Fort Adams State Park: From Cannonballs to Guitar Strings
Fort Adams State Park: From Cannonballs to Guitar Strings
Although the last active soldier left Fort Adams in 1950, the Fort remains a lively destination for modern-day visitors. The Fort stands apart from her neighbors along Bellevue Avenue for several reasons. If you happen to be a yachting enthusiast, Fort Adams will especially enthrall you with her exhibits featuring the Fort Adams Sailing Association. If you're a music lover, the traditional, yearly Newport Jazz Festival and JVC Jazz festival will catch your fancy for certain.
Strategically situated at the mouth of Newport Harbor, Fort Adams guarded the harbor entrance from 1799 to 1945. It was, at the time, the largest coastal fortification in the USA. After being deeded to the state in 1965, it became a state park which plays host to many recurring summer festivals, not the least of which is the Newport Jazz Festival. It was the summer of 1954 when two local Newport jazz fans, Louis and Elaine Lorillard, decided that it was about time Jazz aficionados had a place to come together with their musical idols. They found a home for this co-mingling at the Fort, and this lasted until 1960, when local kids ran amok downtown and that was that until 1962.
Since its inception in the mid-1950s, the Newport Jazz and subsequent NVC festivals, such musical luminaries as Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, and Muddy Waters and jazz monsters like Pat Metheny, George Benson, India Arie, Joan Armatrading, and Ani DiFranco have graced the stages at Fort Adams.
Fort Adams is a strangely perfect backdrop for the current festival --the JVC, as it's now become. An eclectic blend of jazz and folk music, the NVC festival is arguably the classiest summertime highlight of the New England coast. Pretty cool for a former military base. Of course, this time you'll be visiting Fort Adams by tour bus, but next time --and you will want to return-- you can get to the Fort via water taxi from downtown Newport.
Although the last active soldier left Fort Adams in 1950, the Fort remains a lively destination for modern-day visitors. The Fort stands apart from her neighbors along Bellevue Avenue for several reasons. If you happen to be a yachting enthusiast, Fort Adams will especially enthrall you with her exhibits featuring the Fort Adams Sailing Association. If you're a music lover, the traditional, yearly Newport Jazz Festival and JVC Jazz festival will catch your fancy for certain.
Strategically situated at the mouth of Newport Harbor, Fort Adams guarded the harbor entrance from 1799 to 1945. It was, at the time, the largest coastal fortification in the USA. After being deeded to the state in 1965, it became a state park which plays host to many recurring summer festivals, not the least of which is the Newport Jazz Festival. It was the summer of 1954 when two local Newport jazz fans, Louis and Elaine Lorillard, decided that it was about time Jazz aficionados had a place to come together with their musical idols. They found a home for this co-mingling at the Fort, and this lasted until 1960, when local kids ran amok downtown and that was that until 1962.
Since its inception in the mid-1950s, the Newport Jazz and subsequent NVC festivals, such musical luminaries as Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, and Muddy Waters and jazz monsters like Pat Metheny, George Benson, India Arie, Joan Armatrading, and Ani DiFranco have graced the stages at Fort Adams.
Fort Adams is a strangely perfect backdrop for the current festival --the JVC, as it's now become. An eclectic blend of jazz and folk music, the NVC festival is arguably the classiest summertime highlight of the New England coast. Pretty cool for a former military base. Of course, this time you'll be visiting Fort Adams by tour bus, but next time --and you will want to return-- you can get to the Fort via water taxi from downtown Newport.
