Operating Schedule
See which of the mansions are open and when. Search by date or month, or view the full year’s schedule.
Visitor Info
View our FAQs, map & parking, guidelines and more.
Tours, Groups, Exclusive Experiences
Explore our various tour types to find what’s best for you and your group.
History of Newport and the Mansions
Founded in 1639, Newport was an important port city, a center of the slave trade, a fashionable resort and the summer home of the Gilded Age rich.
What was the Gilded Age?
The Gilded Age was a period of unprecedented change in America. Fortunes were spent on luxuries such as the lavish "summer cottages" of Newport.
Deep Dive into the Show
Learn about the people, places and events depicted in Julian Fellowes' popular historical drama series.
Current Members
Current members can see a full list of benefits and any information regarding Members Events.
Become a Member
We invite you to become a member of the Preservation Society today. In addition to joining an active community of preservation supporters and advocates, members are offered unlimited access to all open houses.
About Us
Our mission is to protect, preserve, and present the best of Newport County's architectural heritage. Learn more about us and our work.
Wind Farm Federal Appeal: FAQs
The Preservation Society of Newport County is appealing federal agency approval of two massive wind farms off the Rhode Island coast.
Personal Photography on the Grounds
Rent our museums for commercial photography & videography, TV production, and wedding photography.
Commercial Filming or Photography
Museum Rentals & Weddings
Host your wedding, rehearsal dinner, corporate event, or other celebration at our historic museums.
Experience jazz for the whole family with the Newport Jazz Assembly Band at Green Animals Topiary Garden. This family program for ages 5-7 (older and younger siblings welcome) aims to explore the history, importance and beauty of jazz as an art form and culture. Through performance and discussion, the band will lead the audience through a timeline of different eras and styles.
Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library will have a table at the concert. Families can register children 5 and younger in Newport County to receive a free book each month.
About the Newport Jazz Assembly Band: The Newport Jazz Assembly Band is the embodiment of Newport Festivals Foundation’s mission to create moments of hope through the power of music and community engagement. The band serves hundreds of schools in Rhode Island and the greater New England area each year, employing a wealth of knowledge of jazz music and history to students and educators through performance and discussion.
About Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library: Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library places books into the hands and hearts of children all over the world, from birth to age 5, by sending a hand-selected, age-appropriate, high-quality book each month, right to their door. All Newport County children under 5 are eligible for the program, which is always free to parents, regardless of income. Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center is presented by the Bazarsky Family Foundation.
Explore the underground systems that made this great house a marvel of technology for its time.
For the first time in the 129-year history of The Breakers, the private third-floor family space occupied by generations of Vanderbilts is open for public tours. *Sept. 3-Oct. 14, offered twice daily at 1:30 and 3:30 pm. Starting Oct. 15, offered once daily at 1:30 pm.
Wild Imagination will explore the changing place of animals in the Gilded Age, a period that transformed how we view and treat the animal world, through more than 100 animal-themed artworks across a range of media.
Witches and vampires, angels and princesses, skeletons and superheroes, get ready! There’s big Halloween fun for the family at Newport’s biggest mansion.
SOLD OUT
Newport County residents, be our guests! The Preservation Society invites you to visit our houses and properties for free on these dates.
Jeff Curtis, Director of Gardens & Landscapes, will provide a tour of the Greenhouse and discuss how the work done there provides thousands of bedding plants and cut flowers for our historic properties.
Celebrate with us the 100th anniversary of George Gershwin’s "Rhapsody in Blue" with this live performance. Gershwin's work is an important part of Newport’s musical history.
A great Newport tradition! See the great mansions of the Gilded Age dressed in their festive holiday finery. It’s the most spectacular time of the year at these awe-inspiring historic houses.
This outdoor spectacle of holiday lights will dazzle and delight you! The 13-acre landscape of The Breakers turns into a wonderland of color and light. Includes tour of the lavishly decorated rooms inside the house. Open on select evenings through the season. Includes The Breakers interior tour during the same visit.
See and hear how the other half lived. This tour will highlight the stories of some of the men and women who worked to service the social whirl of Newport during the Gilded Age. The Elms is closed Oct. 1-Dec. 6.
This elegant gala is set in Newport's grandest mansion dressed in its holiday finest.
Founded in 1993, the Newport Symposium has been an annual convening of fine and decorative arts experts and enthusiasts from across the country and the world. Attendees listen to stimulating lectures, experience behind-the-scenes study opportunities and gather to network and discuss the future of our history.
Thank you to all of our sponsors, guests and volunteers for another successful Newport Mansions Wine & Food Festival. See you next year for the 20th annual festival, September 19-21, 2025, at Rosecliff. Become a Preservation Society member and receive early access to purchase 2025 tickets before they become available to the general public.
Download our tour app before your visit and bring your earbuds.
Parking is free onsite at all properties except for Hunter House and The Breakers Stable & Carriage House, where street parking is available.
Answers to some of our most frequently asked questions.
Explore the 11 properties under the stewardship of the Preservation Society and open as historic house museums.
Partners in Preservation
