Newport, Rhode Island is beautiful! It is a total tourist and sailor town. It’s also an island with beautiful bridges, of which this morning we paid to see the scenic bridge by accident . . . opps, we made one wrong turn and got caught on the Jamestown Bridge again, going off the island. When we reached the toll booth guy he laughed at us tourists and was gracious to only make us pay one way (you have to pay coming and going). He showed us where to turn around to go back and when we got the other toll booth guy on the other side he was laughing even harder at us Californians. He gave us directions to the visitor center and we bought tickets to tour the Breakers Mansion there.
Unfortunately Brittany woke up this morning with an upset stomach, running to the Walmart bathroom early this morning . . . poor girl . . . what a trooper because we were in the worst place for that to happen. So she did not get to go into the Breaker Mansion. . . . she slept in the back of the camper. Fortunately we don’t think it’s the stomach flu because she has an extremely sensitive stomach and she had some Emergen C before bed on an empty stomach. I guess we’ll find out in a few days! J
The Breakers Mansion is the summer home of Cornelius Vanderbilt built in 1795 who had a very prominent family during the gilded age. His grandfather, Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt, came to the west during the Gold Rush but instead of searching for gold he had a better idea of starting the railroad and shipping industry. By the time he died he had created a $100 million enterprise. He was the richest man in America in the 1860’s. When his son, William Henry Vanderbilt, took over the business he was a business genius and quickly made it into a $200 million enterprise. William didn’t want to manage that much money so he entrusted other famous bankers, such as J.P Morgan, to help him divide and manage his business using stocks and bonds. William became more concerned about protecting his wealth rather than expanding it. When he died, he distributed his wealth among his children, including Cornelius who received the New York Central and Michigan Central. Cornelius was also a genius with money and managed the company well. His brother William had built the Marble House in beautiful Newport, RI and he wanted to build an even bigger and better house for his family. And so he did. . . . modeled after the Italian Renaissance era he had Richard Morse Hunt, the architect who designed the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty, design his this extremely elaborate house. The house is 138,300 square feet in size, has 70 rooms, 20 bathrooms, 300 windows, 750 doorknobs, a butlers pantry & a large kitchen. Every detail of the house from the ceiling to the floors were beautifully intricate with 24-32 karat gold leaf overlays on the molding; one inch square tile mosaics on the floor with detailed designs of the acorn (which is the family crest meaning strength) and dolphins (a symbol of friendship); marble pillars and walls, all imported from Italy; the entrance hall and staircase was modeled after the opera house in Paris; secret passageways through each bedroom for the servants to do their job without being seen; and the list goes on & on. I wish I could have taken pictures!! L Surprisingly with all the detail of the house it only took 2 years to build . . . the interior designer didn’t wait until the house was finished to decorate – he had many of the walls & ceiling decor done in Europe and sent back in pieces to assemble right in the house. The house cost $12 million to build at that time and in today’s money it would cost $137 million. It was named the Breakers because the wave would crash agaisnt the rocks on the shore of the hous and "Break"!! The house was totally worth the $40 in New Jersey toll booths that we paid to get there!!
Next we drove to Lexington & Concord battle field called Minuteman National Park right outside of Boston. This was the site of the first battle of the Revolutionary War on April 19th, 1775. It was an unusual field of battle for the opening of the Revolutionary War . . . 20 miles of windy, hilly roads from the Boston Harbor through many towns including Lexington, Lincoln and ending with Concord. Word of the fight on the Lexington Common, the North Bridge, and the road to Boston spread throughout the American colonies to unite the men and women for the Patriot cause. The colonists were tired of the British rule and were willing to do anything to gain independence, even war. After the Boston Massacre and the Boston Tea Party, the British brought over large amounts of British reinforcement soldiers and for a year the British army occupied Boston commanded by General Thomas Gage. Instead of arresting rebel-rousers Samuel Adams and John Hancock, Gage thought he was smarter to confiscate the patriot’s arms supply in Concord. But Concord got word of the attack before the British left by the famous midnight ride of Paul Revere and William Dawes, and the Patriots were able to hide all the arms. Other mix-ups delayed the British for hours which gave the colonists more time to prepare. When the British reached Boston Common at dawn the Patriots were ready and not as unfit as Gage thought them to be. Because there were only 77 colonists to 700 British, they didn’t intend on fighting but only wanted to resolve. When all of a sudden as shot was heard, which it was unclear from which side, both sides began to fire, killing 8 Patriots immediately. As shots settled and the British continued on marching to Concord, news spread of the battle and many Patriots came to fight, supporting the cause. As they reached the North Bridge 90 Militiamen were waiting for the British who came to seize the supplies hidden at Colonel James Barrett’s Farm. The British advanced and without warning fired on the Minutemen killing 2 instantly. The Patriot Major John Buttrick fearfully gave the orders, “Fire, fellow soldiers, for God’s sake, fire!” And for the first time many colonists fired their guns at the British. As they kept advancing across the bridge and attacking much stronger than the British expected, the British started to back off and eventually run away. Ralph Waldo Emerson said the famous phrase, “The shot heard around the world,” to describe the significance of this short battle on the North Bridge.
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