NEWPORT, R.I. — Two of the best-known Gilded Age houses on Bellevue Avenue will cost nothing to tour this weekend for people who live in Newport County.
The Preservation Society of Newport County is waiving admission at The Breakers and Marble House for two days, Saturday, Nov. 14, and Sunday, Nov. 15. The houses keep regular hours both days, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and the last visitors are let in at 4 p.m.
Who qualifies: anyone whose home is in one of the county’s six communities: Little Compton, Tiverton, Portsmouth, Middletown, Jamestown and the city of Newport. People assigned to Naval Station Newport and their immediate family members are included, and so are students at Salve Regina University. Visitors must show proof, whether that is a document with a local address, a base identification card or a Salve Regina student ID.
The free pass covers the standard visit only. Add-on tours still carry their own charge, among them Beneath The Breakers and a look at preservation work on the upper floor of that house.
A free audio guide is available through the Newport Mansions app, so it helps to bring a phone and headphones. Kids get their own audio track with characters and sound effects, and the houses lend Tour-Mate players to children who do not have a device.
The Breakers went up from 1893 to 1895 for Cornelius Vanderbilt II, modeled on an Italian palazzo and facing the ocean. It has 70 rooms. Marble House, finished in 1892, was a gift from William Kissam Vanderbilt to his wife, Alva, for her 39th birthday, and it helped shift Newport from wooden summer cottages to stone palaces.
Residents of the city of Newport itself do not need to wait for a special weekend: they get in free all year with proof of residence.
Section: More Newport RI events news
Filed under: Newport RI Events News
