Newport County & East Bay

RI-138 / Claiborne Pell Newport Bridge / RI-114 / RI-24 / RI-77

Newport County is the eastern side of Narragansett Bay — a cluster of islands and peninsulas anchored by the historic City of Newport. **Newport** is famous as the 'Sailing Capital of the World' (host of the America's Cup from 1930-1983) and as the summer playground of the Gilded Age — home to the massive **Newport Mansions** built by the Vanderbilts (The Breakers, Marble House), Astors, Dukes, and other 19th-century industrialists, now operated by the Preservation Society of Newport County. The city is also home to the **U.S. Naval War College** and **Naval Station Newport**, the **International Tennis Hall of Fame**, **Salve Regina University**, **Newport Jazz Festival** (founded 1954, the oldest continuous jazz festival in the world), and **Newport Folk Festival**. The region also includes **Middletown RI** (adjacent to Newport), **Portsmouth RI** (at the north end of Aquidneck Island), **Jamestown** (a small island town on Conanicut Island, connected to Newport via the Claiborne Pell Newport Bridge and to North Kingstown via the Jamestown Verrazzano Bridge), **Tiverton** (east of the bay, adjacent to Fall River MA), and **Little Compton** (the southeastern corner of RI).