A refreshing Lunch and Garden Tour of The Elms, an expansion of the popular Elms After Hours Tour, and extended operating hours are among the new features awaiting visitors to the Newport Mansions for the 2005 season, which opens on Saturday, April 9. The 2005 season also marks the 60th Anniversary of the founding of The Preservation Society of Newport County.

The new Lunch and Garden Tour of The Elms will debut on Memorial Day weekend, Saturday, May 28. It will be offered several times daily through September 5, between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. This mid-day tour of the elegant, restored gardens and grounds of The Elms includes the visitor's choice of a catered box lunch and soft drinks, served on the terrace of the Carriage House overlooking the sunken garden. Reservations are required, and can be made online, at www.NewportMansions.org, or at any Preservation Society property. Admission, including lunch, is $18 for adults, $16 for children 6-17.

The Elms After Hours Tour, which debuted on Friday evenings last year, was so popular that it will be expanded this summer to two nights. Every Thursday and Friday evening between June 9 and September 5 (excluding June 24 and August 12) visitors will be able to tour the first floor of The Elms, enjoy wine and canapés on the terrace and then take in the evening air as they stroll through the spectacular sunken garden. The 90-minute tour is offered 5 times nightly between 5:30 p.m and 7 p.m. Admission is $25 per person. Reservations are required and can be made online or at any Preservation Society property.

The Preservation Society of Newport County will begin daily operation of The Breakers, The Elms, Marble House, Rosecliff and Green Animals Topiary Garden on April 9. All five will remain open 7 days a week through November 11. Chateau-sur-Mer, Chepstow, Isaac Bell House and Kingscote will open for the season on June 25 and remain open until October 10, a month later than last year. Hunter House will operate from June 25 to September 25.

Also starting on June 25, operating hours at some of the Newport Mansions will be extended. Joining The Breakers on a 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. operating schedule will be The Elms, Marble House, Rosecliff and Green Animals Topiary Garden. The other houses will continue to open at 10 a.m.

Throughout the season, visitors to Rosecliff will be able to enjoy the exhibit Portrait of a Newport Lady: The Fashionable Woman in 1900, a retrospective on the life and times of Gwendolen King Armstrong of Kingscote through fashions, photographs, letters and accessories.

In addition to the regular tours of the houses, the New Lunch and Garden Tour and After Hours Tours of The Elms, visitors will also be able to choose the popular Rooftop and Behind-the-Scenes Tour of The Elms, the Bellevue Avenue Tour, or The Breakers Family Tour. The Rooftop tour is offered hourly, taking visitors through the kitchens, coal cellar and boiler room, laundry rooms and other work areas, and then up to the third-floor staff living area and, weather permitting, out onto the roof.

The Bellevue Avenue Tour, offered once a day Thursdays through Sundays from June 25 through October 9, provides an overview of high society as it once existed along Newport's most fashionable boulevard, as well as admission to The Breakers and one other mansion of the visitor's choice. The Breakers Family Tour, offered four times daily, is designed to engage children in discovering this great house.

On June 24 – 26, Rosecliff will be the site of the 10th annual Newport Flower Show, As Time Goes By, featuring breathtaking floral designs and horticultural exhibits, as well as lectures and workshops by world-renowned gardening experts.

Christmas at the Newport Mansions will take place from November 12 through January 1, 2006, with The Breakers, The Elms and Marble House decorated for the holidays and open daily from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Tickets to the Newport Mansions are available online at www.NewportMansions.org, at any of the individual properties, and at the Newport Gateway Center on America's Cup Avenue. For more information about tour schedules and prices, as well as special 60th Anniversary events, visit the website or call (401) 847-1000.

Breakers Photo courtesy of The Preservation Society of Newport County, Rhode Island, a non-profit educational organization accredited by the American Association of Museums and dedicated to preserving and interpreting the area's historic architecture, landscapes and decorative arts. Its 11 historic properties—five of them National Historic Landmarks—span more than 250 years of American architectural and social development.

Readers Comments About This Page:

Be the first! Add Your Comment!