Rogues & Heroes of Newport's Gilded Age

Edward Morris . Unknown Year . English

Newport, Rhode Island, was the summer playground of the Gilded Age for the Astors, Belmonts and Vanderbilts. They built lavish villas designed by the best Beaux Arts-style architects of the time, including Richard Morris Hunt, Charles McKim and Robert Swain Peabody. America's elite delighted in referring to these grand retreats as "summer cottages," where they would play tennis and polo and sail their yachts along the shores of the Ocean State. The coachman had an important role as the discreet outdoor butler for Gilded Age gentlemen--not only was he in charge of the horses, but he also acted as a travel advisor and connoisseur of entertainment venues. From the driver's seat, author and guide Edward Morris provides a diverse collection of biographical sketches that reveal the outrageous and opulent lives of some of America's leading entrepreneurs.

Categories: Travel

About the Author

Ed Morris is a veteran reporter for two Connecticut newspapers and was a correspondent for the United Press International's Berlin Bureau just before the construction of the Berlin Wall by Communist East Germany. A graduate of Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, he has also served as a tour guide for several Newport historical organizations for many years. As a step-on bus guide for cruise ship visitors to Newport he developed this coachman's script twelve years ago. After showing it to Pieter Roos, then education director of the Newport Historical Society, he was hired to research Newport's Cliff Walk and give tours to Newport tourists for six years. That tour , published as A Guide to Newport's Cliff Walk, has sold over seven thousand copies. This companion volume is enlivened with more stories about those rogues and heroes of Newport's Gilded Age. Morris has made extensive use of the Newport Historical Society's research facilities, printed reports and many other sources, but the responsibility for the material contained herein is his own. Here is a Reader's Preview of Author's Companion Books: "Rogues & Heroes of Newport's Gilded Age" provides insights into the early Colonial world of Newport, R.I., and then into its development into the summer resort for wealthy New York millionaires of the Industrial Revolution, where they played tennis, golf and polo, and sailed their fabulous yachts! Author Ed Morris wrote this new book as a companion piece to his "A Guide To Newport's Cliff Walk," which has 48 color photos and five areal maps, and has sold more than 7,000 copies. The new "Rogues & Heroes" book with its 57 photos is also a coachman's guide to other summer palaces not on Cliff Walk--as well as insights into the operational practices of such architects as Richard Hunt, Charles McKim and Stanford White and wealthy clients like Mrs Astor.

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