Revolutionary Rhode Island

About Revolutionary Rhode Island Tour

It is said that good things come in small packages. Measured in square miles, Rhode Island is the smallest of American states. Forty-seven miles north to south. Thirty-seven east to west. This makes it easy for us to organize a week-long tour out of a single hotel – The Graduate (formerly the Biltmore), a gorgeous 1922 grand hotel designed in the Beaux-Arts style by the same architects behind New York’s iconic Grand Central Station. Situated in historic, booming Providence, the city Roger Williams founded as an expression of individual conscience and religious liberty. The same city renowned for the best pizza in New England; Benefit Street, lined by a mile of stunningly preserved colonial-era homes; the unique Water Fire celebration that turns downtown rivers into a blazing spectacle; Brown University and the world-famous Rhode Island School of Design (RISD).

Providence compliments the opulence of Gilded Age Newport – where we’ll visit three sumptuous homes we’ve never set foot in before, including Doris Duke’s oceanside villa Rough Point. We’ll visit Truro Synagogue, where George Washington enshrined principles of religious pluralism synonymous with Rhode Island’s 17th century founders. Nearby, America’s industrial origins are vividly preserved in the Slater Mill complex in Pawtucket. Also on the itinerary: the birthplace of famed artist Gilbert Stuart (you see his work on every dollar bill); Dwight Eisenhower’s Summer White House; hurricane swept beaches and the Age of Sail recreated at magnificent Mystic Seaport.

Bristol on Narragansett Bay provides a stunning backdrop for Blithewold Manor and Gardens, the ultimate summer estate. It may be small, but Rhode Island is full of surprises. Its outsized part in the drama of America’s founding makes it the perfect place to commemorate our nation’s 250th birthday.

Tour Itinerary

Day 1

September

Revolutionary Origins

We begin this morning in the main lobby of The Graduate Hotel in downtown Providence. First we discover Rhode Island’s dramatic beginnings, with a visit to Rhode Island founder Roger Williams National Memorial and his nearby grave. The Stephan Hopkins House introduces us to a signer of the Declaration of Independence who also played host to George Washington when he toured the state in 1791. After lunch we enjoy a driving tour of Benefit Street, a mile-long stretch of colonial-era structures, said to be the most extensive in the country. Our last stop today is The Athenæum, the unofficial cultural center of Providence known for its rare book collections and eerie association with Edgar Allen Poe. This evening a special Welcome Dinner is planned in Federal Hill, Providence’s version of Little Italy. Overnight tonight (and every night of our tour) at The Graduate.

Day 2

September

Cultural Revolution

We’ll begin the day with a guided campus tour of Brown University (founded 1764) followed by a visit to the nearby John Brown House, where we’ll learn about Rhode Island’s role in the American Revolution as well as its involvement in the slave trade. Next up, the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) and Museum, including lunch at the museum’s Pearl Café. RISD features over 100,000 works of art and design, including renowned collections from ancient Egypt and medieval Japan, 20th century American fashion, costumes, textiles and furniture from around the world. This afternoon we tour the majestic Rhode Island State House, used as a stand-in for Washington’s Capitol in Steven Spielberg’s Amistad. Dinner this evening.

Day 3

September

Wealth and Power

Newport is celebrated for its Gilded Age excess. But what drew the newly rich in pre-Civil War America to this seaside resort in the making? We’ll find out today by touring Kingscote, a Gothic Revival mansion built in 1839 as the first of the “cottages” that later found bloated expression in such waterfront palaces as Marble House and the Breakers. A visit to Fort Adams, site of the Eisenhower Summer White House, precedes lunch and the day’s highlight – Rough Point, an English manorial house originally built for the Vanderbilts and later renovated and greatly expanded by eccentric heiress Doris Duke, who fed butter cookies to a pair of pet camels named Princess and Baby – and who narrowly escaped criminal charges in the controversial death of her interior designer following a suspicious auto accident at the estate’s front gates. Dinner this evening.

Day 4

October

Industrial Revolution

After breakfast we leave Providence and make the short trip to Woonsocket where we’ll visit the unique Museum of Work and Culture, a series of hands-on exhibits and recreated settings that let us experience the various cultures that made Rhode Island an immigrant Mecca. Then on to nearby Pawtucket and Old Slater Mill. Here, under one vast roof, we immerse ourselves in the water driven origins of American industrial might. Our last stop today is the Lippitt House, home to one of Rhode Island’s most prominent political dynasties, and one of the best-preserved Victorian-era interiors in America. Back to Providence, some free time before dinner

Day 5

October

Revolution on the Water

After breakfast, an hour’s drive brings us to Mystic Seaport, a maritime Colonial Williamsburg on 19 acres, complete with working shipyard and numerous historic watercraft. Most famous among them: the 1841 whale ship Charles W. Morgan, last of its kind. Lunch at the Spouter Tavern, a recreated 19th century dining spot. In the afternoon we return by the coastal route, stopping in Watch Hill to explore Napatree Point, a sickle-shaped sandscape once home to dozens of three and four story summer houses, until one day in September, 1938, when they disappeared into the Atlantic during the Great New England Hurricane. This evening, a special treat, as we find our places in Waterplace Park to enjoy WaterFire, with some 80 wall mounted and floating braziers lighting up the night. A Waterfront Picnic is planned, and time to sample the outdoor markets before the show begins.

Day 6

October

Grand Houses

After breakfast, we make the short ride to scenic Bristol, famed for its annual Fourth of July parade – the nation’s biggest – and home to Blithewold Manor and Gardens. The sprawling turn of the century residence retains the distinctive touch of Bessie Van Winkle Mckee, the visionary owner who turned these 33 acres overlooking Narragansett Bay into the ultimate summer estate. This afternoon we’ve arranged a special tour of Linden Place, an historic Federal-style mansion built by slave trader George DeWolf in 1810. Returning to Providence, dinner this evening is on our own.

Day 7

October

Revolution in Thought and Taste

A day of contrasts. After breakfast we explore the birthplace and museum dedicated to the early American artist Gilbert Stuart, perhaps best known for his many portraits of George Washington. Next, we visit Truro Synagogue, where Washington’s visit to the nation’s oldest Jewish house of worship led to the most enduring statement of religious liberty in American history. We’ll enjoy a taste of 18th century Rhode Island at White Horse Tavern, a colonial inn that’s been serving locals and visitors alike for over 350 years. We conclude with one of Newport’s most impressive showplaces – with a twist. At The Elms we’ll enjoy a very special Backstairs Tour, dramatizing the support roles played by the downstairs staff who made the upstairs way of life possible. This evening’s Farewell Dinner is a fitting celebration of America 250.

Day 8

Additional Tour Photos

Atheneum Providence

Brown University

Elms Dining Room

Federal Hill - Providence

Fort Adams

Graduate Hotel Lobby

Graduate Hotel Room

Linden Place Bristol

Lippett House Interior

Lippett Lobby

Lippett Mansion

Napatree Point

Narragansett Bay

Narragansett Bay

Rhode Island State House

Sea and Lighthouse

Water & Fire

Tour Includes

Tour arrangements by Presidents & Patriots Historical Tours, which reserves the right to modify this itinerary in order to maintain the quality of the tour
Meeting/Departing from the lobby The Graduate by Hilton (located at 11 Dorrance St, Providence, RI 02903) on the morning of Monday, September 28, 2026 at 9:00am
Entire tour hosted and narrated by author and presidential historian Richard Norton Smith
Deposit: To maintain quality, space on this tour is limited. A $1,000.00 deposit per person is required to confirm your reservation. Reservations are accepted on a first-come, first-served basis
Cancellations are subject to loss of full tour cost unless suppliers grant exceptions
Presidents & Patriots Historical Tours is not a full-service travel agency. Tour participants can save by making their own transportation arrangements TO and FROM Providence, RI
Meals: Tour includes seven (7) breakfasts, seven (7) lunches, and six (6) dinners
Insurance: Presidents & Patriots Tours suggests highly affordable travel insurance through I Travel Insured to protect your travel investment from unforeseen circumstances. TO COMPARE PROTECTION OPTIONS YOU WILL RECEIVE A LINK VIA E-MAIL WHEN YOU REGISTER. NOTE: Travel Insurance is optional. You may obtain insurance from any provider you wish or forgo it altogether.
Deluxe transportation via climate-controlled motor coach, featuring on-board restroom, individual 110-volt power supply access (for cell phones, iPads or laptops), DVD player, as well as Wi-Fi throughout the coach
Deluxe Accommodations: The Graduate by Hilton (Sept. 28 – Oct. 5).
Balance: Final payment must be received by Presidents and Patriots Tours on or before JUNE 26, 2026
All taxes and gratuities for all group functions, including meals, guides, bellmen, and motor coach driver
All Admission fees to all historic sites, attractions and museums outlined in the itinerary
AIR TRANSPORTATION: The major airport servicing Providence is Rhode Island T. F. Green International Airport (PVD), a large airport located approximately 6.3 miles (10.2 km) south of the city center

Meet Your Host

Richard Norton Smith is a nationally recognized authority on the American presidency and a familiar face to viewers of C-SPAN, as well as The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. Following graduation from Harvard in 1975, he worked as a White House intern and a speech writer for Massachusetts Senator Edward Brooke. In 1979 he went to work for Senator Bob Dole, with whom he collaborated on several volumes of autobiography and political humor.

Smith’s first major book, Thomas E. Dewey and His Times, was a finalist for the 1983 Pulitzer Prize. He has also written An Uncommon Man: The Triumph of Herbert Hoover (1984), The Harvard Century: The Making of a University to a Nation (1986), Patriarch: George Washington and the New American Nation (1993), The Colonel: The Life and Legend of Robert R. McCormick, which received the prestigious Goldsmith Prize awarded by Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School, and has been described by Hilton Kramer as “the best book ever written about the press.” In October 2014 Random House published On His Own Terms, a monumental life of Nelson Rockefeller described by Douglas Brinkley as “one of the greatest cradle to grave biographies written in the past 50 years,” and tagged in advance by Amazon as one of the fall’s Twenty Big Books in Biography and Memoir.

Between 1987 and 2001, Mr. Smith served as Director of the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum in West Branch, Iowa; the Dwight D. Eisenhower Center in Abilene, Kansas; the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and the Reagan Center for Public Affairs in Simi Valley, California; the Gerald R. Ford Museum and Library in Grand Rapids and Ann Arbor, Michigan respectively.

In December, 2001 Mr. Smith became director of the new Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics at the University of Kansas in Lawrence. There he supervised construction of the Institute’s $11.3 million permanent home and launched a Presidential Lecture Series and other high profile programs. In October, 2003 he was appointed the first Executive Director of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, a four building complex in Springfield, Illinois. The Library opened to the public in 2004 and the Museum opened the next year.

Much in demand as a speaker, in 2009 Smith was invited by Congress to be one of two historians addressing it on the two hundred anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s birth. Earlier, millions of television viewers heard him deliver the final eulogy at Gerald Ford’s Michigan funeral, a role he repeated at Betty Ford’s request when she was laid to rest beside her husband in 2011. Smith is currently at work on a biography of President Ford. Twice a year he personally leads historical tours (www.presidentsandpatriots.com) emphasizing American presidents and history rarely found in the text books.

Book Now!

Total for 1 Traveler:	$6,885
Today's Deposit:	$1,000

Total for 2 Travelers:	$11,970
Total per Traveler:	$5,985 x 2
Today's Deposit (2 Travelers):	$2,000

Total per Traveler:	$5,985 x 2
Total for 2 Travelers:	$11,970

Trip total
Total per traveler:	$5,985 x 2
Total for 2 travelers:	$11,970

Deposit total
Deposit (per traveler):	$1,000 x 2
CC Fee:	$60.00
Today's deposit payment:	$2,060.00

Trip total
Total for 1 traveler:	$6,885.00

Deposit total
Deposit:	$1,000
CC Fee:	$30.00
Today's deposit payment:	$1,030.00

Total for 2 travelers:	$11,970.00
CC fee:	$359.10
Total trip payment:	$12,329.10

Total for 1 traveler:	$6,885.00
CC fee:	$206.55
Total trip payment:	$7,091.55

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September 28, 2026 - October 5, 2026