Newport’s rich history

Originally published on May 15, 2005

Newport, R.I. — It’s easy to spend a few hours in this historic little city and be reminded of the famous observation of the very rich being “different from you and me.”

A century after the nouveau riche of the Gilded Age turned Newport into a summer colony for wealthy Americans, its name is still associated with opulent mansions and the leisure pursuits of yachting and lawn tennis.

For that reason, it’s always been an oddity in provincial, largely middle-class Rhode Island. For someone on a weekly salary, living paycheck to paycheck, the view from Cliff Walk can be a little surreal. The summer homes of last century’s great industrialists, which form a jagged line along the coast, were built almost exclusively for entertaining.

At the Breakers, built in 1895 for Cornelius Vanderbilt II, and other neighboring mansions, dinner parties for 200 were common. Rosecliff, the most beautiful, has a ballroom 80 feet in length.

They came for six to eight weeks, partied and had high teas, and then — poof! — back to New York or Philadelphia or wherever else when the New England summer faded.

But you don’t have to be rich — or an architecture or history buff — to find this spot a fascinating stop. There are plenty of options for entertainment and tasty regional cuisine on a budget. The annual jazz and folk festivals in August draw thousands of visitors, and the city has become more sophisticated in selling its other charms. More than 3 million people visit Newport each year.

The density of the harbor area is inviting. Most of the historic streets, shops and restaurants are within easy walking distance. Like many tourist spots, there are plenty of places that sell homemade fudge and supposedly authentic scrimshaw. But legitimate antiques are sold here, too.

And Newport welcomes sailors. An independent bookstore on Thames Street caters exclusively to nautical types, dispensing books, charts and advice about navigating New England waters.

Long overshadowed, Colonial history is starting to attract its own following. Newport has more Colonial homes than New York, Philadelphia and Boston combined, according to the Colonial historical society. More than 400 houses that were built before the Revolutionary War remain, and nearly all are occupied by homeowners who have installed updates such as plumbing and air conditioning.

The clapboard exteriors preserve the historic look. In working-class areas, some of the colonials still have the asphalt shingles put up over the aging clapboards. But most streets around the harbor have been fully restored.

So many of the Colonial period structures survived because for decades after the revolution the city was mired in a depression, said Bill Peckham, a tour guide whose ancestors arrived in the mid-1600s. No one had the money to build anything fancier.

“Poverty preserves,” he said. “When you walk around Newport, you see very little Greek Revival or Federalist style homes.”

Established by people escaping the Puritans up north, Newport has a landscape that reflects a history of religious tolerance. The Touro Synagogue, dedicated in December 1763, is the oldest in the country. The Quakers, among the earliest settlers, left a meetinghouse that dates to 1699.

But the biggest historical attraction remains the Gilded Age.

Even now, the mansions fill a niche for wealthy Americans, who rent them for special occasions. In the mid-1980s, on break from college, a friend and I stumbled across preparations for a wedding at one of the mansions. I asked the man unloading flowers how much the event cost.

The wedding was for the daughter of a prominent politician. He had spent $7,000 on the flowers alone.

Newport is like that.

The summer homes of the Vanderbilts, among others, are now held by the Preservation Society of Newport County and open for daily tours. With 70 rooms, the Breakers is the largest and most famous.

Along with priceless tapestries and antiques, the mansion featured bathrooms that offered sea water for bathing, then thought to be beneficial. The kitchen is in a separate building. On the grounds, the children’s playhouse is the size of a small home in Atlanta.

Rosecliff, built in 1902 by architect Stanford White, may look familiar. It served as Gatsby’s mansion in the film “The Great Gatsby” starring Robert Redford and Mia Farrow.

For years, only the roofline of tobacco heiress Doris Duke’s home, Rough Point, was visible above the wooden gates. After her death in 1993, the Newport Restoration Foundation opened the house to limited tours. Among its features is mother-of-pearl furniture in the bedroom suite.

One of the more recent, and popular, additions to the list of mansion tours allows people to see how the other half lived. The servant half, that is.

The Rooftop and Behind the Scenes Tour at the Elms includes a guided tour of the boiler room, the kitchen, the laundry room and private quarters of the 40 servants who kept the mansion going each summer. It’s a humbling experience.

Employees were never seen by guests visiting the Elms, a French-style chateau built in 1901 for Edward Berwind, a coal magnate. The servant quarters are hidden by the rooftop design. They used separate stairwells to move up and down between floors.

The housework is described in great detail by the guide.

The staff was paid $1 a day, not bad for the turn of the century. And the jobs were desirable, considering they came with room and board, with the food freshly prepared by the same French chef retained by the Berwinds.

But the hours were long, 12 hours or more, and job security scarce.

A letter of recommendation for another employee remains in the basement laundry room. It isn’t signed by any of the Berwinds but by a personal secretary. It describes a worker, displaced at the end of the summer season because the house was being shuttered.

The popular Behind the Scenes option was added five years ago. “People find they can relate to that really well, ” said Andrea Carneiro, spokeswoman for the Preservation Society of Newport County. “It’s sometimes hard to relate to the over-the-top elegance.”

As with other historical sites, the restoration of the mansion and grounds has been slowed by the extreme expense of renovations. But it’s still possible to imagine the place in its glory days, when nothing was too expensive or too luxurious for the Berwinds and their guests. The same might be said for Newport.

“There’s no place else like Newport, ” Carneiro said. “It’s one of the most historically intact cities in the country.”

IF YOU GO

Getting there

Newport is a two-hour drive from Boston, about 30 minutes from Providence, R.I. Atlanta has daily flights to Logan International Airport in Boston and T.F. Green International Airport near Providence.

Where to stay

Melville House, a Colonial inn dating to 1750, within walking distance of the historic areas. 39 Clarke St., 401-847-0640, www.melvillehouse.com

Hotel Viking, 237 rooms and suites decorated with Queen Anne furniture; includes a pool, restaurant and views of the harbor. 1 Bellevue Ave., 401-847-3300, www.hotelviking.com.

The Rose Island light keepers house, on an island in Narragansett Bay, also works as a bed-and-breakfast, only without food or electricity. Visitors can stay in the apartment on the ground level, which has been restored to the way it looked in the 1940s, when the keeper lived there with family. 401-847-4242.

Newport County Convention and Visitors Bureau, 1-800-326-6030 or 1-800-976-5122, www.gonewport.com, can suggest other lodging.

Where to eat

White Horse Tavern, 26 Marlborough St., one of the oldest operating taverns in America. The building dates to 1673 and used to house the meetings of the Colonial general assembly. It now offers fine dining. 401-849-3600.

Brick Alley Pub, 140 Thames St., across from Brick Market Place, offers traditional pub fare with some regional touches. The local brew Newport Storm is served on tap.

Newport Creamery, 181 Bellevue Ave., is the place for an Awful Awful. The Rhode Island version of the traditional milkshake is 24 ounces; if you can finish three of them, you get the fourth free. 401-846-6332.

What to do

The Cliff Walk. The paved footpath meanders for 3.5 miles along the coast, using a long-established public right-of-way that cuts across properties including the Breakers, Rosecliff and the Astors’ Beechwood. Once the path reaches Rough Point, tobacco heiress Doris Duke’s home, the terrain becomes just that, and rock hopping is necessary. Most people stop at that point, but public access continues around the point to Land’s End. If you continue, watch your footing and the surf.

The Forty Steps. Stone steps descend from the Cliff Walk, at the Narragansett Avenue entrance, to an overlook of Rhode Island Sound. In the Gilded Age, the steps were a gathering place for the servants in the mansions.

Newport Casino, home to the International Tennis Hall of Fame. In addition to touring the museum, visitors can watch tournaments from the free seats or, with a reservation, play tennis on the grass courts.

Ocean Drive. Take a winding, 10-mile drive past some of the most prestigious addresses in turn-of-the-century America. The mansions are on both sides on Bellevue Avenue. The turn onto Ocean Avenue begins the best oceanfront views. Bailey’s Beach, the exclusive beach club, is on the left. The America’s Cup Hall of Fame includes part of the keel of the original yacht America, models of all the other America’s Cup winners and a hands-on exhibit for kids.

Newport Mansions. The Preservation Society of Newport County has 11 historic properties, including the Breakers, the Elms, Marble House and Rosecliff. Tours are available individually and through packages starting at $10 for adults and $5 for ages 6-17. 401-847-1000, www.newport mansions.org.

Colonial Newport. The Newport Historical Society offers walking tours with professional guides and maps for self-guided tours. 401-846-0813, www.newporthistorical.org.