Newport
To continue the series on Newport, the city where Lizzie Borden relaxed in following her acquittal in 1893, I present for your viewing pleasure The Newport Postcard Museum—-a sweet site that has a gallery of postcards that depicts turn of the century Newport, Rhode Island.
The examples shown are from our personal collection of over 800 Newport cards. There exist over 5,000 different Newport cards. We will exhibit cards by area : downtown, waterfront, beach, etc. and by type of building: mansion, church, public buildings,etc.. Displayed will be about 10 cards in each classification with a short paragraph about each card. To view an enlargement of the card, just click on the pictures from this page.
It is very generous of this site to provide such large scans of the cards included. One can easily see the details of the photos and examine the places represented without effort.
I really like #18:
18.Titled: ‘Aquidneck National Bank and Thames Street South, Newport, R.I.’ Published by Berger Bros., Publishers, Providence, R.I. The view is at Thames with the side street on the left being Green Street. The building on the left titled the Kinsey Building was built in 1892 and housed the National Bank of Rhode Island until recently and is now the Blues Cafe. Traffic on Thames (the locals call it Thãmes not Timmes) is still two way in this card. Time: 1905-10.
On another page within the same website, is a large collection of Newport Mansion postcards. Kewl!
This card is striking because I was just there and took a similar image! First the postcard and the description, then my photo from August 8th, 2006.
APC 40. Residence of Senator Wetmore: Chateau Sur Mer. Owned by The Preservation Society and open to the public today. Built in 1852 Chateau-sur-Mer is one of Newport’s grand ‘cottages’. In 1857 a “Fete Champetre” was held for over 2000 guests. Built for China trade merchant William Peabody Wetmore who died in 1862. His son George Peabody Wetmore inherited the bulk of his fortune. The home was remodeled in the 1870’s under the direction of Architect Richard Morris Hunt in the Second-Empire Style. Wetmore was Governor of Rhode Island and U.S. Senator and passed away in 1921. He had two daughters, Maude and Edith who never married. The Preservation Society purchased Chateau-Sur-Mer in 1969. “There’s no use talking about it,” says Miss Edith Wetmore of Newport’s “Chateau Sur Mer,” “we’re the end of an era, if you please.” Miss Wetmore, whose grandfather, George Peabody Wetmore, built Newport’s first large mansion just a hundred years ago, has in her will left “Chateau Sur Mer” to the Society of New England Antiquities; she feels that, socially speaking, Newport is within eight of being a complete ghost town. “I mean to say,” she says, “if you know what I mean, there are just eight families left. Fortunately I like very few people.” * From “The Last Resort” by Cleveland Amory.
