Priyatam Mudivarti

I got a chance to orga­nize a road trip to New­port, cov­er­ing the famous New­port Man­sions and the Clif­fwalk. From an archi­tec­tural geek, to a nomad trav­eler, to mom-next-door and inter­na­tional stu­dents & grad stu­dents alike, it was a fun group of twelve peo­ple! Inter­act­ing with peo­ple while trav­el­ing has always been so much fun, laid back and sportive.

Start­ing at 8am from Boston, it was 10 by the time we started with the mag­nif­i­cent Break­ers man­sion. It was the biggest and grand­est of all. Some 70+ rooms, 23 bath­rooms with a peak servant/staff of 45! After a quick lunch at a local pizza house (thanks for the tip from one of the local travel mem­bers), we headed to The Elms. Though not as mag­nif­i­cent as Break­ers, in sheer size it was no less. This was fol­lowed by the Rose­cliff Man­sion with the gar­dens full of roses and the White Mar­ble stud­ded Mar­ble­house. My picks were the Break­ers & Mar­ble­house. One of them had a huge ball­room with large doors, pil­lars and win­dows, they were all made of 22 carat gold. I stood in awe. In case you’re won­der­ing who built all these man­sions (which are just a small quota of the wealth of the own­ers, read more about one of America’s wealth­i­est fam­i­lies — The Van­der­bilts.

Inci­den­tally, some­time last year I was in North Car­olina and vis­ited the largest man­sion in the United States — Bilt­more Estate, it was built by the Van­der­bilts too.

By the time we fin­ished the fourth man­sion, it was 5:30 pm and we headed to the Clif­fwalk strolling along­side a breath­tak­ing coast­line, with surfers in far sight and water bod­ies splash­ing right next to us. Some of the guys got them­selves wet (no, its not what you think). Ended the day with an open house restau­rant with beer and fries, watch­ing the sun­set in 80’s style music play­ing by the side.

When I returned home at mid­night, I got an email from one of the members -

“Yes­ter­day is a won­der­ful day. I am so happy to meet you and other friends. I will never for­get this day. Thank you to take care me for a whole day. Thank you very much!”

I don’t remem­ber the last time, when a stranger had thanked me so sincerely.

Click here for the pics.