Road Trip Day Four: Newport, RI & Massachusetts

On the fourth day of our epic road trip (I keep wanting to type Rhode trip =)) we said goodbye to Rhode Island, and headed up to Massachusetts. I hated to leave Newport. It was absolutely beautiful, charming and I want to go back for longer than a day.

Almost directly in between Newport & Boston is the small town of Fall River, Massachusetts. This small town is infamous thanks to Lizzie Borden. I know it's probably creepy, but I've been fascinated by Lizzie Borden since I was about eight years old. I was raised watching true crime & Lifetime movies, and the little rhyme about her has been in my head forever.

Lizzie Borden had an ax,
She gave her mother 40 whacks.
When she saw what she had done,
She gave her father 41.

Creepy, right? Anyways, we stopped in Fall River to see the home where the murders took place. It's been turned into a museum/B&B. We had dinner reservations in Boston, so we didn't have time to tour the house, but I definitely want to some day.

After we left Fall River, we headed to Plymouth, MA. I love history. I especially love pre-revolutionary American history. So stopping to see Plymouth Rock was a must. The area was so pretty. I'll never get tired of adorable New England coastal towns. The main attraction there is the replica of the Mayflower. The Mayflower II was built in 1957 in England and made the same voyage. It has been recreated to not only look like the original on the outside, but the interior helps give you a feel as to what it was like nearly 400 years ago.

The site of Plymouth Rock is supposedly where the Mayflower landed and the "rock" that remains is apparently a fraction of what was their initially. The rock was moved in the late 1700's and was split in half to make movement easier. The structure that houses the rock wasn't completed for almost 100 years, and then then two pieces of the rock were rejoined. Pieces of the rock have gone missing & have been sold over the years, and now only 1/3 of it remains.

After leaving Plymouth, we headed to Boston (finally). We checked into our hotel, took a nap and then dressed for dinner. I had a huge list of places we had to try, but our first night there was our special dinner. We went to Stephanie's on Newbury after reading very positive reviews, and it did not disappoint.

Our dinner started with an amazing bread basket. There were sweet scones & whole wheat rolls. Both were absolutely amazing.

We ordered the warm goat cheese as an appetizer, and this was one of the best things I've ever tasted. The bread was buttery & garlicky on the outside, soft on the inside, and the warm goat cheese was just heavenly. I'm not exaggerating about the epicness of this dish. It was amazing.

warm vermont goat cheese 

baked goat cheese, roasted garlic and olives with toasted 

french bread 

$13 

Graham chose the meatloaf for his entree. He was more than pleased with it. The beans & the mashed potatoes were delicious as well, and the portion was huge.

our famous meatloaf 

stuffed with cheddar cheese, served with mashed 

potatoes, haricot vert and mushroom gravy 

$21 

I had the pan roasted cod, and this was amazing. Every component of this was amazing. The chowder, the roasted potatoes, the onion rings on top & especially the fish... The cod was a huge, thick, flaky piece of cod. It was perfectly cooked, perfectly seasoned and absolutely delicious. 

pan roasted native cod 

over smokey bacon corn chowder and herb roasted potatoes, 

topped with buttermilk onion strings 

$27

Our dinner here exceeded all of our expectations. We had reservations, so we were seated promptly. The atmosphere was romantic & very chill. It was a wonderful evening, and I will definitely visit again on our next visit to Boston. 

After dinner we stopped by Target for a few things, and I found this hoodie I wanted, which didn't sit too well with my Carolina Panthers loving husband (Panthers fans can't let go of a Superbowl loss from almost 10 years ago...).