The Pantagraph from Bloomington, Illinois • Page 12

B4 THE PANTAGRAPH, Sunday, July 25, 1993 For the right price, tourists can visit Newport's mansions -Of'' 1 Yjr.4i 1 4 lined up in an expensive row. Many of the homes are now open vainglorious business magnates inflated enough to pay homage to themselves: Bachelor Oliver Hazard Perry Belmont's initials "OB" were inlaid in silk wall coverings in the Belcourt Castle be built as a gentleman's retreat Designed in the style of Louis XIII's hunting lodge at Versailles, Belmont's 60-room cottage was built by handpicked craftsmen from Europe, Scandinavia and Scotland. It had a single medieval-style bedroom and rooms for 30 servants. Other mansion owners etched family monograms in stained-glass windows, and struck regal poses for sculptors and painters, whose renditions of themselves they prominently displayed. Solid gold In Ms.

Wetmore's day, 10-course meals were eaten off solid gold services and it's been said one hostess saw fit to bar from her table people who had less than $5 million. Another would not serve those whose cottages, furnished, cost less than $1 million. In the Marble House which cost $2 million to build and $9 million to furnish in 1892 footmen stood by at dinner parties to push in and pull out the 80-pound gilded bronze chairs around the immense mahogany dining room table. Caroline Schermerhorn, who married William Backhouse Astor in 1853 and became the undisputed Queen of American society, insisted on being called "The Mrs. Astor." Their summer home was the Asters' Beechwood, now privately owned but open to the public.

A costumed staff re-creates the Asters' lifestyle of the 1890s. Four hundred With the help of a Southern gentleman, Ward McAllister, Mrs. Astor devised her famous "Four Hundred," a list of 213 families and individuals whose lineage could be traced back at least three generations. Four hundred also was the number of guests who could comfortably fit into the ballroom of her New York Home. Some of the homes remain private, partly hidden behind ancient beech and black walnut trees and guarded by padlocked gates.

Still others have fallen into the hands of developers condominium contractors to the ire of the locals. By CAROLYN THOMPSON Associated Press NEWPORT, R.I. (AP) For two miles along Bellevue Avenue, also known as "Millionaires' Row," stately mansions loom like fortresses behind gilded wrought-iron fences and towering stone walls. But times have changed for these relics of Newport's Golden Age, which have names such as Chateau-Sur-Mer, Marble House, Belcourt Castle. Today, a dozen of the most opulent homes carry open invitations to anyone with the $6 to $7 price of admissioa Busloads of sneakered, suntanned tourists are the most frequent guests.

Inheritance taxes and the enormous cost of upkeep have been the driving force behind much of the transition from private to public. As owners have died, heirs have turned the mansions over to preservationists who have promised to keep them safe from developers' blueprints and power saws. First trip One of the last to die was Newport socialite Edith Wetmore, who never married and died in 1966. She was well into her 80s when she made her first trip to the grocery store a chauffeur-driven excursion from her palatial home to the new about a mile away. Accompanied by a friend who guided her through the aisles, helped her load the basket and led her to the check-out counter, she finally came to the cash register without a penny in her purse.

Ms. Wetmore, whose income was about $6,000 a day, never even thought about carrying around money. The friend had to pay. That says something about the lush world she came from, when turn-of-the-century society saw families like the Vanderbilts and As tors summering in 50-room "cottages" with household staffs that outnumbered occupants 10-to-l. Inside the homes, floors of imported Italian marble and hardwood are covered with Persian carpets.

Windows overlooking the Rhode Island Sound are draped in red velvet and walls are covered with spun silk. Winding staircases Carved woodwork and plaster climb pillared walls and up spacious and winding stairways lit by huge crystal chandeliers. were the playhouses of An aerial view of the Newport, R.I., to the public for tours. "Edith Wetmore was one of the last who had 'John the Butler and 'Annie the says Harle Tin-ney, whose husband's family bought Belcourt Castle in 1956 and opened it for public tours a year later. Harle and Donald Tinney now live in 25 rooms in the west and south wings of the second floor.

Eileen Slocum has watched the passage from private to public from her Harold Carter Brown House, a 100-year-old Gothic revival-style estate built by her uncle, a member of the family that established Brown University. She is one of a diminishing number of year-round residents along Millionaires' Row. The interior design and furnishings of Mrs. Slocum's own home have remained virtually unchanged for a century, when Harold Brown commissioned the house for his new bride, Georgette Wetmore Sherman, Eileen Slocum's aunt Sterling silver, crystal and china lamps and vases, bronze and plaster statues and walls of leather-bound books fill the stately home which the Slocums have occupied for 34 years. The society belles of the Golden Age often never married, Mrs.

Slocum says. "There were a lot of maidens," she says. "The children of these business magnates, they just never who lives in the room of her childhood on the second floor of the sprawling Breakers, now a tourist attraction. Newport plays host to more than 3.5 million visitors yearly, says Robert Rosenberg, president of the Newport County Convention Visitors Bureau. "The fact that you can hold a convention at the mansions either a clambake or black tie is unique," Rosenberg says.

The former starting point for the America's Cup, and home of the International Tennis Hal! of Fame, Newport also was host to the first international polo match in 1886, the first free public school in 1640 and the first circus in the United States in 1774. John Poggie, chairman of the sociology and anthropology department at the University of Rhode Island, says, "The mansions are sort of the pinnacle of American opulence, when the days of relatively unrestrained capitalism reigned in the United States. "Those days of unbridled capitalism of the past are gone. There are too many restraints now." "Architecture does express culture. Those people were expressing something in those mansions they were expressing their power starting at 1 fsromimanMilDltuiTimrim'in THE GOODWILL TRUCK coastline reveals stately mansions married.

My mother felt the Wet-mores couldn't find anyone their equal." Harle Tinney says, "The Tinney family has had the best and the worst or both worlds. We've enjoyed the society aspect, but we all work. We're craftsmen. "We have been into the kitchen," she adds with a laugh. "There were many, many estate owners who never stepped into the kitchen." But -those kitchens bought flour and sugar by the barrels each only a week's supply with all the entertaining, restaurant-sized griddles and stoves and servants poring over the week's menus.

About 800,000 tourists a year are herded through the mansions, many overseen by the Newport Preservation Society, ranking them the top tourist draw in the state. "I felt very sad to see, one by one, the owners die," says Mrs. Slocum. "But I feel the houses remain as monuments to them." Among Mrs. Slocum's neighbors is Felix de Weldon, the eccentric sculptor whose memorial of U.S.

Marines hoisting an American flag at Iwo Jima, is displayed in Washington, D.C. Others include tobacco heiress Doris Duke, known for bringing a pet camel into the solarium of her home to shield it from Hurricane Bob, and the Countess Szapary, Oct. 25-28, or Oct. 26-29 NORMAL-HOLIDAY INN a Week Crust Pizza with ipnical's ft Extended Tours Will Be In Bloomington This Week! BRANSON-Sept. 26-29, Oct.

23-26, FOR A FREE HOME PICKUP CALL 1 -800-252-8938 drop yur itm off at lh Goodwill Retail Stor, 4U N. Main. Goodwill vurontry nood ditrm, pott end pant, fwnltvro, linoni, draporiei, imalt appiancM, wky and clothing. NASHVILLE SUFKEME-September 2-5 OZARK FALL FUN-September 15-18 GERTTOL FOLLIES-September 19-22 CANADATHOUSAND ISLANDS-Sept. 29-Oct.

5 DAY TRIPS HOUSE ON THE ROCK-Wednesday, September 8 and wealth." Among the most popular draws is Hammersmith Farm, the "summer White House" of President John F. Kennedy and childhood summer home of his first lady, Jacqueline Bouvier. The couple were married in Newport and held their reception! at Hammersmith the only wort ing farm in Newport Hammersmith was recently ranked the country's No. 1 site for a wedding reception in the bridal guide "Tried and Trousseau." "I have to assume it's because President Kennedy and Jackie were married here," says Linda Michaud, special events director. The mansion sits on 50 acres it-overlooking Narragansett Bay and was used as a backdrop for film, "The Great Gatsby." The estate, which at one time required 42 gardeners to maintain, was opened to the public in 1978.

About $3,400 buys four hours at the 28-room "cottage," excluding food and other costs. Couples must choose from, "mansion-friendly" caterers those with at least $1 1 million insurance, according to Michaud. "It's like having a wedding in somebody's home," Michaud says. Non-Stop Charter from Bloomington October 28-31 $342' TRAVEL 0 PER PERSON i ncwuwwsa soft drinks and $1.00 Mixed Drinks I y. Call: 1800 -477-7747 Don't miss the opportunity for "non-stop jet service" and three nights FROM BLOOMINGTON.

You'll enjoy four full days in fascinating Las Vegas at an incredibly low price. CALL 663-6363 TODAY FOR DETAILS! GUYS DOLLS-Wednesday, September 15 RODGERS HAMMERSTEIN'S GOLDEN Sept. 15 AMANA COLONIES-Wednesday, September 22 SUPERSAVER DAY TRIPS ARLINGTON RACES-Thursday, August LIGHTHOUSE PLACE OUTLET CENTER-Monday, Sept. FOX VALLEY MALL-Tuesday, September WOODFIELD MALL-Tuesday, September NORMAL PARKS RECREATION SUMMER THEATRE Presents "WEST SIDE STORY" July 22,23,24,5,29,30,31, Aug. 1 Students $1.00 Adults $2.00 CHAMPION 904 Eldorado Bloomington Prtce per person based on double occupancy.

Maxwell Park Amphitheatre ALL TOURS PICK UP AT 7 Days Buy a Large Thin 1 i Curtain at 8:30 p.m. A TRUNKFUL August 1 through at the Early American Lake of the Wood Park, OF TREASURES August 29 Museum Mahomet, Illinois 3 mm This temporary exhibit will feature quilt documented by the Illinois guilt Research Project. The exhibit opening will also introduce the Project's publication, "History From the Heart: guilt Paths Across Illinois." One Topping for just jl (p) Aim tt nn i 0 oet a mv villa (Thin Crust One Topping) for only Special Exhibit Opening on August QUAD CITIES ILLINOIS i a pcsii vtu 4 hours of non-stop Vegas Style Gamblin' on the Mississippi Cruise ticket aboard Casino Rock Island which includes: Free Hors d'oeuvres, fiefi 11:00 Book sale and signing with the "History From the authors Dr. E. Duane Elbert and Mrs.

Rachel Kamm Elbert 2:00 Special presentations by Laura Lynn Ryan (wife of George Ryan, Secretary of State), Dr. Mrs. Elbert and Cheryl Kennedy, director of the Early American Museum and the Illinois guilt Research Project. Visitors may also bring along quilts for identification and they can find out more about the care and preservation of quilts, and also about the ongoing registration of quilts with the Research Project. I9RP staff will also sell quilt care items and offer quilt appraisals by a certified quilt appraiser.

Proceeds will go towards computerization of the Project's research. Regular museum admission wS be charged lor the exhibit and tie opening. Cat me Early American Uuseum at (217) 586-2612 tor more Information. Luncheon Buffet at the Jumers Continental Inn, Galesburg FREE Coffee and Danish to go Round trip transportation via luxury motorcoach Good 7 Days a Week on Cany-Out through August 8, 1993 at: Bloomington 718 Eldorado Bloomington The Parkway Center (on Veterans) DELIVERED FOR JUST $1 MORE! For Reservations.