Issue:
July/August 2005

Text:
Matthew Peyton and Alex Weiner

Photography:
Matthew Peyton

Geographic Region:
RI, USA

Pages:
46 - 54

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Day One: Watch Hill
The clouds retreat as I cross the Connecticut border into Rhode Island. Hopping off I-95 in this southwestern corner, I head south on Route 3 through Ashaway and Westerly, then work my way on Route 1A up the coast to Newport. My goal for today is to photograph the town of Watch Hill, but the sun is already sinking in the sky. A few other riders are about: a lovely postwar BMW with a sidecar passes in the other direction. The goggled rider and passenger offer salutes in de rigueur black leather.

Come back and play with me, I whisper.

My first stop in Watch Hill is the Ocean House Hotel, recommended by my father-in-law. It's 136 years old, and a landmark hotel for over a century. With white-gloved waiters, historic architecture, and elegant ballrooms, it's out of fashion, but I stop to ask if I might book lodging for the night anyway. They tell me it's under renovation – although it's due to reopen in the fall of 2005.

I ride back to Watch Hill's Main Street to photograph the marina. It's Sunday and Watch Hill is very quiet. The whitewashed, clapboard storefronts and seafood restaurants present a quintessential New England coastal scene. I almost expect to hear old sea chanteys or to see spectral visions of Ahab and Moby (the cetacean, not the singer) rising from the waves. Rain can come at any minute, an old woman warns me from her perch in a donut shop....