The Overlook – Trail Marker #4
Time to pause and gaze out over “Easton’s Bay.” Just to the right of Easton’s Beach is Middleton, RI. incorporated in 1743 and the “middle” city on Aquidneck Island, lying between Newport and Portsmouth. Note the majestic bell tower of St. George, a private school on the National Register of Historic Places.
Just to the right of the big white house near the point is The Clambake Club of Newport, one of the most exclusive private clubs in the country. It was here where Jacqueline Bouvier and Jack Kennedy had their wedding rehearsal dinner before “tying the knot” at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Newport on September 12,1953.
Beyond the point where the Clambake Club is, you can see the Sachuest Point National Wildlife Refuge at the tip of next peninsula, a popular site for hiking and renowned for over 200 bird species and the presence of the largest winter population of harlequin ducks on the East Coast. (Worth a visit!)
On the east side of the refuge is the 14 mile long Sakonnnet River which flows south from Fall River, Massachusetts into Rhode Island Sound.
On the other side of the river you see Little Compton, RI, incorporated in 1682 as part of the Plymouth Colony but annexed into Newport County in 1747. (Little Compton is the only place in the United States with a monument dedicated to a chicken, The famous “Rhode Island Red,” our state bird.) Beyond the tip of Little Compton, look for the Sakonett lighthouse, built in 1884 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Beyond the lighthouse, on a clear day you can see the western coast of Martha’s Vineyard off Cape Cod.
Now turn to your right and look south. In just 1,570 miles you’ll reach the Dominican Republic! That’s how far east in the United States you are.