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Rails, Sails, and New England Islands
June
4 to 13, 2010
Tour from $2399.00
For 2010, Rail Travel Center again
offers our unique tour in the Northeast, concentrating on Rhode Island,
Block Island, Nantucket Island, the Cape Cod area of southern
Massachusetts, and part of southern Connecticut. Our program is timed for
late spring, just before the major tourist influx comes to these extremely
popular destinations. The tour includes a five-night stay in Providence
RI and two nights each on Nantucket Island and in Hyannis MA.
Transportation highlights include
dinners in the diner on the
Newport Dinner Train and
the
Cape Cod Central Railroad; rides
on the
Essex Steam Train,
Shore Line Trolley Museum,
Amtrak’s 150 mph ACELA EXPRESS, Block Island Ferry, and
Hy-Line ferry to Nantucket;
and mass transit rides in Providence. All train trips on the tour ride
scenic lines once part of the vast New England empire of the New York, New
Haven and Hartford Railroad. Other attractions include touring
Newport RI,, a day on Block Island
(tour and lunch included) with free time, touring and free time on
Nantucket, and visiting
Cape Cod National
Seashore, the wonderful
Heritage Museum and
Garden in Sandwich MA, and Plimoth Plantation.
Best of all, if you book both our
“Scenic New York and Erie Canal Cruise/Tour” from June 13-22 and this
tour, you will qualify for our $75 per person Multiple Booking Discount
and we will provide connecting coach travel on Amtrak from Boston at
the end of this tour to connect with the New York tour beginning in
Syracuse on June 13 as an additional “thank you”.
Please consider joining Rail Travel
Center's popular escort Carl Whitehouse on this great spring program.
All aboard!
Day One, Friday, June 4
Independent arrivals into Providence RI. Our program
begins with independent arrivals today into Providence, Rhode Island. Our
hotel for the next five nights is the
Courtyard by Marriott Downtown
Providence in the historic Union Station Plaza, just one block from
the current Amtrak station or about 15 minutes from the airport. This was
the landmark former New Haven RR depot.
Day
Two, Saturday, June 5 (L,D)
Newport
 sightseeing: Marble
House; The Breakers; Newport Dinner Train. A short ride this morning
takes us to Newport RI. Lunch is included on arrival,
followed by tours at famous
Marble
House (built for William K. Vanderbilt in 1892) and
The
Breakers, the grandest of Newport’s summer “cottages”, built by Richard
Morris Hunt in 1893 for Cornelius Vanderbilt II.
Following a brief tour of the general area, we have free time before
boarding the
Newport Dinner Train
for a run along the shores of beautiful Narragansett Bay as we enjoy a
four-course dinner in their Budd dining cars.
Day Three, Sunday, June 6 (L)
Essex Steam Train; Shore Line Trolley Museum; Amtrak
ACELA. Our motorcoach takes us southwest today, stopping first in the
lovely village of Essex CT for a late morning ride behind steam along the
Connecticut River on the
Essex
Steam Train. Upon our return, we have a fine included luncheon at
the
Griswold Inn, a
Colonial
 inn
operating since 1776. The Griswold claims to be America’s oldest
continuously operated inn, although the Beekman Arms in Rhinebeck NY makes
a similar claim! There is free time to walk, shop or make an optional
visit to the
Connecticut River
Museum in the village before we depart for the
Shore Line Trolley Museum.
Here we can visit the museum itself, which contains almost 100 historic
U.S. and Canadian trolleys, and ride a three-mile line (the last portion
of the Branford Electric Railway in operation) on an historic trolley. Our
day concludes with a ride on Amtrak’s
ACELA EXPRESS high-speed train
from New Haven to Providence, a ride of approximately
one-and-one-half hours. We reach speeds of 150mph as we follow the very
scenic former New Haven “Shoreline” along the coastline of the Long Island
Sound and Narragansett Bay.
Day Four, Monday, June 7 (L)
Day trip to Block
Island.
We depart this morning from Point Judith RI for a 30-minute
high speed ferry trip to Old Harbor on
Block Island. We then tour the
Island, learning about its history and current life on this detached part
of Rhode Island. Our day includes a visit to the Block Island Historical
Society, an oceanside lunch, and free time in Old Harbor before our return
ferry trip later in the afternoon. Block Island has a matchless Victorian
feel and seems like a place lost in time.
Day Five, Tuesday, June 8
Free day in
Providence. Everyone on the tour is provided with a LINK trackless
trolley pass for today, which allows visits to many of the important sites
in Providence. The Gold Line in the Capitol Hill area stops at the Amtrak
station; the State House (which contains a painting of George Washington
by Gilbert Stuart, the original 1663 Royal Charter granted by King Charles
II of England and other objects of interest); and Waterplace Park, a
four-acre park in the city center which hosts WaterFire on some evenings.
The Green Line includes Restaurant Row, the Eastside Marketplace, the
First Baptist Church in America (established 1638 and housed in a 1775
structure with a 1792 Waterford crystal chandelier), and the famous Rhode
Island School of Design. The
Museum of Art at the Rhode Island School of Design contains over
80,000 works of art and is well worth the visit! The Gold and Green Lines
join at Kennedy Plaza, within walking distance a few blocks from our
hotel.
Day Six, Wednesday, June 9 (D)
Motorcoach to Hyannis; ferry to Nantucket. This morning
our motorcoach transfers us to Hyannis MA for the noon fast ferry to
Nantucket, with optional lunch available on the ferry. Upon arrival on
Nantucket, we (and our luggage) are transferred to our hotel for the next
two nights, the charming
Nantucket
Inn.
This property has both indoor and outdoor swimming pools, an
exercise center, tennis courts, billiards and bicycle rentals. We are
located about three miles outside the village, so the hotel provides
complimentary hourly transfers to/from town or Surfside Beach. We have
free time this afternoon before an included dinner at A. K. Diamond’s
restaurant.
Day Seven, Thursday, June 10 (B)
Tour of Nantucket and free time. Following a lovely
included breakfast buffet, we have a mid-morning tour of Nantucket Island,
ending by mid-day. The afternoon is ours to explore on our own. Nantucket
has a number of historic sites, shops and restaurants. We have included
History Passes on this tour which allow free visits to the spectacular new
Whaling Museum, the
historic
Hadwen House, the
Oldest House, the Old Mill, the
Old Gaol (jail), the Quaker Meeting House and the Fire Hose Cart
House (fire equipment). The Historical Association also offers walking
tours of downtown Nantucket at an optional cost. An inexpensive bus
service is available to visit areas outside the village.
Day
Eight, Friday, June 11 (B,L)
Cape Cod National Seashore. Following our breakfast buffet, we are transferred to
the Nantucket ferry dock and ride the ferry back to Hyannis, where our
motorcoach meets us. We then drive the
Cape Cod National
Seashore, with box lunches included, stopping at points of interest en
route. The Seashore stretches for forty miles along Cape Cod, consisting
of towering sand dunes, forests, cliffs and marshlands. Cottages,
lighthouses and villages are found along the route. In
late afternoon we return to Hyannis, where we stay two nights at the
Holiday Inn Hyannis. Dinner is on our own this evening.
Day Nine, Saturday, June 12 (D)
Heritage Museums and Gardens;
Plimoth Plantation; dinner on the Cape Cod Central Railroad.
This morning we make a very short drive to Sandwich MA to
visit
Heritage Museums and
Gardens, which specializes in American history and art. A replica
Shaker round barn houses a wonderful collection of antique automobiles
including a Cord 812 Phaeton, a Duesenberg Model J, a 1962 Corvette and a
1932 Auburn 8-100A Boattail Speedster. A working hand-carved carousel,
Nantucket baskets, scrimshaw and numerous art works are located in the Art
Museum; and the American History Museum includes antique toys, military
miniatures and Native American artifacts. Paths and a shuttle service
provide access to the 100-acre site which includes gardens, nature trails,
a maze and an old mill. Optional lunches are available on site. 
We then continue on to Plymouth MA and
visit Plimoth Plantation, a fine
living history museum depicting both the 17th century English
settlement established nearby and the Wampanoag Indian culture. Here we
learn the reality of life for the Pilgrims in that time. Agriculture and
crafts of the period also are presented. Returning to Hyannis, we have
time to freshen up at our hotel before our Farewell Dinner on the
Cape Cod Central Railroad. Our
journey of three hours takes us along the Cape Cod Canal and across the
historic Cape Cod Canal railroad bridge to Buzzards Bay. We pass
cranberry bogs, marshes and sand dunes while enjoying a five-course
meal in the dining car. Our diesel-powered train follows 23 miles of
original trackage on the Old Colony Railroad.
Day Ten, Sunday, June 13
Tour ends.
This morning we depart on our chartered motorcoach back to
Providence, where we provide drops at the Amtrak Station and the
Providence airport for flights/trains leaving after noon.
TOUR PRICES include all hotels; tour manager
services; admissions; meals noted as included above; rail, motorcoach and
ferry transportation; and luggage handling from arrival at our hotel on
Day One to drop-offs at Amtrak and the Providence airport on Day Ten. Not
included are connecting transportation to/from Providence, other meals,
alcoholic beverages and items of a personal nature.
$ 2399.00 per person, double occupancy
$ 2999.00 single occupancy
Conditions and Booking Information (the fine
print)
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