Top 8 Sights & Landmarks in Bristol, Rhode Island (RI)

Blithewold, named in Yankee Magazine's 2010 Best 5 Public Gardens in New England is located on Narragansett Bay, 25 minutes east of Providence and 60 minutes south of Boston. Blithewold, a 33-acre summer estate with grand views of Narragansett Bay, is nationally significant in American history as one of the most fully developed and authentic examples of the Country Place era. The property features a 45-room mansion filled with family heirlooms framed by a series of lovely gardens that range in character from mysterious to exotic and from poetic to practical. An exceptional collection of rare and unusual plants, specimen trees, an accessible greenhouse, and whimsical stonework project a character that is romantic, fresh and inspiring - and unique to Blithewold. Come...and be inspired.

Built in 1810, Linden Place magnificently reflects the prosperity of the DeWolf merchant princes and the exquisite taste inspired by the architecture of ancient Greece and Rome. Visitors see one of the best examples of Federal architecture, from the Palladian windows to the fluted Corinthian columns, which flank the front entrance and the four-story spiral staircase. Tour highlights include tales of DeWolf family exploits, from their privateering and slave trading to their financial ruin and triumphant return to prosperity during Victorian times. Docents introduce visitors to family members Pomeroy Colt, founder of United States Rubber, now Uniroyal, his mother Theodora DeWolf Colt, who as Madam Colt ran Bristol Society from Linden Place as if she were Queen Victoria and the great actress Ethel Barrymore who married in to this most prominent of American families. Visitors are also welcome to stroll the sculpture-filled gardens where they will find Greek bronzes and an 18th Century gazebo.

Coggeshall Farm Museum is a living history museum located on 48 acres of pristine farmland in Bristol, Rhode Island.

First Congregational Church in Bristol was founded in the spring of 1680 by the same four families that founded the town later that year. The gothic style sanctuary was built in 1855. The church's third edifice, it also includes the DeWolf Chapel, added in 1869. It is the town's second oldest church building. It houses a museum that includes fascinating artifacts. Tours by appointment.