At Newport Mansions, an Upstairs Downstairs Christmas
The Newport Mansions are sprucing up for the holidays, adding live music and light refreshments in the evenings, as well as enough glitter to light up the Rhode Island coast.
The Sights and Sounds of the Newport Mansions for the Holidays tours will run November 23, 2013, to January 1, 2014, at three historic mansions: The Breakers, The Elms and Marble House.
The evening entertainment programs, with a stop for Christmas sweets, eggnog and cider, cost $20, or can be combined with a visit to one or two of the mansions ($30 and $38, respectively).
Groups can provide their own transportation; arrange for tours through Viking Tours of Newport, Gray Line RI or Gray Line Boston; or ride the trolley from the Newport Visitors Center.
The Preservation Society that runs the mansions recommends allowing 90 minutes to tour a mansion and the Newport Mansions Stores.
The Breakers is fully wheelchair-accessible.
For a more down-to-earth tour, the Servant Life Tour is a fascinating peek into the lives of "the men and women who worked to service the social whirl of Newport during the Gilded Age."
This tour was updated this year to include new information about immigration, employment and labor disputes in the early 20th century.
It does involve climbing the 82 stairs of the back staircase from the basement servant entrance up to the third floor staff quarters to see exhibits and photographs, and weather permitting up to the roof, for a view of the 10-acre estate and Newport Harbor beyond.
Cheryl
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