Newport RI Real Estate Blog - Leslie Hogan

Flood Insurance in RI: The Changing Waterfront

Bowen's Wharf, Newport, 10/29/12

RI FLOOD INSURANCE UPENDED

Flood risk across the country, particularly in coastal areas like Newport, RI is on the rise.  The Beggert-Waters Act of 2012, resulted in the redrawing of all flood insurance rate maps to reflect current elevated risks.  As a result, some properties that have never needed flood insurance are now in high risk zones, some properties are no longer insurable at all, and flood insurance rates are skyrocketing.

WHY IS THIS HAPPENING?

The Federal Government's flood insurance program has lost $19 billion in recent years. To continue to have a viable flood insurance program, the government plans to make those who have the risk pay for it.  As a first step, all of the flood maps are being…

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Ocean Drive, Rhode Island Luxury Home Video

Luxurious Ocean Drive Home at 18 Winans Av, Newport, Rhode Island, 02840 - MLS® #1027978

View the video for this incredible ocean view Cape Cod home on Ocean Drive that includes deeded beach rights on a half acre lot.

Get more information about this Ocean Drive home, or feel free to contact us with any questions you may have.

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Newport Winter Festival's Illuminated Garden at Ballard Park

UFO Display by Newport Boys & Girls Club

You could be forgiven for thinking we Newporters hibernate all winter with nothing to do.  You would be sorely mistaken, however, as winter activities abound here, including one of my glittery favorites, the Annual Illuminated Garden at Ballard Park which will take place February 21st, 22nd and 23rd from 6:00 - 9:00 PM.

Ballard Park is Newport's only nature Preserve.  It is supported by an active non-profit group, and every February the Friends of Ballard Park collect old Christmas lights, yards of extension cords, lampshades and other artsy materials in preparation for a really big outdoor show.  Local school groups, companies, artists, teachers and, well, just about anybody who wants to create a dazzling…

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Astors' Beechwood Takes Shape as Larry Ellison Art Museum

Restoration of Astor's Beechwood underway 12/30/12

on Bellevue Avenue, Newport, RI

Yesterday, while cruising down Newport's Bellevue Avenue, I glanced over at Astors' Beechwood and, much to my surprise, it wasn't there!  After a quick double take I realized the big, beige Italiante mansion WAS in fact there, but it was no longer the cream-colored wedding-cake-of-a-house I remembered, but rather a somber red brick edifice with pale quoining along the corners and roof line.

It's a temporary look, as plans call for the reapplication of the stucco, but the mansion's current "nakedness" combined with the wintery, leafless landscape accentuates the dignity of the original architecture.

Astors' Beechwood is undergoing a complete restoration thanks…

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Newport's Hopedene Sold Today for $16M

Hopedene, Newport, RI, sold $16M 12/19/12

It was another stellar day for Newport, RI luxury real estate as word spread that Gustave White Sotheby's brokered the sale of Hopedene for $16M. The sale was Rhode Island's highest recorded sale this year and the second highest ever. 

Located on Cliff Avenue with a sweeping lawn and stunning views of First Beach and the Atlantic, Hopedene was designed by Peabody and Stearns and completed in 1902 for Elizabeth Hope Gammell Slater.

Interior designer Ogden Codman, Jr. built an addition in 1913 and redesigned the Georgian Revival mansion when Charles P. Patterson, a NY antiques dealer purchased the home.

When he died, Mr. Patterson left Hopedene to Newport's Preservation Society and in 1983 Britty Cudlip…

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Coffee's, The Bensons & other Newport Rock Stars

This recent text exchange between my daughter and me got me thinking about celebrity (Secret: I don't know who Orlando Jones is!) and the exceptional people who work quietly among us here in Newport. Here are a couple who come to mind.

I brought my car to Coffee's Texaco for a tire change the other day. Neal Coffee said it would be ready in an hour, so I walked through Washington Square to Ocean Coffee Roasters to kill some time.

Coffee's Citgo has occupied a triangular patch of historic Newport for as long as I can remember.  You have to pass it on your way out of town.  He sells 3 or 4 used cars on a small section of the lot, offers parking on busy summer days, distributes doggie treats to canine passers by and fixes all kinds of cars all year…

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The Perfect Tree House: A Play House for Your Kids

Most children, at one time or another, dream of the perfect tree house. A place that they can hang out with friends and decorate to their liking - a place to call their own. If you have children, you may have at one time thought about building a play house for your kids.

Below are some charming, some amazing, and some truly creative play houses. Happy dreaming!

Simple Tree House Designs

If you are looking for simpler designs, something that will take an afternoon, not a summer, to complete, check out these cute tree house designs.

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Rhode Island Coal Mines at Carnegie Abbey Golf Resort

Portsmouth, RI Coal Mine

COAL MINES BENEATH CARNEGIE ABBEY GOLF COURSE

PORTSMOUTH, RI - Most golfers at Carnegie Abbey Club are unaware that the water used to irrigate the golf course comes from miles and miles of abandoned coal mines running east/west from Narragansett Bay to East Main Rd. and north/south from Portsmouth town hall and to Melville Marina.  Today, the mines contain an estimated 400 million gallons of fresh water. Carnegie Abbey's original developer briefly considered bottling this fresh water under a private Carnegie Abbey label. 

HISTORY OF MINING PORTSMOUTH RI

In the early 19th century they were teeming with men and mules mining coal to fuel America's industrial revolution. The mules hauled the coal bins in and out of the…

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Newport Mansion Stories: Afternoons with Mrs. Firestone

I married into a family of native Newporters descended from the European immigrants who worked in Newport's mansions.  As I result, I have heard many amazing stories about Newport's gilded age families.  Among my favorites are my husband Paul's recollections of Elizabeth Parke Firestone and his visits to her Newport, RI Firestone Estate, Ocean Lawn. 

After her husband died, Mrs. Firestone (a.k.a Betty) summered alone at Ocean Lawn, a sprawling 1888 Peabody & Stearns mansion overlooking the water on the corner of Narragansett Avenue and Cliff Walk. She was the widow of the late Harvey Firestone, Jr., son of the founder of Firestone Tire. 

In those days, Mrs. Firestone didn't get out much, but she enjoyed a little sherry and conversation with…

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A Newport Story: The Horse in the Foyer

A Cautionary Tale: Don't bring the horse in the house.

Like many historic towns, Newport, RI has a rich oral history. My father in law, the late John Hogan, was a great story teller.  In addition to being a life long Newporter, he worked for many years as a docent in the mansions. Tales about Newport families - wealthy ones and everyday people - would just spill out of him whenever we visited. I wish he had been a blogger because many of those stories will be lost over time. Here's one of his more memorable urban legends:

Sometime in the last mid-century, a family lived in a big, beautiful house on Old Beach Road in the Kay Catherine section of Newport.  They had a barn out back where the family horse resided.  One exceptionally cold Christmas Eve,…

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