I felt I would be remiss if I only covered one of the mansions, so here's a quick jaunt back in time to our previous trip three years ago (pre-blog). Most of the historic homes are managed by the Preservation Society of Newport County.
The Breakers
If you only visit one mansion in Newport, this is the one. In fact, the tickets are designed that way. A two-house ticket is The Breakers plus the house of your choice.
Built by Cornelius Vanderbilt II (George Vanderbilt's oldest brother), The Breakers will look a little familiar to anyone who's been to Biltmore. It was designed by the same architect, Richard Morris Hunt.
Marble House
Probably the second most famous of the Newport mansions is Marble House, which pre-dates The Breakers (though not by much). It was built by William K. Vanderbilt (brother of Cornelius II and George) and also designed by Richard Morris Hunt. Actually, it was the pet project of his wife, Alva. As the name implies, more than half of the construction costs were spent on marble.
In the back yard, Alva had a Chinese Tea House added in 1914. This is where she would host suffragette meetings after she divorced Vanderbilt, but still married her daughter, Consuelo, off to the (mostly broke) Duke of Marlborough so they could be connected to royalty.
Chateau-sur-Mer
The first of the grand Newport mansions before (1852) the Vanderbilts moved in (1890s), this was the home of trade merchant William Shepard Wetmore. He died 10 years after the house was built and left the bulk of his fortune to his son George, who became Governor of Rhode Island and a US Senator. The main thing we remember was that it was really hot that day, and since the house was mostly wood, it was like a sauna inside. We really felt sorry for the women who did the guided tours.
The Elms
One of the first mansions you encounter on Bellvue Avenue, The Elms was built by coal magnate Edward Julius Berwind in 1901. When Mrs. Berwind died, Edward asked his sister to come live there and be the hostess of the estate. Then when he died, she inherited the estate and lived there for the rest of her life.
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