September 22, 2025 • 26 mins
Today, we’re diving into the dazzling world of Newport, Rhode Island, where the Gilded Age mansions loom large like the dreams of their wealthy owners. These extravagant estates, especially the iconic Breakers mansion built by the Vanderbilt family, are not just pretty houses—they’re symbols of ambition and the good ol’ American hustle from the late 19th century. As we stroll through these historic halls, we’ll uncover the juicy stories of the families who built them and the lavish lifestyle that came with it. So, grab your imaginary top hat and join us as we explore the opulence of a bygone era, where every room has a tale to tell and every chandelier sparkles with history. Let’s get ready to unwrap the mysteries of the Gilded Age together!
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(00:05):
Today, our main destination isNewport, Rhode island, home to some
of the most magnificentmansions of the late 19th century.
Mansions like the breakersstand as a testament to the ambition
and affluence of theVanderbilt family. Constructed in
the late 1890s for CorneliusVanderbilt II, this 70 room Italian
(00:27):
Renaissance style palazzoboasts imported marble, rare woods
and intricate mosaicsreflecting the pinnacle of craftsmanship
of the time. Craftsmanship youcan see for yourself even today.
The Vanderbilts, along withother prominent families, play pivotal
roles in shaping America'sindustrial and cultural landscape.
(00:49):
Their summer cottages inNewport on the coast or in New York
overlooking the Hudson river,were not merely homes, but symbols
of their social standing andinfluence. As we explore these historic
estates, we'll delve into thestories of the families who built
them and the legacy they leftbehind. Join us as we uncover the
(01:09):
splendor and significance ofthe Gilded Age. Welcome to Talk with
History. I am your host,Scott, here with my wife and historian
Jen.
Hello.
On this podcast we give youinsights to our history Inspired
World Travels, YouTube channelJourney and examine history through
(01:32):
deeper conversations with thecurious, the explorers and the history
lovers out there. Jen, Ihaven't asked for this in a while,
but for those listening we,our audience has been growing and
so for those of you who mightbe relatively new to the podcast,
welcome. We have a joke thatwe say on here every once in a while
(01:54):
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(03:00):
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And I will say one more thing.If you check out our podcast Show
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you guys can go out and haveyour own historic adventure.
Yeah. Your own little IndianaJones crusade.
That's right. All right, Jen.So the Gilded Age, the Great Gatsby,
(04:15):
all the stuff. So you've beentraveling with American cruise lines
because you're working as ahistorian for them.
Yeah.
And you had the opportunity toget up to. To both Newport, and some
people might not realize, alsoup in New York on the Hudson river,
there are some kind of quoteunquote, gilded aid mansions up there.
So let's talk about the GildedAge, and let's focus a little bit
(04:35):
more on what people reallyknow, which is mansions like the
breakers and the Marble Houseand stuff like that.
So for just for introduction,the Gilded Age and the Great Gatsby,
that time are two separate times.
Okay.
Gilded Age is really 1870s to1890s. This is the time of this resurgence
of growth after the Civil War.
(04:58):
So the Great Gatsby is morelike kind of flapper era, like, 20s.
Yes, that's the roaring 20s.But now they're living in, like,
the same houses that have beenbuilt, and they're. They're still
partaking of that opulencethat's born of the Gilded Age. But
there's two separate times inAmerican history. The Gilded Age
really ends at the ProgressiveEra, and that is right around 1900s.
(05:21):
1910s. But that leads into theroaring twenties.
Gotcha.
So it's like. It's stepstones, like so.
So people may connect it.People may mentally associate the
Great Gatsby and even themovie in the book with the Gilded
Age. But like you said, it'sreally that was born on the shoulders
of what, what is the trueGilded Age, which what you'll talk
about.
Yeah. So like we always say,history is connected. So the Gilded
(05:44):
Age, like I said it is, itcomes out of the Civil War, right.
Think of this time after greatdevastation when America rebuilds
itself. And in this rebuildingyou have people who kind of emerge
as the leaders of that. Therailroad tycoons, the oil tycoons,
the steel tycoons. And becausethey can corner the stock markets
(06:07):
and they can monopolize thesupplies of those things, they become
opulently rich. And so you getwhat they call robber barons because
the robber barons arebasically robbing the American people
because they're cornering themarkets in these things.
And these are long before wehad regulations for this kind of
stuff. Right. So if you thinkof something like Standard Oil, I
(06:30):
mean Standard Oil had like aglobal monopoly before they finally
broke it apart, which is nowit's all these different things that
you would recognize like Exxonand Mobile and all this stuff, it
came out of this era all theway from the 1870s, 1880s.
And you might think there'snames very much associated with this.
The Rockefellers think of oil,the Vanderbilts think of railroads.
(06:51):
The Carnegie's, which is, ifyou're from Pittsburgh, we say Carnegie
instead of Carnegie.Carnegie's steel tycoons. So you're
getting these. And JP Morganbanking, so you're getting these
men who are taking thesemarkets and taking all of it. So
when you think of Rockefeller,he's taking not only the oil refineries,
but he's taking the way youtransport oil. He's buying all of
(07:16):
it so he can corner the wholemarket. And that like you said, that
can't be done today. Butthat's how they get this opulent
money. So with this opulentmoney comes a show of it. And it's
usually their wives and, andthe society difference that they're
trying to show. And that comesin the form of purchasing homes and
(07:37):
real estate and clothing. Andwhen you think of things in America
that still exists today,Rockefeller center, think of the
Carnegie Libraries. They hadso much wealth that they wanted to
show it in different waysbesides building these opulent mansions
just to vacation in. Theywanted to build big skyscrapers in
(08:01):
the middle of New York City.Right. They wanted to show their
wealth in other ways. And sothey still exist today. And that
can give you an idea of justthe level of wealth they were at.
So like I said, this is thetime. 1870s, right after the civil
war till about the 1890s,right before the Progressive Era
begins. Progressive Era is alot of that pushback against these
(08:23):
men. Unions, child labor.They're like, you're making so much
money off of us and it'skilling us because they're getting
such a difference now in upperclass and lower class that we need
to put some regulation onthis. And so think progressive error
is what's going to end thisGilded Age.
So. And that too. Right.You'll see it in a lot of kind of
like, like you said, thesocial movements. So women's right
(08:45):
to vote, Prohibition. That'slike you said. It's. It's a reaction
to what had been happeningover the past few decades coming
out of. Of this era.
Yes. So Mark. Mark Twain willwrite a book in 1873. It's called
the Gilded Age, A Tale ofToday. And so in the 1920s, historians
(09:05):
will coin that term as thistime period. So no one knew they
were living in the Gilded Ageas they're living it. But that's
what the. The time gets coinedafter the fact, because Mark Twain
will write a book as he'switnessing this time in America,
watching this. So that's wherethe name comes from. Why do people
(09:31):
go to Newport? Why do thesemansions get built in Newport, Rhode
Island? Because it's along thewater. It's not a long ride from
New York. And when we talkabout New York City in the summer,
what happens is you'rebuilding all these buildings with
these roads in the summer, andthe heat gets trapped up along these
roads and inside thesebuildings. And it's so hot in New
(09:53):
York. This is the time beforeair conditioning. Right. They're
stopping the breeze, all thesebuildings. So they need to get out
of the city. And so they getout to places along the coast and
build their homes. And that iswhere Newport comes into play.
And it's funny too, becauseyou had never been to Newport until.
(10:13):
And it wasn't even Americancruise cruise lines the first time
you got up there. You actuallywent up there to visit me at one,
at one point in time, becausethe Navy has had a presence there
for quite some time. Thinkcoastal, kind of key spot. And so
actually the Navy has its warcollege and a bunch of kind of training
centers up there. And so I'veactually been to Newport numerous
times, more times than I cancount throughout the course of my
(10:33):
career in the military. Andyou actually came up to visit me
a couple years Ago, youbrought the kids up, did a road trip,
came up, and that was yourfirst time in Newport. And so it's
been fun that you got to go.You've been back a couple times now
with American Cruise Line, sothat you can do these. These kind
of explore these gilded Aidage mansions.
Yeah. So think of Newport,like, again, along the coast. It's
(10:54):
also very much has a lot ofnaval history. This is where Oliver
Hazard Perry is from. OliverHazard Perry is buried there. He's
the hero of the War of 1812.So it is very much tied to Navy history.
And then you have thatbeautiful coastline where people
want to build their home.
It's gorgeous.
Get that breeze. And so nowit's called the Cliff Walk. And you
(11:16):
can walk behind all of thesehomes. But the first person to really
come up there was Mrs. Aster.So if you watch the Gilded Age, you
know who Mrs. Aster is. She isreally the pinnacle of society. And
you can think about theTitanic. Her son is killed on the
Titanic, and he's the richestman on the boat. So Mrs. Asteroid,
she comes to Newport first,and they buy a home there. It's called
(11:39):
Beechwood. And you can't visitit today. It's privately owned. But
they build. The first versionof Beechwood is built between 1852
and 1853, but they'll buy itin 1880 as a summer home. And what
happens is between 1880 and1890, they renovate. Because what
is happening in New York withthese Gilded Age elite is they call
(12:03):
themselves the 400. They'rethe 400 elite families, elite people
of this society. They go tothe opera, they make themselves scenes.
They let. They let theirwealth be seen. Right. And so to
entertain the 400 in thesemansions, they need to renovate the
(12:24):
ballrooms, as you can imagine,to hold 400 people.
So that. So that's where theinitial push for some of the size
of these places came from.
Exactly.
So that they could say, hey,invite all their friends out, essentially
invite high society from New York.
Yes.
So they could host out there.And that's how it kicked off.
That's exactly how it'sinteresting. Because a show of this
(12:45):
wealth, the women, the wivesshow this wealth by these elaborate
parties that they throw. Andthey throw these elaborate parties
in Manhattan, but they throwthese elaborate parties in Newport
when they summer. And ifyou're going to hold 400 people in
your home for an elaborateparty, because you want to go to
these parties, if in societyyou want to be seen, you need a huge
ballroom and you need a hugedining room. So Beechwood is the
(13:08):
first one Mrs. Aster's partiescome to be known. And then you get
the first Vanderbilts aregoing to build the marbles right
beside Mrs. Aster. Now, theMarbles is built more by what you
would consider GeorgeRussell's character in the movie
New Money. And so they'rebuilding the marbles. It's an. It's
(13:30):
an opulent place. It cost 11million to build at the time. It
can also hold the 400. Butthen you have his brother who looks
at this. So if this is builtby William Vanderbilt and Alva, that's
who is the Russells are basedoff of.
And it's called the MarbleHouse because it's built all out
of marble. All out of marble,which is crazy.
And you can visit the marblestoday. But his brother gets a look
(13:54):
of it. So Cornelius Vanderbiltii. So you think the Vanderbilt fortune
is built by CorneliusVanderbilt. He's the one who's building
this huge railroad dynasty.This is his grandson, Cornelius Vanderbilt
ii. He looks at their wives,he looks at Beechwood, he looks at
the marbles, and he goes, oh,yeah, I'm gonna build the Breakers.
(14:17):
Oh, and man, we're gonna showall the B roll and footage that.
Jen, if you're listening tothis, I would highly encourage you
guys, after you're finishedlistening, go in the podcast show
notes, because I'll link tosome of the videos. It. This place
blows my mind.
It's amazing. Of all themansions, again, the Cliff Walk,
(14:37):
all these Gilded Age mansionsof Newport, the Breakers is the creme
de la creme. It is the jewelin the crown. It is the most beautiful
place. It is 60,000 squarefeet of living space, and then 140
square feet of area.
140,000.
140,000. Yes, 140,000. Andwhat's significant about that is
(14:58):
you can promenade there. Sothat is, again, you want to be seen,
right? You want to wear yourbest on the lawn that overlooks the
water. And I show you thatwhole area where people would dress
in their best and sit out andpicnic and walk around with their
parasols and just be seen insociety during the summer.
(15:18):
And the thing is, too, is likethe breakers is. Is literally, in
my mind, the quintessentialexample, a Gilded Age mansion, whatever
you picture a gilded aidmansion to look like. And as Jen's
describing, you know, thesefamilies leaving New York and coming
out there and promenading andhosting balls and dinners and doing
all this stuff, pick, pickwhatever you picture in your mind
(15:40):
the breakers is probably thatand then.
Some and then some. It'smagnificent. Yeah.
And inside it's just crazy.
I walked, right, and youwalked straight into the ballroom.
And it is opulent andginormous. Two stories. There's all
these chandeliers, paintedceilings. It is beautiful, it's opulent.
And it's built between 1893and 1895. So you can see Ms. Aster
(16:05):
builds hers. And then WilliamVanderbilt, his family builds his.
And then they're right on thetail of that. The Cornelius II builds
the Breakers. Like they're allcompeting with each other, right?
They want to. They all want toshow their wealth. They all want
to throw these parties. Theyall want to flex their muscle as
far as, like how. What theycan afford. But in the breakers is
(16:26):
the creme de la creme. It isopen for people to visit and tour.
It is beautiful. It is alongthe Cliff Walk. And you might be
asking, what's the Cliff Walk?That's what we had done when we first
visited Newport. It's thiswalk about. Along the backyards of
all of these mansions. It'sthree and a half miles. It gets.
It's an easy walk. And then itgets a little bit more difficult.
And by difficult I meanthere's rocks and things in the way.
(16:50):
But it is still pretty flat.And you can walk the backyards of
all these mansions and it'sopen to the public, so it's really
great. And at one point thesefamilies tried to shut that down
because I had always beenthere because they didn't want all
these gawkers looking in,although I'm sure they really did.
But they didn't want all thesegawkers looking in their backyards
and seeing their parties andbeing a nuisance. But a judge in
(17:12):
town said it's always beenpublic, it's always going to stay
public.
Yeah, it's pretty cool. Andeven for. For Navy folks like myself
who go out to Newport fortraining or I go help instruct courses
and stuff like that, sometimesthat's a very common thing for. For
people to just go do becauseyou can park near the beach. There's.
There's plenty of beach downthere and you can just walk right
up there and you go do a nice,nice easy walk. It's beautiful and
(17:35):
it's. It's a very common kindof touristy thing to do.
And then I visited the Elms.So if you're a fan of the show like
I am, the Elms is JulianFellows favorite mansion there In
Newport. And Julian Fellows isthe creator of the Gilded Age, also
(17:56):
the creator of Downton Abbey.Think of the Gilded Age as the American
equivalent to Downton Abbey,because this kind of wealth was happening
at such a fast pace inAmerica. And it was the equivalent
to these big manners in thesebig homes. And so they were showing
this upstairs, downstairssetting, same kind of thing as Downton
Abbey. So the Elms is reallywhat is in the show, the Russell's
(18:21):
Newport summer home. And sowhen I went to visit the Elms, it's
not on the Cliff walk, it'snot on the water. Although in the
Gilded Age, they CGI it so itlooks like it's on the water because
it's supposed to look like themarbles. It's supposed to essentially
be the marbles. So still thesame neighborhood, still built the
same time, 1899 to 1901. Ithas more of a French chateau look
(18:45):
to it. But they extensivelyuse the Elms for the show. So if
you are a fan of the GildedAge, that's why I brought you to
the Elms. Because there's somany rooms used for the show. The
staircase is used for theshow. And so I wanted to show you
a lot of how they're reusingthe real places to show the Gilded
Age today. And if you justwatched the last season, season three,
(19:09):
the end of it, the big ball isat the Elms. They're in the backyard
of the Elms or in the. Theballroom of the Elms. So I wanted
to show all of that. Andthat's also a place you can visit
in Newport. It's open to thepublic, and it's really great. You
can buy these tickets. You canbuy one mansion, you can buy two
mansions. So I recommendbuying the two. And you can just
(19:29):
go whenever you'd like.Because I did the breakers in the
morning and I did the Elms inthe afternoon.
Yeah. Now, Newport, as wementioned in the. In the intro, Newport
wasn't the only spot for folksto build these large summer cottages,
quote, unquote. The other onethat you recently got to visit was
(19:49):
actually along the Hudson.
It's on the Hudson. So I wentto Lynnhurst. And Lynnhurst is in
Tarrytown, if you think ofSleepy Hollow. What is interesting
about Lyndhurst is it can beused not just for the summer, because
you can take a boat or therailroad right from Tarrytown into
the city. And it really is anhour boat ride. So this was the home
(20:14):
of Jay Gould, and Jay Gould isthe inspiration for George Russell.
He is who George Russell.Russell is supposed to be. And George
Russell is probably one of themain characters of the Gilded Age.
Yeah, that's the kind of the.The new money guy.
The new money guy and the onewho's working the stock market, which
is all the things Jay Gouldreally did. Now, Jay Gould used this
(20:35):
house during the week like itwasn't just a summer home, because
he could get right on a boat.He didn't want to take the railroad
because he didn't want tosupport Vanderbilt. So he got on
his boat, and his boat was anhour ride, so.
He would just commute that way.
And he did that pretty muchdaily. So think of Lyn Hurst as a.
A Gilded Age mansion, but notreally a summer mansion. It was more
(20:58):
like, get outside of the city.Health, clean air, good breeze. That's
why he was living outside.
I mean, same kind of moneythat they dumped into this place,
though.
Yeah.
Because the. The groundsaround it were. Were huge. You talk
about specifically in thevideo inside. Now, we couldn't take
video inside. You had to takesome pictures, but you took some.
A lot of good pictures. They,instead of importing and building
(21:21):
with marble inside, they. Theydid some, like, faux kind of fake
marble thing that was actuallymore expensive.
Yes. So they had gone toEurope and seen. That's what the
Europeans were doing. Theywere doing, like, this, their painting,
to look like marble. And it'smore expensive and more time consuming
to do, but they. It's a greatshow of wealth. And so when they
(21:43):
got back to America, they'relike, we're gonna do that. So if
you walk into the foyer,that's how the whole thing looks.
Even though it's all plaster,it looks like marble, stacked marble.
And they've even painted theceiling to look like wood. And so
it's. It. You can tell it'slike, a little different. And it
would have cost less to usethe real stuff. But this is, again,
a show. We have so much money.Let's just do the more difficult
(22:06):
thing. And so the. Thedifference about Lynhurst, though,
is Lyn Hurst is not builtaround the same time. Lynhurst is
built in 1838.
Okay.
And it's first owned by theNew York City mayor, Paulding. And
Paulding is a relation to oneof those men who catch Major Andre.
There's three men who catchMajor Andre. One of them is Paulding
in Terrytown. So the New YorkCity mayor is connected to Terrytown.
(22:28):
Right. So he builds his. Thisis his summer home. Then it's sold
to Merchant and GeorgeMerritt, and then it's sold to Jay
Gould. But it has this hugeGothic revival look to it. It looks
very like a castle in medievaltimes. So it's been used for movies
like Dark Shadows. It's beenused for different soap operas.
(22:52):
Yeah, I think you said ProjectRunway film there. The History Channel
did some stuff there. Yes,it's. It's been used for a fair amount
of things that you in the video.
But in the Gilded Age, this isAurora Fain and her husband Charles,
remember, and I'm spoileralert. Who get the divorce in the
third season. This is theirhome. So they use this as their home.
(23:14):
And so you see a lot of theirinteractions. In the Gilded Age is
filmed in Lyn Hurst in thestudy. And when Charles leaves her
and he's walking up thestairs, those are the stairs at Lyn
Hurst. So it's, it's used as aprimary filming location for the
show, but it's used for AuroraFane. And if you know anything about
(23:34):
the show, Aurora Fane will bethe first one to introduce Mrs. Russell.
So Jay Gould's character'sinspirations, wife to society, because
they're new money, so it'shard to break into new society. And
Aurora Fane is old money andshe's a friend, so she introduces
her into society. So this Iwanted to visit here and show it
to you because if you're afriend of the Gilded Age, it's used
(23:57):
in the show. But also thecharacter of Jay Gould is the inspiration
for George Russell. So it's areally neat place to see. It's also
open to the public. It's openfor you to go and see. And it's right
there along the Hudson inTarrytown. So if you're also doing
Sleepy Hollow things andyou're like, what else can I do here?
Lynn Hurst is there for you.
Yeah, it was, it was reallyneat. And if you're into. We've had
(24:19):
a friend of ours, anotherfellow history content creator, History
Hunters, commented on ourfirst video, we have a couple videos
of this Gilded Age kind ofera. And he said they're, they're.
Him and his wife are a bigfan, kind of the Gilded Age era of
history. And so they reallyenjoyed this video. So if you like
that, you're probably going tolike this video series. So check
out the podcast Show Notes andyou can watch those yourself. Imagine
(24:42):
walking through the opulenthalls of the breakers, where Cornelius
Vanderbilt II once hostedlavish gatherings. The air filled
with melodies of a bygone era.Picture the grandeur of the the Marble
House where Alva Vanderbiltorchestrated social events that set
the tone for high society.These mansions are more than just
(25:03):
architectural marvels. Theyare a silent witness to the ambitions,
triumphs, and challenges ofthe families who shaped America's
industrial and culturallandscape. Their walls have absorbed
the echoes of history, fromwhispered secrets to grand celebrations.
As we step back into thepresent, let's carry with us the
appreciation for thesehistorical treasures and the stories
(25:25):
they hold. Thank you forjoining us on this journey through
time. If you're inspired toexplore more historical sites or
delve into other eras, checkout the podcast show notes for map
links, similar podcastepisodes and videos from these locations.
Our goal is to give you thehistory and resources to get you
out there and have your ownhistoric adventure.
(25:46):
Yes, thank you. Let's go afterthe History Channel.
This has been a Walk withHistory production. Talk With History
is created and hosted by me,Scott Benny. Episode researched by
Jennifer Benny. Check out theshow notes for links and references
mentioned in this episode.Talk with History is supported by
ourfans@thehistoryroadtrip.com our eternal
(26:07):
thanks go out to thoseproviding funding to help keep us
going. Thank you to DouglasMcLiberty, Larry Myers, Patrick Benny,
Gail Cooper, Christy Coates,and Calvin Gifford. Make sure you
hit that follow button in thatpodcast player there and we'll talk
to you next.
Today, our main destination isNewport, Rhode island, home to some
of the most magnificentmansions of the late 19th century.
Mansions like the breakersstand as a testament to the ambition
and affluence of theVanderbilt family. Constructed in
the late 1890s for CorneliusVanderbilt II, this 70 room Italian
(00:27):
Renaissance style palazzoboasts imported marble, rare woods
and intricate mosaicsreflecting the pinnacle of craftsmanship
of the time. Craftsmanship youcan see for yourself even today.
The Vanderbilts, along withother prominent families, play pivotal
roles in shaping America'sindustrial and cultural landscape.
(00:49):
Their summer cottages inNewport on the coast or in New York
overlooking the Hudson river,were not merely homes, but symbols
of their social standing andinfluence. As we explore these historic
estates, we'll delve into thestories of the families who built
them and the legacy they leftbehind. Join us as we uncover the
(01:09):
splendor and significance ofthe Gilded Age. Welcome to Talk with
History. I am your host,Scott, here with my wife and historian
Jen.
Hello.
On this podcast we give youinsights to our history Inspired
World Travels, YouTube channelJourney and examine history through
(01:32):
deeper conversations with thecurious, the explorers and the history
lovers out there. Jen, Ihaven't asked for this in a while,
but for those listening we,our audience has been growing and
so for those of you who mightbe relatively new to the podcast,
welcome. We have a joke thatwe say on here every once in a while
(01:54):
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(03:00):
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And I will say one more thing.If you check out our podcast Show
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(03:25):
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you guys can go out and haveyour own historic adventure.
Yeah. Your own little IndianaJones crusade.
That's right. All right, Jen.So the Gilded Age, the Great Gatsby,
(04:15):
all the stuff. So you've beentraveling with American cruise lines
because you're working as ahistorian for them.
Yeah.
And you had the opportunity toget up to. To both Newport, and some
people might not realize, alsoup in New York on the Hudson river,
there are some kind of quoteunquote, gilded aid mansions up there.
So let's talk about the GildedAge, and let's focus a little bit
(04:35):
more on what people reallyknow, which is mansions like the
breakers and the Marble Houseand stuff like that.
So for just for introduction,the Gilded Age and the Great Gatsby,
that time are two separate times.
Okay.
Gilded Age is really 1870s to1890s. This is the time of this resurgence
of growth after the Civil War.
(04:58):
So the Great Gatsby is morelike kind of flapper era, like, 20s.
Yes, that's the roaring 20s.But now they're living in, like,
the same houses that have beenbuilt, and they're. They're still
partaking of that opulencethat's born of the Gilded Age. But
there's two separate times inAmerican history. The Gilded Age
really ends at the ProgressiveEra, and that is right around 1900s.
(05:21):
1910s. But that leads into theroaring twenties.
Gotcha.
So it's like. It's stepstones, like so.
So people may connect it.People may mentally associate the
Great Gatsby and even themovie in the book with the Gilded
Age. But like you said, it'sreally that was born on the shoulders
of what, what is the trueGilded Age, which what you'll talk
about.
Yeah. So like we always say,history is connected. So the Gilded
(05:44):
Age, like I said it is, itcomes out of the Civil War, right.
Think of this time after greatdevastation when America rebuilds
itself. And in this rebuildingyou have people who kind of emerge
as the leaders of that. Therailroad tycoons, the oil tycoons,
the steel tycoons. And becausethey can corner the stock markets
(06:07):
and they can monopolize thesupplies of those things, they become
opulently rich. And so you getwhat they call robber barons because
the robber barons arebasically robbing the American people
because they're cornering themarkets in these things.
And these are long before wehad regulations for this kind of
stuff. Right. So if you thinkof something like Standard Oil, I
(06:30):
mean Standard Oil had like aglobal monopoly before they finally
broke it apart, which is nowit's all these different things that
you would recognize like Exxonand Mobile and all this stuff, it
came out of this era all theway from the 1870s, 1880s.
And you might think there'snames very much associated with this.
The Rockefellers think of oil,the Vanderbilts think of railroads.
(06:51):
The Carnegie's, which is, ifyou're from Pittsburgh, we say Carnegie
instead of Carnegie.Carnegie's steel tycoons. So you're
getting these. And JP Morganbanking, so you're getting these
men who are taking thesemarkets and taking all of it. So
when you think of Rockefeller,he's taking not only the oil refineries,
but he's taking the way youtransport oil. He's buying all of
(07:16):
it so he can corner the wholemarket. And that like you said, that
can't be done today. Butthat's how they get this opulent
money. So with this opulentmoney comes a show of it. And it's
usually their wives and, andthe society difference that they're
trying to show. And that comesin the form of purchasing homes and
(07:37):
real estate and clothing. Andwhen you think of things in America
that still exists today,Rockefeller center, think of the
Carnegie Libraries. They hadso much wealth that they wanted to
show it in different waysbesides building these opulent mansions
just to vacation in. Theywanted to build big skyscrapers in
(08:01):
the middle of New York City.Right. They wanted to show their
wealth in other ways. And sothey still exist today. And that
can give you an idea of justthe level of wealth they were at.
So like I said, this is thetime. 1870s, right after the civil
war till about the 1890s,right before the Progressive Era
begins. Progressive Era is alot of that pushback against these
(08:23):
men. Unions, child labor.They're like, you're making so much
money off of us and it'skilling us because they're getting
such a difference now in upperclass and lower class that we need
to put some regulation onthis. And so think progressive error
is what's going to end thisGilded Age.
So. And that too. Right.You'll see it in a lot of kind of
like, like you said, thesocial movements. So women's right
(08:45):
to vote, Prohibition. That'slike you said. It's. It's a reaction
to what had been happeningover the past few decades coming
out of. Of this era.
Yes. So Mark. Mark Twain willwrite a book in 1873. It's called
the Gilded Age, A Tale ofToday. And so in the 1920s, historians
(09:05):
will coin that term as thistime period. So no one knew they
were living in the Gilded Ageas they're living it. But that's
what the. The time gets coinedafter the fact, because Mark Twain
will write a book as he'switnessing this time in America,
watching this. So that's wherethe name comes from. Why do people
(09:31):
go to Newport? Why do thesemansions get built in Newport, Rhode
Island? Because it's along thewater. It's not a long ride from
New York. And when we talkabout New York City in the summer,
what happens is you'rebuilding all these buildings with
these roads in the summer, andthe heat gets trapped up along these
roads and inside thesebuildings. And it's so hot in New
(09:53):
York. This is the time beforeair conditioning. Right. They're
stopping the breeze, all thesebuildings. So they need to get out
of the city. And so they getout to places along the coast and
build their homes. And that iswhere Newport comes into play.
And it's funny too, becauseyou had never been to Newport until.
(10:13):
And it wasn't even Americancruise cruise lines the first time
you got up there. You actuallywent up there to visit me at one,
at one point in time, becausethe Navy has had a presence there
for quite some time. Thinkcoastal, kind of key spot. And so
actually the Navy has its warcollege and a bunch of kind of training
centers up there. And so I'veactually been to Newport numerous
times, more times than I cancount throughout the course of my
(10:33):
career in the military. Andyou actually came up to visit me
a couple years Ago, youbrought the kids up, did a road trip,
came up, and that was yourfirst time in Newport. And so it's
been fun that you got to go.You've been back a couple times now
with American Cruise Line, sothat you can do these. These kind
of explore these gilded Aidage mansions.
Yeah. So think of Newport,like, again, along the coast. It's
(10:54):
also very much has a lot ofnaval history. This is where Oliver
Hazard Perry is from. OliverHazard Perry is buried there. He's
the hero of the War of 1812.So it is very much tied to Navy history.
And then you have thatbeautiful coastline where people
want to build their home.
It's gorgeous.
Get that breeze. And so nowit's called the Cliff Walk. And you
(11:16):
can walk behind all of thesehomes. But the first person to really
come up there was Mrs. Aster.So if you watch the Gilded Age, you
know who Mrs. Aster is. She isreally the pinnacle of society. And
you can think about theTitanic. Her son is killed on the
Titanic, and he's the richestman on the boat. So Mrs. Asteroid,
she comes to Newport first,and they buy a home there. It's called
(11:39):
Beechwood. And you can't visitit today. It's privately owned. But
they build. The first versionof Beechwood is built between 1852
and 1853, but they'll buy itin 1880 as a summer home. And what
happens is between 1880 and1890, they renovate. Because what
is happening in New York withthese Gilded Age elite is they call
(12:03):
themselves the 400. They'rethe 400 elite families, elite people
of this society. They go tothe opera, they make themselves scenes.
They let. They let theirwealth be seen. Right. And so to
entertain the 400 in thesemansions, they need to renovate the
(12:24):
ballrooms, as you can imagine,to hold 400 people.
So that. So that's where theinitial push for some of the size
of these places came from.
Exactly.
So that they could say, hey,invite all their friends out, essentially
invite high society from New York.
Yes.
So they could host out there.And that's how it kicked off.
That's exactly how it'sinteresting. Because a show of this
(12:45):
wealth, the women, the wivesshow this wealth by these elaborate
parties that they throw. Andthey throw these elaborate parties
in Manhattan, but they throwthese elaborate parties in Newport
when they summer. And ifyou're going to hold 400 people in
your home for an elaborateparty, because you want to go to
these parties, if in societyyou want to be seen, you need a huge
ballroom and you need a hugedining room. So Beechwood is the
(13:08):
first one Mrs. Aster's partiescome to be known. And then you get
the first Vanderbilts aregoing to build the marbles right
beside Mrs. Aster. Now, theMarbles is built more by what you
would consider GeorgeRussell's character in the movie
New Money. And so they'rebuilding the marbles. It's an. It's
(13:30):
an opulent place. It cost 11million to build at the time. It
can also hold the 400. Butthen you have his brother who looks
at this. So if this is builtby William Vanderbilt and Alva, that's
who is the Russells are basedoff of.
And it's called the MarbleHouse because it's built all out
of marble. All out of marble,which is crazy.
And you can visit the marblestoday. But his brother gets a look
(13:54):
of it. So Cornelius Vanderbiltii. So you think the Vanderbilt fortune
is built by CorneliusVanderbilt. He's the one who's building
this huge railroad dynasty.This is his grandson, Cornelius Vanderbilt
ii. He looks at their wives,he looks at Beechwood, he looks at
the marbles, and he goes, oh,yeah, I'm gonna build the Breakers.
(14:17):
Oh, and man, we're gonna showall the B roll and footage that.
Jen, if you're listening tothis, I would highly encourage you
guys, after you're finishedlistening, go in the podcast show
notes, because I'll link tosome of the videos. It. This place
blows my mind.
It's amazing. Of all themansions, again, the Cliff Walk,
(14:37):
all these Gilded Age mansionsof Newport, the Breakers is the creme
de la creme. It is the jewelin the crown. It is the most beautiful
place. It is 60,000 squarefeet of living space, and then 140
square feet of area.
140,000.
140,000. Yes, 140,000. Andwhat's significant about that is
(14:58):
you can promenade there. Sothat is, again, you want to be seen,
right? You want to wear yourbest on the lawn that overlooks the
water. And I show you thatwhole area where people would dress
in their best and sit out andpicnic and walk around with their
parasols and just be seen insociety during the summer.
(15:18):
And the thing is, too, is likethe breakers is. Is literally, in
my mind, the quintessentialexample, a Gilded Age mansion, whatever
you picture a gilded aidmansion to look like. And as Jen's
describing, you know, thesefamilies leaving New York and coming
out there and promenading andhosting balls and dinners and doing
all this stuff, pick, pickwhatever you picture in your mind
(15:40):
the breakers is probably thatand then.
Some and then some. It'smagnificent. Yeah.
And inside it's just crazy.
I walked, right, and youwalked straight into the ballroom.
And it is opulent andginormous. Two stories. There's all
these chandeliers, paintedceilings. It is beautiful, it's opulent.
And it's built between 1893and 1895. So you can see Ms. Aster
(16:05):
builds hers. And then WilliamVanderbilt, his family builds his.
And then they're right on thetail of that. The Cornelius II builds
the Breakers. Like they're allcompeting with each other, right?
They want to. They all want toshow their wealth. They all want
to throw these parties. Theyall want to flex their muscle as
far as, like how. What theycan afford. But in the breakers is
(16:26):
the creme de la creme. It isopen for people to visit and tour.
It is beautiful. It is alongthe Cliff Walk. And you might be
asking, what's the Cliff Walk?That's what we had done when we first
visited Newport. It's thiswalk about. Along the backyards of
all of these mansions. It'sthree and a half miles. It gets.
It's an easy walk. And then itgets a little bit more difficult.
And by difficult I meanthere's rocks and things in the way.
(16:50):
But it is still pretty flat.And you can walk the backyards of
all these mansions and it'sopen to the public, so it's really
great. And at one point thesefamilies tried to shut that down
because I had always beenthere because they didn't want all
these gawkers looking in,although I'm sure they really did.
But they didn't want all thesegawkers looking in their backyards
and seeing their parties andbeing a nuisance. But a judge in
(17:12):
town said it's always beenpublic, it's always going to stay
public.
Yeah, it's pretty cool. Andeven for. For Navy folks like myself
who go out to Newport fortraining or I go help instruct courses
and stuff like that, sometimesthat's a very common thing for. For
people to just go do becauseyou can park near the beach. There's.
There's plenty of beach downthere and you can just walk right
up there and you go do a nice,nice easy walk. It's beautiful and
(17:35):
it's. It's a very common kindof touristy thing to do.
And then I visited the Elms.So if you're a fan of the show like
I am, the Elms is JulianFellows favorite mansion there In
Newport. And Julian Fellows isthe creator of the Gilded Age, also
(17:56):
the creator of Downton Abbey.Think of the Gilded Age as the American
equivalent to Downton Abbey,because this kind of wealth was happening
at such a fast pace inAmerica. And it was the equivalent
to these big manners in thesebig homes. And so they were showing
this upstairs, downstairssetting, same kind of thing as Downton
Abbey. So the Elms is reallywhat is in the show, the Russell's
(18:21):
Newport summer home. And sowhen I went to visit the Elms, it's
not on the Cliff walk, it'snot on the water. Although in the
Gilded Age, they CGI it so itlooks like it's on the water because
it's supposed to look like themarbles. It's supposed to essentially
be the marbles. So still thesame neighborhood, still built the
same time, 1899 to 1901. Ithas more of a French chateau look
(18:45):
to it. But they extensivelyuse the Elms for the show. So if
you are a fan of the GildedAge, that's why I brought you to
the Elms. Because there's somany rooms used for the show. The
staircase is used for theshow. And so I wanted to show you
a lot of how they're reusingthe real places to show the Gilded
Age today. And if you justwatched the last season, season three,
(19:09):
the end of it, the big ball isat the Elms. They're in the backyard
of the Elms or in the. Theballroom of the Elms. So I wanted
to show all of that. Andthat's also a place you can visit
in Newport. It's open to thepublic, and it's really great. You
can buy these tickets. You canbuy one mansion, you can buy two
mansions. So I recommendbuying the two. And you can just
(19:29):
go whenever you'd like.Because I did the breakers in the
morning and I did the Elms inthe afternoon.
Yeah. Now, Newport, as wementioned in the. In the intro, Newport
wasn't the only spot for folksto build these large summer cottages,
quote, unquote. The other onethat you recently got to visit was
(19:49):
actually along the Hudson.
It's on the Hudson. So I wentto Lynnhurst. And Lynnhurst is in
Tarrytown, if you think ofSleepy Hollow. What is interesting
about Lyndhurst is it can beused not just for the summer, because
you can take a boat or therailroad right from Tarrytown into
the city. And it really is anhour boat ride. So this was the home
(20:14):
of Jay Gould, and Jay Gould isthe inspiration for George Russell.
He is who George Russell.Russell is supposed to be. And George
Russell is probably one of themain characters of the Gilded Age.
Yeah, that's the kind of the.The new money guy.
The new money guy and the onewho's working the stock market, which
is all the things Jay Gouldreally did. Now, Jay Gould used this
(20:35):
house during the week like itwasn't just a summer home, because
he could get right on a boat.He didn't want to take the railroad
because he didn't want tosupport Vanderbilt. So he got on
his boat, and his boat was anhour ride, so.
He would just commute that way.
And he did that pretty muchdaily. So think of Lyn Hurst as a.
A Gilded Age mansion, but notreally a summer mansion. It was more
(20:58):
like, get outside of the city.Health, clean air, good breeze. That's
why he was living outside.
I mean, same kind of moneythat they dumped into this place,
though.
Yeah.
Because the. The groundsaround it were. Were huge. You talk
about specifically in thevideo inside. Now, we couldn't take
video inside. You had to takesome pictures, but you took some.
A lot of good pictures. They,instead of importing and building
(21:21):
with marble inside, they. Theydid some, like, faux kind of fake
marble thing that was actuallymore expensive.
Yes. So they had gone toEurope and seen. That's what the
Europeans were doing. Theywere doing, like, this, their painting,
to look like marble. And it'smore expensive and more time consuming
to do, but they. It's a greatshow of wealth. And so when they
(21:43):
got back to America, they'relike, we're gonna do that. So if
you walk into the foyer,that's how the whole thing looks.
Even though it's all plaster,it looks like marble, stacked marble.
And they've even painted theceiling to look like wood. And so
it's. It. You can tell it'slike, a little different. And it
would have cost less to usethe real stuff. But this is, again,
a show. We have so much money.Let's just do the more difficult
(22:06):
thing. And so the. Thedifference about Lynhurst, though,
is Lyn Hurst is not builtaround the same time. Lynhurst is
built in 1838.
Okay.
And it's first owned by theNew York City mayor, Paulding. And
Paulding is a relation to oneof those men who catch Major Andre.
There's three men who catchMajor Andre. One of them is Paulding
in Terrytown. So the New YorkCity mayor is connected to Terrytown.
(22:28):
Right. So he builds his. Thisis his summer home. Then it's sold
to Merchant and GeorgeMerritt, and then it's sold to Jay
Gould. But it has this hugeGothic revival look to it. It looks
very like a castle in medievaltimes. So it's been used for movies
like Dark Shadows. It's beenused for different soap operas.
(22:52):
Yeah, I think you said ProjectRunway film there. The History Channel
did some stuff there. Yes,it's. It's been used for a fair amount
of things that you in the video.
But in the Gilded Age, this isAurora Fain and her husband Charles,
remember, and I'm spoileralert. Who get the divorce in the
third season. This is theirhome. So they use this as their home.
(23:14):
And so you see a lot of theirinteractions. In the Gilded Age is
filmed in Lyn Hurst in thestudy. And when Charles leaves her
and he's walking up thestairs, those are the stairs at Lyn
Hurst. So it's, it's used as aprimary filming location for the
show, but it's used for AuroraFane. And if you know anything about
(23:34):
the show, Aurora Fane will bethe first one to introduce Mrs. Russell.
So Jay Gould's character'sinspirations, wife to society, because
they're new money, so it'shard to break into new society. And
Aurora Fane is old money andshe's a friend, so she introduces
her into society. So this Iwanted to visit here and show it
to you because if you're afriend of the Gilded Age, it's used
(23:57):
in the show. But also thecharacter of Jay Gould is the inspiration
for George Russell. So it's areally neat place to see. It's also
open to the public. It's openfor you to go and see. And it's right
there along the Hudson inTarrytown. So if you're also doing
Sleepy Hollow things andyou're like, what else can I do here?
Lynn Hurst is there for you.
Yeah, it was, it was reallyneat. And if you're into. We've had
(24:19):
a friend of ours, anotherfellow history content creator, History
Hunters, commented on ourfirst video, we have a couple videos
of this Gilded Age kind ofera. And he said they're, they're.
Him and his wife are a bigfan, kind of the Gilded Age era of
history. And so they reallyenjoyed this video. So if you like
that, you're probably going tolike this video series. So check
out the podcast Show Notes andyou can watch those yourself. Imagine
(24:42):
walking through the opulenthalls of the breakers, where Cornelius
Vanderbilt II once hostedlavish gatherings. The air filled
with melodies of a bygone era.Picture the grandeur of the the Marble
House where Alva Vanderbiltorchestrated social events that set
the tone for high society.These mansions are more than just
(25:03):
architectural marvels. Theyare a silent witness to the ambitions,
triumphs, and challenges ofthe families who shaped America's
industrial and culturallandscape. Their walls have absorbed
the echoes of history, fromwhispered secrets to grand celebrations.
As we step back into thepresent, let's carry with us the
appreciation for thesehistorical treasures and the stories
(25:25):
they hold. Thank you forjoining us on this journey through
time. If you're inspired toexplore more historical sites or
delve into other eras, checkout the podcast show notes for map
links, similar podcastepisodes and videos from these locations.
Our goal is to give you thehistory and resources to get you
out there and have your ownhistoric adventure.
(25:46):
Yes, thank you. Let's go afterthe History Channel.
This has been a Walk withHistory production. Talk With History
is created and hosted by me,Scott Benny. Episode researched by
Jennifer Benny. Check out theshow notes for links and references
mentioned in this episode.Talk with History is supported by
ourfans@thehistoryroadtrip.com our eternal
(26:07):
thanks go out to thoseproviding funding to help keep us
going. Thank you to DouglasMcLiberty, Larry Myers, Patrick Benny,
Gail Cooper, Christy Coates,and Calvin Gifford. Make sure you
hit that follow button in thatpodcast player there and we'll talk
to you next.
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