April 26, 2012...The Breakers.....

April 26, 2012

Good Morning.....I woke up to the most awful sound that any parent can hear.....a child throwing up.....uuuggghhh.  Poor Brittany was sick today and she stayed in the RV sleeping most of the day.  In light of this, we left for The Breakers a little later than anticipated.  We try really hard to get going and it always seems that something out of our control gets in the way.  What are you going to do?  Deal with it..... When we arrived in Newport, you could smell the sea on the air.  The breeze was refreshing, and very cool.  We found The Breakers and other beautiful, massive mansions all located on the cliffs

looking out over the Atlantic Ocean.

 The Breakers is one of a few of the mansions of the Gilded Age that are now open to the public to tour.  At the time of its construction, it was by far the most lavish and most ostentatious private residence in Newport, if not the world.  Cornelius Vanderbilt II (whose grandfather the Commodore made his millions in the railroad) chose the prolific and prominent architect, Richard Morris Hunt (the same man who designed the pedestal for the Statue of Liberty) to design and oversee the building of his stately and stunning mansion.  Mr. Hunt was able to complete the project in just two years, an amazing feat considering the workforce and materials that he imported to build this piece of art.          

We entered the house (if you can call it that) and walked through with an audio tour (id friendly for the kidlets) that was informative and interesting.

  As we entered the mansion, we could feel and see many elegant things.  The Great Hall in the center of the mansion is immense, rising 45’, a full two-stories tall.  The interior of the entire mansion is decorated in the style of European extravagance.   Every room has magnificent details featuring rare marble, alabaster, and gilded wood imported from Italy, France and Africa.  The Morning Room is adorned with platinum leaf wall panels.  There is a fountain with dolphins at the back of the main staircase that you see as exit the Formal Dining Room.  By far, the most lavish and ornate room in the house is the Dining Room with its stunning painting of Aurora at Dawn which overlooks the dining room table.  When you couple this painting with the gold leaf that is applied on many of the surfaces, you have a very valuable piece of real estate!  I continued to be amazed when we got to the kitchen and Butlers Pantry.  The kitchen was organized and huge.  Hanging from an immense pot rack in the center of the room were every size of copper pot, pan, and lid that you could ever imagine needing.  All cooking was done according to  French cuisine.  Upne entering the hall that leads to the Butlers Pantry, we heard the tour guide tell about the roses that would be picked in the gardens each day.  Approximately  20 huge bouquets.  The Butlers Pantry is two stories tall.  All of the delicate china and the family silver are stored here.  Each home that the Vanderbilts owned had its own set of china.  The Vanderbilts had one set of family silver and it traveled with them to each of their homes and was stored in a safe that was located in a special room off of the Butlers Pantry.

The mansion is a must see if you are ever in this area.  The grounds have been maintained also and are very lush.  Situated right on the cliff, the scenery is stunning.  The first and second floor logias (verandas) face the ocean providing any guests to the mansion with sweeping views of the beautiful coast line.  One can only imagine how wonderful it would feel to wake up to that view every day.  The words that I leave here cannot do this magnificent work of art any justice at all.  The mansion is used once in a while for private events that are hosted by the Preservation Society of Newport County and is open to the public for tours.  I was happy to hear from the kids that they really enjoyed the tour! Success! They enjoyed a little bit of culture.  We left the mansion and drove over to the beach that runs along the backside and to the North of the mansion.  It was so cold and windy that we took pictures and gathered a little sand and a few shells and ran, literally, back to the RV.  The irony was that parked in the mostly empty parking lot was an icy lemonade truck....easy to see he was having a slow day!! 

A Revolution begins - A Nation is born

From there we traversed on to Minute Man National Historical Park where the opening battle of the Revolution was brought to life as we explored the battlefields and structures associated with April 19, 1775, and we witnessed the American revolutionary spirit through the writings of the Concord authors and a great multi-media presentation.

We walked out to the North Bridge where "the shot heard round the world" was fired and made famous by Henry Wadworth Longfellow in his poem. The fields and river were so peaceful and picturesque that it is hard to think about gunshots and battle sounds exploding here in the countryside. How must have the people that lived her felt to have gunshot go whizzing by their windows and lodging into the walls of their homes. 

We saw the evidence, though, in the two monuments to Patriot and British soldiers on each side of the bridge in their respective battle positions, one fighting for the preservation of old world tyranny and one fighting for independence and freedom. There was also markers to the fallen We heard about Paul Revere and we saw the sight where he and William Dawes were apprehended on their way to Lexington to warn patriots that the British were coming. We will visit the North Church where the lanterns were hung (one if land, two if by sea) tomorrow when we visit Boston. It is a peaceful landscape and very pretty. We walked along the colonial, country lane that is part of the park. We stopped by the tavern where patriots met. As the raindrops started to softly fall, we made our way back to the RV....another Jr. Ranger book done and another stop finished. 

As we drove out, we stopped by the home of Louisa May Alcott (authoress of "Little Women") and also Ralph Waldo Emerson (he lived in the same house years later).  On to the Boston KOA....getting lost on the way and stopping for directions at the CVS and a much needed potty break.  We finally arrived at the Boston KOA and even in the dark we could tell it was nice and clean!!  YEAH, something to celebrate!!