Activities like taking a summer holiday and hosting a laid-back, casual social event in the warmer months are part of the concept of leisure that grew out of the 19th century. Nowadays, we look upon summers of the past with a lot of nostalgia. The romanticism of retreating in summer didn’t emerge from nothing, however: in the U.S., the idea of taking a summer vacation began with the habits of the wealthy (and trend-setting) elites in the Gilded Age.
What inspired this episode?
As we saw in the series “The Gilded Age,” the elites began to ritualize summer by traveling to resorts, camps, and hot springs to get some well-deserved rest and relaxation. The ultra-elite of New York also bought seasonal residences in the coastal town of Newport, Rhode Island. The size and extravagance of these summer “cottages” in Newport are unlike anything we saw before or, possibly, will ever see again in American history. Yet, the ritualization of summer that they started and the styles of the palatial vacation homes they built has really remained fashionable and has been a part of the nostalgia of our national consciousness ever since.
In this week’s podcast episode, we explore the real-life Newport homes and talk a bit about how the concept of summer came about in the first place. We also go over some of the popular architectural styles of Victorian era homes, and how the Newport cottages took some of the most popular architecture of the time period to the next level, and again, left a lasting impact that we can still see in cities and towns today.
Sources Consulted
- Many thanks to the wonderful information that is publicly available on the Newport Mansions website, which is maintained by the Preservation Society of Newport County and has a plethora of images and resources on the Gilded Age era Newport cottages.
- This article has a bit more information on how summer vacation was “invented” by the rich in the 19th century
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