Inside the Just-Opened Gardiner House, a Newport Hotel With a Rich History

A visit to Newport, Rhode Island, is incomplete without a tour of Bellevue Avenue’s famous homes. Though their original owners (Vanderbilts, Astors, Morgans) dubbed them “country cottages,” they stand as imposingly as any mansion on Manhattan’s 5th Avenue. We’d even go as far as to argue that these homes—properties like Marble House, The Elms, and The Breakers—are the coastal New England town’s main draw. But there are also the ones you can’t tour, the privately-owned mansions that you need an invitation to step inside. The alternative? You can check into...