From the Newport County Conservation Society
The Preservation Society of Newport County’s early fall educational offering includes a flower lover’s treat at the Green Animals Topiary Garden and a lecture series on Gilded Age transport at Rosecliff and via Zoom.
On Friday, September 30, from 10:00-11:00 am, Green Animals Chief Horticulturist Dan Christina will present “Dahlias with Dan”, an exclusive tour of the estate’s dahlia garden during peak season. Christina will share tips and tricks on growing this favorite late-blooming flower. Tour is limited to 18 participants and pre-registration is required via www.NewportMansions.org/Events. Tickets are $10 for Preservation Society members and $15 for non-members.
Transportation is the subject of The Preservation Society’s Gilded Age Fall Lecture Series, beginning Thursday, October 6 at 6 p.m. with “The Advent of the Automobile.”
Other talks in this series include “Night Boats to Newport: Remembering the ‘Floating Palaces’ of the Illustrious Fall River Line” on Thursday, October 20 at 6 p.m. and “The Legacy of the Transcontinental Railroad” on Thursday, October 20 November 3rd. at 6 p.m
Personal attendance at these lectures at the Rosecliff Ballroom is $15 per member, $20 per non-member. Participation via Zoom costs $10 per person. Visit www.NewportMansions.org/Events to learn more and register.
In The Advent of the Automobile, experts discuss the rise of the automotive industry from Detroit to Newport. Historian and author Howard Kroplick will share stories of William K. Vanderbilt Jr.’s Newport race and the prestigious Long Island Vanderbilt Cup race. Madelyn Rzadkowolski, curator at Meadow Brook Hall in Rochester, Michigan, will share stories about the Dodge brothers and early auto shows. Robert Signom III, curator of America’s Packard Museum, will reveal the heated exchange that led to the founding of the Ohio Automobile Company.
The series continues on October 20 with Night Boats to Newport: Remembering the ‘Floating Palaces’ of the Illustrious Fall River Line, presented by award-winning journalist and author John Henry. The former Newsday and New York Daily News reporter will discuss year-round overnight passenger steamship service between New York, Newport and Fall River, Massachusetts from 1847 to 1937. Known for its reliability, impressive size and sumptuous public spaces, the company’s elegant white steamers provided a mode of transport worthy of the Golden Age and attracted the patronage of many of the country’s most powerful and prominent people, as well as common folk.
The series concludes on Thursday, November 3 with The Legacy of the Transcontinental Railroad. The panellists Dr. Betsy Fahlman and Dr. Manu Karuka examine the impact on American industry, art, and migration after the completion of the first transcontinental railroad in 1869.
