Most people who visit Newport, Rhode Island, just remember the mansions, but there's a lot more to this historic New England town than that. It was a religious tolerance zone, a hotbed of the Revolution, a leading port city, and only after the U.S. gained independence did it start its transformation into a summer colony.

By the mid-19th century, artists and dilettantes alike had discovered Newport, and its name soon became synonymous with the Gilded Age. Then the yachting society discovered it, and its status as an eastern seaboard summer resort was cemented. With historic preservation societies working to protect it since the 1950s, Newport remains a beautifully preserved town, where mansions, museums, music festivals, and marine activities briefly—for the season—transform the stately 400-year-old historic enclave into a bustling summertime seaside resort.