Friday 18 July 2014

Day 25: More Friends - and a Mansion


On Tuesday, June 24th, we went into Newport, this time to the 'Pineapple on the Bay', an outdoor restaurant at the Hyatt Regency Hotel on Goat Island, with a good view of the Newport Bridge.



Here we met two friends from Providence, Rhode Island, Pamela Burt Quigley and Elaine Lauble Kehoe. Needless to say, we chatted non-stop over lunch!



Later in the afternoon, my friend Barbara and I went to one of the mansions on Bellevue Avenue. This one, Marble House, belonged to one of the Vanderbilts.


It was built in the 'Gilded Aged' (the late 19th century) by William Vanderbilt, as a summer 'cottage' retreat for his wife Alva. She decorated furnished all the 50 rooms (which had a staff of 36), but divorced William 3 years later! I couldn't take any photos inside but here is the view from the terrace.



Alva kept the house after her divorced from William and added the Chinese tea house on the cliff overlooking the sea, and hosted rallies for women's suffrage in the gardens at the back of the house.




Here's the view from the Cliff Walk (near Marble House), recently reopened after being damaged by Hurricane Sandy.









6 comments:

  1. Those awesome Rhode Island girls! How lovely this place is! I've not been here, either.
    That mansion is rather impressive!

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  2. I loved Rhode Island, Jo - and there were a lot of those palatial 'summer cottages' along the cliff top!

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  3. Lovely pictures, Paula, and a nice memory for us of having lunch with you and Barbara. Those cottages are quite nice, aren't they ;-) ?

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    1. It was so good to meet you, Elaine - and yes, I could cope with one of those cottages(as long as I had plenty of servants, of course!)

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  4. It was great to meet you in person. Thanks for taking photos of our house. �� Newport is pretty and glad you had a good trip.

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    1. Pam, it was great to meet up - and to visit your summer cottage too! :-)

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