Newport In Bloom

Just an hour and a half away from my hometown of Guilford, CT sits the iconic seaside city of Newport, RI, a New England summer resort famous for its historic mansions and its rich sailing history. During the start of spring another magic element is mixed in as over 1.3 million hibernating daffodils make their yearly appearance along the streets and coastal paths.

It all goes back to 2006 when Newport's tree warden Scott Wheeler started up “Parks in Bloom” as an initiative to put a plan in motion that would announce the arrival of spring with a colorful display in locations throughout the city. Already an iconic summer destination, this has made Newport attractive for tourists in early spring to come experience something truly magical.

Although these beautiful golden flowers can be found all around the city there are a handful of locations that are the top viewing spots to see the most concentrated numbers of them. Perhaps the most notable and visited is along the stunning oceanside Cliff Walk by the campus of Salve Regina University. The most impressive concentration of them is in a field behind McAuley Hall where the sun sets just to the right of and can make for spectacular end of the day viewing. My favorite image that I captured during Daffodil Days was at this spot with the setting sun appearing over the flowers and just to the right of the building. This spot can be enjoyed any time but can make for a great option to end your day before heading to grab a delicious dinner.

Two other great coastal locations with large numbers of daffodils can be found by heading east on Memorial Boulevard (Rte 138A) towards the neighboring town of Middletown. Although they are separate I tend to always think of many areas here as being in “Newport” as well during all of my trips there over the year. The first field you will encounter heading this way will be on your left across from the popular Easton's Beach and the last last strip of land considered to be in the Newport town limits. One of my favorite daffodil fields is just past here and into Middletown on the right side of the road in Dunlap-Wheeler Park. It is such a magnificent display of flowers with the water and oceanside homes in the background. But the unique lone leaning tree at the ocean edge of the field is what really caught my eye to become the main subject in any images taken here.

After enjoying these two fields I recommend continuing east into Middletown to take in more beautiful beach views at Surfer's End, where no matter the time of year you can catch surfers here catching waves in this active stretch of water. This is also the site of the Mystery Christmas Tree that someone has put up on the beach for years now that is decorated by locals & visitors alike to become a great coastal New England tradition. Continuing onto Sachuest Point Road you will come to Second Beach which I consider to be one of the nicest beaches in the area with it's entrance paths through the dunes down to the beach itself. At the end of the road lies the 242 acre Sachuest Point National Wildlife Refuge which features a visitor center, 2.5 miles of nature trails, viewing platforms and just a great spot to walk around enjoying the amazing oceanside views. It's also an awesome spot to view wildlife such as deer, hawks, ducks, shorebirds and even the magical Snowy Owls in the winter time.

Heading back to Newport there is one more large field of daffodils that is tucked away inland at Ballard Park off of Hazard Road. This display features over 20,000 flowers and was fun to walk through as a much less visited location that the others previously mentioned. These main daffodil locations of course can be visited in any order and really can't go wrong no matter how you end up choosing to make your plans. There are a handful of great spots in Newport that I always visit no matter what season and should be added to your April visit for the blooms.