The land of the Rich & Famous

NOTE:  I have changed the format of the Blog slightly because I believe the new format gives me more room on the page.

June 18, 2010 We left New York looking to get away from the “Big City” and we headed for the coastline of Connecticut. We found a nice KOA in Clinton, CT and decided to stay a couple of days. We drove around and found Clinton is part of a small cluster of seaside towns that are nice, quiet, places. I wanted to play golf and was very frustrated that the only 2 full size golf courses in the area were private and do not allow the public to play. After much research I destined myself to the fact that I would have to play a 9 hole course. Usually, 9 hole courses are farm pastures and not that great to play. I drove to a little town called Old Saybrook and went to Fenwick golf course. I pulled into the drive way and there was no clubhouse, just a barn. A guy there said you pay the starter across the street. I crossed the street and as I cleared the trees I could see that it was a fairly nice course. I talked to the starter and he had me join up with a long time resident of the area and his son. Fenwick is a small peninsula with only 72 houses on it and the residents manage their own community including the golf course. The inhabitants of Fenwick are celebrities and well to do people, and the houses that they built are mansions, in the early 1900s Cape Cod style. Catherine Hepburn was a long time resident here as was the Governor of Connecticut. Many of the homes are owned by the wealthy of Hartford and these mansions are simply their “summer homes”. The course was gorgeous!! All but 2 of the holes had views of the ocean, and a few of the holes were laid out along the coast. The guy I was playing with said the golf course is just a playground for the residents and no one takes their golf too serious. It turned out to be one of the highlights of my golf career. You never know.

June 20, 2010 We got up early and drove to Newport, Rhode Island. Although the original town of Newport dates back to 1755, at the end of the 1800s the wealthy moved in and built mansions (called summer cottages) along the cliffs, right above the ocean/beaches. The mansions are of all types and designs, many with beautiful gardens and huge gates at the road.

We went on the "Cliff Walk" which takes you along the cliffs at the back of these mansions and the sheer opulence is numbing.  The Walk is 3.5 miles out and then we walked about 2.5 miles to get back to our truck, quite a hike!

Not a bad "Summer Cottage".  Kind of like our cabin at Baker??? 

The International Tennis Hall of Fame is there and they have a huge playing facility behind it. There is also a Polo club in Newport, and there are hundreds of giant yachts in the many mooring facilities along the coast. They also have some nice beaches in different locations but they charge $20 to park.

The downtown section of Newport is really well done with restored colonial buildings, a beautiful harbor with lots of restaurants, water tours, and souvenir stores.


 Notice the reference to the America's Cup on the banner....big time sailing!

The sheer number of boats, some yachts as large as my house, is unbelievable. It is definitely a playground for the rich and famous. I think this entire area, from Connecticut, through Cape Cod, up through Maine, has a lot upper class residents.

 An interesting aside is that I was playing golf with a 17 year old high school student, who was well educated and from a well to do family, who told me that he had played golf in the “South” (Carolinas) with his school’s golf team. He said that he loved the courses but the people were not that nice. I asked “Why is that” and he replied, “They are Confederates”. I asked “Is there still a division based on Yankee/Confederate lines?” He looked at me and paused before saying “It’s like the Berlin Wall was”. I had no idea that people still thought in those terms, in this day and age!