Day 25: More Friends - and a Mansion

On Tuesday, June 24th, we went into Newport, this time to the 'Pineapple on the Bay', an outdoor restaurant at the Hyatt Regency Hotel on Goat Island, with a good view of the Newport Bridge.

Here we met two friends from Providence, Rhode Island, Pamela Burt Quigley and Elaine Lauble Kehoe. Needless to say, we chatted non-stop over lunch!

Later in the afternoon, my friend Barbara and I went to one of the mansions on Bellevue Avenue. This one, Marble House, belonged to one of the Vanderbilts.

It was built in the 'Gilded Aged' (the late 19th century) by William Vanderbilt, as a summer 'cottage' retreat for his wife Alva. She decorated furnished all the 50 rooms (which had a staff of 36), but divorced William 3 years later! I couldn't take any photos inside but here is the view from the terrace.

Alva kept the house after her divorced from William and added the Chinese tea house on the cliff overlooking the sea, and hosted rallies for women's suffrage in the gardens at the back of the house.

Here's the view from the Cliff Walk (near Marble House), recently reopened after being damaged by Hurricane Sandy.