The Preservation Society has done a fabulous job of creating engaging, informative audio tours of the Newport Mansions. The staff at each Mansion are friendly and helpful. Especially interesting: Family Audio tour at the Breakers and the Servants Tour at the Elms.
The Preservation Society has done a great job with the mansions! I only had the opportunity to view 3 of them but will go back to see the rest. They put together a cookbook titled 'Entertaining Newport Style'. It's excellent! Pictures of each mansion with some history, a menu and then the recipes for the items on the menu. Great price too!
I got a taste of the work of the Preservation Society when we visited Boston and took in RI as a day trip. We saw three mansions that time, but came back to become a member and see all the houses again, at a slower pace.These are the houses we saw (all of them) and they are listed in the order that we enjoyed them. The Breakers, Marble House, Kingscote, The Elms, Chepstow, Rosecliff, Hunter House, Green Animals Topiary Garden, Chateau-sur-Mer, Isaac Bell House . We also visited the The Newport Mansions StoreThe Breakers is awesome. We went BEFORE opening and stood in line so we could be the first ones in, and we were. We had almost every room to ourselves until the end when people caught up to us. It was so awesome! We had front row parking. We went back another day to see the grounds because it started POURING the first day we went. When the cruise ships came to town, there were busses of people so we were glad we went when we did.I know that Kingscote isn't usually ranked so high, but I really liked it. I liked the wall and the furnishings.Chateau-sur-Mer is usually higher on peoples list. I didn't list it higher because our tour was really overcrowded and I didn't really get to see it.The Hunter House would have been better but it was very dark (end of the day) and we could barely see the furniture with the flashlight she was using.We split the houses into three days and we saw two the first day, five the second day, and three the third day. We saw a lot of things that we liked at the Newport Mansions Store. The $75 dual membership is tax deductible and a great bargain in my opinion.Every house here is worth viewing. It was hard to put then in order. Enjoy!
I want to say thank you for the people involved with this organization. Through them we get to see how the very rich lived and we're sure they work very hard to keep the mansions going.
For the work they 've done on the mansions, a membership is a great investment. Loved the unlimited visits to the open mansions, the discount at the shops, and look forward to the newsletter and revisiting in the spring.
We wouldn't be able to visit any enjoy some of the spectacular homes in a Newport if it wasn't for the work of the Preservation Society. As many of the incredible mansions were abandoned or neglected, the Society stepped in, purchasing the properties and invested millions to bring the them back to their original grandeur. Regardless of what one thinks of the families who originally built these summer homes, they are a piece of history and a connection to the gilded age when a relatively few individuals controlled so much of the country's wealth. Keep up the great work!
The Preservation Society does a bang up job of preserving these reminders of the Gilded Age. Went back to Newport (where I grew up) for my 50th prep school reunion and toured three of their mansions (the Breakers and the Elms) with my sister and partner. The Breakers is even more spectacular that I had remembered and the servants tour of the Elms was fascination. The Kingscote tour was great and it is one of their earliest mansions (Upjohn Gothic Revival with LC Tiffany additions) small, cozy and chocked full of fascinating decorative arts covering time from the China Trade until after WW1 as the family traveled and grew. The PSNC gift shops are stocked with great things, their recorded tours are excellent and I am looking forward to visiting all the mansions when I retire to Newport in 2016.
Without the folks at this organization, I hate to imagine what would have occurred in Newport.Thankfully they got involved and have "preserved" a period in time and lifestyle which we can all personally observe today. Hats off to them!
My wife have visited Newport twice and join the PSNC after visiting the Breakers and seeing the history they have saved.
The preservation Society has managed to freeze a piece of history, art and culture that came close to being made into parking lots.Kudos to them for their painstaking work and dedication!