Newport Mansion Tour Along Ocean Drive
Newport, Rhode Island
Rating: 
Trip Type: Day Trips
Duration: 3 - 4.5 hours
The magnificent 19th-century mansions along Newport’s famous Ocean Drive (10-Mile Drive) are truly a sight to be seen. On your guided walking tour of The Breakers, Marble House, The Elms, Rosecliff, Isaac Bell House or Chateau-sur-Mer, you’ll feel like royalty as you marvel at the grand exteriors, lavish interior décor and opulent gardens. Inspired by Victorian, Italian Renaissance and French architecture, many of these mansions are now US National Historic Landmarks!
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The magnificent 19th-century mansions along Newport’s famous Ocean Drive (10-Mile Drive) are truly a sight to be seen. On your guided walking tour of The Breakers, Marble House, The Elms, Rosecliff, Isaac Bell House or Chateau-sur-Mer, you’ll feel like royalty as you marvel at the grand exteriors, lavish interior décor and opulent gardens. Inspired by Victorian, Italian Renaissance and French architecture, many of these mansions are now US National Historic Landmarks!
At your selected time, meet at the Newport Visitor’s Center to begin your drive along Newport’s famous Ocean Drive (also known as 10-Mile Drive). You have the option to visit one or two mansions of your choice; simply inform your guide of what you’d like to visit before your tour begins.
Enjoy a comfortable drive by coach or minivan down this treasured stretch of road while hearing historical facts and anecdotes. Ocean Drive is lined with numerous jaw-dropping million-dollar mansions that were once 19th-century houses of the New York elite, who escaped to Rhode Island during the summers. All these mansions played a role in transforming Newport’s coast from a quiet summer colony of wooden cottages to a legendary resort town brimming with opulent palaces.
Visit either of the Vanderbilt family’s homes: The Breakers, the grandest of Newport's summer houses, or Marble House, both US National Historic Landmarks. These were symbols of the family's social and financial reputation at turn of the century.
Modeled after the mid-18th-century French chateau d'Asnieres outside Paris, The Elms was the summer residence of the Berwind family, who made their fortune in the Pennsylvania coast industry. Be sure to take a walk through the elaborate Classical Revival gardens.
Commissioned by Nevada silver heiress Theresa Fair Oelrichs in 1899, architect Stanford White modeled Rosecliff after the Grand Trianon, the garden retreat of French kings at Versailles.
The Isaac Bell House is one of the country's best surviving examples of shingle-style architecture. Designed for Isaac Bell, a wealthy cotton broker and investor, this mansion is also a US National Historic Landmark.
Chateau-sur-Mer is a landmark of High Victorian architecture, furniture, wallpapers, ceramics and stenciling. It was the most palatial residence in Newport from its completion in 1852 until the appearance of the Vanderbilt houses in the 1890s, and hosted many elaborate, lavish parties.
After your mansion tour, you’ll end with a scenic drive back to the Newport Visitor’s Center.
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