Newport is a beautiful city and worth a visit no matter what time of the year. Located on the southern end of Aquidneck Island, it has a historic district that includes an extensive and well-preserved variety of intact colonial buildings dating back to the early and mid-18th century. Some of these homes still stand the way they were 250 years ago, but many were restored in the late 20th century through grants made by Newport resident Doris Duke and the Newport Restoration Foundation.

In 1926, John Hays Hammond, Jr., retained the architectural firm of Allen & Colleens to create his castle which was completed in 1929 on a cliff overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. Hammond was a scientist, inventor and a pioneer in the study of remote control and held the largest number of patents, only second to Thomas Edison.

Thomas Rogers first settled the area in 1657 and dubbed it “The Garden by the Sea”. The town takes its name from Rogers’ family abandoned apple orchards. Old Orchard Beach first was promoted as a tourist designation in 1631. A steady flow of tourists started coming to Old Orchard Beach when railroad service from Portland and Boston was established in 1842.

Built between 1908 and 1912, Fonthill Castle was the home of archaeologist, anthropologist, ceramicist, scholar and antiquarian Henry Chapman Mercer. This was his Doylestown, Pennsylvania home and served as a showplace for his famed Moravian tiles that were produced during the Arts & Crafts Movement. The castle was designed by Mercer with an eclectic mix of medieval and gothic architecture styles and an early example of poured reinforced concrete.

Daniel Chester French was one of the most successful artists of the late 19th and the early 20th centuries, producing more than 100 public sculptures. He is best known for his Minute Man in Concord, Massachusetts and the Abraham Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.

Wethersfield, Connecticut was settled in 1634 and more than 150 homes predate the Civil War and some predate the Revolutionary War. A walk through the historic district of Old Wethersfield seems like it is in a world of its own, yet it is just minutes from busy I-91.

In “The Great Gatsby”, F. Scott Fitzgerald described this area as “a valley of ashes”. It would later be transformed into the 1,200-acre site where the world would converge in 1939, to witness highlights that included exhibitions by companies like General Electric, IBM, RCA, Borden, American Tobacco and Coca Cola.

In 1895, Frederick W. Vanderbilt purchased the Langdon estate, comprised of 153 acres, a structurally unsound house, a farm and 459 acres on the east side of Post Road. Hyde Park was the name of the stately home he commissioned for himself and his wife, Louise and it was built between 1896 and 1899 on approximately 600 acres. The mansion on a bluff overlooking the Hudson River in Hyde Park, N.Y., this was one of several homes owned by the couple.

Coe Hall is the 65-room centerpiece of the 409-acre Planting Fields Historic State Park located in Oyster Bay, New York. The estate was originally landscaped by Frederick Law Olmsted, featuring greenhouses, rolling lawns, formal gardens, woodland paths and outstanding plant collections.

Westbook Farms started when William Bayard Cutting purchased the George C. Lorillard estate on the Connetiquot River in the Long Island town of Great River. Cutting was a New York City lawyer and sugar beet refiner, who made his fortune in railroads and in the development of the Red Hook, Brooklyn waterfront.

The Carlton Arms on East 25th Street in the Kips Bay section of Manhattan, has been offering artists lodging in exchange for decorating part of the 54-room hotel.

Grand Cayman is the largest of the Cayman Islands, a British Territory, and Georgetown is the capital city, and major cruise ship port.

Montpelier is the smallest capital city in the United States, but is big on character and charm with a casual vibe. The downtown, centered around two main roads, State and Main Streets, are low-key, clean, friendly and very walkable.

Little Island is a unique New York City park designed by Thomas Heatherwick with landscape architect Signe Nielsen. The green space is the first of its kind in Manhattan. The structure of the park is made up of 132 concrete “tulips” at different heights, creating grassy hills and offering views of Manhattan and New Jersey.

Montauk, Long Island. Human experiments? Government conspiracies? The Montauk Monster? Time Travel? Netflix ‘Stranger Things’….

Barcelona was definitely a bucket list destination for me and it did not disappoint. It is the vibrant and historical home of the most stunning architectural styles ranging from Gothic structures to Gaudi wonders. Barcelona is cosmopolitan and has an international feel with plenty of great restaurants, tapas, nightlife, parks and public areas.

Some 600,000 permanent residents call Green-Wood Cemetery home. Inspired in part by the Pere Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, Highgate Cemetery in London and Mount Auburn Cemetery in Massachusetts, it was founded in 1838 by Henry Evelyn Pierrepont and designed by David Bates Douglass, and was one of the first rural cemeteries in America.

Beauport, also known as the Sleeper-McCann House, was the shingle-style summer home of one of America’s first professional interior designers, Henry Davis Sleeper.

Sometimes called “the quintessential New England town” or “the prettiest small town in America”, Woodstock is a charming destination with year-round activities. Walking the tree-lined streets of Central and Elm Streets you get a glimpse into the town’s history through its beautiful architecture while enjoying the breathtaking beauty of the surrounding countryside and the Green Mountains.

William Gillette was a successful actor and playwright mostly known for his portrayals of Sherlock Holmes on stage. Gillette originated and popularized many common features of the character: the cap and cape, curved pipe, magnifying glass and the phrase “elementary, my dear fellow (which later evolved to “elementary, my dear Watson”. He took his money and ran for the hills overlooking the Connecticut River where he built his 24-room mansion, called the Seventh Sister, on 122 acres.