Our first stop was at the Breakers Mansion. This mansion was built by Cornelius Vanderbilt II of the Valderbilt Fame between 1892 and 1895. It is a 70 room 110,000 square foot estate on 11 acres of land overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. It was unbelievable that this mansion was completed in just 2 years. We were unable to take photos of the inside so I took a photo of a photo out of a tour book. It's not great but it gives you an idea just how ornate the inside is. I have never seen such an excess of ornate furnishings, art, wall coverings and estate grounds. The Vanderbilts employed 48 staff members to cater to every need.
What is most unbelievable was that this house was used by the Vanderbilts as a summer retreat. They lived in it 8 to 12 weeks of the year. Anyway enough of my rambling, if you ever get a chance to travel to Rhode Island, you must check out the mansions in Newport. These mansions put any other estate to shame, including the Hearst Castle in California.
Our next stop was at the Marble House Mansion. This was built by William (Cornelius' son) Vanderbilt between 1889 and 1892 at the cost of $11,000,000. That is $231,000,000 in today’s money...Wow.
This unbelievably was also a summer cottage used less than 12 weeks a year. This mansion was just a bit below the opulence of the Breakers Mansion but still an estate worthy of a king.
Our last stop in Newport was the Elms Mansion. This was built between 1899 and 1901 by Coal Baron Edward J. Berwind (coal baron) for about $1,500,000. We were told that the house has 500,000 cubic feet of marble. The floors, walls and ceiling were constructed of marble. This was Sue’s favorite mansion of the three we visited. It was the least ornate but still stunning.
This is the front of the Breakers Mansion.
This is the very ornate front gate to the Breakers Mansion. It may not look like it but this gate is about 20' high.
This is a photo out of a tour book of the inside of the Breakers Mansion.
This is the rear view of the Breakers Mansion and yard.
This the front of the Marble House Mansion
This is a rear view of the Mansion and grounds
This is a Tea House built like a Chinese Pagoda on the grounds of the Marble Mansion.
This is rear view of the Elms Mansion. We did not take a photo of the front side as it's view was completely blocked by trees.
This is the Carriage house to the rear of thr Elms Mansion. This "Carriage House" is bigger than my house.
The mansions are beautiful. It's not difficult to go from one of the mansion back to the motor home?:) I haven't seen as much of Dug this trip, is he over the sight seeing thing? Love, Terri
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