Samantha Brown's Places to Love

-I'm in a city that is by the beautiful sea, a coastal beacon founded on religious freedom that grew into a vacation gem.

It's a place where over 350 years of history is within walking distance.

Wow.

-And that strong kinship with time inspires a fidelity from its locals to preserve and share what they love.

But first, let's set the record straight.

I say quahog.

[ko-hog] -It's not quahog.

[ko-hog] -No?

Get out.

-No.

Oh.

Oh, no.

-I'm happy as a quahog.

[kwa-hog] [ Snickers ] I'm in Newport, Rhode Island.

I'm Samantha Brown, and I've traveled all over this world.

And I'm always looking to find the destinations, the experiences, and, most importantly, the people who make us feel like we're really a part of a place.

That's why I have a love of travel and why these are my places to love.

Samantha Brown's "Places to Love" is made possible by... [ Birds chirping ] -Oceania Cruises is a proud sponsor of public TV and "Samantha Brown's Places to Love."

Sailing to more than 600 destinations around the globe, from Europe to Asia and Alaska to the South Pacific.

Oceania Cruises offers gourmet dining and curated travel experiences aboard boutique, hotel-style ships that carry no more than 1,250 guests.

Oceania Cruises.

Your world, your way.

-Because Newport is often referred to as the Sailing Capital of the World, its summer season is its most popular and busiest.

But I'm here in late April, where the off-season gives me access to all the greats with none of the crowds.

This is the 3 1/2-mile public-access trail known as the Cliff Walk, and for me, this is just a must because everywhere you look, it's just beautiful.

On one side, you have the Atlantic Ocean, with all of its beauty -- its sights, smells, its wind.

And then, on the other side, you have the mansions of the Gilded Age.

And this is The Breakers, one of the most famous, possibly the most famous.

And I just like to walk it.

And I'm just going to choose which house I would live in if I had my choice, right?

Hmm.

This one will do.

This is Marble House, and people usually say that it's the most over-the-top mansion in Newport.

-And I think if you really want to understand the Gilded Age, this is the place to come.

This is the house that will wow you.

I'm Trudy Coxe, and I am the CEO and executive director of the Preservation Society of Newport County.

Our job is to preserve and protect 11 historic sites here in Newport.

And the Gilded Age is an extraordinary time in American history, so we take great pride in having the opportunity to teach people about it.

-The Gilded Age is usually thought to fall between the American Civil War and World War I, and in 1889, Marble House was built as a birthday present for Alva Vanderbilt from her husband, William.

But Alva wasn't content to just let somebody build it for her.

She hired the most famous architect of the era and was personally involved in most every decision of its design.

Wow.

-That's what I like about this house, that she is really defending the family name and saying, "We're in the A-group."

-Yes.

"Notice us."

-Yeah.

-And nothing says A-group quite like the Gold Room.

Imagine the parties in here.

And that's what people love about the mansions, because we don't have to imagine it.

It's here in front of our eyes, and we get to inhabit these spaces.

I mean, my goodness, there are two life-sized men holding 20 candelabra chandeliers that are coming out of their heads.

Like, everything is heavy and strong, but it's also extremely delicate.

And this is where you and the Preservation Society comes into, the protection and the work that needs to happen on a minute-by-minute, hour-by-hour time period protecting this.

-Well, that's what we're all about.

Our job is preservation.

-At the end of the Great Lawn of Marble House sits the Chinese Tea House Alva had commissioned.

Beginning in May, it's open for a stunning afternoon tea overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, and its history is like butter on a scone.

-She wanted women to have the right to vote.

She becomes an incredible activist for women's rights and for women getting the right to vote.

Chinese women got the right to vote before American women did, so she consulted with Chinese women a lot.

She spoke all over the country.

She hosted incredible rallies on the lawn here at Marble House.

-Where she would open it up to the public?

-She would open it up to the public.

-Wow.

Not just society?

-No.

-And the giveaway to all those who attended the rallies?

These Votes For Women teacups.

-And so, in 1920, the passage of the 19th Amendment occurred.

And that's when women got the right.

-I'd vote for her.

-I'd vote for her, too.

-Cheers.

-Votes for women.

[ Teacups clink ] -You know, hundreds, if not thousands, of people pass by this very building every single day, and they have no idea the legacy of artisanship that exists here.

[ Rapid tapping ] How far back does this building and this artisanship go?

-The founder, John Stevens, set up the business in 1705.

So it's 317 years.

It's been rolling along continually.

-Keeping the shop rolling today is Nick Benson, a third-generation stone carver, draftsman, font designer, painter, and recipient of a MacArthur Foundation Genius Grant.

Nick and his father's work can be seen at the Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial in Washington, D.C., the Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park in New York City, and the Maya Lin-designed Meeting Room installation right here in Newport.

The techniques used in his shop go back millennia, and Nick insists on keeping that artistry etched in stone.

In this computerized, digitized world that we live in, how much of what you do is done by hand?

-A substantial amount of what we're doing is by hand.

We do memorial gravestones for cemeteries.

All of that work is hand done, every bit of it.

-Full-size layouts give you an idea of Nick's mastery.

-...what I'll do is a scale sketch.

-This just hit me.

You did that by hand.

-I did all that by hand.

I'm using a broad-edge brush with black poster paint.

-Oh, my gosh.

-This didn't come off of a typewriter.

This just came from me painting, like sign painting.

That's what it is.

It's the same type of thing.

-Wow.

-But very refined.

-And now you have -- Yeah.

Yeah, exactly.

But I see, for lack of a better word, two fonts here.

So you have more standard, you know, straightforward.

And then you have a little more stylized here.

Is that calligraphy?

-This calligraphy came into play in the 16th century.

-[ Chuckles ] -In Rome, this is Chancery Italic.

So this is Italic.

These are lowercase Romans, and these are uppercase Romans.

-I love the Chancery font.

On my computer, I use it sometimes.

-It's a beautiful letter form.

-But you did that by hand!

-Yeah, that's all by hand.

-Can I see you work?

-Yes, absolutely.

So, you start typically in the center of the stroke, and you just work your way up the center, carefully... -Oh, wow.

-...establishing a center line.

[ Blows ] And then you flip the chisel over and you carve the other side of the "V." So, we're making a "V" channel in the center of the letter that will slowly push further outward until we reach the edges of the form.

Now, this is not for the faint of heart.

-[ Chuckles ] Why?

Because one wrong move and you're -- -One wrong move, and you can really do some serious damage.

People see me carving, and they'll say, "What happens when you make a mistake?"

-Exactly.

-The skill of carving is not making a mistake.

That's what the skill is.

The skill is you understand the material, you understand how far you can push it, and you know that you can't do certain things.

Otherwise, you're going to make a mistake.

-But that's all dependent on the material and the mallet, as well as the chisel, as well as the the stone itself.

-Absolutely.

-Because that works differently.

-All of those things are critical to understand the way in which all of them work to make this single thing.

-Wow.

You clearly make that so -- look so easy.

-Just don't smack your thumb with the mallet.

-I totally would have done that.

-Yes, yes.

And then you would have said, "Ow."

-I was so concentrating!

-"How do you not smack your thumb with the hammer?"

-My gosh.

-So... -Oh, I'm already -- -You're digging too deep.

You're digging too deep.

So, go straight up the line.

-Okay.

-That's better.

-Oh.

-Oh!

Look out.

Look out.

-Okay.

-So, it's difficult.

You can see it's difficult to do.

Any, you know, "mistake" that we make is on such an incredibly small scale that it is fixable.

-Yeah.

-What you've just done... -Is not.

-...would take a lot.

[ Both laugh ] -Got it.

I'm trying carving for the first time within the gaze of Nick's grandfather, his father, as well as -- you'll be delighted to know -- the fourth generation, Nick's daughter, Hope.

When you get that name... -Yeah.

-...do you feel that weight?

-It's very interesting, because when I was much younger and I was working with my dad as his central carver, all of my effort was in the practice of making the perfect thing and also reach the heights that my grandfather and my father set.

As I got older, and when I took over the business, I started making gravestones for people I knew who died, and that, all of a sudden, shifted my entire perception of it.

-It means something, right?

-Absolutely.

-You see a name -- you see your father's name or your grandfather's name or your mother, and, all of a sudden, it hits home that this person will live on.

-Absolutely.

-Someone will step up to that memorial and read the names and read the name of their mother or their father.

-You know, the gravitas involved in all of this is pretty heavy.

-God's Little Acre, which is a part of Newport's Common Burial Ground, dates back to 1705, and today it has the largest and the oldest collection of original markers of enslaved, and later free, Africans in early America.

It's also a place where my own ancestors and immediate family members are buried.

I'm Keith Stokes with the 1696 Heritage Group.

Our organization helps to research, interpret, and present the history of African-heritage people across the diaspora.

By 1705, Newport becomes a very active participant in the transatlantic slave trade.

Over the next 50 years, it is Newport that is the largest slave-trading capital of British North America.

The men and women that arrived here were persecuted religious minorities.

Religion was at the center of their belief system.

They would actively encourage the conversion of enslaved Africans into their household places of worship.

-Okay.

-That would have been unheard of in the American South and the West Indies.

-I see.

Okay.

-What's important is that these Africans had access to trade skills, education, religion, and they would parlay that into beginning to advance their own African identities.

This is the marker of Pompey Brenton.

He is a clerk in the household of Governor William Brenton, who are some of the wealthiest families in America at that time.

What's most important about this marker is that the angel clearly has African features, and this is a testament to the survivability and the history of African people who were also here.

At the time of his death, the Brenton family pays for this marker.

Now, he is seen as a very important part of the family.

This is not integration, I want to be clear.

-Yeah.

-It's called interdependence.

There's a difference.

People are living, working, and worshiping in close proximity, and they're all working towards prosperity.

But that's not integration.

I don't want you to think that Blacks, Christians, Jews, Quakers were all kumbaya in Newport.

They just figured out that, "We're all going to work together to be prosperous, and not let race, religion, ethnicity get in the way of those issues."

-So, Newport's history is incredible, it's rich, and we are on a street right now that really shows us that, house by house.

-Very much so.

So, the red house here, at the time of the mid-18th century, is the home and parish house of Reverend Samuel Hopkins.

Samuel Hopkins today is recognized as one of the earliest, if not the first, abolitionists in America.

He's fighting against slavery.

He writes letters to the Continental Congress, each individual member, asking that they consider ending slavery as a part of the establishment of the new United States.

-And this was in 1760, well before -- -1773, before the American Revolution.

-Wow.

-This house here, the George Buckmaster House -- George Buckmaster is an active slave trader and a captain of slave ships.

-I mean, is he living next to...?

-He's living next to... -At the same time?

-...and he's also a member of Reverend Samuel Hopkins' church.

-What?!

-So he's a member of the church.

They're interacting each day.

-Wow.

But wait, there's more.

Buckmaster rents the house out to Isaac Touro, a young Jewish religious leader who went on to build -- and it still stands today -- Touro Synagogue, the oldest existing synagogue in North America.

-And then this house here, the Johnston House -- He is an attorney general, he's also a slave owner, and he's selling slaves out of this house.

So, at one point, you have slavery abolitionists, free Africans, slave captains, Jewish clergy, and slave sales all going on in this area at the exact same time.

-Which is the whole idea of Rhode Island itself as a colony, right?

Just choice.

It's mostly choice to -- -It's the liberty of conscience, that each and every person, regardless of their proclivity, "We respect you and we respect your right to live and work and worship here."

-What a concept.

Have you ever wondered what it would feel like to be a lighthouse keeper, even for just, like, one night and be on an island, have it kind of all to yourself?

Well, that's exactly what I just did.

I'm on Rose Island, a beautiful island that would have had a very different future were it not for one tenacious, willful, strong woman.

And I'm about to meet her right now.

Charlotte, hello!

-Hey.

-Samantha.

Hey.

-Good to see you.

I'm Charlotte Johnson, and I was executive director of the Rose Island Lighthouse Foundation, and saving the island was my project for nearly 30 years.

-So, everyone has an affection for lighthouses and small coastal islands.

But Rose Island, not so much.

Why the attitude?

-The island was used during World War I and World War II as an explosives depot.

-Okay.

-Everybody just considered it a dump.

In the early '80s, a group of guys who had purchased the island from the government announced plans for an 850-slip marina on the east side of the island.

-That's a lot.

Newport, though, is known for sailing.

-Absolutely.

So in order for it to accommodate a marina, it would have to be dredged down to 15 feet, which meant 10 feet of material had to go someplace, and their plan was to dump it on top of the island.

-Wow.

-And I'm like, "You're certainly not going to bury it under dredge material."

And that's how I got involved and ended up forming a group called Citizens to Protect Rose Island.

-And Charlotte had fun, too, like wrapping the island in bed sheets, like a ribbon wrapping a gift, to say this was precious.

It gained attention and affection for the island.

-Once I get my hooks into something, I'm pretty persistent.

-With the creation of the Rose Island Lighthouse Foundation in 1985, the building, which was originally constructed in 1870, was lovingly restored, being especially sensitive to the many species of nesting birds that call the island home.

In 1993, the light once again beamed over Narragansett Bay, and the lighthouse is now in the National Register of Historic Places.

But that was only the beginning of its new chapter.

-Rather than have a museum that people came through and observed, we decided to have it as a museum that people could live in and to make it truly a living museum.

You come and live here.

So from 4: 00 at night until 10:00 the next morning, it was yours.

And from 10: 00 until 4:00, that's when it was open to people to come out and check out the museum and, you know, see how people lived.

-Because every single lighthouse everyone visits, we wonder what it's like when it was actually inhabited by a family.

-Exactly.

-We all think, what would it have been like to be a lighthouse keeper?

-And you get a chance to do that here.

-Narragansett Bay, on the north side of Rhode Island Sound, is the largest estuary in New England.

Its combination of fresh and salt water makes it a perfect place to fish for the clams that the area is famous for -- a job that is done alone and all year long.

-January 10th.

-Yep.

-It's a nice day.

You're out.

-Oh, yeah.

-February 2nd, you're out.

-Yeah.

Yeah.

-March 3rd, you're out.

-Yeah.

-Wow!

-Yeah.

I'm Dave Ghigliotty.

I'm a commercial shellfisherman here in Rhode Island, and a bivalve extraction engineer.

-[ Laughs ] -I got my first license in '77.

I owned my first boat before I actually owned a car.

So, it's not a job.

It's a lifestyle.

Not to get all martial artsy, but it's a very Zen type of a job.

Basically, us commercial shellfishermen, or quahoggers, as we like to call ourselves -- If you can feel what the boat is doing, what the water is doing, if you can feel the tide, if you can feel the bottom, if you get into like a zone... and then, it's enjoyable no matter what you're doing.

-Since you can't see the basket, so much of the skill is simply feeling it, attached to its 50-foot pole.

-So, basically, what I'm doing is, I'm making like a small circle.

I'm trying to get the teeth to work in.

-Yeah.

How deep are the clams in the mud?

-They can get down 4 or 5 inches.

It's that short, choppy motion.

I clear the basket.

So, what I'm doing is I'm clearing the mud.

-Okay.

-Give it a go?

There you go.

Okay.

-Yeah.

No Zen moment for me.

This is just straight-up hard work.

-Yeah?

-I feel like this is pulling me?

-It is.

-Okay.

[ Laughs ] Into the water?

-Yeah.

So, when you pull that rake, you're actually just scraping it along.

You want to cover distance.

-Okay.

Okay.

-Yeah, I think we're ready.

-You think?

-I think so.

-All right.

Oh!

-Hey, look at what you caught.

-Whoa!

-Not bad!

-Not bad, yeah.

-Look at that, huh?

-Hey.

-All right.

-And this -- this is like winnings, right?

You know, you shake it, see what you got.

-It is.

-This begins at childhood, where we see what's in the bucket and just dump it out.

You're just living your childhood here.

-It is.

-I've been calling it clamming, but what we've really done today is quahogging.

-Correct.

Correct.

Quahogging.

[kwa-hogging] Not quahogging [ko-hogging], quahogging.

[kwa-hogging] Q-U-A, like "quarter."

Qua -- Quahog.

-So it's not -- I say quahog.

[ko-hog] -It's not quahog.

[ko-hog] -No?

Get out.

-No.

Oh, oh, no.

A lot of folks are saying it incorrectly.

-Okay.

[ Both laugh ] Quahog.

[kwa-hog] -Quahog.

[kwa-hog] -Quahog, quahog.

[kwa-hog] -Yep, quahog.

[kwa-hog] Are we done?

Let's go eat.

[ Both laugh ] -I heard you were out in the water... -Ah, yes.

-...looking for these?

-Yes, yes.

I did a pretty good job, too.

-That's hard work, isn't it?

-It is hard work.

-That's why I don't do it.

-I'm glad I'm here.

-It's very hard work.

-This is lovely.

I'm following up my quahogging adventure on the grounds of Fort Adams State Park on Narragansett Bay, where chef T.R.

McGrath has invited me to my very first ever New England clambake.

And T.R.

should know.

His grandfather's business was staging clambakes in these parts 70 years ago.

The clambake needs about three hours of prepping and cooking time, and the first step is heating up the rocks that are the sole heat source.

-Our rocks are nice and hot right now.

-Yeah.

-And we're going to put our seaweed down on top of the hot rocks.

And the saltwater that's inside of this is going to come up as steam.

So that's what's cooking our food.

-And it's flavoring it.

-Right.

-You are famous for doing these clambakes in these parts.

How many people can you feed in a clambake?

-That's good.

The biggest one we've done is 1,000.

-1,000?

-My father wants to go in for 2,000.

-Oh, my God.

[ Seaweed crackling ] Oh, hear that popping?

That sounds great.

-Yeah.

That's it.

-Wow.

-So it's not like a -- you know, you think of Southern barbecue, and you're looking for like a dry smoke, like a wood taste.

We're going to get all of our flavor from the seaweed.

-And you're going to layer them, right?

-Right.

-You stack them as well?

-So, obviously, our potatoes and corn, they might take a little longer, so we're going to put that sort of in the center of the fire where we're going to get our most heat.

So, we're going to want to do this quick because we want to cover it in with all the damp canvas and capture that steam for the whole cooking process.

-Okay.

-And we're going to put a whole bunch of these on.

-How many?

-About 10 or 12.

-10 or 12.

Wow.

Well, it's so celebratory.

-Yeah.

And you need people to put it on to do all that work, but then you need a lot of people to help eat.

[ Bell rings ] [ Crowd cheers ] All right?

-Oh!

Oh, my gosh!

-Newport is a fantastic place to visit because you can learn a lot about history.

There are a variety of different styles of architecture, from Gilded Age going back to the colonial era.

It is a fantastic ocean state.

We are right on the water.

Narragansett Bay is the heart of Rhode Island.

It's a beautiful place to fish... -She's doing better than we are.

-...a great place to sail.

This is the sailing capital of the world, after all.

And on top of everything else, there's great food.

-[ Gasps ] There she is.

Oh!

[ Snickers ] -Newport is one of the most walkable communities in America.

Park your car, get out of your car, and you'll have an opportunity to walk to the Gilded Age mansions to the center of town, the colonial community.

We hope visitors come and enjoy that opportunity.

-Now, I'm eating the lobster with my hands.

Do I eat everything with my hands?

Like, do I just pick up the sausage and eat it?

Or should I use a fork?

-Everything with your hands.

-Everything with your hands.

Right?

-Just leave... -Right.

What is this thing?

I don't know.

-We have the best shellfish in the world.

I'm sorry, I'm biased, but we have the best shellfish in the world.

-How's the lobster, gang?

-Oh, my gosh.

So, so good.

-The best way to have lobster.

-And I'm about to have the tail, which you said... -That's my favorite.

-...it's more flaky?

-Yeah.

Much more tender.

-Oh, my gosh.

-Very good, huh?

-Totally different.

Melts in your mouth.

-Because of the hard work from the guys, my friends, that come out here day in and day out, 12 months a year.

-When you enjoy an abundance of food, of beautiful places, and a rich history well documented and cared for, when you realize how you deeply benefit from people's passionate efforts, that is when we share a love of travel.

And that's why Newport, Rhode Island, is a place to love.

-For more information about this and other episodes, destination guides, or links to follow me on social media, log on to placestolove.com.

Samantha Brown's "Places to Love" was made possible by... [ Birds chirping ] -Oceania Cruises is a proud sponsor of public TV and "Samantha Brown's Places to Love."

Sailing to more than 600 destinations around the globe, from Europe to Asia and Alaska to the South Pacific.

Oceania Cruises offers gourmet dining and curated travel experiences aboard boutique, hotel-style ships that carry no more than 1,250 guests.

Oceania Cruises.

Your world, your way.