Summer may be over but that doesn't mean that travel has to end. The Hyatt Regency Newport Hotel & Spa in Newporth, Rhode Island is offering a 30 percent savings with its Fall Foliage/Fall into Savings Package to lure guests during the off-season. Guests can enjoy water-view accommodations, a $25 food & beverage credit toward lunch or dinner at Windward Restaurant or Five33, 20 percent off a Pumpkin Facial at the Stillwater Spa and two signature Fireside Kiss Cocktails. The package includes a Rhode Island Fall Foliage Map and eco-friendly launch service to downtown Newport. The package runs from $239 in September, $179 in October, and $159 in November, based on double occupancy. It is valid September 7-November 30.

The other day my colleague Alison Wellner reported on Newport, Rhode Island's Cliff Walk controversy over the much disputed public right-of-way. Not everything going on in the famed seaside town is controversial, however; on a brighter note, The George Washington Institute for Religious Freedom just celebrated the opening of the new Ambassador John L. Loeb Jr. Visitors Center (above), which has won praise for great design complementing its historical context. The Loeb Center is located at Touro Synagogue, the oldest functioning synagogue building in the nation. First dedicated in 1763, it was designed by America's first architect, Peter Harrison.

The Institute's mission is to promote awareness of the historic roots of religious liberty in America. In addition to the Loeb Visitors Center, the George Washington Institute for Religious Freedom supports educational and scholarship programs for individuals seeking to learn about and discuss the origins and development of American religious liberties. John L. Loeb Jr. is the Chairman of the George Washington Institute for Religious Freedom and is the former U.S. Ambassador to Denmark. Through the Institute, he donated both the land and the new Visitors Center building. The Loeb Center further interprets and celebrates the history and architecture of Touro Synagogue, renowned for its beauty.

The Loeb Visitors Center features interactive, multimedia exhibits exploring the meaning and importance of George Washington's 1790 Letter to the Hebrew Congregation of Newport, the first and clearest presidential expression of support for American's constitutional right to the free exercise of religious belief and the separation of church and state. Writing about the Loeb Center in the Providence Journal, architecture critic David Brussat noted, "It is obviously a classical building, yet it is unlike any other. No work of classicism could possibly depart from canon with greater dignity, hence no building could possibly fit onto a historic street with greater distinction."

Now, the Cliff Walk -- or, at least, the City of Newport, the State of Rhode Island and the Preservation Society of Newport County, owner of the Breakers mansion, whose grounds the path crosses -- is the target of a lawsuit before the Rhode Island Supreme Court, according to a story in The Providence Journal by reporter Mike Stanton.

The argument: it's hard for tourists to determine where the path-proper ends, and dangerously unstable rocky terrain begins. That's what happened nine summers ago to one honeymooning tourist, Simcha Berman, then 23. He was walking along the path with his new wife when they took a few steps towards the ocean to get a better look at the waves. The path gave way beneath him, Berman fell on to the rocks below, and is now a quadriplegic. It's not the first major incident on the Cliff Walk either, Stanton's article cites two deaths in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and the newspaper's blog reports that just last summer, an Indiana woman fell from the path to serious injuries.

The court will decide whether Berman is entitled to millions, and the question is, what, if anything should be done to the Cliff Walk to prevent such accidents from occurring? Should the walk be fenced off? It's easy to see how that would really interfere with the experience of the ocean vista. Or is this a case of tourists simply not using common sense? (That seems to be the take of the Providence Journal, given the headline: Visitors to Newport Often Put Themselves at Risk.)

When I visited Newport a couple of weeks ago, I did spot a warning sign near the Breakers. It first concerned itself with making sure that tourists properly respected the rights of the the property owners, but then, it clearly stated "this trail has rugged terrain and can be difficult to pass." Although, I have to say, this particular sign didn't say anything about the potential for serious injury or even death on the walk. Perhaps it's implied, but a stroll along the Cliff Walk certainly didn't seem like anything too frightening, even on that particular moody, foggy gray day.

One of Newport's grand Cliff Walk estates, Hopedene is on the market for $19.5 million. Pictures are below.

I was just in Newport, Rhode Island, although I didn't see that much of it, because on the night of my arrival, I ate what turned out to be a very bad lobster indeed. (Public service announcement: if you're eating lobster, nay, any shellfish, and you detect even the slightest hint of ammonia, put down the fork, leave the table, and immediately procure saltines and electrolyte-enhanced fluids.)

Anyway, maybe it was because I was tinged green, but for the moments when I crawled out of my very comfortable hotel (the Hotel Viking, book a room in the newly renovated wing), I couldn't help but noticed how very white everyone was. Well, rich-people-in-summer-white, which is to say, bronze.

When I was in Shanghai last month, I was reminded that the Western obsession with toasting is not shared worldwide.

In China, which certainly has its own ethnic tensions, but not (as I'm aware of) those relating to the amount of melanin in the skin, the obsession is looking as white as possible, as you can see in the colorful parade of parasols everywhere, what I can only describe as "forearm cozies" – handmade fabric coverings protecting the skin from the elbow to the wrist -- and for bicycle riders, what looks like a welding mask. (Although I think this is also to ward off projectiles.)

If the environmental activists are right, the planet should be getting warmer every year, so if the world's really going to hell in a proverbial handbasket, you might as well enjoy the weather behind the wheel of a convertible. But while there are plenty of delectable cabrios and roadsters on the market already, some want something a little different. Fortunately there are skilled chop-shops that can lop the roof off just about any car and replace it with a folding canvas top. One of the most experienced is California's Newport Convertible Engineering, whose portfolio includes such recent and varied conversions as a Hummer H2 sport-utility, Toyota Prius hybrid, Cadillac CTS sedan and the Mercedes CL coupe you see here. Benz has been talking about bringing back the CL cabriolet for some time, but evidently one customer was tired of waiting. The conversion job costs about $10,000, but considering that this donor vehicle cost six figures already, that seems like just a drop in the bucket.

The Swanhurst Manor House in Newport, Rhode Island was built in 1851 and was one of the first of twelve Newport Mansions established along Bellevue Avenue. The home was passed down over the years from mother to daughters in the Swan family before being willed to the Newport Art Association. The will said that the home must always be known as Swanhurst. The home is on 1.56 acres of landscaped grounds. The home has been kept true to its 19th century style and features a foyer with a classic stairway, a double living room, a formal dining room with a fireplace, gentleman's library, and a sitting room. The kitchen has been remodeled with granite countertops and new appliances. There are six bedrooms on the second floor including a master suite with a fireplace and new master bath. This home is listed at $5.6 million.

Experience more lush living in luxury homes and mansions or see the stars living large with celebrity homes galleries at AOL Real Estate.

Last summer when we wrote about Land Rover's 60th anniversary we visited the incredible Astor Courts in Rhinebeck, N.Y, designed by Stanford White as part of a country retreat for John Jacob Astor IV in 1902. The Astor Courts features prominently in a beautiful new book from Rizzoli, Stanford White, Architect. White, the visionary head of famed firm McKim, Mead & White, was arguably the most celebrated American architect of his day and a "defining figure of the so-called Gilded Age." In addition to the Astor Courts (originally the Ferncliff Casino), the book features many of White's buildings, including Beacon Rock in Newport, Rhode Island (above).

The book, by White's great-grandson Samuel G. White and Elizabeth White with photography by Jonathan Wallen, comprehensively explores White's "sumptuously rich oeuvre," from his own residences on Long Island and in Gramercy Park, to the "extraordinary and opulent" houses such as the incredible Rosecliff in Newport (see the gallery) and Villard Houses and Payne Whitney mansion in New York City. It also includes the lavish private clubs he designed such as the Century Association, the old Madison Sqaure Garden and Tiffany & Co., churches, monuments and more.



Rosecliff, commissioned by Nevada silver heiress Theresa Fair Oelrichs in 1899, is without a doubt the most extravagant house in the book. Designed to evoke Louis XIV's Grand Trianon at Versailles, it cost $2.5 million by the time it was completed in 1902 - about $60 million in today's dollars. The mansion, which is now a museum, was used to film scenes from 1974's The Great Gastby starring Robert Redford. Oelrichs hosted many fabulous parties at Rosecliff, including a fairy tale dinner and party featuring famed magician Harry Houdini as the evening's entertainment. In 1904 she staged the famous "Bal Blanc" to celebrate the Astor Cup Races, in which everything in the house was white and silver.

The classical Astor Courts is pictured on the book's cover. A less opulent but equally beautiful echo of the Grand Trianon, the five-bedroom structure features an indoor tennis court and swimming pool, and cost $1 million to build, or about $22 million in today's dollars. The building was a complete wreck in 2002 when a former TV producer purchased it for $3.2 million and set about an intense restoration. Five years and more than a million dollars later, it has been restored to White's original grandeur.

Beechwood, the Mrs. Astor's 39-room Italianate mansion in Newport, Rhode Island and one of the last great relics of the Gilded Age, is now being offered for sale for $14.9 million. The 19,000-sq.-ft., 15-bedroom house on Newport's famous Bellevue Avenue, was listed at $16 million last year (as my colleague Deidre Woollard reported) and has since served as a "living history museum" showing what life was like for the Gilded Age idle rich before they were forced to sell off their mansions.

The museum is a bit cheesy, with events like "An Evening With the Astors", but Beechwood does have a very rich history. In fact, with the $1.1 million discount it might even be something of a bargain. Cole Porter was said to have written Night and Day, one of his most famous songs, while visiting Beechwood, and the house also made an appearance in the 1956 Bing Crosby / Frank Sinatra / Grace Kelly movie High Society. Originally constructed in 1851 by Calvert Vaux - co-designer of Central Park - and Andrew Jackson Downing for drygoods magnate Daniel Parish, it was on the market when well-bred debutante Caroline Schermerhorn married billionaire merchant William Backhouse Astor Jr., giving the Astors some much needed social cachet.



Mr. Astor owned the Ambassadress, the largest private yacht in the world at the time, and a beautiful Hudson River mansion called Ferncliff. "The Mrs. Astor" as she soon insisted upon being referred to, intended to entertain in grand style with her husband's money and needed a Newport mansion in which to do it during the summer season, which lasted for eight precious weeks. The Astors bought the place in 1881 and spent $2 million on improvements, including the addition of a mirrored waterfront ballroom by architect Richard Morris Hunt (who designed the Fifth Avenue facade of Manhattan's Metropolitan Museum of Art) complete with bas reliefs depicting Poseidon and Aphrodite.

Mrs. Astor soon became the reigning queen of New York society, and her Summer Ball at Beechwood was the highlight of the season. She and social arbiter Ward McAllister then founded the famous "Four Hundred", referring to the strictly limited number of socially acceptable families (i.e. not nouveau riche) in New York - which some people are still trying to get into. Her son, John Jacob Astor IV, who inherited Beechwood, later went down on the Titanic, the ship's wealthiest passenger.

Another beautiful Newport, Rhode Island house has hit the market. Wrentham House was recognized in 2008 with the Rhode Island historic preservation and heritage commission award. The granite and brownstone oceanfront estate,which was originally known as Indian Spring, was the first collaboration between Richard Morris Hunt, legendary founder of the American institute of Architects, and esteemed landscape designer Frederick Law Olmsted. The 14,400-square-foot mansion was created in 1891 for yachtsman and defender of the America's Cup J.R. Busk. The twenty-two room masterpiece on five acres was recently restored and is located on Ocean Avenue with prime water views.

The home's has beautiful woodwork with impressive carved details. There are eight bedrooms total along with staff quarters. The 1,800-square-foot master suite has his and hers marble baths with an adjoining study with mahogany built-ins and a wet bar. The huge living room has a cathedral ceiling and an orchestra balcony. Three sets of French doors open onto an 80-foot ocean front porch. The mahogany-paneled library and the elegant dining room feature ornamental plaster ceilings and attractive fireplaces. The home also has a multilevel home theater, a billiard room, a wine cellar, a pair of family rooms and a modern gourmet kitchen with a butler's pantry. Modern systems include security, intercom, and central vacuum. This home is listed at $12.75 million.

For more prime properties and lush locations, see Luxury Homes and Mansions.

The high-end condo market seems to be thriving in Newport, Rhode Island. The new complex, the Residences at Brown & Howard Wharf in Newport went on the market last month and six of the 16 units have been sold or are under contract which is pretty impressive in today's worrisome real estate market. The condos are pretty expensive by Rhode Island standards ranging up to $3.6 million. The 16 harborside homes have perfect views of Newport Harbor and dockage for yachts up to 250 feet in length.

Condo units range from 2,300 to 3,200 square feet and have open-plan interiors with numerous balconies. Owners can work with the on-site interior design coordinator to select finishes and style elements. Living rooms will have a gas fireplace, kitchens and laundry rooms feature an appliance package, with a Sub-Zero refrigerator, Wolf gas cook-top, ventilation hood, microwave and oven. Asko 4-cycle dishwashers and Bosch washers and dryers are also included in the unit.

[via Providence Journal]

This Newport, Rhode Island home is a beauty with a long history. The home was built in 1881 for Edwin Dennison Morgan III, of the J.P. Morgan family and became a studio for sculptor Felix de Weldon, who created the statue of The Flag Raising on Iwo Jima. The home sits on three acres of rolling lawns and boasts beautiful harbor views. The home is an 11,000 square foot residence which has luxurious details such as gold brick domed ceilings and hand painted Gracie murals. The home is completely modern but the exposed brick and hewn beams show the original home's bones. The home has a lavish master suite and four additional en suite bedrooms. The property also includes a fitness cottage, landscaped grounds and a small pool. It is listed at $9.9 million.

Three centuries worth of New England's magnificent houses and mansions are collected in an equally grand new book from Rizzoli: Great Houses of New England, by Roderic H. Blackburn (text) and Geoffrey Gross (photography). Spanning a wide range of styles, these stately houses are the originals from which many of today's McMansions have been copied. They're more than just artifacts, however; as Blackburn writes, "Through the architecture and decorative arts we see the development of a people and their region."

Among the more splendid examples in the book is the Jeremiah Lee Mansion in Marblehead, Mass., dating from 1767 (pictured here), the impressiveness of which is "conveyed by its subdued monumentality," Blackburn notes. Lee, a shipping merchant, built it to emulate aristocratic estates in England, so you might say not all that much has changed. Also of note are the beautiful brick Georgian Macpheadris-Warner House in Portsmouth, N.H., dating from 1716; Rosecliff, a palatial McKim, Mead & White mansion which was the setting for the movie version of The Great Gasby; and Brookside, a gracious Greek Revival in Orwell, VT. See the gallery for more.

Another grand old home in Newport, Rhode Island has hit the market. Braden Keil's Gimme Shelter column in the NY Post alerted me to the fact that Hopedene, a grand home on Newport's famous Cliff Walk is for sale. Hopedene was built in 1889 and is called Peabody and Stearns's most monumental Colonial Revival residence. The home is on six acres and is approached via a private lane to gilt and wrought iron gates, The property includes a main house, a large carriage house with guest quarters, an ocean facing pool and spa, tennis court, gated service entrance, and an FAA approved heliport.

The home itself has gorgeous details including a marble vestibule with a mosaic floor and Italian Renaissance style center hall and a beautiful wood-paneled library. The semi circular ballroom is currently used as a dining room. The home includes remnants of a grander age such as a butler hall, parlor, and cooks and butler's pantries, kitchen library and a flower room. The upper floors are given over to bathrooms and bedrooms, many of which with marble fireplaces. The carriage house includes a game room with a bar, a full bath, a nautical library and French doors opening to bluestone terraces and the pool, and a heated garage. On the second level there are five bedrooms a full kitchen and laundry and bathrooms.

The NY Post reports that the owners are Palm Beach socialites Craig Millard (the retired chairman of Prudential Preferred Properties) and his wife, Michele. This home is listed at $22.5 million.

UPDATE: This home is now listed at $19.5 million.

Another prime Newport, Rhode Island estate has gone on the market. Like Beechwood, another Newport estate we have covered as an estate of the day, Oakwood has a connection to the Astor family. It was the 19th-century summer residence of Mary Alida Astor Carey, the daughter of William Backhouse Astor, a son of John Jacob Astor. The home was built in the late 1860s and was one of the first summer retreats for the rich in the area. It was added to in the 1870s with a three-story tower, music room, ballroom and kitchen wing all added.

The Boston Globe reports that the current owner is J. Brian O'Neill, a Pennsylvania-based real estate developer who bought the property in 2004. He has shepherded it through a redesign that included expanding the master suite and adding a luxury bathroom above the enclosed rear terrace that overlooks the pool. The home has maintained some of its grandeur, the most beautiful room in the house is the dining room that has walls lined with 56 hand-painted Chinese panels, but has also been updated for today's less formal society with a family room and a home theater. Key details in the seven-bedroom home include parquet floors, a Baccarat chandelier in the music room, carved mantels and beautiful woodwork. The nearly six-acre property includes a six-hole putting green, a lawn tennis court, a reflecting pool stocked with koi, a rose garden, and ancient oak and split-leaf beech trees. It is listed at $10.75 million.

Like yesterday's estate, today's home, clear on the other coast of the U.S. comes with a long history. This home in the Historic Hill area of Newport, Rhode Island was built around 1860 and was the home of William Swinburne, a mayor of the city. The home has been recently renovated. The home includes a dining room, formal living room, a newer kitchen done up in stainless appliances and granite counters. The first floor also includes a den and a breakfast room that opens to a porch which overlooks the pool. The bedrooms are on the second and third floors and include a master suite with a fireplaces, sitting room and marble bathroom. The home also comes with a new carriage house that offers two garage spots and guest quarters. Zillow lists this one as having been bought in 2005 for $2,900,000 and their zestimate has it at over $3 million. This one certainly seems like a decent deal at $2,995,000.