Our Trip Blog

The Events of Wednesday, October 27, 2010       

          Exhausted from the long day yesterday, we woke up drowsy but excited. Today promised not only a new state, but a new milestone! We are now halfway through the US portion of our trip. And what an adventure it has been so far! We drove off to Fall River, Massachusetts to visit Hartley’s Original Pork Pies, which was recommended to us by Grandma Joanne. We picked up three pies for dinner for tonight and another night: a pork, a beef, and a chorizo (which Abby hilariously mispronounces thoritco). We departed Massachusetts and made our way into state number 27. Typically, the border is marked with a sign saying “Welcome to New York!” or “Pennsylvania Welcomes You!” Was there a sign? That is a mystery to us still. It may have been shrouded in the fog.

          Since Rhode Island is only 48 miles North to South and 37 miles East to West, there are fewer things to see than in a bigger state (say California). The main things we wanted to see were the mansions in Newport, a shoreline cliff walk, and a bit of Providence. We headed for the Newport visitor’s information center to find out where to start. We got information about the mansions, the cliff walk, the town, and about camping for the next few nights. In most other states we visit, we get large booklets about the campgrounds in the state—sometimes a whole magazine about one region! In Rhode Island, all the campgrounds fit on one piece of paper. Is this a small state or what? With this information, we decided to do the mansions today, since the cloudy and sometimes rainy weather made us want to stay inside. Since none of the mansions are free, we searched to find the best deal possible to see these famous mansions. Dad found a Household Membership for $90, which got the six of us free admission to all the mansions for the next year. Compared to $222 or $102 it would have been with other tour packages, it was a great find. As we drove to our first tour, we got a small glimpse of the other summer cottages on the shoreline.

          A little explanation is needed about the whole Newport style of life in the Gilded Age. The wealthy industrial families, such as the Vanderbilts, Astors, and Morgans, bought property on Bellevue Ave and constructed their cottages as a summer residence. Used to host parties, these were only used for about ten weeks. The families arrived July 4th for the start of summer (My summer starts in May. What’s going on here?), and return to New York in early September for the start of opera season. Built for the ladies, these were intended as a recreational retreat on the quiet coastline. Paying anywhere from $2 to over $12 million on a single house, everything was luxurious. The opulence is astounding, as these “cottages” are more lucrative than any full-time residence I have ever seen.

          The first mansion we visited was the most famous and well known summer cottage in town: The Breakers. Owned by the Vanderbilt family, it was constructed in 1893 by the prestigious architect Richard Morris Hunt. Although his name is not too well known, his works are. He designed the pedestal for the Statue of Liberty in New York. The 70-room house of marble, brick, and stone was commissioned because the original, wooden estate The Breakers had burned down. Amazingly, this huge house was complete with furnishings and decorations only two years after construction began. How? Some rooms were assembled in the form of panels in Europe and then shipped to Newport for assembly. Almost like the Sears catalog house I talked about in Indiana, but a lot higher class. As you entered, you saw the huge, two and a half story Grand Hall, complete with a grand staircase. This was the ballroom that, at times, hosted over a hundred guests. Other rooms included the elaborate billiards room, 13 bedrooms, and other entertainment spaces. I couldn’t possibly remember the purposes and designs of all 20 rooms we visited, but I do remember that they were all extravagant and gorgeously designed. We visited a total of 57 rooms in all and they had 20 bathrooms. Typically, each house at the time was lucky to have 1 bathroom with indoor plumbing.

          Everything was gilded with gold leaf: ¼ of a millionth of an inch thick. For those of you who don’t deal with fractions well, that is 0.00000025 inches thick. Varying from 18 to 24 karats, this covers many decorations in the estate. It is painted, pounded, and manipulated to give everything a unique look. There were around 40 servants at a time, anything from maids, footmen, butlers, to coachmen. I found it interesting that only the male servants were to be seen. As a result, the home was kept in the best manner. The audio tour we took was fabulous, informative, and gave you the option to explore more (which we always did—it was worth the extra time!). I can see why they choose not to give guided tours; it would be incredibly loud, crowded (the parking lot was almost full today—imagine it in the summer!), and not as enjoyable. The Preservation Society made a good decision when it implemented audio tours in this mansion.

          After a short pause in the day for lunch, we moved on to cottage number two: Rosecliff. Rosecliff was designed with a main back portion and then two side wings extending to the front. Between these two front wings lay a nice garden, complete with sculptures of lions and angels. There are some themes beginning to emerge in cottage decoration styles. Everyone seems to have angels, dolphins, and seashells. In my mind, this design gives Rosecliff one of the most attractive exteriors. Although the estate is not as large as the Breakers, the mansion’s interior and exterior is probably more recognized by movie watchers. It has been the setting of several movies, including The Great Gatsby, True Lies, Amistad, and 27 Dresses. Home originally to the Oelrichs, it was used for many parties, including the famous Ball Blanc, where absolutely everything was white. The ladies all wore white wigs and white dresses. The men wore white suits and a black tie, hence the saying: “Black tie affair.” Mrs. Oelrich bought twelve white swans to swim in the pond outside. A fleet of white boats was brought near the adjacent seashore and were illuminated with white light, creating glowing ships upon a calm sea. To complete the white theme, vanilla ice cream was served. Our tour guide (no audio tour for this one) did such a fantastic job describing the Ball Blanc that we could all picture the regality of the evening. The rest of the downstairs was not as expansive as The Breakers’; however, it was used mostly for hosting parties during the few summers that it was owned by the Oelrichs.

          Upstairs were the guest rooms, bedroom suites, and a gallery. We were lucky to arrive during the special exhibit, “Newport Undressed: Crafting the Gilded Age Wardrobe”. It was a showcase of dresses from the period (1869-1914), and signs discussed the style, hard work required, custom tailoring, and points about each dress shown. The information that stuck with me most was about the cost of each dress. Since all dresses were made in Paris, travel costs made new dresses a treasure. However, even the wives and daughters of the wealthy in Newport got their share of dresses. While some ladies only purchased around five dresses a year, some purchased as many as 18. They were needed, as ladies sometimes wore seven different outfits a day. They included a morning dress, a lunch dress, an afternoon dress, a riding habit, a yachting dress, a dress for afternoon tea, and a ball gown. All of these dresses would add up to around $38,000 then, $700,000 today. Would you buy a $55,000 dress today to be worn maybe two or three times?

          Since the mansions closed at 5 pm, we hustled over to Marble House to see our third mansion for the day. Built between 1888 and 1892, this house, another work of Richard Morris Hunt, was not assembled in parts. As its name implies, this house is made completely of marble—approximately 500,000 cubic feet of it. As our audio tour led us through the rooms, we saw the “Grand Salon”, which was their great hall, a special exhibit on Gothic Art in the Gilded Age, and the breakfast and dining rooms. The stories behind these mansions are almost as interesting as the mansions themselves. The wife of William K. Vanderbilt, Alva, received Marble House as her 39^th birthday present. Big surprise gift? Not really. She had been on site, guiding the workers that were toiling away behind the walls that kept the new house a secret from the rest of Newport. Alva used the house as a rallying spot for women suffrage movements. She had “Votes for Women” painted onto the china she used for the events. Alva was quite a curious figure. She told the suffragettes not to marry until they had the vote. Strangely, she forced her eldest daughter, Consuelo, to marry an English nobleman for his aristocratic title (He married her for her money). Consuelo had a lover and was secretly engaged, so as her mother led the suffragettes to freedom, she kept her own daughter a prisoner at Marble House until she consented to marry the duke. After three summers of living in Marble house, Alva divorced Mr. Vanderbilt. Although divorce was unheard of for a “society lady” (especially from a Vanderbilt), she succeeded in filing for a divorce.  Soon after, she married another wealthy man and, since he had a Newport cottage of his own, she abandoned Marble House, occasionally using it for laundry or a very large walk-in closet. Later in her life, she supported Consuelo’s wish to divorce her English husband, the one she had forced her unwilling daughter to marry.

          Before we had fully completed our audio tour, it was closing time, so we were ushered out the door. We drove on toward our nice little campground at Melville Ponds, where we enjoyed the chorizo and pork pies and then headed off for bed.