Newport, Rhode Island, touts a trumpeted history of sporting firsts, from the first U.S. Open championship for golf (1895) and the first U.S. outdoor polo match (around 1876) to New York Yacht Club’s first out-of-town annual regatta (1844). Fewer among us know the summer stomping grounds of America’s industrialists also birthed the first American car circuit race.
In 1900 William Kissam Vanderbilt II drove his 23-horsepower Daimler Phoenix to Aquidneck Park to race his friends in a precursor to the Vanderbilt Cup. Nick Schorsch, founder and chairman, Audrain Group, and one of America’s foremost vintage car collectors, revived the automotive spirit of Newport’s Gilded Age with Audrain Newport Concours & Motor Week. The annual event brings rare and historic cars to Belle Époque mansions such as Doris Duke’s Rough Point estate and The Breakers, the 70-room summer residence built for railroad magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt II.
The seventh annual Audrain Concours & Motor Week will run Oct. 1–4, 2026, but the historic seaside city proves a draw any time of year. Start your day in Bellevue Avenue’s Historic District at Audrain Automobile Museum, displaying a rotating collection of more than 400 vehicles from early brass-era models to today’s supercars. (Many come from Schorsch’s personal collection.) Tennis fans can continue around the corner to prestigious International Tennis Hall of Fame, home of the United States Lawn Tennis Association’s first championship in 1881.
Audrain Automobile Museum © Audrain / Heritage Group
Catch Newport’s hop-on, hop-off trolley in front of the tennis museum for a three-minute ride to the Newport Cliff Walk, a 3.5-mile path along the Atlantic’s rugged coastline where Gilded Age mansions loom above.
Afterward, head back downtown to Thames Street and take in the action along Bowen and Bannister’s Wharf, Newport’s hub for shopping, dining and nightlife. Heritage Group, Schorsch’s hospitality company, operates more than a dozen restaurants within the district, including The Reef for waterfront dining and Brick Alley Pub & Restaurant, beloved for its award-winning lobster roll and 25 beers on tap.
Retire to historical The Vanderbilt, Auberge Collection hotel, a magnificent 33-room manse once owned by Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt and acquired by Heritage Group in 2025.
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