Rough Point

Facts

Frederick W. Vanderbilt built this vast English Manorial house in 1889 on a dramatic, windswept promontory on Newport's Cliff Walk, overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. In 1922, James B. Duke, the founder of fortunes in electric power and tobacco, and benefactor of Duke University, purchased Rough Point. In 1925, James Duke died, leaving his enormous financial legacy to twelve-year-old Doris, his only child. Rough Point became one of Doris's several very private retreats.

Doris Duke had a keen eye as a collector and followed this passion throughout her life. Representative artists within the collection include Renoir, Van Dyck, and Joshua Reynolds as well as artisans of the Ming Dynasty. Upon her death in 1993, she bequeathed the estate to the Newport Restoration Foundation, the organization she founded to help preserve Newport Rhode Island's architectural heritage.

Tour Format

In order to tour Doris Duke's old estate, you must either make advance reservations on the Internet or purchase a ticket at the Gateway Center in Newport and take a shuttle bus up to the home. If you make advance reservations, you may drive your own car to the estate for your scheduled tour. The tour is guided and lasts about one hour and fifteen minutes. After viewing the primary rooms and furnishings in the mansion, you spend time in two separate formal galleries that exhibit some of Doris Duke's Newport-related furniture and other collections. Upon completion, you are invited to explore the grounds which occupy a special oceanfront point. No photography is permitted inside the mansion.

Review

Your first hint that this is not a typical tourist attraction is the process you must go through to get to the mansion; either advance reservations or private shuttle bus. This is a serious museum run by a professional organization that has great respect for the late Doris Duke, her estate and her collections. Our tour guide was well dressed, crisp and efficient in her delivery, and spoke almost non-stop for the full 75 minutes of the tour. There were very few paintings or pieces of furniture in the entire home on which she did not specifically comment. Her knowledge was extensive and we certainly came away with the sense that Doris Duke was a prolific collector. At times, the flow of information was almost overwhelming and might be too intense for anyone but a serious student of art history. Because the tour is longer than most and very detailed with respect to the mansion's contents, we would recommend Rough Point for more serious, educated patrons who will truly appreciate the significance of the contents. The architecture itself does not represent the excessive opulence of some of the other Newport mansions, but rather an understated elegance more befitting a private home.

Customer Reviews

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

Doris Duke was a humanitarian, Jul 31, 2010

reviewer: Maggie Mae Kengrath from BostonMA

I thoroughly enjoyed the tour of Rough Point. What made me curious was the movie "Doris and Bernard" which was a story about Ms. Duke and the wonderful quirky relationship she had with her butler Bernard who took care of her until the day she died. Seeing the movie and walking through her estate made it all come to life for me. Doris had a good heart and when she saw a need she felt a personal responsibility to make things better. I'm always puzzled at the small minded curiousities of people who want to ask questions about some occurrences in Ms. Duke's personal life that was fodder for gossip while she was alive. She's been gone since the early 90's and people still want to gossip? Simple things for simple minds I guess. Doris was a good hearted person who did wonderful things for abused children, and helpless animals. Where Doris saw a need she felt a responsibility to give back. She realized how blessed she was with her personal fortune and she made sure to invest it and protect it so she could continue to give to charity. She also knew how to enjoy her fortune and her travels around the world brought back many beautiful pieces of art which we can all enjoy today. In her lifetime Doris gave several hundred million dollars to charity. The world could certainly use more people like Doris Duke living in it.

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65 of 69 people found the following review helpful:

Cloudland, Mar 26, 2009

reviewer: Pam from Barrington, RI

Rough Point is where history and art meet each other. Here is gathered a collection of superlatives, housed in a fantastic structure. Don’t ask questions about Eduardo Tirella! It will bring sick smiles to the faces of Rough Point employees.

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43 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

A Philanthropist Of The Old School, Mar 25, 2009

reviewer: D.W. from Barrington, RI

Rough Point reflects well upon Doris Duke’s pride and concern about preserving Newport’s architectural heritage.

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