Living the High Life

Although Newport, RI, had a long history as a seaport, it may be more well know as the summer playground of the very wealthy during the late 1800's and early 1900's. On a rainy morning, we took the tour of The Breakers. The Breakers is the grandest of Newport's summer "cottages" and a symbol of the Vanderbilt family's social and financial preeminence in turn of the century America. Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt (1794-1877) established the family fortune in steamships and later in the New York Central Railroad, which was a pivotal development in the industrial growth of the nation during the late 19th century. Mark Twain coined the phrase "gilded age" and did not mean it to be a compliment.

The Commodore's grandson, Cornelius Vanderbilt II, became Chairman and President of the New York Central Railroad system in 1885, and purchased a wooden house called The Breakers in Newport during that same year. In 1893, he commissioned architect Richard Morris Hunt to design a villa to replace the earlier wood-framed house which was destroyed by fire the previous year. Hunt directed an international team of craftsmen and artisans to create a 70 room Italian Renaissance- style palazzo inspired by the 16th century palaces of Genoa and Turin. Cornelius Vanderbilt only got to spend two summers here, since he died shortly after it was completed.

The Vanderbilts had seven children. Their youngest daughter, Gladys, who married Count Laszlo Szechenyi of Hungary, inherited the house on her mother's death in 1934. An ardent supporter of The Preservation Society of Newport County, she opened The Breakers in 1948 to raise funds for the Society. In 1972, the Preservation Society purchased the house from her heirs. Today, the house is designated a National Historic Landmark.  

The tours are well handled - each visitor is given an audio device, and can proceed at their leisure, with side tapes of related information, such as the servant's life in this mansion. I cannot imagine changing clothes 5 or 6 times a day for each activity. The house was built with electricity installed, and an option to change the lamps back to gas if the power failed. 20 bathrooms were available as well. 

Those are cast iron ovens on the wall in the kitchen. It must have baked the cooks as well as the bread! Each servant had one task to do each day, over and over. Their quarters were on the fourth floor, with small windows and little ventilation. Some servants had their children living in the house as well.  

After the implementation of Income Tax, two world wars and the Great Depression, even the wealthy could not afford these homes any more. Many were donated to the Preservation Society, while others were donated to small colleges in the community. Salve Regina College has a beautiful campus in the middle of this neighborhood.  

 The Cliff Walk winds along the rocky shore in front of these mansions. We saw several brave folks surfing in the cold water, timing their rides carefully to avoid being dashed on the rocks by the "breakers"!

Rhode Island: The Ocean State

When we go on vacation, we usually spend the day exploring and hiking around, then in the evening, I go through the day's photos and post to this blog. In fact, I often become quite distraught if I am unable to do so. I get anxious if I get behind, because I know the risk that I will never get around to posting everything we did once we get home. The salt marshes and ponds dot the landscape in Cape Cod, but we seldom saw trails or places to park to explore them.

Beach Rose

 

Beach Roses grow everywhere, with small pink petals, which produce gigantic red rose hips. At first, you might think they are some kind of strange cherry tomato!

The Woods Hole Aquarium is closed on Mondays and holidays, so we were unable to go there this trip. We found a hiking area called Lowell Holly Reservation, owned by the Massachusetts Trustees. In the spring of 1891, the legislature voted to establish The Trustees of  Reservations “for the purposes of acquiring, holding, maintaining and opening to the public…beautiful and historic places…within the Commonwealth.”

At Lowell Holly, it appears that little or no activity by man –such as burning, plowing, or the felling of trees – has taken place for more than 200 years on the majority of land. The result is a forest that has largely escaped the influence of man and thus represents a unique natural resource for Cape Cod.This is the largest beech forest I've every seen, along with ponds and marsh lands. We got on the wrong trail, and ended up walking every last foot of the place before finding our car again.

It wasn't a long drive into downtown Newport, RI. I normally don't like "city" vacations, but Newport was absolutely wonderful! Our condo units were right on the docks - across the street from the Newport Shipyard and the piers for the lobster fishing fleet. Our first RI food was lobster bisque from the Lobster Shack, right on the dock where the fresh lobsters are brought to market each day. YUM!

"Lobsta' rolls" are a staple, and available at fancy expensive restaurants and the snack bar at the beach (which was actually the best one we had).

The harbor goes on and on, with boats of all sizes and prices bobbing on their mooring buoys. On Labor Day, the crowds were elbow to elbow, but the next morning, it was much easier to walk the docks.What shall we do with all these boats? Go sailing, of course!