Wednesday, June 7: Newport, Rhode Island

Lydia's Journal Entry:

Today we toured mansions. Beautiful, glorious, HUGE mansions. The first one was The Breakers. This was the biggest one we saw. Covered in detailed statues, and dazzling chandeliers, this mansion was built in 1893-1895 and was the summer vacation home of the wealthy Cornelius Vanderbilt family. 

There are a total of 40 bedrooms and 20 bathrooms, most of which were huge, fancy rooms. Each bedroom had its own style. One was covered in pink flowered wallpaper and beautiful crown molding. There was a simple one for the daughter, which had some pink tint on the walls, and simple whites all over. 

The bathrooms had a toilet, a sink, and a bathtub with four faucets. Two were for hot and cold salt water, and the other two were for hot and cold plain water. This is because back then it was thought that salt water was healthier for you. 

The dining room was huge! Ornate carvings and paintings covered the ceiling and walls. Colors sparkled through the whole room! The chandeliers were like huge jellyfish hanging from the ceiling, and gold paint was seen at every angle. 

The foyer was the most spectacular of all. The grand staircase was breath-taking, and the patterns on the ceiling were outstanding! There were gold acorns in a green shield [on the floor of the billiards room] which was the family symbol. Windows and doorways were everywhere, letting in natural light, as intricate designs bordered every edge. Four chandeliers occupied each corner and balconies on each end and made observing an easy task. 

Then came the kitchen. There were so many pots, pans and lids. Most of them were hung on a bracket in the center of the room. All of them were made of copper. The table was layered with zinc, a metal alloy which was the stainless steel of the time [and was considered to be anti-microbial]. The stove was three big slates of metal that were over wood fires. The chefs cooked the food in French style from the Breakers and their guests.

After we finished the inside [tour] we headed outside. The mansion was not quite as fancy and detailed as inside, but it came close. There were faces and patterns and carvings all over the walls. All the windows had an arch above them. The garden was simple, yet beautiful. Quite the house, I would say! 

Tomi Fay's Comments:

Lunchtime, and Chris really wanted to eat seafood by the ocean, but we decided we couldn't get to our other two tours if we took the time to enjoy Chris's outing. Chris loves sitting by the ocean. Unfortunately for Chris, other than Kasie, he married into a non-ocean-sitting family. We will have to get him ocean-side at some point in the next few days. 

We toured Kingscote, a smaller house of the Gothic Revival style. Gothic Revival was popular only for a short period of time in the 1840s and 1850s. The attraction of living in an edifice that was a cross between a castle and a church, furnished with heavy, awkward furniture, did not last long. 

Our third tour was the servant's tour of The Elms. Greg is frustrated every time we tour a building and he cannot get into the cellar and the attic, open every little door, inspect the utilities and generally do everything that makes docents shudder. We trod The Elms from the basement level to the servant's quarters in the attic. Chris carried Tobias on his back up all those flights of stairs. Tobias wasn't pleased to be in the carrier, but got through the tour admirably well. Etta Grace slept through all three tours - I guess we will have to take her again when she is older and awake! 

We enjoyed seeing where the servants lived, the basement kitchen facilities, the water and heating system and the call system for the building. Forty servants were at the beck and call of the Berwinds, who made a fortune in the coal industry. The façade the owners of these mansions wanted to portray was that the activities of the buildings appear as if they were running themselves without help. Employees moved about discretely through hidden doors and when visitors were not in their rooms. Women changed their clothes up to seven times a day, depending on their activities. That is a lot of laundry!

A most interesting feature is that Mr. Berwinds did not want anyone to see the coal entering the building. He had a tunnel built from the basement of the house to a location a block away where the coal was unloaded into a cart, hand-pushed a block to the building, then piled to be fed into the massive furnaces. 

Children's Activity:

To warm Mr. Vanderbilt's iron bathtub, a servant repeatedly filled the tub with hot water and emptied it until the metal tub was warm. Then the final filling was either salt water or fresh water, according to his wishes. 

Is it easier to float in salt water or fresh water? Try placing a few different objects in fresh water and seeing if they float or sink. Then put salt in the water. Does it make a difference as to whether it floats or sinks? 

Would you like to have salt in your bath water?