Night at the Tennis Hall of Fame..........Chaka Khan.......what a venue....what an evening...............what a get-away............it's usually magical..........

what a start to each year's Jazz Festival........!..........Friday Night , under the stars......

It was 1982, Khan recorded Echoes of an Era........... a collection of jazz standards featuring performances from Freddie Hubbard, Joe Henderson, Stanley Clarke, Chick Corea, and Lenny White.

This project provided Chaka Khan with a Grammy Nomination for Best Jazz Vocalist

What a Folk Festival !!!!!!!..the 50th..!!

......Joan Baez was just 18 when she performed at the first Newport Folk Festival.........

... its the 50th anniversary.......and 90-year-old Pete Seeger performs as another of the festival's originals..............a folk icon................ Arlo Guthrie too..... Judy Collins and more...

....this, half-century milestone......is all nostalgia....... an event that may have pioneered the concept of outdoor concerts......along with its : criticism of the gov't.........peace movements...anti-war commentary, etc..

....The folk festival was started in Newport by, George Wein.... an offshoot of his jazz festival event..........which celebrates its 55th anniversary this time around

..Guthrie introduced "Alice's Restaurant" in 1967...... James Taylor played in '69.......Dylan....in '63

...Rowdy fans crashed the gates at the 1971 jazz festival....... i was there!.....and the festival wouldn't return to the city again, until 1985.

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