Journey like America’s elite to those Gilded Age getaways

The Breakers, Marble House and Rosecliff stay the crown jewels of Newport’s architectural opulence, every now a museum and open for excursions and occasions that make it straightforward to think about your self in excessive society.

Less recognized is Rough Point, the sprawling property of tobacco heiress Doris Duke — as soon as often known as “the richest girl in the world.” Duke’s Newport Restoration Foundation, supported by Jackie Kennedy, helped protect the town’s heritage.

If Newport was the interval’s summer time capital, Palm Beach was de rigueur within the winter. In truth, many would argue the Gilded Age by no means actually ended right here.

The Breakers Palm Beach has a historical past of each catastrophe and reinvention. Oil tycoon Henry Flagler first opened the doorways in 1896, however the resort we see at present was constructed round 1926. Still run by Flagler’s descendants, it gives a seamless mix of historical past and luxurious for visitors.

For a deeper dive into Flagler’s imaginative and prescient, tour Whitehall, his 75-room beaux arts palace turned museum. Built in 1902 as a marriage present for his third spouse, Mary Lily Kenan, Whitehall set the tone for Palm Beach as America’s final winter retreat.

Palm Beach additionally as soon as hosted E.R. Bradley’s notorious Beach Club, an invite-only hideaway the place presidents and royalty gathered for unlawful high-stakes playing. Opened in 1898, Bradley ran the personal membership for greater than 50 years with out being robbed or raided, in response to the Palm Beach Post. Today, its legend lives on in native lore, Bradley Park and in a popular bar off Flagler Drive.

Once the personal playground of the Morgans, Rockefellers and Vanderbilts, Jekyll Island’s turreted clubhouse opened in 1888 on the coronary heart of an unique retreat. Today, the island welcomes all, with bike trails, Driftwood Beach and trolley excursions by means of its historic district. A keep on the Jekyll Island Club Resort — full with verandas and restored cottages — permits you to step proper into its Gilded Age previous.

While vacationers can get to Jekyll Island by automobile, close by Cumberland Island is accessible solely by ferry. Time is untouched right here: Wild horses roam freely beneath moss-draped oak bushes and just one industrial institution exists. Built in 1900 by the Carnegie household as a non-public residence, Greyfield Inn now welcomes visitors into its 15 heirloom-furnished rooms. Days are spent biking or kayaking; nights deliver garden-to-table dinners and cocktails on the porch below a cover of stars.