In the late 1800s, Newport, Rhode Island was the ultimate summer destination for the wealthy. In the Gilded Age, wealthy families such as the Vanderbilts and the Astors built “summer cottages” along Newport’s rugged coast line. The elite left New York City behind for several weeks during the summer and came to Newport to entertain and be entertained.
The Preservation Society of Newport County has done a marvelous job of preserving these mansions and protecting their architectural heritage. The society’s eleven properties offer a combination of audio tours, docent-led tours, and self-guided tours. Tickets can be purchased online or at the Welcome Center at the Breakers. Ticket options are below:
- Breakers Only ticket – $26 adults / $8 youth ages 6-17
- Hunter House ticket – $35 adults / $8 youth ages 6-17
- 1 House Ticket (admission to any 1 property excluding the Breakers and Hunter House) – $18 adults / $8 youth ages 6-17
- 2 House Ticket (admission to the Breakers plus one other property, excluding Hunter House) – $32 adults / $9 youth ages 6-17
- 5 House Ticket (admission to any 5 properties, excluding Hunter House) – $38 adults / $12 youth ages 6-17
There are also specialty tours like “Beneath the Breakers” and “Servant Life” at the Elms which give you more of a behind-the-scenes type tour.
We opted to visit the Breakers, both because it is the biggest and most opulent and because they offer a separate audio tour for children.
The Breakers was the summer home of New York Central Railroad President Cornelius Vanderbilt. Built on 13 acres overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, the home has an astonishing 70 rooms over 62,000 square feet of living space. The mansion was built in a mere two years at the cost of $7 million dollars (equivalent to $150 million dollars today).
We had a beautiful day to tour the Breakers. A sunny day with clear blue skies, the last thing we expected to see was a rainbow! Apparently this is not technically a rainbow but a circumhorizontal arc, but it was beautiful nonetheless.
We bought our tickets at the Welcome Center and made our way inside. I had visited Newport with college friends last October and toured the Breakers then. Since I had already done the regular audio tour, I decided to do the Family Audio Tour along with the boys. I liked following along with them and learning the same things they were learning.
The audio tours are really neat. Everyone gets their own phone-like device and headphones. They can select the tour they want to take and the language. The audio guide takes them through the house, instructing them where to walk, where to look, when to move on to the next room. The boys really liked being in charge of their own tour.
The Family Audio Tour was really well done, although a little cheesy in a few places where they seemed to be targeting younger kids. There is both first person commentary (from family members and staff) and third-person recounting of facts and stories. The boys liked hearing the stories of the kids’ hijinx (like locking the butler out of the dining room) and thought it was interesting to learn the rules that the children who lived there had to follow. A family audio tour is a great idea to engage kids. It really brought the house and its inhabitants to life.
There were a few symbols incorporated into the design elements throughout the house that my boys thought were really cool. The first and most prominent was the incorporation of acorns in various design elements. The Vanderbilt’s family symbol was the acorn. Family patriarch Cornelius “Commodore” Vanderbilt came from humble beginnings and rose to be the country’s wealthiest man. The family thus identified with the saying “mighty oaks from little acorns grow” and adopted the acorn as their symbol. Acorns and oak leaves can be found in numerous places throughout the mansion.
Another fun hidden element appears in the wall relief over the entrance to the Music Room. There are six doors which lead from the Great Hall to other rooms and over each is a sculpture representing some aspect of art, science and industry. At first glance, the relief over the door to the Music Room is simply a sculpture of two cherubs. But on closer inspection, there is a nod to the railroad industry, where the Vanderbilts made their wealth. The cherub on the left is holding a spike, while the cherub on the right is holding a sledgehammer. They are laying railroad tracks for the locomotive that runs behind them.
One last fun surprise was the hidden turtle on the ceiling in the Billiard Room.
While there was no shortage of stunning architectural and design elements, my favorite feature throughout the house was probably the ceilings. The ceiling in each room is completely different and wildly ornate. Really spending time to look at the detail of the ceiling of each room is enough to give anyone a sore neck because there is so much to take in. And it is totally worth it.
The display of wealth and opulence in the Breakers is staggering. The level of thought that went into the detailed design of every inch of space in every room (70 of them!) is mind-boggling. I suppose you had to both live in the Gilded Age and be a member of high society to really wrap your mind around it. For the every man of the 21st century, it is fun to walk through and see how the richest of the rich lived in the 19th century. You could tour the mansion a hundred times and still find new and stunning details each time.
My kids really enjoyed visiting the mansion and taking the Family Audio Tour. They were amazed by the design of the home and entertained by the stories shared on the tour. They liked the independence of following the tour themselves and at their own pace. I highly recommend visiting the Breakers with your kids and taking the Family Audio Tour!
