Tag Archives: Newport

Photo A Day Challenge: Bouquet…

Posted on March 8, 2019 by mvobsession | Comments Off

Newport, Rhode Island ~~ The Elms

deb

https://citysonnet.wordpress.com/2019/03/01/march-photo-a-day-challenge-2/

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Tagged flowers, houses, mansions, Newport, Newport, RI, photo a day, photo a day challenge, Photographs

Newport, RI continued …

Posted on June 19, 2016 by mvobsession | Comments Off

Believe it or not, no more mansions :) just a little of this and a little of that.

The International Tennis Hall of Fame.

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Portuguese Discovery monument

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Sunset at Breton Point

deb

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And this and that…

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This concludes my posts about the trip to Newport, RI … I think

(photographs by my daughter Deb and myself)

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Tagged architecture, food, history, New England, Newport, Newport, RI, ocean, Photographs, Rhode Island, sky, sports, sunset, tennis, travel

Newport, RI – Part 4 – Kingscote…

Posted on June 5, 2016 by mvobsession | Comments Off

Kingscote, our final mansion.

George Noble Jones, a southern plantation owner constructed this Gothic Revival style summer cottage in 1839 along a farm path known as Bellevue Avenue. Designed by Richard Upjohn, the house is an early example of the picturesque Gothic Revival style, with its irregular and busy roofline. Kingscote was one of the first summer “cottages” constructed in Newport. It was owned by the King family from 1863 until 1972, when it was given to the Preservation Society of Newport County.

According to the Preservation Society of Newport County: Today, Kingscote is a rare example of a Gothic Revival house and landscape setting preserved intact with original family collections.

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Hope you’ve enjoyed our mansion tours, we had a lot of fun.

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(photographs by my daughter Deb and myself)

http://www.newportmansions.org/explore/kingscote

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingscote_%28mansion%29

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Tagged architecture, decor, houses, mansions, New England, Newport, Newport, RI, Photographs, Rhode Island, stained glass, windows

Newport, RI – Part 1 – Marble House…

Posted on May 5, 2016 by mvobsession | Comments Off

As you may have guessed from the clues in the previous post ‘April Road Trip’.. our trip was to Newport, Rhode Island to visit the mansions of the Gilded Age. And gilded they were.

Mansion #1- Marble House.

According to Wikipedia : “The mansion was built as a summer “cottage” retreat between 1888 and 1892 for Alva and William Kissam Vanderbilt. It was a social landmark that helped spark the transformation of Newport from a relatively relaxed summer colony of wooden houses to the now legendary resort of opulent stone palaces. The fifty-room mansion required a staff of 36 servants, including butlers, maids, coachmen, and footmen. The mansion cost $11 million ($260,000,000 in 2009 dollars) of which $7 million was spent on 500,000 cubic feet (14,000 m³) of marble.”

The tours are audio guided which lets you progress at your own speed… also now photos are allowed with smart phones. You can use SLR’s without flash with written permission when you get there. I used my SLR digital camera as well as my smart phone. Let’s step inside now and begin the tour of Marble House…

Foyer and staircase….

Around the house..

kitchen

Alva was big in the Women’s Suffrage movement, you can find this ‘Votes for Women’ china in the gift shop.

One cannot leave Marble House without walking around the grounds and visiting the Chinese Tea House on the back lawn.

This is only a sampling of the many pictures we took. This house, escuse me ‘summer cottage’ is incredibly beautiful and interesting. To read more about it and the original owners, William Kissam Vanderbilt and his eclectic and interesting wife Alva… CLICK HERE and CLICK HERE

Coming next… the ultimate ‘summer cottage’. Can you guess which it is ?

(photographs by my daughter Deb and myself)

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Tagged decor, history, houses, mansions, museums, Newport, Newport, RI, Photographs, Rhode Island, stairs, towns

Newport, RI – Part 1 – Marble House…

Posted on May 5, 2016 by mvobsession | Comments Off

As you may have guessed from the clues in the previous post ‘April Road Trip’.. our trip was to Newport, Rhode Island to visit the mansions of the Gilded Age. And gilded they were.

Mansion #1- Marble House.

Foyer and staircase….

Around the house..

kitchen

Alva was big in the Women’s Suffrage movement, you can find this ‘Votes for Women’ china in the gift shop.

One cannot leave Marble House without walking around the grounds and visiting the Chinese Tea House on the back lawn.

Coming next… the ultimate ‘summer cottage’. Can you guess which it is ?

(photographs by my daughter Deb and myself)

Comments Off on Newport, RI – Part 1 – Marble House…

Tagged decor, history, houses, mansions, museums, Newport, Newport, RI, Photographs, Rhode Island, stairs, towns

Tripping New England …

Posted on October 9, 2015 by mvobsession | Comments Off

I’m taking a girl trip later this month to New England with my daughter Deb and our friend Dawn and there will be a post or so about it… but in the meantime I want to re-post part of a trip Deb and I made 20 years ago to Newport, Rhode Island.

We had spent the earlier part of the week on Martha’s Vineyard but that’s a re-post for a later date. We left the Vineyard and headed for an over night stay in Newport, Rhode Island, a place Deb had never been to and I raved about.

I had made reservations at a bed & breakfast, which is NOT pictured here… this is the beautiful Rosecliff mansion.

We figured we’d check in and then go have lunch by the harbor. The best laid plans often go astray as we were finding out

We pulled into the circular driveway of what once had been a gorgeous mansion. The operative word here is… once. The first thing we noticed was the roof being torn off and being tossed onto the driveway. OK, a little renovation is a good thing.

There were no other cars in the driveway (an omen perhaps).

There were spider webs by the front door, not such a good thing, even if Halloween was only days away.

The door was bolted so we rang the bell.

Lurch opened it. All right, it wasn’t Lurch, but this man was big and wore an eye patch and had a low gravely, grumbly voice. OK, maybe there wasn’t an eye patch but there should have been.

We entered with trepidation what at one time years ago had been a beautiful mansion but was now drab, threadbare, and frankly creepy. The beautifully carved wood circular staircase was covered by the most horrible ugly green carpeting imaginable. We signed in and were lead upstairs to our room (cue ominous music). I think on the way up we were ~~warned~~ told not to ever venture into the east wing ! Or maybe that was from ‘Beauty and the Beast’… at any rate I remember hearing some words of caution, or welcome, or whatever.

Walked into the room… it was large, there was a queen size bed, also a cot, the floors were bare, nothing matched, everything was worn out looking, it was dusty and unwelcoming, there was also the constant banging on the roof, or was it coming from the closet !

I didn’t want to put my suitcase down, I paced nervously around clutching my bags. Deb looked at me and I at her mumbling things like “I don’t know about this” “I don’t like it here” “this is spooky”. She asked if I wanted to go home? I nodded.

We made a beeline down the stairs, mumbled a few words to the owner, flung open the seemingly stuck front doors, threw our luggage in the car and high tailed it out of there.

We did however have one of the best lunches ever. We drove to the harbor and ate outside at the Mooring. The whole time we were eating we were laughing and talking about the weird B&B and the seemingly spooky owners. Our waitress came over to ask the usual “how is everything” question and before I knew it I was telling her about our … um, episode at the B&B. She told us she’d heard some weird stories about the place. We agreed we’d definitely made the right decision in leaving.

We left Newport with 3 minutes to spare on the parking meter and headed home to NJ. This trip was one for the books.

Wonder what our upcoming girl trip will bring in the way of adventure.. perhaps a visit to the past !!!