Newport is also known as a city where at the dawn of the 20th Century, the most elite American families came to escape urban life and to unwind in the waterfront serenity. Along famous Bellevue Avenue, families like the New York Vanderbilts and the Astors built "summer cottages"- each grander than its neighbour - where they were pampered by dozens of servants, treated like royalty and threw parties that were the talk of the town.

The Breakers - the grandest of Newport's "summer cottages" a symbol of the Vanderbilt family's social and financial preeminance. It is a 70 room Italian Renaissance-style palazzo.


Astors' Beechwood Mansion - purchased in 1891 by William Backhouse Astor, it became the social centre of New York city society for 25 yrs