As the holiday season rapidly approaches like one of Cornelius Vanderbilt’s New York Central Railroad trains, the historical mansions in Newport, Rhode Island become transformed to embrace all the magic of the Christmas season. The houses are decked in holiday festoons for Christmas at the Newport Mansions and its stories of the Gilded Age are further brought to life.
The Preservation Society of Newport County cares for 11 historic properties, but starting November 23, 2019 through January 1, 2020, visitors can journey through three historic mansions decorated for the Christmas season: The Breakers, The Elms, and Marble House. Each year, legions of dedicated volunteers from local garden clubs and members of the Preservation Society spend hundreds of hours preparing and decorating the historic mansions, alongside curator of historic landscapes and gardens, Jim Donahue, and gardens and grounds director, Jeff Curtis.
The Christmas event returns annually with the decorations’ theme changing slightly, but always fitting within the story in each historic mansion. The artful decorations in each room are carefully thought out, equally balancing and complimenting the historic décor and color schemes. Evergreen boughs and wreaths with trailing ribbons frequent many parts of the embellishments in the three houses. From the street, guests can see candles glowing neatly in rows and rows of windows. In The Breakers, silvery ornaments fill out the morning room, while reds and gold play off the crimson textiles in the music room. At The Elms, a Victorian streetscape and antique sleighs are on display, as well as mannequins in vintage dress.
Between the three houses, there will be a total of 28 Christmas trees. Due to the grand scale in many of the rooms, most of the trees will be between 12 to 15-feet tall, while a sprinkling of tabletop trees and decorations will appear throughout the rest of the houses. One particular visitors’ favorite is the iconic 15-foot tall poinsettia tree in The Breakers’ 50-foot great hall. About 3,000 poinsettias will be used over the course of the season to ensure the scarlet-colored plants are fresh for every visitor in the three houses.
Whether you come during Christmas at the Newport Mansions or for other year-round events, the story of the houses remains unchanged and are, in many ways, enhanced during this time of year. In an homage to Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt’s New York Central Railroad, a miniature train is set up on the second-floor loggia of The Breakers and memorabilia from the Preservation Society’s collection are on exhibit. Antique toys from the descendants of the Berwind Family are displayed in The Elms, home of coal industrialist Edward Julius Berwind.
The Christmastime events also bring holiday evenings that will take place during weekends at selected dates in each house. Visitors will get a sense of celebrating the holidays with a nod to the Gilded Age as they meander amongst the warm, candlelit mansions to live music and sample refreshments. These evenings give visitors an opportunity to experience the mansion in a different atmosphere than visiting for a formal or self-guided tour.
In addition to Christmas at the Newport Mansions, guests can attend an audience-immersive performance of Island Moving Company’s, The Nutcracker ballet, from November 27 through December 6, 2019. The production takes place at Rosecliff, former home of Theresa Fair Olrichs, heiress to Nevada silver. In the imitate setting, the audience follows the dancers as they perform through different rooms of the mansion.
Guests learn stories from the Gilded Age when visiting the Newport Mansions at any time of the year, but a trip during Christmastime adds another layer of appreciation to the visit. Each mansion is beautiful in different ways and has unique and fascinating histories of those who lived and worked there. Though the former residents frequented the homes in the summer, a visit during Christmastime and seeing the magical, sparkling decorations may certainly warm even the coldest winter day.
For more information, visit the Newport Mansions website here.
Originally featured in Wordsby Arts & Culture News.
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