After we packed up and headed out of New York, we drove through Connecticut towards Rhode Island. We stopped to take a tour of The Breakers, one of the most visited house museums in America.

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The Breakers is a Vanderbilt mansion located in Newport, Rhode Island right on the cliffs overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. The waves crash just beyond the lawn, hence the name “The Breakers”. It has 70 spectacular rooms and 20 bathrooms!

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This was the summer home of Cornelius Vanderbilt II, a member of the wealthy Vanderbilt family. It is built in an architectural style based on the Italian Renaissance. The stove worked like a huge griddle so the entire black stove would be blazing hot.

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The house is fully furnished with original furniture, like this beautiful French Empire ormolu-mounted piano inlaid with mother of pearl which is original to the Music Room of The Breakers; circa 1820.

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If you are planning to do any museum tours in Newport, I recommend starting early and purchasing a combo ticket to see multiple museums for one low cost.

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The amount of money spent on this mansion is unbelievable. Despite the cost and difficulty of working with, there are real gold leaf paint on the walls and platinum wall panels that won’t tarnish, even after 100 years.

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Could you imagine painting your house with gold? The grounds were purchased in 1885 for $450,000 ($12 million today) and the mansion was recently valued at about $350 million.

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July 5th, we headed towards Salem, Massachusetts to spend the night in a haunted hotel, The Salem Inn. This was the very last thing to complete on my bucket list and my 30th birthday was the very next day.

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On my birthday we spent the day exploring Salem and had lunch at the Village Tavern. We visited the Salem Witch Museum and The House of the Seven Gables.

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The girls showed off their pirate faces at the pirate museum.

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The Burying Point, also known as the Charter Street Cemetery, is the oldest cemetery in Salem. Established in 1637, it the second oldest known cemetery in the nation.

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One of the most famous people buried in the cemetery is Justice John Hathorne, the great-great-grandfather of writer Nathaniel Hawthorne and one of the judges in the Witchcraft Court.

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We also visited the Salem Witch Trial Memorial which is right next to the cemetery. Each bench is dedicated to one of the 14 women and 6 men that were accused of being witches and executed in 1692.

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We only stayed in Salem one night before driving to Revere, Massachusetts near Boston where we celebrated my birthday evening. We lucked out and had an amazing bakery right across the street from our apartment!

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Next stop: Freeport, Maine

Make sure you check out the photos from the first part of our trip – HERE.