Early July is when Rhode Island gets in touch with its inner Texas. Between the Newport Regatta and the grass-court Hall of Fame Tennis Championships, both of which are set for the City-by-the-Sea this week, the boats are big, the serves are bigger and, Newport being Newport, outsized wealth parades around town. But that’s far too glib a generalization and overlooks a remarkable bit of civic jujitsu that has taken place over the past two decades–a turnaround that demonstrates just how enamored of the sea ordinary residents of the Ocean State really are.
Alexander Wolff