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.
Part 1: “China and Newport: A Journey through Two Centuries”
Dani Zhang, Preservation Society Curatorial Research Fellow
Dani Zhang will discuss her exploration of Chinese artwork and objects, many produced for a Western market, held in the collection of The Preservation Society of Newport County. Through a close examination of materials, forms and motifs, she will illuminate the nuanced relationship between Chinese art, American collecting and display practices from the China Trade as part of the Gilded Age.
Part 2: “Animals in the Gilded Age”
Isla Stewart, Preservation Society Curatorial Research Fellow
Stewart will discuss her work in support of the upcoming Preservation Society of Newport County summer 2024 exhibition Wild Imagination: Art and Animals in the Gilded Age. Her research investigates important cultural themes through a range of fine and decorative objects as well as period literature to illuminate significant developments in Americans’ changing relationship with animals in the Gilded Age, a period that shaped our attitudes towards animals today.
Dani Zhang
Dani Zhang received an MA in East Asian Languages and Cultures from Columbia University and has experience working with the American Museum of Natural History and the Asian Handicrafts Foundation. Zhang will continue her studies this fall by pursuing her PhD in History at UCLA.
Isla Stewart
Isla Stewart earned an MA in the History of Art and Archaeology from New York University Institute of Fine Arts. She was awarded the Mellon Summer Academy Fellowship at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and will join the PhD program in Art History at Rutgers-New Brunswick this fall, focusing on 19th and early 20th-century female sculptors in the United States and Europe.
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.
What is spiritualism and how did it become popular in the Gilded Age? Learn more about the spiritualist movement and the beliefs it fostered about the spirits of the dead.
Join Curator of Collections Dr. Nicole Williams on a tour of our latest exhibition, "Wild Imagination: Art and Animals in the Gilded Age."
Witches and vampires, angels and princesses, skeletons and superheroes, get ready! There’s big Halloween fun for the family at Newport’s biggest mansion.
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.
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
