Today we left Mystic for Newport or Middletown actually but as it is only about a mile away it probably counts as Newport. We had decided to drive straight to Newport as this is where the rich and famous of American Victorian society built their summer homes. Considering these houses were only lived in for about 2 weeks a year they were spectacular, a number of the houses have been purchased by the Preservation Society and are now open to the public, the majority seem to have been built on Bellevue Avenue so at the time they had great views of the ocean but now other houses have been built along the coast so they don’t quite have the view they once did. We had picked out four houses we wanted to go and see, so we got a ticket that allows us into five over the next year so we have some flexibility so we don’t have to do them all today which is a good thing as the houses are really large! Our first stop was The Elms which was the summer home of the coal magnet Edward Berwind and his wife Herminie. The Elms was a really modern house in 1901, so technologically advanced that people thought it ran by magic, they actually covered the driveway with wisteria so that people couldn’t see the delivery trucks arriving from the main house! It has a number of Venetian paintings, Chinese panels and tapestries covering the walls, some were cut to size, others were expanded to fit the walls and you can hardly see the joins. Unfortunately Edward only enjoyed one summer at the house as he had a stroke the year after it was finished and although he didn’t die for a couple more years was invalided so couldn’t enjoy it. After walking round the Elms we set off for The Breakers, which was built in 1895 for the Vanderbilt family, they wanted to make a statement and this house definitely does! Vanderbilt built a 70 room summer estate which has a two and a half story height Great Hall and a morning room that has platinum leaf wall panels. It is incredibly spectacular and although it received a lot of criticism from architectural purists of the time I wouldn’t say no if someone wanted to give it to me! The Kennedys (John F and Jackie) were invited to the coming out ball held in the house, the main hall with the gallery could also be used as a ballroom. You could also do a tour of the ‘world underground’ which covered the modern electricity and plumbing that were put into the house but we didn’t so that instead we just marvelled at the two story butlers pantry and the spectacular bathrooms that included very deep baths and loos that were made to look like chairs! Our final house for today was Chateau-sur-Mer which is no longer on the sea but when it was built in 1852 its grounds ran to the beach. This was built for the Wetmore family who made their money in trading with China and wanted the best of everything, again to show off their wealth and also demonstrate their status in society. The whole summer season seems to have been about showing off and on one of the tours they likened the role of the mistress of the house to that of a hotel manager, trying to make sure that everyone came and went at the right time, food was available and spectacular and guests left happy. By the time we had finished walking round we decided to head to the hotel for a relax before going out to find something for dinner, we have a one room apartment which is really nice and will be a great place to stay for the next few nights.
