The commercial activity that raised Newport to its fame as a rich port began with the immigration of a second wave of Portuguese Jews, who settled there around the middle of the 18th century.

[10] Lopez became the wealthiest man in Newport, but he was denied citizenship on religious grounds, even though British law protected the rights of Jews to become citizens in England.

William and Samuel Vernon were Newport merchants who later played an important role in financing the creation of the United States Navy; they sponsored 30 African slaving ventures.

However, it was the DeWolfs of Bristol, Rhode Island, and most notably James De Wolf, who were the largest slave-trading family in America, mounting more than 80 transatlantic voyages, most of them illegal.

In the winter of 1775, and 1776, the Rhode Island Legislature placed militia general William West in charge of rooting out loyalists in Newport, which resulted in several individuals being exiled to the northern part of the state, including Joseph Wanton and Thomas Vernon.

According to Alfred Thayer Mahan, "The immediate effect was to close a haven of privateers, which flanked the route of all vessels bound from Europe to New York.

The Americans based in Tiverton planned a formal siege of the town, but the French refused to take part, instead preferring a frontal assault.

In July 1781, Rochambeau was finally able to leave Newport for Providence to begin the decisive march to Yorktown, Virginia, along with General George Washington.

It was in Newport that the Rhode Island General Assembly voted to ratify the Constitution in 1790 and become the 13th state, acting under pressure from the merchant community of Providence.

Beginning in the mid-nineteenth century, wealthy southern planters seeking to escape the heat began to build summer cottages on Bellevue Avenue, such as Kingscote (1839).

[22] Around the middle of the century, wealthy northerners, such as the Wetmore family, began construction on larger mansions, such as Chateau-sur-Mer (1852) nearby.

Many of the other mansions are open to tourists, and others were converted into academic buildings for Salve Regina College in the 1930s, when the owners could no longer afford their tax bills.

The oldest Catholic parish in Rhode Island is St. Mary's, located on Spring Street, though the current building is not original.

Rhode Island did not have a fixed capital during and after the colonial era, but rotated its legislative sessions among Providence, Newport, Bristol, East Greenwich, and South Kingstown.

[28][27] The Kennedys sailed their yacht Honey Fitz in Narragansett Bay, golfed at Newport Country Club, dined at The White Horse Tavern, and attended social events at The Breakers.

Naval Academy during the American Civil War (1861–65) when the undergraduate officer training school was temporarily moved north from Annapolis, Maryland.

The decommissioned aircraft carrier USS Saratoga (CV-60) was moored in an inactive status at the docks previously used by the Cruiser-Destroyer Force until it was towed to Brownsville, Texas in August–September 2014 to be dismantled.

[30] The departure of the Cruiser-Destroyer fleet from Newport, and the closure of nearby Naval Air Station Quonset Point in 1973 were devastating to the local economy.

However, in the late 1960s, the city began revitalizing the downtown area with the construction of America's Cup Avenue, malls of stores and condominiums, and upscale hotels.

Under Duke's leadership, the NRF restored more than 80 18th- and early 19th-century buildings in Newport and neighboring Middletown, Rhode Island, most of which are still owned by the Foundation.

[56] The alternative rock band Throwing Muses was founded in Newport in the 1980s by step-sisters Kristin Hersh and Tanya Donelly.

[67][68] Newport was a filming location for several motion pictures, including High Society (1956), The Great Gatsby (1974), Mr. North (1988), Wind (1992), True Lies (1994), Amistad (1997), Me, Myself & Irene (2000), Dan in Real Life (2007), Moonrise Kingdom (2012), and Hocus Pocus 2 (2022).

[69][70] The Hamilton Family Aquarium, operated by the non-profit Save the Bay, opened at the Gateway Center on America's Cup Avenue in March 2024.

[80] On May 29, 1880, representatives of 31 cycling clubs convened in Newport to hold a parade and meeting, and formed the League of American Wheelmen, the first national bicycling organization.

Cardines Field has hosted the New England Collegiate Baseball League's All-Star Game and Home Run Derby four times, in 2005, 2010, 2016, and 2021.

The annual Citizens Bank Pell Bridge Run is held every Fall to raise money for local charities.

In 2014 Maya Lin, the architect who designed the Vietnam Memorial in Washington D.C., completed a $3.5 million renovation of Queen Anne Square Park, titled "The Meeting Room".

St. Joseph of Cluny School was formerly located in Newport, on property given by the estate of Arthur Curtiss James to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence in 1941.

Military families from Fort Adams requested a Catholic school, so St. Joseph of Cluny opened in September 1957 as a kindergarten and added grades until 1965, when the first eighth-grade graduation was held.

While technology and defense are the largest employment sectors in the region, seasonal tourism is a major economic engine of the city of Newport, including hotels, restaurants, and retail.