Wedesday – September 20 – Today we woke up to brilliant sunshine and it was a gorgeous day, in the low 80’s and low humidity. We decided that we would go to Rhode Island and tour a couple of the mansions in Newport. As navigator I suggested that we take the scenic route, 1A and then got us off on the wrong exit. We take 1A but not in the direction we wanted, but man did we see some awesome houses with wonderful views of the ocean,

We did get straightened out and got to Rhode Island and found the mansions, which were actually the summer homes of the rich, and were only used for two months of the year. There were 2 cruise ships in the harbour, one being the Queen Elizabeth II, and we heard one tour guide say that they had over 20 bus tours scheduled for the day, so Newport was a very busy place.

The first mansion we toured was The Breakers which was built for Cornelius Vanderbilt II in the late 1890’s and is a Renaissance Revival structure. The house was built here but all the interior work was done in Italy and then transferred to Newport and put in the house. The architect for the house was Richard Morris Hunt, who also designed the Biltmore House for Cornelius’s brother George. I just can’t begin to describe the opulence of the house and it is just mind boggling that such a place would have been built as a summer home – sure wonder what their winter home in New York was like! The dining room in this place is larger than our condo!!

The second place we toured was The Elms which was finished in 1901 and is an early 20th century copy of the chateau d’Asnieres, a few miles from Paris. This home was built for coal magnate Edward J. Berwind and his wife, who never had children. After their deaths Edward’s sister Julia summered in the home until her death in 1961 at the age of 96. This home was not as lavish or opulent as the Breakers but was never the less very impressive. Both homes had both electric and gas lighting and both had very large bathrooms with marble tubs, dressing tables etc. in the bathroom – very lavish. The pantries in both homes were amazing with all the different sets of dishes, all the crystal etc. Both homes had the pantries on two levels and both had large safes for the silver, which was taken back and forth each year from their permanent home to their summer home. At The Elms we were told that it cost the Berwind’s about $300,000/year to entertain during their stay at The Elms.

We left Newport and again picked up 1A along the coast to Narangasset. It was a very pretty drive with beautiful beaches. We stopped at a state park which was really nice with sites looking out over the ocean but got totally turned off when we got the pricing - $20/night for full hookups for R.I. residents and $35/night for anyone else. I guess they don’t want the tourist trade!!

All in all it was a great day and there were lots of gorgeous homes and beautiful views of the sea.