Newport was a different place when George Oakley decided to offer his first bus tours down Bellevue Avenue in the early 1960s.
Back then, the Navy was the lifeblood of the City by the Sea. For better or worse, businesses relied heavily on the thousands of sailors stationed on Aquidneck Island.
Most of the mansions were private residences then, not open to the public. And there was just one major hotel in the city. Tourism was an afterthought.
But Oakley saw the interest in Newport’s architecture and its Gilded Age history when he worked part time as a cab driver in the summer. Passengers would tell him to swing by Bellevue Avenue, and he’d fill them in on the back stories of the mansions and their owners.
So in 1962 Oakley, who was a full-time Newport firefighter, purchased a 16-year-old transit bus and made some extra cash offering guided tours a few months of the year.
Nearly a half century later, Oakley’s Viking Motor Tours of Newport Inc. has grown into a full-time endeavor that has five top-of-the-line motor coaches, seven air-conditioned trolleys and three mini motor coaches.
The road to this point in the company’s history hasn’t always been smooth, according to Karen Oakley, daughter of the company founder, who died in 2000.
Karen Oakley, who owns the business with her brother, George Jr., said Viking endured some lean times in those early years. But that changed after the Navy pulled out in 1973, forcing the city to retool into an upscale tourist destination to survive.
“That’s when tourism became center stage,” she recalled.
More recently, Viking and other tourism-based business haven’t been immune to the vagaries of the economy. As conditions deteriorated in recent years, fewer tourists made the trip to Newport, and many who did kept their wallets in their pockets.
That said, Viking Tours has held its own, and then some. In addition to its bread-and-butter tours of Bellevue Avenue and Ocean Drive, the company is offering trips to Newport Vineyard and is mapping out walking and garden tours. Viking also has a lineup of day trips to destinations such as Martha’s Vineyard, Theater-By-The-Sea, Cape Cod and a lobster bake in Gloucester, Mass.
Visitors from corporate conventions and passengers from the growing number of cruise ships stopping in Newport waters have provided a nice boost, too.
“We’re always trying to come up with new business partnerships,” Karen Oakley said.
Viking Tours had much simpler beginnings: The elder Oakley would pick up passengers in a 1945 transit bus at the Hotel Viking, making the rounds to various sights and reading from a guided-tour script he wrote himself.
In 1963, Oakley – who didn’t retire from the Newport Fire Department until 1982 – purchased a second well-worn, transit bus.
During those early days, The Breakers was the only mansion open to the public. But as the Preservation Society of Newport County’s collection of historic properties grew, so did Viking Tours.
In 1967, Viking hit the water, too.
Oakley purchased a 49-passenger boat for the first harbor tours ever offered in Newport, according to George Jr.
They proved so popular, the company added a 149-passenger boat soon after. George Oakley Sr., who had been a commercial fisherman in his younger years, also expanded into chartered fishing trips.
It was truly a family-run business. Oakley’s wife, Ann, “did everything but change the oil” in the Viking Tours office, George Jr. said.
Added Karen: “My father had many of the ideas. She made sure they happened a lot of the time.”
And the kids were involved at an early age. George Jr. recalled spending hours sweeping out buses as a youngster. “It was drilled into you,” said George Jr., whose sons have been involved in the businesses, including Matt, who serves as sales director.
Karen and George Jr, who moved into management positions in the mid-1980s, have had to make some difficult decisions over the years.
About five years ago, Viking Tours pulled out of the harbor-cruise and chartered-fishing business.
“We were spread to too many things,” Karen Oakley said.
The Oakleys like where the business stands now.
Despite a few down years for tourism, Newport is located within driving distance of two major metropolitan centers, New York and Boston.
Viking Tours says tour ridership is on the rise, even though the economic recovery has been a slow, uphill climb.
“People still want to go someplace,” Karen Oakley said. “And Newport is in a great position in the drive market.” •
COMPANY PROFILE
Viking Motor Tours
of Newport Inc.
OWNERS: Karen Oakley, George Oakley Jr.
TYPE OF BUSINESS: Tour and transportation company
LOCATION: Long Wharf Mall, Newport
EMPLOYEES: About 50 in the summer, 20 in the winter
YEAR FOUNDED: 1962
ANNUAL SALES: WND
