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Winter on the Conway Scenic Railroad
FEATURED: History, Holiday Magic, and a Season Full of Special Excursions
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Ever since I was a kid growing up on the North Shore of Massachusetts, Halloween has felt like the best kind of riddle—one that unwraps in the hush between the leaves, or in a lantern's glow against colonial brick. That deep-seated curiosity for history, mystery, and the warm thrill of a good ghost story continues to guide me, especially when I return to Newport, Rhode Island—an elegantly haunted port city where every lamppost and gravestone seems to whisper.
In this piece, let’s walk together through Newport’s darkly beautiful legacy—through narrow lanes, under spire-lit skies, and amid stones that have witnessed centuries of history.
For over two decades, Ghost Tours of Newport, RI has offered what they proudly call the original walking ghost tour in the city, and it remains, quite simply, extraordinary. Beginning inside the lobby of the Newport Marriott—under a chandelier and next to the Mainsail Restaurant—your guide awaits, clad in black and carrying a lantern that promises more than illumination: it promises stories.
This Olde Town Ghost Walk snakes through Newport’s oldest and most haunted corners—the city where colonial ambition met tragedy, where sea captains met rumor, and where the moans of memory to this day echo between bricks. Its history spoken with theatrical flair and researched with care—nearly 400 years of legend, folklore, and documented spectral sightings distilled into walking steps under the night sky.
White Horse Tavern
Steeped in years even before the Revolution, the White Horse Tavern stands as America’s oldest bar—a place where pirates argued with patriots, and where at least one spirit still lingers. Built in 1652 and converted into a tavern in 1672, the tavern saw everything from clandestine colonial court sessions to high-stakes gossip over rum. Today, diners whisper of a shabby figure in colonial garb, seen near the fireplace or lurking in the mirror—perhaps the restless echo of a traveler felled by smallpox.
Olde Town Lantern Walk Through Newport’s Historic District
As your lantern moves, so does the story. Marvel at the glow on Trinity Church, the oldest parish church in Rhode Island, and pause where Touro Synagogue, the oldest synagogue in the Western Hemisphere, rests in silence—but not in peace. At each turn, you pass the Old Colony House, Hunter House, and more—each with its own layers of rumor and resonance.
Graveyard Reflections
Ghost tours often guide their footsteps into the city’s historic burial grounds, where stones worn by centuries offer the hush of remembrance. The Common Burying Ground and Island Cemetery (begun in 1665) holds over 5,000 graves—including an early African American burial area known reverently as “God’s Little Acre”. Nearby, the Arnold Burying Ground, established in 1677, is the final resting place of Rhode Island’s Royal Charter Governor, Benedict Arnold—not to be confused with the traitor of Revolution-era fame.
Not far away lies the remarkably quiet Clifton Burying Ground, a Quaker cemetery dating from 1675, where colonial governors rest under medallions that mark both power and mortality. And the Coddington Cemetery, founded in 1647, is an even older testament to colonial heritage—with markers for many governors and early settlers.
As the guide shares tales—some whispered, some recorded—one senses that Newport is a city of economies built on trade and tombs. Easton’s Point, one of Newport’s oldest neighborhoods, witnessed the execution of 26 pirates in 1723—the largest mass execution in American history—with bodies buried on Goat Island, a stone’s throw away. Imagine the sea, the moan of waves, and the plotted paths of ships colliding with legend.
It's the total package: a historic district designated in 1968, where colonial homes, early political halls like the Old Colony House, and the Trinity spire exist in harmony with the tide and memory.
As a Halloween-loving kid from the North Shore, this is what I dreamed of—spooky stories told live, among stones older than anything in my hometown. The thrill wasn’t in the fright, but the connection: to history, to place, and to the same lantern-lit curiosity that made me press my nose to museum windows back in the day.
Newport’s ghostly walks don’t just show you haunted places, they invite you to feel the city’s pulse—the rustle of colonial leaves, the soft footstep of long-gone sailors beneath lamp glow, the memory held in every gravestone.
Newport’s ghost tours offer more than spectral thrills—they are history with heartbeat. These experiences don’t blankly retell facts; they layer voices—ancient and modern—into your Halloween memory. They remind us that nostalgia moves through place, that architecture absorbs story, and that the spooky season isn’t about fear—it’s about how deeply the past lives with us.
