Newport, Rhode Island takes you back to a time when some of the largest homes in America were deemed “summer cottages”.  An age when Americans created their own wealth through the industrial age of economical, technical, and scientific progress.  America came into their own noveau rich era and built these coastal retreats between between the 1870s- 1920s.

These opulent, and obnoxiously glorious homes, were a socialites playground every May – October.  At the end of every season these mansions were put to rest for the winter while their owners had to make the difficult decisions on where to spend winter: Paris, or New York City.

Pin For Later:

All irony aside, the costs of running these homes through the summer was from $300,000 on up.  It was more than a full time job for the lady of the house to head up the staff of the homes, plan the outlandish parties, and keep the books in line.

The absolute beauty of these homes is that the architecture came from all over the world.  The owners wanted to incorporate all they had seen in their travels.  At Chateau-Sur-Mer two of the rooms were constructed to size in Italy, disassembled, shipped to Rhode Island and then reassembled at the Chateau.  The Elms was created to replicate a French chateau, while also including Chinese panels in one of their rooms.  The Marble house even has one room devoted to Gothic art from the Medieval ages.

These homes are immaculate works of art, followed by stories of lavish parties and dramatic loves.  After some time the social era died out.  About 20 of these historical mansions were torn down before it was decided that these homes were an integral part of America’s architectural history.  Touring these homes is a day full of entertaining stories that takes your imagination back in time.  We purchased a ticket where we could see five mansions and I believe it ran us $60 a person.  We toured The Breakers, The Marble House, Rosecliff, Chateau-Sur-Mer, and The Elms.

If you want to see where we stayed you can check out: Stay at The Attwater Hotel: A Hotel Review.

And if you want to check out our food recommendations: A Newport Rhode Island Food Guide