The English have their kings and queens. Some would say that we have the Kennedys. I'd prefer to go farther back in time, granted not much farther back, and argue for the Vanderbilts and the Rockefellers as our nobility. And one of their gifts to us commoners are their beach side bungalows in Newport, Rhode Island. To us they're mansions, but one man's mansion is another man's bungalow.
It was a pretty short drive from CT, so we got into Newport early in the afternoon and had the rest of the day to explore. The previous couple of days had been rainy and just downright dreary. Then there are some September days that just won't give up on Summer and push back on the impending Fall chill, and this was one of those days. The sun was shining and the birds were singing. We enjoyed everything about the day, especially driving around Ocean Drive, walking along the Cliff Walk, and viewing the Mansions.
The highlight of the Mansion tour was our visit to the Breakers, a 70 room summer house built by the Vanderbilt family. The house was absolutely stunning and built with so many details. There were intricate acorn and oak leaf patterns (the symbol for the family indicating long life) in marble, wood, and rugs throughout the mansion. Marble was shipped from Africa. And two full rooms were designed in France, broken down, and shipped to Newport to be reassembled. Oh, and all the gold leaf detailing - and there were many - were 22 carat gold.
We've decided that we're going to spend many more long weekends here. So we'll have more posts about Newport in the future. Incidentally, Newport and the mansions are suppose to be beautiful during Christmas with all the lights up. We can't wait.
6 comments:
I wanna go!!!!
I wanna go too.
Hey, great pictures of the author and his little wife. Nice to see both of you.
Love you
Aunt Georgia
Thx, ladies. If we didn't have Martha's Vineyard, we'd make Newport our second home in the Northeast. Hmm, I guess we can make Newport our third home! (Though I think we need to get a first home, first.)
I love it that you guys plan second homes before you have a first home. I wouldn't expect any less from the traveling, homeless Changs! :)
Here's a question? Why are these homes tourist attractions? Wasn't their family supposed to be blessed with long life or something like that? Where's the family now???
Taxes, Kara, taxes. These were built before income tax. After taxes the people could not afford to keep them.
I believe there's a lesson here!
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