Newport and Aquidneck Island - the colonial heritage

When visiting Newport on Aquidneck Island in the county of Rhode Island, you are entering a world of mansions and colonial grandeur on a scale simply not seen anywhere else in the United States of America. Long the summer retreat for the wealthy of New York, Rhode Island boasts more surviving colonial buildings than any other city in North America.

Less than four hours from JFK International Airport in New York, Newport is a country retreat on the Atlantic coast that has long been the playground of the rich and famous. A rich port, it was founded in 1639 and has been the summer home to presidents of both Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy. This is the place to come to explore 250 years of American history and is the USA's premier historic house destination.

Opening in mid March, the five main mansions hark back to a time of opulence and European elegance. The houses - or perhaps more accurately palaces - that are open to the public are Chateau-sur-Mer, Marble House, Rosecliff, The Breakers and The Elms.  In May and June even more grandiose country residences throw open their gates: Hunter House, Isaac Bell House, Kingscote, Green Animals Topiary Garden and Chepstow.

The Breakers is the grandest of Newport's summer 'cottages', a National Historic Monument and a powerful demonstration of the Vanderbilt family's social and financial pre-eminence in turn-of-the-century America. The fortune of the family was built on steamships and then the New York Central Railroad. Cornelius Vanderbilt instructed architect Richard Morris Hunt to build him a seventy room, Italian Renaissance style villa on an amazing scale. Overlooking the sea, the estate is now open throughout the year for you to walk and gaze in wonder at a summer residence that rivals the best in Europe.

The Vanderbilt's, with Hunt as architect, also built Marble House on Bellevue Avenue. The marble alone cost over seven million dollars at the time, and the house made a rather generous birthday present from Mr. William K. Vanderbilt to his wife. It was modelled on the Petit Trianon in Versailles.

Further along Bellevue Avenue is The Elms, the former summer residence of the Berwinds, a family who rose to fame and fortune through the Philadelphia coal industry.  Modelled on a French chateau in the suburbs of Paris, the house is home to the family's collection of ceramics and eighteenth-century French and Venetian art. The recently restored gardens include marble pavillions, fountains and a sunken garden.

On the same avenue, the centre of Newport's incredible wealth overlooking Sheep Point Cove is possibly the most charming residence, Rosecliff. Stanford White again modelled this after the Versailles garden retreat. Tessie Fair Oerlichs was the driving force behind her Newport home and threw many of Newport's most lavish parties here.

Chateau-sur-Mer, slightly inland, is a landmark of the high Victorian age of architecture, some forty years older than the Vanderbilt's incredible creations. Its society parties, some for over 2,000 people, ushered in the Golden Age of Newport in the 1850s.  The Wetmore family, China trade entrepreneurs, owned the palatial home until it was taken over by the Preservation Society in that late 1960s.

Each year in February, the Newport Winter Festival brings over 150 events and sees the opening of all the mansions. This is New England's largest winter extravaganza, featuring everything from ice and sand sculpting to rock concerts, children's fairs to chilli cook-offs. It's a great time to visit and enjoy Rhode Island's hospitality.