Tag Archives: the breakers

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Newport – Day 3…. The Breakers finale and a fabulous Irish pub.

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Finishing our tour of the top floor we strolled across the upper loggia.

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It was a semi outdoor sitting room.

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Filled with wicker furniture, rugs and potted palm trees in its day.

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The ceiling is a continuation of the painted sky from the great hall.

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Looking out…. you can see the waves breaking over the cliffs that give the house its name 30 feet below.

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Here’s the husband taking a picture of the servant’s stairs.

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The kitchen was large and extremely workable.

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Which is a good thing considering the size of the dinner parties they had to cater.

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Here’s the separate two story butler’s pantry that housed the china. Because why have one 50 piece pattern… when you have the space for 20? The family’s 1,000 piece monogrammed Tiffany silver was kept here as well. In the locked safe. Away from the possible sticky fingers of the 40 person staff.

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Here are some exterior photos of the house.

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The sun was hard to avoid so pardon the rays here and there.

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We visited the Breakers once, decades ago in the summer… and the grounds were lovely.

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Me, in 1989, tan and thin.

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Husband in 1989, still active duty and thin.

In March 2025 things were mostly brown.

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World’s largest bird bath?

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I can’t imagine having this type of wealth.

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Or living in this type of home.

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But it sure was fun to wander around and pretend we did.

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We spent the entire morning here and were famished by the time we were through. Reading in the brochure about a cafe on the grounds, we brought our appetites.

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Only to discover the elaborate building had no kitchen, just bottled drinks in a cooler and bags of chips.

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Bit of a let down, that.

After battling the crowded Thames Street waterfront…where there were ample restaurants but no parking, we drove a little farther and discovered Zelda’s.

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A wonderful Irish pub favored by locals.

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Nautically themed…

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With an anchor chain serving as bar foot rail…

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We happily settled in for lunch.

My cocktail of choice?

PRICKLY PEAR SPRITZ

RUFFINO PROSECCO, FRUITFUL PRICKLY PEAR, ELDERFLOWER LIQUOR, FRESH LEMON

Perfection!

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And ooh la la.

A weird selection for an Irish pub… but their shrimp and grits was da bomb. They were fried, which was also weird, but everything was perfectly cooked and spiced. Tender shrimp, creamy cheesy grits, I was a happy camper.

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There’s a very large Irish presence in Newport. Most of whom are ancestors of the original indentured servants brought over to serve the wealthy and build their fabulous summer homes. The robber barons are gone, but the Irish remain. And because of that….you’re never very far from a decent pub.

😊

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Newport – Day 3…. more of that little summer cottage.

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Continuing our tour of the Breakers…

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We constantly had to remind ourselves to look up.

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Because no matter how beautiful the rooms were, the ceilings were equally lovely.

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Even small alcoves used to play cards…

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Had intricate overhead embellishment.

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The last room on the first floor tour of the “cottage” was the library.

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Yes, there were a few bookcases beside the 16th century French fireplace and chimney brought from the Chateau d’Arnay Le Duc …

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But even here it was more about seeing and being seen than actual reading.

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Up the back staircase…

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Was a balcony that ran around the entire top floor offering a view of the great hall below.

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Red seemed to be a popular color for bedrooms.

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And though the upstairs wasn’t quite as ornate as the down..

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It was still wall to wall marble.

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With decorative touches.

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Sore butt station.

Got it.

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Personally, this wallpaper gave me hives.

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But Gertrude seemed to like it.

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She might have been a cute child…

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But looked to be a battle ax in her later years.

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A photo outside the house during her wedding.

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This simpler green guest room was more soothing.

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And it had a lovely view.

Here’s my husband taking a picture…

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Of hangers.

He collects old wooden hangers you know.

🥴

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One more glimpse of the grand staircase from on high…

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And we moved on.

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Newport – Day 3…. in which we see how the other half lives.

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Newport, Rhode Island is famous for many things but no visit to the area is complete without touring the “cottages”.

And by cottages, I mean American castles.

Built by the fabulously wealthy of the Gilded Age they line the waterfront of Bellevue Avenue and are a testament to what life without property and income tax provided the robber barons of their day.

Grandest of the grand is The Breakers.

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Built by premier architect Richard Morris Hunt in 1893 for Cornelius Vanderbilt, it has 70 rooms and a total of 138,300 interior square feet.

Occupied for a short summer season of 6-8 weeks, the Newport “cottages” were the epitome of excess and a symbol of financial power in an era where the haves had a lot, and the have nots were laboring hard to keep them rich.

In true WTH? husband fashion, my spouse directed me to take a picture of the gutter at the front entrance.

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Walking through the colossal front doors, you enter the Great Hall.

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The largest room in the house….

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It’s 50 feet long by 50 feet high. And even though we’d just started our self guided tour, my husband found people to talk to.

Sigh.

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Vanderbilt children slid down these stairs on solid silver trays.

As one does.

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Under the stairs?

A fountain.

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Next door was the formal dining room, which was impressive enough for even my husband to break out his camera.

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It’s hard to imagine sitting down for your morning bowl of frosted flakes on Louis XV furniture, but to each their own.

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12 rose colored columns of solid alabaster draw your eye up to the beyond ornate detailing.

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And bracket what I’m assuming is the largest salad bowl ever.

Here’s a quick video for scale.

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I have to admit the Vanderbilt pool table is a little bigger than ours.

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And their hand cut marble mosaic walls and ceilings are a trifle more colorful than our man cave walls.

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Saying ooh and ahh is trite…

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But as you stroll through this place you simply can’t help yourself.

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Take the music room for example….

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Gold and silver leaf, crystal chandeliers, silk draperies. The walls, ceiling, floor and furniture were all built in France and imported to Newport for installation.

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The morning room.

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Just a comfy little nook for your first cup of Joe.

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And yes, that’s platinum on the walls.

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To be continued…

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Let’s play.

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Don’t argue. It’s required…

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My parents were not vacation people and we never once loaded up the ‘62 Ford Falcon station wagon to hit the open road when I was a child.

Oh, there were wonderful day trips to the Jersey shore to swim and stroll the boardwalks… and overnighters in NYC so I could get my fill of dinosaurs at the Museum of Natural History or stuff my face full of cotton candy at Madison Square Garden when Ringling Brothers was in town…. but a true road or airline trip vacation?

Nope. Never.

I can’t honestly say I felt deprived, when you grow up in the New York/New Jersey metropolitan area there’s always plenty to see and do. And while we might have spent a few days in Connecticut or upstate NY with my parent’s friends on occasion, I wouldn’t really call that a ‘vacation’.

So as weird as it sounds, my first “real” vacation happened right after I got married at the ripe old age of 20. The husband and I were living in North Carolina where he was stationed when we jumped in his shiny black 280ZX with T Top removable roof panels … the ultimate in cool in 1984… and headed for Washington DC. I’d never been so we did all the typical tourist stuff – the Lincoln Memorial, the Vietnam Memorial, The National Zoo, the Jefferson Memorial and of course there was the prerequisite sexy photo in front of the reflecting pool at the Washington Monument.

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Complete with stone washed denim and chunky silver link dangling belt. Oh to be that thin again. Sigh…

Done with the nations capitol, we headed to Newport Rhode Island where the husband had been stationed at the Naval War College years before.

Here’s a pic of his handsome self receiving a commendation for saving a young man’s life.

❤️

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I honestly don’t remember much about what we did in Newport other than visit the Breakers… that oh so cute and cozy cottage where the Vanderbilts used to summer.

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Those were the pre cell phone and selfie days where you had to rely on your husband to take a good picture and then wait a week to see if it turned out.

So that was my first real vacay.

How about you?

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