Challenge Your Children To Discover The Secrets Of The Breakers
The
Breakers Family Tour allows parents and children to explore the
historic Vanderbilt summer "cottage," imagining themselves personally
witnessing the history made in this great Gilded Age chateau.
As the house shares its secrets during this audio tour, you hear from
family members and staff, as well as fanciful creatures like the
friendly dolphin hiding under the grand staircase, the lions of the
Music Room and the dragons in the Dining Room. You experience a summer
day in the life of one of the Vanderbilt children, learn about the
masters of the kitchen - Monsieur Le Chef and his colleague, The Butler.
You take an imaginary slide down the grand stairs on a silver serving
tray, listen as imaginary acrobats pile 50 feet high to measure the
Great Hall, and learn all the “rules” the children had to live by at The
Breakers.
Using imagination, the tour introduces themes of architecture,
design, décor and the importance of historic preservation from a
uniquely personal point of view.
This 45-minute experience can be enjoyed by youngsters while parents
take “The Breakers Revealed” audio tour, which follows the same route and
timing. Visitors can stop as often as they like while traveling through
the house, and can explore more information at subject stops along the
route.
The tour has been created by The Preservation Society of Newport County
based on a decade of research, oral history from family members and
staff who lived there as children, and the popular main audio tour “The
Breakers Revealed” which premiered in 2009. It uses
extensively-documented historic facts to launch young people’s
imagination on a flight of fancy through one of the 19th century’s
grandest private residences, and introduces them to a time and place far
removed from the present day.
The Breakers Family Tour is included as an option with admission to The Breakers. It is only available in English.
Tours of The Breakers including The Breakers Family Tour are self-guided audio tours using the FREE Newport Mansions app.
For the best tour experience DOWNLOAD the app before your visit. And bring your earbuds!
Guests without a smart device will be provided with a paper tour script.