Newport, R.I.: Where Summering Is a Sport

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Let's Do Newport
Plenty of places have an air that seems more welcoming to the glitterati and well-heeled than the everyday tourist. But Newport, R.I., offers experiences for vacationers of every stratum.

In high sports mode, I headed to Glen Farm, a set of polo fields perched amid lovely stone barns six miles north of downtown. There, in a rush of fine horses and sweaty players, the U.S. national team was facing off against Scotland.

The real show, though, was in the stands and on the grounds. The hats, led by several versions of the shell-shaped headwear favored by Queen Elizabeth II, had even more stare-right-at-me appeal than those seen in church on Easter Sunday. The men -- sporting either seeksucker and white bucks or the Total Ralph Lauren Look -- could have stepped out of a prep school handbook. Several groups, huddled over tables covered in checkered cloths, sipped Veuve Clicquot champagne and munched on canapes and chocolate-dipped strawberries.

The tailgate parties, celebrating the U.S. team's victory, lingered on well after the game was over.

At dusk, my traveling companion Eddy and I joined a sunset cruise with a dozen other visitors aboard the American Eagle, a sleek beauty with a star pedigree. It sailed in the America's Cup race in 1964, and media titan and yachtsman Ted Turner was once an owner. Current owner Herb Marshall took us south to Newport Harbor near Castle Hill. We then tacked and headed north, turning back near the Pell Bridge. Marshall pointed out the sights along the way, including Hammersmith Farm, the childhood summer home of Jackie Onassis, and Fort Adams State Park, where jazz greats go wild at the annual Newport Jazz Festival.

On the return trip, I calculated the amount of time before my turn at the tiller. Thirty-six hours to go.

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A slightly cloudy Saturday offered just the opportunity for a look at Newport's premier attraction: the stone "cottages" (read: palatial estates) built as summer residences for the Vanderbilts, Wetmores and other well-off New York and Philadelphia families.

"In" New Yorkers have long since abandoned Newport for the Hamptons and other locales. And the homes, towering over Bellevue Avenue like the remains of a fallen empire, have mostly become museums. The Chanler, an elegant estate where President Theodore Roosevelt was a frequent visitor, has been transformed into an oceanfront boutique hotel offering total immersion in the mansion experience.

In the course of a day, I visited Rough Point, the Breakers, Marble House, Astors' Beechwood and the Elms, all built for people worth more than a Powerball jackpot. After more than a century, the residences still have mega-glamour appeal, and even for the most jaded, they offer insight into a chapter of American aristocratic history.

Tromping through one mahogany-covered foyer after another, it was easy to see Old Money one-upmanship at work. At Cornelius Vanderbilt II's 70-room Breakers, the two-story dining room stood out, adorned with shafts of rose alabaster. At the Elms, a rendition of a French chateau built for coal mining tycoon Edward Berwind, the centerpiece were the perfectly styled 10-acre grounds, marvelously landscaped right down to the strategically placed marble statutes. Amid the rush of Ming vases and Louis XIV furniture at Rough Point, Duke's 49-room estate, it was the master bedroom -- where nearly every piece of furniture was covered in mother-of-pearl -- that took the prize.

Those who can see only a couple of the mansions should start with Marble House, built between 1888 and 1892 for William K. Vanderbilt (grandson of Cornelius). Modeled after the Petit Trianon at Versailles, the interior -- a riot of marble in pink, yellow and every other hue -- is a work of art that trumps all the others.

If you don't have the time or resources to go inside the cottages (tours range from $15 to $25 a person), consider a stroll along Cliff Walk, a trail that runs for 3 1/2 miles along the craggy Atlantic Coast. The backs of many mansions, including finely sculpted gardens, are visible along the route -- and make even the front lawn of the White House seem a bit paltry.