Visit beaches, historic sites and mansions in Rhode Island

Rhode Island may be the nation's smallest state, but it's got more than enough history, oceanfront and other attractions to fill your next vacation. According to one tourist organization, it has more than 20 percent of the nation's registered historic landmarks.

Check out some of the events on the calendar at the Providence Warwick Convention and Visitor's Bureau -- www.goprovidence.com/ -- and take a look at their Getaway Packages.

Then you need to click on Visitors Center and Visitors to get to museums and other attractions in the area. The link they give under Museums for Belcourt Castle in Newport is incorrect; it should be www.belcourtcastle.com/. But there is a correct address for the Culinary Archives & Museum -- www.culinary.org/ -- which says it is often called the "Smithsonian Institution of the Food Service Industry."

After getting acquainted with Providence, you'll want to move on Newport, where the really rich once went to spend their summers.

The Newport County Convention & Visitors' Bureau -- www.gonewport.com/ -- has a lengthy list of attractions, but they're really business and legitimate attractions lumped together and listed alphabetically rather than by category, so you'll have to explore to figure out what's what. But you can look for addresses on Bellevue Avenue to find Web sites for some of the mansions you can tour.

Stop by the Preservation Society of Newport County -- www.newportmansions.org/ -- for more information on the town and some of the mansions. Click on Gilded Age Experience to learn about Rosecliff, Marble House, the Elms, the Breakers and Chateau-sur-Mer.

And if you go to Visitors Information, you'll find tour information and a link to Useful Links to other things to see and do in the area.

And don't forget Bristol -- www.onlinebristol.com/ -- home of the nation's oldest continuously celebrated Independence Day observance.