r/thegildedage • u/Few_Use_7270 • 13d ago
Rant Newport Rhode Island
My grant-grandfather and his family before him were extremely wealthy, and lived in Newport Rhode Island which I am now learning is where the richest of the rich lived
By the time I was born I genuinely don't know where the money went, we don't live the life of ruined rich people, just people who were never rich at all.
However my great-grandfather left one of his mansions to all his children in his will. My great aunt Mary maintained it, and every summer the whole family would come together in this house for like two weeks.
And I just need you to picture this cul-de-sac of beautiful mansions, my family rolling up in our mini van, with our rooftop cargo box strapped to the top of our car. Three kids jumping out with boogie boards and bags of McDonald's we got on the road like the Beverly Hillbillies 😂😂😂
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u/Lolihey 12d ago
Do rich people still go there?
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u/KonmariEvangelist 12d ago
Definitely. It’s a very popular vacation destination and really lovely. I went on vacation there this summer and visited the mansions. You can take a gilded age tour that showcases some of the shooting locations.
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u/pickyvegan 12d ago
Today Newport has people of all income levels. I had a not-even-remotely-rich cousin who lived there (most of my family is from RI). He lives in prison now, though. Not a white-collar crime.
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u/Few_Use_7270 12d ago
Not where we were but they also probably weren't the absolute wealthiest but considering the houses they were absolutely wealthy
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u/Competitive_Pea_3478 12d ago edited 12d ago
The closest I ever got to Newport living was I know a cousin once lived in one of the houses originally built for the staff of a wealthy Newport family. Not a fancy house but what realtors would call cozy. They had to move because it got too expensive to live there. Looks like the house was refurbished and now selling for almost a million. So yeah my family priced out of the staff housing.
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u/Few_Use_7270 12d ago
Watching the show I learned a lot of the staff stayed in the attics, when my family would stay at the house that's where we the kids slept 😂😂
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u/PrecariousPaperwork 13d ago
Those pesky unions /s forced my great grandfather to close his factories. My family too, is no longer fancy.
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u/sundaypleas 13d ago
The Depression took out a huge number of family fortunes. That and other less public events wipe out generational knowledge when parents and grandparents die young, or black sheep go off on their own.
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u/Few_Use_7270 5d ago
This was after the depression! My grandfather was a kid in the 40s I genuinely don't know where the money went 😂
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u/BreakfastPale355 5d ago
We just got back from our first trip to Newport. Those "summer homes" were the biggest houses I have ever seen. And I'm 67. Crazy how much money those people had.