UPCOMING EVENT
Mid-Autumn Festival 2026
Saturday, September 26, 2026, 3:30–5:30pm
Marble House
Adults and children ages 2-17=$15 | Children under 2=$0 | Family-Level Members=FREE (advance registration required)
Celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival on the back lawn of Marble House, near the Chinese Teahouse. The Mid-Autumn Festival, Zhongqiu Jie (中 秋 节), also known as the Moon Festival or Mooncake Festival, is a 3,000-year-old tradition from China that celebrates togetherness.
For the fourth year in a row, we invite you to a family-friendly celebration of this festival on the grounds of Marble House. Activities will include participating in various craft stations that will offer lantern decorating, paper folding, book readings and more. You can also enjoy eating mooncakes, traditional treats and tea tasting.
he Rhode Island Kung Fu & Lion Dance Club will perform at 3:45pm to open the experience and once more at 4:15pm. Lion dance is a festive, cultural performance that combines the movement and spirit of kung fu with drumming. It represents positivity, good luck and the warding away of negative energy.
Preservation Society Family-Level members receive complimentary admission, but advance registration is required.
To learn more and reserve your ticket, click here.
COLLECTION
Chinese Tea House
Marble House
At Marble House, Alva Belmont—formerly Mrs. William K. Vanderbilt—transformed the Chinese Tea House into a powerful stage for social change. Opened in the early 20th century, the Tea House debuted with a gathering of supporters from the Political Equality Association, the suffrage organization she founded in 1909. In the years that followed, it became a vibrant setting for rallies, lectures, and events advocating for women’s rights.
Designed by Hunt and Hunt at a cost exceeding $100,000, the Tea House stands as both an architectural gem and a symbol of progress.
Today, this beautifully restored landmark invites guests to enjoy a unique dining experience set on the grounds of Marble House above the historic Cliff Walk. Recently reopened for the season, we have partnered with Stoneacre Restaurants to offer an elegant prix fixe brunch and afternoon tea featuring seasonal ingredients and artisan purveyors. With a welcome beverage, a refined tea tower of savories and sweets, and a choice of entrée—served, fittingly, on “Votes for Women” china—it is an experience that seamlessly blends history, elegance, and occasion.
To learn more and make your reservation, click here.
Installation view of Yu-Wen Wu’s Lanterns
Illuminating China’s Contributions to Newport
Chinese Tea House
Marble House
These contemporary lanterns, created by artist Yu-Wen Wu for The Celestial City: Newport and China exhibition at Rosecliff (2023-24), have found an appropriate new home in the Chinese Tea House at Marble House.
Each lantern has a theme – Entrepreneurship, the Exclusion Act, Arrivals, Trade and Women’s Suffrage – illuminating the contributions of Chinese and Chinese American individuals to Newport and the U.S. more broadly. During the Gilded Age, more than 60 Chinese businesses operated in Newport, while Chinese immigration was banned by federal law in 1882, with race- and nationality-based quotas not eliminated until 1965. Chinese workers made significant contributions to the nation’s prosperity in the 19th century, particularly in the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad. Newport merchants—including the Wetmores of Chateau-sur-Mer and the Kings of Kingscote—profited from trade with China in commodities such as tea, silk, and opium. Chinese American women, such as Mabel Ping-Hua Lee and Grace Yip Typond, played vital roles in the women’s suffrage movement and may have inspired Alva Belmont to build the Tea House, which she opened for a major suffrage conference in 1914.
To learn more about this fascinating exhibition, click here.
NEWS
We are proud to announce that The Celestial City: Newport and China, groundbreaking exhibition at Rosecliff from September 2023 to February 2024, has been honored by the American Association for State and Local History with its Award of Excellence.
The exhibition and accompanying programming shed light on a little-known aspect of Newport’s history: the contributions of Chinese and Chinese American individuals to life in Newport from the 18th century through the Gilded Age.
This prestigious award is a tribute to the thorough and thoughtful work of our Curator of Collections, Dr. Nicole Williams, and staff researchers who uncovered information and stories that had been untold for decades. Bravo!
To learn more about this exhibition, click here.
The Preservation Society of Newport County, Rhode Island, is a nonprofit organization accredited by the American Alliance of Museums. It is dedicated to preserving and interpreting the area’s historic architecture, landscapes, decorative arts and social history. Its 11 historic properties – seven of them National Historic Landmarks–span more than 250 years of American architectural and social development.
