Introduction to Newportby FROMMER'SNovember 20, 2006 "City by the Sea" is the singularly unimaginative nickname an early resident unloaded on Newport. At least it was accurate, because for a time during the colonial period it rivaled Boston and even New York as a center of New World trade and prosperity. Newport occupies the southern tip of Aquidneck Island in Narragansett Bay, and is connected to the mainland by three bridges and a ferry. Wealthy industrialists, railroad tycoons, coal magnates, financiers, and robber barons were drawn to the area in the 19th century, especially between the Civil War and World War I. They bought up property at the ocean's rim to build what they called summer "cottages" -- which were in fact mansions of immoderate design and proportions patterned after European palaces. (read article)