This morning we drove the car to Providence, RI and boarded a ferry to Newport, RI. It was a beautiful day and the ferry only took about 30 minutes. After we got off the ferry, we had a short walk to the visitor center and found out about 
transportation to the Newport Mansions. We paid $5 each for the trolley and we were able to get off and on all day. Our first stop was at the Breakers Mansion. Cornelius Vanderbilt, Chairman and President of the New York Central Railroad system in 1885, purchased a wooden framed house called The Breakers in Newport in 1885. Th
e house burned down in 1892. In 1893 Cornelius commissioned Richard Morris Hunt to design a villa with 70 rooms in an Italian Renaissance-style palazzo inspired by the 16th century palaces of Genoa and turin. The Vanderbilts had seven children. Their youngest daughter, Gladys, who is Count Laszio Szechenyl of Hungary, inherited the house on her mother’s death in 1934. She opened The Breakers in 1948 to raise funds for the Preservation Society of Newport County. In 1972, the Preservation Society purchased the house from her heirs. Today it is designated as a National Historic Landmark. The great hall is 2 ½ stories high and the morning room is adorned with platinum leaf wall panels. There are rare marbles, alabaster and gilded woods throughout the house. The furnishings were incredible. The tour of the mansion took about an hour.We got on the trolley again and took it to The Elms mansion. We walked behind the mansion and across the back yard to the Carriage House Café. The grounds are beautiful and included a 
weeping beech tree. The tree just falls to the ground but underneath the tree is like under an umbrella. After lunch we took the Rooftop & Behind the Scenes tour at The Elms. The Elms was the summer residence of Mr. And Mrs. Edward Julius 
Berwind of Philadelphia and New York. Mr. Berwind made his fortune in the Pennsylvania coal industry. In 1898, the Berwinds hired an architect to design a house modeled after the mid-18th 
century French chateau d’Asnieres outside Paris. The Elms was completed in 1901 at a cost of $1.4 million. The tour covered how the staff lived. We saw the kitchen, coal cellar, boiler room, laundry rooms, wine cellar and third floor staff quarters. At the end of the tour we walked up to the roof for a beautiful view. It was an interesting tour.
weeping beech tree. The tree just falls to the ground but underneath the tree is like under an umbrella. After lunch we took the Rooftop & Behind the Scenes tour at The Elms. The Elms was the summer residence of Mr. And Mrs. Edward Julius Berwind of Philadelphia and New York. Mr. Berwind made his fortune in the Pennsylvania coal industry. In 1898, the Berwinds hired an architect to design a house modeled after the mid-18th 
century French chateau d’Asnieres outside Paris. The Elms was completed in 1901 at a cost of $1.4 million. The tour covered how the staff lived. We saw the kitchen, coal cellar, boiler room, laundry rooms, wine cellar and third floor staff quarters. At the end of the tour we walked up to the roof for a beautiful view. It was an interesting tour.Our last tour for the day was the Chateau-sur-Mer mansion built in 1852. Three generations of the Wetmore family lived in the mansion. It features 
a lot of hand carved Italian woodwork, Chinese porcelains, Egyptian and Japanese Revival stenciled wallpapers. George and Edith Wetmore married in 1869 and hired an architect to remodel and redecorate the house in the Second Empire French style. George had a distinguished political career as Governor of Rhode Island and as a United States Senator. He died in 1921 and his wife in 1927. They were survived by their two daughters, Edith and Maude, who never married.
a lot of hand carved Italian woodwork, Chinese porcelains, Egyptian and Japanese Revival stenciled wallpapers. George and Edith Wetmore married in 1869 and hired an architect to remodel and redecorate the house in the Second Empire French style. George had a distinguished political career as Governor of Rhode Island and as a United States Senator. He died in 1921 and his wife in 1927. They were survived by their two daughters, Edith and Maude, who never married. We took the trolley back to the Visitor Center and then walked to the Hyatt Hotel for a snack and a drink while we waited for the ferry. The ferry ride back to Providence went quick and we
were able to get some pictures of a few lighthouses. It was a great day but we were exhausted by the time we drove back to the RV.
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