Tag Archive for Newport

My Summer Cottage was a Mansion, and Other Stories of the Super-Rich

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Guests staying at the Mill Street Inn in tony Newport, Rhode Island will almost certainly include a visit to one of the town’s famous mansions during their stay.

But you don’t need to travel to Newport to catch a glimpse of extravagance from a bygone era. Here are four famous homes worth visiting around the country.

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Clockwise from top: Falling Water, courtesy of www.wright-house.com, Pabst Mansion, Vizcaya, and Hearst Castle, courtesy of shutterstock.com

Vizcaya, Miami, FL – The summer home to industrialist James Deering, this elaborate mansion is set on 10 acres overlooking Miami’s Biscayne Bay.

Falling Water, Bear Run, PA – Not a mansion per se, but this elegant Frank Lloyd Wright masterpiece is perhaps the best-known home in the U.S. It is the only public, major Wright-designed house with all of its original details still intact.

Hearst Castle, San Simeon, CA – This sprawling complex famously started out as a “bungalow” before ballooning into one of the most opulent and eccentric homes in the country. The Neptune Pool is adorned by an actual roman temple facade!

Pabst Mansion, Milwaukee, WI – One doesn’t necessarily equate PBR with high society, but Captain Frederick Pabst built himself quite a house–to the tune of $32.7 million in 2011 dollars.

If All Your Friends Took A 3-Mile Cliffside Stroll, Would You Do It Too?

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In a popular northeast vacation spot like Newport, you might be looking for something to do that’s a little more off the beaten path. And in this case, we’d recommend … well, a walking path—the 3-mile Newport Cliff Walk, to be precise.

This cliffside route takes visitors down the coast past almost all of Newport’s famed mansions including the Breakers. So that means you can avoid the shuffling tour groups and admission fees that come with the mansion tours, while still enjoying that renowned architecture.

So if you’re staying at a hotel like Mill Street Inn, take an afternoon to make your way along cliff-hugging stone paths peering out at breathtaking Atlantic views. Think: ocean breezes, fresh-air exercise and superb photo opps, all for free. Can you really go wrong?

 

Newport Cliff Walk

Photo courtesy of Jason Schneider