We had two mansions to tour today, The Elms and The Breakers.
The Elms is a large mansion (sometimes facetiously called a “summer cottage”) was built in 1901. The Berwind’s amassed their fortune through coal. The house cost approximately $1.5 million dollars in 1901. It has 60,000 square feet, it is the 19th largest historic house in the United States. Below are pictures of the home.
The Elms home was beautiful, so big and stately. It took about 1 1/2 hours to tour and still didn’t see the entire house.
Next we went to the Breakers.. The Breakers was built in 1895 by Cornelius Vanderbilt II and his wife Alice, who is frequently referred to as “Alice of the Breakers.” A Vanderbilt lived at the Breakers from 1895 to 2018. It’s said to be three times the size of the White House. It cost $7 million to build in 1895, about $220 million today.
Cornelius Vanderbilt II only lived at the house for one summer and for four years after the house was built, before dying of a stroke at age 55.
The house had everything, best of the best. Much more elaborate and detailed than the Elms Mansion.
The 70-room mansion, with a gross area of 125,339 square feet and 62,482 square feet of living area on five floors.
Sitz Baths were used to sit in and to soothe your bottom, sometimes after riding horses.
Outside of the mansion, you have cliff walks with beautiful views of Easton Bay.
The small town of Newport is very rich in history with its preserved mansions. Today I got to see two beautiful mansions where each family had an idea and a dream of how they wanted to live. These families were rich and powerful because our nation gave people the opportunities to make their wealth. It’s all a part of what our forefathers in Philadelphia drew up with freedoms and independence. I enjoyed visiting both of these mansions.
OtterTales 
Beautiful
LikeLike