Newport looked straight out of a Currier & Ives print as the season’s first real snowfall dusted Washington Square, just in time for the Newport Polo Foundation’s holiday debut at the Colony House. Flurries floated on and off right up to party hour, setting the scene for an old-fashioned Christmas mood that felt delightfully rare—and entirely on cue.

The pop-up cocktail hour became a merry crossroads on the mid-December weekend, with nearly 200 guests circulating through, between holiday parties or before and after festive meals at Newport’s fine eateries. A pageant of handshakes and hugs, glasses refilled, and vibrant conversation rose quickly as familiar faces greeted one another inside the decorated historic space—many remarking that it was their first time seeing the interior of the Colony House.

Good cheer met good cause as guests arrived arms full of toys and essentials for families served by the Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Center, then fanned out into the Newport Historical Society’s Christmas Market to shop, linger, and toast the season. Equal parts spirited, generous, and unmistakably Newport, the evening struck exactly the right note—proving that a little snow, a great cause, and a room full of friends is a formula that fills hearts and kicks off a new foundation with festive flair.

About The Old Colony House: Perched at the upper end of Washington Square, the Old Colony House is a striking brick Georgian-style building completed in 1741. Once the meeting place for the colonial legislature, its second-story chambers and Governor’s board room hosted the RI State legislature from independence in 1776 through 1901. Today, as one of the best-preserved Georgian public buildings from the colonial era in the United States, it is a National Historic Landmark (designated 1960) and a key contributing property to the Newport Historic District, itself a National Historic Landmark. Owned by the state and managed as a museum by the Newport Historical Society, the Old Colony House continues to offer a historic and elegant backdrop for gatherings that blend tradition, community, and celebration.

The Newport Historical Society has rung in the holiday season with the debut of its new Holiday Market at the historic Colony House. If you missed the trove of treasures during our event, the holiday market will run through Dec. 31, operating Mondays – Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Fridays – Sundays until 6 p.m.