Two Days Around the Bay
You could see Beavertail Light from the beach I grew up going to. The beam coming around over the water, whether anyone was watching or not.
There are four places stitched into these pieces. Small italic numbers under the monogram, on the chest. They are coordinates, and every one of them is somewhere I have actually been.
People ask whether you can do all four in a day.
You can. It is a lot, and I would not recommend it. They come in two pairs, and once you see the pairs, the Bay makes more sense.
Beavertail, then Newport
41.45 N, 71.40 W · 41.49 N, 71.31 W
Start at the lighthouse, and go early.
Beavertail is not a destination. It is a place to get out of the car. You look at the water, and you stay longer than you meant to. Go in bad weather if you ever get the chance. The waves come in hard against the rocks and you will leave in awe of Mother Nature.
On the way back through Jamestown, Narragansett Avenue is where you stop. East Ferry Market & Deli sits at the end of it looking straight out at the water, and it is the right place for a sandwich or a coffee. The Narragansett Cafe is on the same street. It is a dive bar and a good one, and it has no interest in being anything else.
Then Newport, for dinner.
The Wave is at that corner. Bronze, feet kicking out of the water. It has been there every time I have gone to Newport since I was a child, and I still stop at it. It makes a good photograph. It also tells you where you are, because it announces the start of Thames Street.
After that it is crowds, and the smell of the ocean, and the docks, and every restaurant and bar along the way.
Narragansett, then Wickford
41.44 N, 71.46 W · 41.57 N, 71.45 W
I took surf lessons at the end of Narragansett Town Beach as a kid. A friend took them with me, and both sets of parents sat up on the sand and watched. The waves were gentle but big. That is how I remember them.
It was not the beach of my childhood, exactly. It was the beach down the street. We went occasionally, with friends.
The Coast Guard House is right there. If you want good food and a view of the water you have been looking at all day, that is where you go. I have a lot of memories in that building.
Then drive north to Wickford and let the beach traffic go home without you.
Wickford was the first one I picked, before there were four of anything. It is a New England coast village, and it is the one the others are all trying to be.
Shayna’s Place for coffee or espresso. Tavern by the Sea or Wickford on the Water when it is time to eat. In between, you walk. That is the whole thing to do in Wickford, and it is enough.
Why numbers, and not names
I could have stitched the names. I thought about it.
Numbers ask more of you. A name tells you where you are. Coordinates make you look them up, or recognise them, or ask the person wearing them.
That last one is the point. If someone stops you because they know what 41.44 N, 71.46 W is, the conversation that follows will not be about a sweatshirt. It will be about the summer they learned to surf there, or a dinner at the Coast Guard House, or the drive home with the windows down.
Paul