We spent one very long, very busy week in the Newport area of Rhode Island. This post is going to be picture heavy. I tried to scale it down, but honestly, I could do a separate post for each of the Newport Mansions. I don’t have time to do that though, so y’all will just have to go visit them. Pictures don’t do these mansions justice anyway. To fully appreciate them in all their grandeur you really need to visit them. We ended up getting a one year membership to the Newport Mansions. If you can believe it…it was cheaper for a family of five to get a membership and have access to all eleven locations vs. paying for a bundle or buying tickets at each location.
I really struggled with getting decent shots of the insides of the mansions. The lighting was bad and I’m not experienced with shooting rooms like this. Sorry…I tried.
We started at The Elms. Built in 1901, the house was completely “modern” and had all of the technological advances of the time. I should mention now that all of the Newport Mansions were considered summer cottages. They were used five to six weeks out of the year and then closed up for the remainder of the year while the family lived in one of their other homes.
One of my favorite things to see on the tours were the vanity tables. I loved seeing all of the old brushes and combs…everything they thought was necessary to be presentable. Don’t forget The Elms had all of the modern day technologies of the time…check out that bathroom. No outhouses for these guys.
The tours are really well done. They’re all self-guided…kind of. When you enter the “summer cottage” you’re given an audio tour with headphones that guides you through the house. You get to hear about what’s in each room…little stories about the people who lived there…and even some info about the people who worked there. At The Elms there’s even a separate tour you can take called Servant Life Tour. I’d go back just for that and to go through all the mansions again. The other part of the tour that always fascinated me was the kitchen areas. Check out that mortar and pestle sitting on the table. It’s hard to judge just how big they are, but you can kind of see a few bowls next to them. And check out those copper pots!! They’ve got spigots on them!
One of the themes we heard in several of the mansions was that “the mansion ran like magic”. You weren’t supposed to see how the place was cleaned or how the supplies got there. You weren’t supposed to see any of the servants except the male butlers. The Elms took it so far as to hide the entrance to where all the deliveries were made. You can see the delivery entrance in the top picture above. I somehow missed getting a decent shot of the front of The Elms…but here’s what the back looks like.
The next mansion we toured was The Breakers, built in 1895. The Breakers is just one of the Vanderbilt’s summer homes. Some of the best things about the audio tours were all of the stories about the inhabitants. The Vanderbilt Family was just that…a family. We heard stories about the kids sliding down the staircases on serving trays. In fact, it wasn’t just the kids that did that. Apparently, they would have parties and everyone would take a turn sliding down the stairs.
There are 70 rooms at The Breakers. I love the picture of one of the ornate ceilings in the bottom left picture. There were so many great details. I had to share these wall panels with y’all. You can see them in the bottom right picture. Guys, they’re platinum leaf…so they’ll always be shiny. Platinum. You know…just because they can. Because money is no object. The gardens of The Breakers were all just as showy. I took way too many pictures here. Each house really could have its own post. I’m not even scratching the surface with what we saw and learned here.
The saddest story we heard was at The Rosecliff. The Rosecliff was built in 1902 by Tessie Oelrich who was a silver heiress. They were considered new money. Tessie was very into the social scene in Newport and was considered “one of the three great hostesses” in the area. She loved a good party, but as time went on the other big families in Newport moved on. Tessie couldn’t quite let go of her Gilded Age life and stayed. In her later years, Tessie would wander through the empty rooms “serving guests” and encouraging them to have “just one more drink”. What a lonely life she ended up leading…
The Rosecliff has been in several movies. You might recognize it from the 1974 Great Gatsby. I love the view from Rosecliff! It was absolutely gorgeous!!
Chateau-sur-Mer belonged to the Wetmore family and was built in 1852.
I loved all of the painting in this house. The walls weren’t just decorated with wallpaper…they were artistically painted. The ceiling in one of the rooms is carved solid wood. Not plaster painted to look like wood…but actual wood. I loved it!
The dining room had leather wallpaper that was stretched smooth and painted. You can see a closer look at the leather wallpaper in the left picture. It’s starting to crack with age. But can you imagine the effect it had back when it was new? The dining room had a fireplace that was only lit with candles. They would put mirrored partitions in front of the doors to reflect the light and pull the curtains closed. With the shine of the leather…I bet it was magical.
Check out all of the different brushes, combs, and bottles!
Chateau-sur-Mer was the only mansion that didn’t have an audio tour. We had a guided tour here and we probably learned even more about the ins and outs of this beautiful home.
The boys’ favorite thing was the European Weeping Beech. They declared it fort worthy and promptly made their way to the center. It was pretty awesome. I think we’ll plant one of these trees when we get some land someday!
The last mansion we went through was The Marble House. It was built in 1892 to be the “ultimate statement of Gilded Age privilege”. Showing everyone how much money and privilege you had seemed to be one of the most important things during this time period for these families.
The Gothic Room was built to display the Vanderbilt’s Gothic art collection. The ceiling in the Gothic room was a true work of art. I never really paid attention to ceilings before doing the Newport Mansion tours, but the ceilings in these “summer cottages” were just as detailed and amazing as the rest of the room.
Checkout the fresco that was painted about their table. Because, obviously, we all need a fresco painted above our dining room table that should be in a museum and not a house. You know, it was kind of funny to hear how much “work” it was to summer in Newport for these families. They were expected to be seen doing specific things at the right time of the day, each day, wearing the appropriate attire…which meant changing clothes five or six times a day. And then there were the parties they had to attend. They had zero time to do what they really wanted to do.
And then we heard how all of those dresses they wore (five or more a day) would have to have the buttons cut off before they were washed (to protect the button and the garment) only to be hand sewn back on. Have you seen how many teeny tiny buttons used to be on those dresses? I can’t imagine being a seamstress for the household. You can see he stairs up to the servant’s area of the house in the left picture…it was as ornate and impressive as everything else in the summer cottage. The family would never go to the servant area. It was considered taboo. No one but the servants would ever see it.
The Marble House got its name from the 500K cubic feet of marble it’s made of. That’s a lot of marble! It was beautiful!
We did make it to Providence, RI to see the State Capitol Building!
The dome was being worked on so…I really don’t know what it looked like. They did have the best library we’ve seen in a state capitol building though! I would love to have a library like that someday!
We also snuck in a tour of Fort Adams. We got to go into the ruins and hear stories about what life was like there.
They even led us up to the top of the fort where we had a great view!
But the best part was going down into the listening tunnels! I know the picture is a little blurry…we were trying not to be left behind in the pitch dark tunnels that broke off and went in every direction. It was completely cramped, dark, wet, and you could have easily gotten lost….it was totally awesome. And for those brave enough to venture in…they were rewarded with a sticker. The five of us are officially tunnel rats!
We even managed to squeak in enough time to see a lighthouse! It was one jam-packed week!!
There were some pretties…we always make time to stop and smell the flowers no matter how busy we are. Just watch out for the bees!
See y’all down the road!
#easterlooptour2016
