Under your feet begins the Cliff Walk, a 3.5-mile (5.6 km) public access walkway that borders the shoreline of Newport. Designated a National Recreation Trail—the first in New England—it runs from the east end of Bailey's Beach to the western end of First Beach. As you start here you can use public access points at Bellevue Avenue, Ledge Road, Marine Avenue, Ruggles Avenue, Sheppard Avenue, Webster Street, Narragansett Avenue, and Memorial Boulevard. The path affords views of The Breakers, Marble House, Rough Point, and other prominent mansions from the Gilded Age, and it looks out over the sweep of Narragansett Bay.
The right to walk where the sea meets the land has deep roots: legal precedents reach back to the 1663 charter granted by King Charles II, which promised Rhode Island colonists the right to fish along the shoreline; that right was later guaranteed in the Rhode Island state constitution. The coastline stayed largely undeveloped until around 1880, when owners of the Gilded Age mansions began building a simple path here in sections, and over the decades many disputes erupted between landowners. Pause, breathe, and notice the mansions on the cliff and the sweep of Narragansett Bay before you.