Newport Mansions in Rhode Island

These homes were so amazing. They are the summer homes of the wealthy like the Vanderbilts in the 19th century. They lived here 6 weeks out of the year...must be nice.
Newport is famous for the homes of the wealthiest families in America at the turn of the 19th century. These mansions are aptly named as Homes of the Gilded age; a term coined by Mark Twain to denote the late 1800s 1930 period, when American business tycoons amassed enough wealth and fortune to build lavish, palatial homes. Here are some photos and trivia about these mansions.The Breakers : the 'summer cottage' of Cornelius Vanderbilt II, railroad magnate. Architect - Richard Morris Hunt. Modeled after the seaside palaces of Genoa, the house covers approximately 130000 sq.ft, has 70 rooms and 23 bathrooms. This mansion is aptly named after the waves of the Atlantic crashing onto the rocks. The rooms include a 50 ft wide, long and high Grand Hall, a Music Room, a dazzling 2400 sq ft dining room having twelve enormous, rose alabaster pillars and a Billiards room having a detailed mosaic ceiling and twenty varieties of marble. The Library has a massive marble fireplace acquired from a 16th century French Chateau. The bathtub is carved out of a single piece of marble and has a supply of hot, cold and saltwater tapped directly from the ocean. It took over two years to construct the various parts of this house which were shipped from over all parts of Europe. --taken from a more well versed blog :)