Vanderbilt Mansion #2

Tuesday, May 30

Vanderbilt summer cottage

Lynn joins us for a day trip to Newport, RI, where we visit the Vanderbilt summer “cottage” known as The Breakers. Not as big as Biltmore, but way more ornate. (The view isn’t bad, either.) The Italian Renaissance design & furnishings are said to represent the epitome of “Gilded Age” extravagance. Interesting facts/features: huge bathrooms (each tub has 2 sets of faucets, one for seawater, the other fresh – and the tub would be filled 3 times so the water stayed warm); the dining room has 2400sf: some rooms have solid marble walls; towels were laundered after each use; clothes were changed 7 times a day.  

Entry (there's a fountain under the stairs)

Same stairs, viewed from the fountain area.

Main kitchen (this was my favorite room)

Afterwards we enjoyed lunch at O'Brien's pub - excellent crabcakes, chowder, and fish (even the "chips" were spot on). In the evening, Greg joined the Scrabble game, but I beat 'em both. 

Dolphin & scallop motifs are found throughout the
mansion, but these in the garden were a bit spooky.

BlogThought... Exiting thru the gift shop, I splurged on 2 books by Anderson Cooper (whose mother is Gloria Vanderbilt, granddaughter of Cornelius). I've already finished the first, Dispatches from the Edge (excellent), and am well into the second, The Rainbow Comes and Goes, a series of recent emails between Cooper and his mother in which they finally share decades-old questions and feelings. Fascinating reading.