No where is the concept of  "Keeping up with the Jonses"  better illustrated than when strolling along Cliff Walk in Newport , Rhode Island.  It was along this three and a half mile strip bordering America's first resort town that the Astors and Vanderbilts battled it out starting in the Gilded Age (1878-1889) for who among them could erect the grandest summer "cottage".  

Really, these cottages were huge, ostentatious mansions, built in a mish-mash of European styles that again reinforce the idea that people with money don't necessarily have any intuition for good taste.  

I've long argued that the concept of "good taste" is overrated anyway, and I rather enjoy the foibles of people's personal vision of luxury.  Thanks to heiress and style icon, Doris Duke, who founded the Newport Restoration Foundation in 1968 that has restored upwards of 80 historic homes in the area, you can oogle them too.  The public can promenade past and even take tours of the more eccentric mansions on Cliff Walk, though one half of the properties here are still actually rich people's private homes.

Before I detail the gilt and opulence of a few of the estates I saw, let me just give former Newport resident Claus von Bulow a Cliff Walk shout-out here.  As you may know (if you saw the Glenn Close and Jeremy Iron's movie, Reversal of Fortune), Claus von Bulow was tried, convicted, appealed and overturned the verdict of the attempted murder of his ex-wife, Sunny von Bulow, in the mid 1980's.  He now lives in London, is remarried and writes art and theater reviews, and Sonny is still comatose in a facility somewhere in the US.  But it turns out that as Chariman of the Cliffwalk Committee, Claus von Bulow was critical in overseeing the Army Corps of Engineers make critical reinforcements at Cliff Walk from 1970-1976.  I'm not saying that makes him a saint, but it adds some dimension to his public profile.

Camel-shaped topiary greeted me on the lawn of Rough Point, Doris Duke's Newport Mansion (formerly the home of Frederick. W. Vanderbilt).  Tours are offered five days a week roughly from 10am to 4pm, and limited to 200 people per day.  Though much of the appeal is to see the house just as Ms. Duke lived in it (if you saw the recent HBO movie Bernard & Doris, you know she only passed away in 1993), Rough Point now operates as a museum, emphasizing different art collections and themes in Duke's life. The current exhibition,  "Zoo in the House:  Animals in the Doris Duke Collection", showcases an earthernware camel created during the Tang Dynasty; a bronze lion sculpted by Barye in the French Romantic period; and several Audubon prints.   There are an endless array of impressive antiques and paintings by Renoir, Reynolds and van Dyck (mostly collected by her father), but my favorite space in the house was Duke's private boudoir, where she has an entire Mother of Pearl vanity and bedroom set unlike anything I've ever seen.  Its like furniture covered with organic disco mirrors!  Still, Rough Point doesn't hold a candle to Duke's Hawaii home, Shangri-La, that is now also open to the public as an Islamic Museum of Art (yes, in the middle of the Pacific, go figure).  i must say, the more I know about Ms. Duke, the more I adore her.

The other mansions of note on Cliff Walk are:  the Italian Renaissance style mansion, The Breakers, built in 1895 for Cornelius Vanderbilt II;  the Astor's Beechwood, built in 1851 for Mrs. William Backhouse Astor, who made it the center of American society for the eight weeks she was in summer residence; and also, Marble House, built by William K. Vanderbilt and modeled after the Petit Trianon at Versaiiles.  It contains 500,000 cubic feet of marble and cost 11 million dollars to build in 1892 (!).

Stay tuned for more of my adventures in Newport.  For general information about visiting Newport, see the official website: GoNewport.com.