We toured 5 mansions, and this one had the best tour by far--"The Servant's Tour". This takes you behind the scenes to the areas where the servants worked and lived--a sight you will not see in any of the other mansions and by far more interesting than anything else--especially for watchers of Downton Abbey. Be aware that the poor servants... More

I like to start my tours of the mansions of Newport at the Elms. It was built by the Berwind family...........they were just as rich and illustrious as the Astors and the Vanderbilts, so why isn't their name American legend like the others? I just don't know. Anyway, take the servant's life tour. It's absolutely fascinating and it's a view... More

The Elms isn't as opulent as the other mansions (i.e. The Breakers), but I don't go for the house tour--I go for their grounds. The Elms' backyard is my "secret garden" and well worth the price of admissions! Best time to visit is in late spring or summer, when all the flowers are out. There's an al fresco cafe to... More

All the houses have a great audio program set up for visitors to walk around as they please and learn about each room and how the people lived 100 years ago. This house is less gaudy than the Breakers I think. It would be great if they historical society could rent out the place for a night to a recreate... More

I wish I had read other reviews, as we did not do the servant's tour of this house, but did the self guided audio tour. I personally feel the story of the Elms is a sad one, with most of the contents of the mansion being sold at auction since the mansion was set to be demolished before it was... More

This house was the darkest and heaviest of the houses we visited. My impression was no one had much fun here.

Another "must see it to believe it" mansion. We saw this after The Breakers and felt like this was more believable. Well worth the visit.

This tour only goes through the spaces that the servants occupied such as bedrooms, kitchen, butlers pantry , etc. We had a docent lead the tour which is such an improvement over those horrible headphones that have taken over the newport mansions. However there are 86 steps to get to the roof so if you have an issue with stairs... More

in particular, the tour gave a really good feel for what high society was like at the time. Don't miss the trellis at the servants' entrance...