To Do in RI: “The Gilded Age” special tours extended at 4 Newport Mansions

Photo: The Elms, a National Historic Landmark built in 1901, has been the setting of many scenes in Julian Fellowes’ “The Gilded Age” series on HBO.

Starting this week The Preservation Society of Newport County will add more opportunities to take two of its most popular guide-led tours in the Newport Mansions.

The Inside “The Gilded Age” Tour, which provides glimpses into the making of HBO’s Emmy-winning series at four of the mansions, will be offered every Tuesday and Friday now through Sept. 27th. During this 3.75-hour tour through The Elms, Marble House, Chateau-sur-Mer and The Breakers, guides explain which scenes were filmed in various rooms, talk about the real people who lived in these mansions, and give an insider’s view of what it takes to host a major television production in four National Historic Landmark museums.

Advance ticket purchase is required. See www.newportmansions.org/events/inside-the-gilded-age-tour.

In addition, The Breakers Third Floor Preservation in Progress Tour will be offered twice a day for the first time since its inception in late June. This guide-led tour allows visitors to see and learn about third-floor private spaces, used by the Vanderbilt family and their household staff, that had never previously been open to the public in The Breakers’ 129-year history.

From now through Oct. 14, The Breakers Third Floor Preservation in Progress Tour will be offered twice daily at 1:30 and 3:30 pm. Starting Oct. 15, the tour will be given once daily at 1:30 pm.

Advance ticket purchase is strongly recommended. See www.newportmansions.org/events/the-breakers-third-floor.

The Breakers Third Floor Preservation in Progress Tour includes spaces that were closed to the public until this summer.

The Preservation Society of Newport County, Rhode Island, is a nonprofit organization accredited by the American Alliance of Museums. It is dedicated to preserving and interpreting the area’s historic architecture, landscapes, decorative arts and social history. Its 11 historic properties – seven of them National Historic Landmarks – span more than 250 years of American architectural and social development.

For more information, please visit www.NewportMansions.org.