2004 Conference Special Tours

All-Conference Transit Pass

Thursday-Saturday (highly recommended) Cost: $7

Take RIPTA trolleys and buses all over historic Newport for the duration of the conference - useful for gallery-hopping, sightseeing and transport to evening talks.

Optional Tours

Advance registration required; space limited
Boat tours are weather permitting; dress warmly

TOUR A - PROVIDENCE (tour full, waiting list only)
10 am - 4 pm Thursday, Cost: $15

Includes 40-minute (each way) bus ride, reception at Rhode Island School of Design, admission to RISD Museum, and access to galleries. Bus stops twice, once at Gallery Z and once at RISD, and will return from RISD in time for Caucus Meetings and Welcome Reception back in Newport. Group exhibit on Place curated by Jan Howard of the RISD Museum; view other gems from the collection. Lunchtime reception from 11:30-2:30. Walking tour of famous RISD photography department facilities & galleries. Siskind/ Callahan film. Walk to other galleries on historic streets of Providence. Restaurants nearby.

TOUR B - SEAL WATCH ON NARRAGANSETT BAY
3-5 pm Thursday, limit 25, Cost: $20

March is the best time to view the Bay’s harbor seals along the shoreline at low tide. This is a narrated natural history tour on a Save the Bay motor launch. We’ll visit a few sites in the harbor area. Bring long lenses and binoculars. Back in time for the Welcome Reception.

TOUR C - BEAVERTAIL RUN & SHOOT
6:30-8:30 am Saturday, limit 40, Cost: $7

Includes 20-minute shuttle, bridge toll, coffee & bagels. Get out early for a breathtaking run and/or photography at one of the most beautiful spots in New England, Beavertail Point State Park on the nearby island of Jamestown. There’s a safe one-mile paved loop, a longer road for distance runners, a historic lighthouse, crashing waves, and rocky coastline. The Lighthouse Museum will be open to warm up and view an exhibit of local photographs. Back in time for morning programming. (Optional box breakfast $10.)

TOUR D - ROSE ISLAND & HARBOR TOUR (tour full, waiting list only)
12-2 pm Saturday, limit 25, Cost: $20

A short boat ride to Rose Island takes you to a nature preserve and a quaint lighthouse in the Bay. Great photography and birdwatching, and a brief tour of the restored lighthouse interior. Return trip will take you past Newport Harbor mansions and sights. Via Save the Bay motor launch. (Optional box lunch $10.)

TOUR E - PRIMITIVE LANDSCAPE WORKSHOP (tour full, waiting list only)
12-3 pm Saturday, limit 12, Cost: $45

Includes materials. Overlaps some programming.
Trip to nearby Norman Bird Sanctuary for low-tech outdoor photography. Beautiful preserve with ponds, woods, rocks, birds. Printing-out paper, pinhole Polaroid. Advance handout will tell you what to bring. Instructors to be announced. Weather permitting. (Optional box lunch $10.)

WALKING TOURS OF HISTORIC NEWPORT ARCHITECTURE
Various times, weather permitting. FREE Walking Tours of Newport architecture by historian James Yarnall of Salve Regina University. Sign up at Registration and meet there at appointed times.

FRIDAY 12:15-1 PM
Washington Square marks the cradle of Newport and has some of the best 18th- century Georgian architecture in New England. This tour will take visitors by the Brick Market and Colony House with glimpses of fine examples of merchant mansions and churches dating to the decades before the American Revolution--the era known as Newport's "Golden Age" when the city was one of the five largest and most prosperous in the Colonies.

SATURDAY 12-2
The Cliff Walk is one of Newport's most famous scenic sites. This jaunt will take participants from the famous Forty Steps to the even more famous Breakers, with discussion of several other famous mansions that abut the Cliff Walk. We will pay a special visit to the interior of Ochre Court, now the administration building of Salve Regina University, and one of Richard Morris Hunt's most lavish Gilded-Age mansions. Lunch available at Salve cafeteria.

To check on availability for tours or to register by phone, please contact Hannah Frieser at 940/383-1441. You may also fax your registration with creditcard information (Mastercard/Visa) to the same number (phone/fax).”