Adventures in Newport

This weekend, B and I spent some time in Newport, Rhode Island, home of the famous summer "cottages."

Newport is a great little town with a quaint shopping area (with the usual recognizable stores but also some locally owned places), tons of outdoor dining, and a hip-and-happening vibe. Summer weekends can get busy, especially when a cruise ship is invading, but the less-popular mansions weren't too crowded for us.

The mansions offer a variety of ticketing options. I investigated them before we left home and decided that becoming members of the Preservation Society was the best deal. For $75, we could tour all of the mansions for an entire year. In addition, because the society is a nonprofit organization, we can claim the membership as a charitable deduction on our taxes.

Our first stop was the Elms for the Rooftop and Behind-the-Scenes tour, which was included in our membership. The guided tour took us to places that you can't see on the regular tour, including the roof (obvious from the title) and servants' quarters. Sadly, their rooms were much nicer than nearly every apartment I ever lived in. Life as a servant was difficult and unpleasant, though; they worked long hours, had only a half-day off per week, were always on-call, and could expect to make only $300 per year. The butler enjoyed a significantly better life, for a servant; he had a private bedroom and bathroom and his own pantry and was in charge of all of the other servants.

Because the Elms is one of the bigger mansions and is open through the end of the year--and is even decorated for Christmas, along with the Breakers and Marble House--we decided to skip the regular tour and see some of the mansions that have more limited schedules. We're hoping to return at Christmastime to see the seasonal decorations and will take the tour then.

Our next stop was Chateau sur Mer, a 30,000 square-foot masterpiece with an amazing entryway (unfortunately for us, photos aren't allowed inside the houses) and decadent decorations.

A side note: If you go to Newport, you might be tempted to skip some of the smaller mansions, including this one (yes, in the land of Newport mansions, 30,000 square feet is "small"), but keep this in mind: every mansion tour takes you to a limited number of rooms, so a visit to a smaller house means you're more likely to see more of the house. Additionally, because everyone wants to see the Breakers, you're more likely to be among a smaller crowd at the smaller houses. Also, if this matters to you, the tours at the smaller houses are largely child-free as most kids want to see the ridiculously big houses. Plus, if you prefer a guided tour over an audio tour, stick with the smaller places.

After the Chateau, we headed to Kingscote, which was an interesting enough house but didn't feel that homey to me. It was my least favorite tour but was by no means dull or not worthwhile.

Our last tour was the Isaac Bell House, and I had trouble deciding whether I'd rather live in it or Chateau sur Mer (hypothetically speaking, of course). The Bell House is considered a work in progress; it was acquired by the Preservation Society in recent years and came completely unfurnished and unrestored. The house remains without much furniture and is not well lit (to replicate lighting conditions when the house was originally built), but its natural light and built-in furniture features were gorgeous. Many of the windows on the first floor doubled as doors and opened onto porches that looked out over Bellevue Avenue, where many of the more famous mansions are located.

I highly recommend Newport for a day trip or a long weekend, maybe even a full week if you want to take your time and get to know the town more. Tours at the mansions take about 45 minutes each; the tours at the larger houses are now conducted by audio guide. Three tours are tiring; I think five tours in a day might be too much for most.

For schedules: I wish the society offered a daily schedule with the times that tours leave from each house. Some leave every hour, and others leave every half hour. But the society doesn't offer such a schedule, so you can either try to figure it out yourself or hope for the best. We opted for the latter option and lucked out, arriving just in time to start all of our tours or join a recently begun tour. Keep in mind that if you miss an hourly tour, you'll have a long time to wait.