Erin M Cole Photography — RHODE ISLAND ROAD TRIP

A couple months ago Travis sent met a link that a friend had shared on facebook, the link was a promo video for a chicken place called Winner Winner Chicken Dinner. He said "think we need to make up an excuse to get close to this place and try it out". I said "why not go JUST for the chicken" It totally made sense to drive 363 miles for some really good fried chicken but just in case that seemed strange to some people, I decided to make us look a little less food "greedy" by adding some stops along the way.

We left on a Thursday afternoon and headed to Danbury, CT to stay the night. I had read online that there was an abandoned castle, but didn't tell my husband that there were no recent photos and tons of articles about it being torn down. I really wasn't sure if it even existed or if we could "legally" explore the area but the next morning we set off to try and find it. The castle's name is Hearthstone Castle It was built in 1895 and first known as "Sanford Castle", Hearthstone was designed by architect Ernest G. W. Dietrich for its first owner, E. Starr Sanford, a noted portrait photographer (no wonder I was so drawn to this place). The castle was intended to be a honeymoon "cottage" for Sanford's wife. It took a bit of navigating to find the beginning of the dirt path that may or may not lead to this castle but we found it and started walking through the woods not knowing what we would find. After only a few minutes of walking I spoted the very top of the castle peaking from behind the trees, it was so exciting and spectacular to see.

We spent some time waking around and exploring but anyone visiting this place needs to be very careful, the floor boards are completely rotten and mostly broken so I would not advise going in or climbing around like we did, I mean like we definitely didn't do.

The Castle is located on the grounds of Tarrywile Park and is also close to the Tarrywile Park Mansion a beautiful wedding venue. I would absolutely love to photograph a wedding here someday I can only imagine how beautiful a bridal couple would look walking down this grape vine arbor

I decided to test it out.

We left Danbury and continued to New London, CT for lunch at Fred's Shanty, the cutest little fish shack along the water. The fish and fries were so good and you can't beat the view.

We left New London, Ct and headed to Newport, Rhode Island. It's amazing how fast a long car ride goes when you don't have any little ones asking "are we there yet" every 30 minutes. We arrived Friday Afternoon.

We checked in at the Harborside Inn which is right off of Thames Street, the main street in Newport where all the hustle and bustle is and also just happened to be around the corner from Winner Winner Chicken Dinner. The Inn was beautiful! So quaint and right on the water. Most rooms have French doors leading out to little balconies with views of the water or the city. Everyone was super hospitable and they offered a complimentary breakfast.

That night we ate at the Wharf Southern Kitchen and Whiskey Bar I had the Seafood Jambalaya, it was my first craw fish experience and it was absolutely AMAZING.

The next day was the day I was most excited about, I had booked a tour of Newport with Newport Classic Car Tours but first it was time for some of that chicken that got us here in the first place.

We came, we saw, we ate, and it was worth the drive. Everything tasted just as good as it looked! Now time for some site seeing.

The tour was fabulous and we felt like celebrities driving by all the mansions and in this fabulous 1924 white Studebaker convertible.

Newport has so much history, this is the church where JFK and Jackie O. were married! Saint Mary’s Church. The wedding photographer in me just had to look at images on google to find the door they came out of as husband and wife, it was this door!!! Can’t you just picture it.

Washington Square, The Colony House. Rhode Island was the first state to declare independence. The balcony is where the declaration of independence was read.