Museum hopping with NARM as a guide

From historic farms to steam engines, gilded mansions to contemporary art exhibitions, there’s a museum experience for everyone in the Ocean State

Amble up to the ticket counter for the Newport mansions this season and you’ll see that a single day at a single property costs $25 per person, while an all-access pass for the whole year is $70.

The latter is a pretty good deal, but here’s one that’s even better: become a member of the Preservation Society of Newport County for a few dollars more — adult memberships start at $115 per person — and you’ll not only be able to visit the mansions as much as you want and whenever you want, but also get free admission to more than 1,300 other museums, art galleries, botanical gardens, zoos, and more, including 32 within a 50-mile radius of Newport.

The Preservation Society, Newport Historical Society, Newport Art Museum, and Audrain Automobile Museum are all among the members of the North American Reciprocal Museum Association (NARM), so joining as a member of any of these Newport-based museums gives you free access to all the other NARM properties, too.

“It’s one of the best-selling points and benefits we can offer our members,” says Nina Branch, membership coordinator at the Audrain Automobile Museum. She has used her auto museum card to visit the Newport mansions.

According to NARM rules, any membership costing $100 or more is eligible for reciprocity benefits.

“It’s very much recognized, and we let members know on a high level that it’s part of what they get. It’s one of the ways we as an organization can say, ‘thank you’ to our supporters,” says Sarah Iwanski, director of institutional advancement at the Preservation Society of Newport County. “We want to be able to support other museums, and NARM lets us do that. And if someone is in Newport and wants to check us out, we want them to do that, especially if NARM helps them to do so.”

Rhode Island museums and institutions that offer free admission through NARM include:

Audrain Automobile Museum, Newport: Located in the historic Audrain Building on Bellevue Avenue, the museum features rotating exhibits that draw upon a collection of more than 350 cars and motorcycles
spanning the Brass Era (1896-1915) to 21st Century supercars. | audrainautomuseum.org

Preservation Society of Newport County, Aquidneck Island: NARM members get free access to 11 historic properties including famous Newport Gilded Age mansions like Rosecliff, Marble House, and The
Breakers, as well as the whimsical Green Animals Topiary Garden in Portsmouth. | newportmansions.org

Newport Historical Society, Newport: The society operates the Museum of Newport History, a popular destination located in the 1762 Brick Market designed by Peter Harrison and documenting more than 350
years of Newport history, as well as its headquarters on Touro Street, which also hosts exhibition space. | newporthistory.org

Newport Art Museum, Newport: A trio of historic Bellevue Avenue buildings house galleries devoted to the works of more than 600 contemporary regional, national, and international artists, drawing upon the museum’s extensive permanent collection as well as rotating featured exhibitions. | newportartmuseum.org

Historic New England’s Watson Farm, Jamestown: Worked by five generations of the Watson family beginning in 1789, this 265-acre Jamestown property remains a working farm and offers self-guided walking tours, educational programs, and farm-produced goods for sale. | historicnewengland.org

Blithewold Mansion, Gardens, and Arboretum, Bristol: The tallest coastal redwood east of the Mississippi River is a highlight of Blithewold’s collection of champion trees. In addition to the 33 acres of gardens and arboretum, visitors may tour the English Country style, 45-room Blithewold mansion. | blithewold.org

Linden Place, Bristol: A beautiful home with a troubled past, this prominent Federal style mansion on Bristol’s main street was designed by Russell Warren and built in 1810 for General George DeWolf, who made much of his fortune in the slave trade. | lindenplace.org

New England Wireless and Steam Museum, East Greenwich: During the Industrial Revolution, Rhode Island was a powerhouse producer of steam engines made by companies like Corliss and the Providence Steam Engine Co. The museum collects working examples of these massive machines as well as housing an intact 1907 wireless communications station that once resided in Point Judith. | newsm.org

Rhode Island Historical Society, John Brown House, Providence: The former home of Brown University founder (and merchant and slave trader) John Brown now houses the collections of the Rhode Island Historical Society, touching on the state’s role in the American Revolution, slavery and abolition, and more. | rihs.org

Providence Athenaeum, Providence: A 200-year-old library built in classic Greek style, the Athenaeum was once a haunt of Edgar Allan Poe with three floors of books and guided history tours of the building. | providenceathenaeum.org

RISD Museum, Providence: The Rhode Island School of Design’s 100,000-piece museum collection includes works by current and former students as well as paintings, sculpture, decorative arts, costumes and textiles, and furniture. | risdmuseum.org

The Museum of Work and Culture, Woonsocket: Run by the Rhode Island Historical Society and a centerpiece of the Blackstone Valley National Heritage Corridor, this museum in downtown Woonsocket focuses on the lives of the immigrants who came to Rhode Island in the 19th and 20th centuries to work in the state’s Industrial Revolution era mills. | rihs.org