We took some “down” time for a couple of days. We played some pickleball with the great people at Onset Park, enjoyed a little beach time, BBQ fresh oysters on the BlackStone one night, then had fresh scallops the next night.
It was nice to relax around some evening campfires.
On September 19, we took a day trip to Newport, Rhode Island. I had both a driving tour and a walking tour via our Action Tour Guides App. We went to Purgatory. LOL
The plan:
We would park all day at Easton’s Beach the entire day for $10. We’d complete the Cliff Walk using the walking tour guide app. Since it is a point to point tour, our plan was to walk back to the car via the streets that are part of the driving tour app. I had it all figured out—so I thought. Well, we parked by the beach, but it was $2 an hour with a MAXIMUM of 3 hours! Did I get bad information about $10 for an entire day? Not sure how we are going to do the 3 ½ mile Cliff Walk and be BACK within three hours. (Plus we always take longer on these tours because we stop to take pictures!) We got started. What else could we do?
The Cliff Walk was amazing. These estates were incredible. The gilded age was definitely over the top. The period spanned the 1870s to the early 1900s, during which New York City’s millionaire elite spent fortunes on endless luxuries. This extravagance is most evident here in Newport, where many built “summer cottages”. These “cottages” are now known as Newport’s mansions. Nothing was too lavish for the Gilded Age high society.
Of course wealth disparity was rampant. The fortunes of those who built these mansions were made off the backs of oppressed, impoverished workers. In fact, the term “Gilded Age” was coined by American author Mark Twain and was interred as satire: gilded, as opposed to golden, suggested the beauty was only surface-level.
Ochre Court Mansion – The second largest Newport mansion built for real estate mogul Ogden Goelet for $4.5 million ($125 million in today’s money). After Ogden’s death in 1897, Goelet’s son, Robert Goelet took over and lived here year round. In 1947 Robert donated to the Religious Sisters of Mercy which allows them to establish Salve Regina University.
The following is Vinland Estate. It is a beautiful, red sandstone. It was constructed in 1884 for Catharine Lorillard Wilde, who had inherited substantial tobacco riches. She was then the wealthiest woman in America, and used her fortune for philanthropy and art. She never married, so she had the whole mansion to herself! I can’t imagine! After her death in 1887, her art and fortune were distributed among her extended family and to the Metropolitan Museum in New York City.
Hamilton Twombly purchased Vinland in 1896, and then 60 years later, his daughter donated Vinland Estate to the Religious Sisters of Mercy! It now serves as one of Salve Regina’s academic buildings.
The largest, and most famous of the Newport summer cottages is The Breakers, commissioned by Cornelius Vanderbilt II. It measures a staggering 125,339 square feet! The Vanderbilts were railroad tycoons. Cornelius’s great-granddaughter was key in keeping the Vanderbilt estate in the family for decades, unlike most of the other high society mansions of the Gilded Age. The following pictures are from the Cliff Walk.
Later when doing the driving tour we parked at The Breakers to get additional pictures. It was quite the estate.
Beautiful exterior details:
The Newport Mansions have been popular for Hollywood movies. 1974’s The Great Gatsby made great use of Rosecliff for many scenes. The characters came to life on Rosecliff”s rear terrace. They danced in the grand ballroom. In 1994,True Lies, Arnold Schwarzenegger is tasked with infiltrating a Swiss chalet which was actually Ochre Court! Its towering European architecture was perfect as a billionaire villain’s home base. Once inside, however, many of the scenes were shot inside Rosecliff. Rosecliff via our Newport Driving Tour Guides App.
Marble House belonged to Alva Vanderbilt. It was a birthday gift for her 36th birthday from her husband, Oliver Belmont – who owned Belcourt Castle. (Alva divorced Oliver 3 years later.) Marble House was by far the most expensive mansion. Most of the cost came from the 500,000 cubic feet of marble used to build the structure. In 1892 it was $11 million (over $300 million in today’s money). WOW!
In 1914, after Alva moved back to Marble House, she commissioned the building of The Chinese Tea House. Naked eye view from the walking path is quite limited.
The path goes through a tunnel that is under the hillside in front of the Tea House.
Below are additional mansions along the walk with a few views taken from Barry’s drone. Most of the Gilded Age Newport mansions are somewhat hidden by landscaping or rock walls. Limiting views were intentional not just for more privacy and to “mark” their entire property, but to provide suspense for visitors when coming to their mansion. The partial views along a long, curving entranceway dramatically give way to the mansion’s spectacular presence as you arrive at the main entrance.
The 47 Steps
These steps have been a local landmark since the 1830s. Throughout the Gilded Age, the platform, below served as a gathering place for the servants who worked in many of the mansions. Since many of these servants were Irish immigrants, they often played accordion music and danced jigs against the beautiful ocean background.
Most of the Cliff Walk path was easy walking with nice views, but there was a 25 ft chunk of the walk that crumbled into the ocean on March 3, 2022! Therefore, there was a short detour around the construction and stabilization work, and the Cliff Walk continued. However, the last bit of the Walk took us off a paved path and over rocks/boulders. It was pretty cool though. We had to be cognizant of the time since our parking permit was only for three hours.
We did well to keep each other moving. When we reached the end, we had maybe a half hour to get back to our car which was at least 3 miles away! We heard about the free bus that we could get up the street. People were waiting at the stop already, so we stopped. We waited and waited. TWO buses zoomed right passed all of us. I called the customer service number. That didn’t go well. When she asked where I was trying to go, and I told her Easton’s Beach, she just told me that the bus that covers that area doesn’t come by here. I could either take the one coming (eventually) to the transit center (wherever that was!), and then get the “68” route bus from there, but they only run every 40 minutes. So, we started to walk, and walked fast. So much for taking in any of the driving tour sites as we walked up Bellevue Avenue. As we walked, we came across several more bus stops for the “67” bus and a few “67” busses passed by. Dang! We should have just taken a “67” bus as far north as we could, and then take off on foot the rest of the way which would only have been about a mile. Instead, we basically race-walked the entire way 3 miles back to the car. I think I was more worried than Barry. I took off ahead of him the last 3/4 of a mile – luckily it was downhill! I arrived 40 minutes after our expired time. Luckily, there was no ticket on the Jeep. So much for our nice leisure day. As we pulled out of this parallel parking along Easton’s Beach, I saw the parking area that was ALL DAY for $10. It really did exist!
We finished our day in Newport with the driving app. We really enjoyed the time we spent on the grounds of The Breakers. Most of these Gilded Age mansions are now fully owned by The Preservation Society of Newport County with tours available. The tour fees can certainly add up, we were willing to do one, but wanted to pick the best one or two. We talked to three ladies in the parking lot who had just been to one and they all agreed it wasn’t worth it since you don’t even get to see the entire house. We decided that we really didn’t need to spend $100+ on tours. We continued with our driving guide.
Belcourt Castle
This was Oliver Belmont’s summer cottage. He had little desire to host enormous parties here. Instead, he kept his many horses here! He would ride them down to the ocean any time he pleased. This entire castle was designed around the stables!
When Oliver married Alva Vanderbilt, and she moved in, that changed. (Of course!) She transformed his bachelor pad into a refined home where she could entertain as much as she liked. Probably why he gifted her with Marble House for her birthday three years before they divorced.
We tried to find Castle Hill Inn and Lighthouse, but could not. Unless we were there and just didn’t realize it, but there was no parking for “visitors” where we were.
Fort Adams
The last part of the driving tour took us to Fort Adams. It was constructed to defend against any potential naval attack on Narragansett Bay. It was outfitted with 17 guns in the early 1800s, but never had to use them. In 1814, the fort was completely rebuilt and outfitted with 200 guns. Still no battles occurred. The fort was decommissioned in 1965 and turned into a park. There was a large walking/jogging path all the way around the fort and beyond. We had walked enough today, and we were now eager to get back “home”.
We did “see” a lighthouse! Rose Island Lighthouse could be seen from the water’s edge at Fort Adams Park! The island is out near the Jamestown Bridge. It was decommissioned in 1970 and deeded to Newport by the federal government in 1985. Visitors can explore Rose Island and tour the lighthouse. Visitors can take the Jamestown-Newport Hop-On-Hop-Off Ferry, or arrive via kayak, canoe or small private boat. Visitors can also reserve a stay at the lighthouse for anywhere from one night to a full week to “walk in the steps of the lightkeeper.” That would be kind of cool. Not sure what you do if others come by to tour the lighthouse!? I would hope the personal living area would not be accessible to visitors.
We enjoyed our day trip to Rhode Island. We will be heading to Peters Pond this week where we will continue our exploration of the Cape Cod area.