Highlights

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Itinerary

Day 1 – Newport, RI – Gilded Age Newport Tour – Breakers Mansions Tour

Arrive this afternoon in Newport, RI.  Meet your local guide for a Gilded Age of Newport Tour. During the Gilded Age, America’s wealthiest families flocked to the City by the Sea and its surrounding areas; making the area their summertime playground. Hear the stories of these mansions and their owners while exploring Historic Bellevue Avenue.

Then take a tour of the Breakers Mansion. The Breakers is the grandest of Newport’s summer “cottages” and a symbol of the Vanderbilt family’s social and financial preeminence in turn of the century America.

Check into your local hotel for a two night stay. Dinner is included this evening at a local restaurant. (B,D)

Day 2 – Rosecliff Mansion – Bowen’s and Bannister’s Wharves – Rum Runner II Cruise – Distillery Tasting – Dinner at Johnny’s Restaurant

Start the day with a visit to Rosecliff house, completed in 1902, at a reported cost of $2.5 million, Mrs. Oelrichs hosted fabulous entertainments here, including a fairy tale dinner and a party featuring famed magician Harry Houdini.

Next, spend some free time on Bowen’s and Bannister’s Wharves which are full of one-of-a-kind shops, restaurants and art studios. Brick walks, granite quays and 18th century buildings bring you back to Newport’s days as a commercial seaport. The wharves are where many rum distilleries once sat.

The afternoon features a cruise on the Rum Runner II. Enjoy a breathtaking motor boat tour of Newport Harbor and relive the speed and thrill of the chase of the smuggler boats from the days of Prohibition. Aboard the high speed motor boat Rum Runner II, you will cruise by Newport mansions and former speakeasies that were fueled by seaborne smugglers back in the 1920s and 30s.

Enjoy a tour and tasting at the Newport Distilling Co. It became the first licensed distillery in Rhode Island in 2006. Resurrecting and imitating the rum-crafting methods of the 18th century, the company introduced Thomas Tew Rum, named after an infamous Rhode Island pirate. Enjoy a guided tour of the facility and then sample three stages of single barrel rum which shows the various flavor stages of barrel-aging— the secret ingredient to what makes Thomas Tew Single Barrel Rum so special.

Dinner is included tonight at Johnny’s Restaurant, a reincarnation of Newport’s legendary Atlantic Beach Club. Johnny’s features a diverse menu in an upscale casual setting overlooking Easton’s Beach. (B,D)

Day 3 – Cape Cod – Guided Touring – Chatham – Chatham Light – Hyannis

Departing Newport this morning travel to Cape Cod. On arrival, meet your local step on guide for a wonderful day of touring the lower and outer Cape! You will journey to the charming seaside village of Chatham along with a picture stop at Chatham Light. Continue on to the Cape Cod National Seashore for a visit to the Salt Pond Visitors Center. Enjoy a brief film on the National Seashore and enjoy time in the museum to explore the Cape’s seafaring heritage, learn about the area’s harvest history, and step into life as it used to be on Cape Cod. Then you will tour through the park to enjoy the spectacular views of the Atlantic Ocean.

End the day in Hyannis, MA for a two night stay at a local hotel.  Dinner is included this evening at a local hotel. (B,D)

Day 4 – A Day on Martha’s Vineyard – Traditional Lobster Dinner

Today, you enjoy a full day on Martha’s Vineyard.  Meet your local guide this morning at the hotel and head to the docks to board the high speed ferry to the island of Martha’s Vineyard.

Shaped like a triangle and 8 miles off the coast, Martha’s Vineyard is becoming a secret summer hideaway of the rich and famous. A “Hollywood East” reputation is building thanks to frequent visitors like Pres. Obama, David Letterman and Bill Murray.  But despite the all-star summer lineup, a laid-back lifestyle still rules the island.  While you can find insanely expensive summer cottages and restaurants to match, the reality is this is a summer resort that evolved from an 18th and 19th century whaling heritage.   You may spot a film star in Edgartown, but your guaranteed interesting sights in Oak Bluffs where the Flying Horses Carousel (1876) still spins, and the Carpenter Gothic Cottages at the Methodist Meeting Grounds where open-air Christian Revivals first started in 1835.

The subtle nuances and diversity of island history, architecture, and culture hide in plain sight — your guide will explain on your morning tour.  You’ll see the stately Greek revival homes built by sea captain of years ago, hear stories of notable residents, religious leaders, and political activists, along with meeting houses, cemeteries, and other points of interest.  You’ll have time to enjoy an Island lunch and find the island’s must-have souvenir — a Black Dog sweatshirt.

Late afternoon, your group will ferry back to the mainland for a traditional Lobster dinner at a local restaurant.  (B,D)

Day 5 – Historic Sandwich Tour – Plymouth Rock – Plimoth Patuxet & Mayflower II – Boston – JFK Presidential Library & Museum – Union Oyster House

After breakfast and checking out of your hotel, your guide will meet you again and conduct a tour of Sandwich – the oldest town on Cape Cod.  This town became the site of one of America’s largest glass factories, an industry that flourished during the 19th century.

Next you travel to America’s Hometown – Plymouth.  Home of our Pilgrim Fathers and one of the country’s first settlements, it is well known in the US for its historical value.  A picture stop will be made at the Forefather’s Monument and Plymouth Rock, the traditional site of disembarkation of the Pilgrims in 1620.

Then visit the Pilmoth Patuxet, a living history museum dedicated to telling the history of the Plymouth Colony from the perspective of both the Pilgrims and the Native Wampanoag people. The museum is a Smithsonian Institution Affiliate that includes the Wampanoag Homesite, 17th-Century English Village, Craft Center, Plimoth Bread Company, Plimoth Grist Mill and Mayflower II, a full-scale reproduction of the original ship that sailed to Plymouth in 1620.

Travel to Boston, MA this afternoon stopping first for a visit to the JFK Presidential Library.  Relive the powerful story of the Kennedy years. In three theaters, period settings, and 25 dramatic multimedia exhibits, you will enter the recreated world of the Kennedy Presidency for a “first-hand” experience of John F. Kennedy’s life, legacy, and leadership.

Check into your Boston area hotel for a two night stay.

This evening’s dinner will be at The Union Oyster House, located on the Freedom Trail, near Faneuil Hall. It enjoys the unique distinction of being America’s oldest restaurant. The building dates to Pre-Revolutionary days and continues with much the same atmosphere and food that Daniel Webster frequently enjoyed. (B,D)

Day 6 – Boston’s Freedom Trail – Faneuil Hall Marketplace – Boston Tea Party Museum & Tavern Dinner

On this full day of sightseeing you will see the famous sights on Boston’s Freedom Trail. Including Boston Common, the Paul Revere House and Old North Church. Visit many of the other sites such as the Old South Meeting House where the audio programs titled,  “If these walls could speak” lets you listen in on key moments from the past – the Boston Tea Party debates, a day when British officers rode horses inside the Meeting House, the Great Boston Fire of 1872 and more!

Next, stroll through and browse the shops at Faneuil Hall Marketplace/Quincy Market. You will also have time to enjoy lunch on own. This location is synonymous with world-class street performers showing off unimaginable acts of juggling, acrobatics and more for throngs of tourists and locals who gather to watch. The street performances that visitors have come to identify with Faneuil Hall were born with the Marketplace’s historic revitalization, and have been going strong since 1976.

One of today’s highlights will be your late afternoon visit to the Boston Tea Party Ship and Museum. Here there are live actors, interactive exhibits, holographic displays, and an authentically restored ship. The museum’s movie titled “Let it Begin Here,” will set the stage for tonight’s dinner.

The evening meal is actually more a night of Colonial merrymaking. The meal itself is a savory colonial dinner, for which there are readily available mugs of ale. You dine with The Sons and Daughters of Liberty and can raise your own voice in song as your travelers help to determine the fate of Colonial America! This is a historic Tavern atmosphere with boisterous songs and cheerful characters representing Sam Adams, John Hancock, Dorothy Quincy, Paul Revere and other prominent Bostonian’s who have gathered for a liberating night of freedom and fun. (B,D)

Day 7 – Depart for Home

After breakfast, depart for home. (B)

Tour Map