Newport’s The Breakers

Jill's Journal: Rob did such a fantastic job talking about our day in Newport that I have very little to add other than I’ve been to a lot of beach communities on both coasts and overseas, yet nothing rivals Newport for sheer opulence. It’s a beautiful setting anyway and then adding these gazillion-dollar mansions makes it like Rodeo Drive meets Malibu, but on a much more gracious and ostentatious level. It’s quite something.

We picked one mansion, The Breakers, out of the several available to tour. Hearst Castle in Central California has nothing on this place. The Italian Renaissance-style palazzo even has a room with platinum leaf wall panels, for goodness sakes. This 70-room summer home in what was considered the social capital of America during the Gilded Age features so much rare alabaster and marble that it almost starts to look commonplace! It cost approximately $7 million to build the 65,000-square foot house in the 1890s...estimates are it would cost at least $150 million to build today. That price doesn’t include the 13 acres of oceanfront property. :)


The “backyard” was open to visitors and the girls made themselves right at home in the beautiful setting. The house offered both a children’s tour and an adult’s tour on headsets as we all walked along together. The girls felt very grown-up getting their own headsets!