Newport Quotes

“The time must come when this coast (Cape Cod) will be a place of resort for those New-Englanders who really wish to visit the sea-side. At present it is wholly unknown to the fashionable world, and probably it will never be agreeable to them. If it is merely a ten-pin alley, or a circular railway, or an ocean of mint-julep, that the visitor is in search of, — if he thinks more of the wine than the brine, as I suspect some do at Newport, — I trust that for a long time he will be disappointed here. But this shore will never be more attractive than it is now.”
― Henry David Thoreau, Cape Cod

“Lafayette took umbrage - just gobs and gobs of umbrage - at the patriots' vilification of his countrymen for leaving Newport.”
― Sarah Vowell, Lafayette in the Somewhat United States

“When her husband recovered, it was to shout abusively at her…. Later, when she reflected on it throughout the tedious courtroom proceedings, she realized this was the moment she had irrevocably determined to divorce her husband.”
― Jean Elson, Gross Misbehavior and Wickedness: A Notorious Divorce in Early Twentieth-Century America

“Nina could scarcely believe a house could be as quiet as the one on Washington Street. Although there were moments when she missed her children, her main response to living apart from her husband was relief…[H]er current solitude was not just a respite, it was a time to contemplate her future options. Nina marveled that she had choices to consider.”
― Jean Elson, Gross Misbehavior and Wickedness: A Notorious Divorce in Early Twentieth-Century America

“Leaving James was not something Nina had thought possible, but if she could do so and still keep her children, it might be better for them, as well as for her.”
― Jean Elson, Gross Misbehavior and Wickedness: A Notorious Divorce in Early Twentieth-Century America

“If they could not prove adultery or extreme cruelty, Nina's attorneys had an alternate strategy available. Rhode Island was unique in allowing divorce based upon other, more ambiguous grounds, as well...[as] an omnibus clause in the state's legal code authorized divorce based upon..."gross misbehavior and wickedness in either of the parties repugnant to and inconsistent with the marriage contract"...the relative vagueness of the terms "gross misbehavior and wickedness" left room for interpretation by Rhode Island judges. Therefore, it was crucial NIna's attorneys prove she had legitimate standing to file for divorce in Rhode Island.”
― Jean Elson, Gross Misbehavior and Wickedness: A Notorious Divorce in Early Twentieth-Century America

“As a hedge against possible failure to prove adultery, this alleged “that for a period of time from 1901 and continuing thereafter he [had] kept up and continued an undue, improper, indecorous and licentious association and intimacy with a woman, named Mabel Cochrane, many years his junior, and of questionable character and immoral habits.”[i] Furthermore, Nina accused James of “bestowing upon and receiving marked and improper attention” beginning in the fall of 1901, “indulging in undue and improper familiarity and intimacy” with Mabel Cochrane.”
― Jean Elson, Gross Misbehavior and Wickedness: A Notorious Divorce in Early Twentieth-Century America

“If there was one thing I understood about Katie, it was that she came to this country after a childhood defined by the kind of poverty the poorest American could scarcely imagine.”
― Alyssa Maxwell, Murder at Ochre Court