Gilded Age Castle with Ghost Tours and Suit-of-Armor Lore
657 Bellevue Avenue, Newport, RI 02840
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$
Daytime tours and seasonal ghost tours sold via the venue website; pricing varies by season.
Access
Limited Access
Mixed
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1894 · Richard Morris Hunt Design · Newport Gilded Age · Belmont Family Residence · National Register of Historic Places
Belcourt was commissioned by Oliver Hazard Perry Belmont, then a 33-year-old congressman and son of banker August Belmont, as a summer residence on Newport's Bellevue Avenue. Architect Richard Morris Hunt, who had already designed The Breakers and Marble House for the Vanderbilts, modeled the new house on a Louis XIII hunting lodge. Construction ran from 1891 to 1894 at a reported cost of $3 million.
Belmont's design priorities were unusual: the entire ground floor was given over to a carriage house and stables, with living quarters on the upper floors. After his marriage to Alva Vanderbilt in 1896, the interior was reworked to add a Gothic Ballroom, a Renaissance dining room, and a Louis XIV ballroom. Alva Belmont became one of the most prominent suffragists of the early twentieth century and used Belcourt for political organizing as well as society entertainment.
The house passed through a series of owners after Belmont's death in 1908 and fell into severe disrepair by the 1950s. In November 1956 the Lorillard family sold the property to Donald Tinney and his family for $25,000. The Tinneys renamed it Belcourt Castle, filled the rooms with their European antiques and reproductions, and opened it for public tours in 1957. They operated the property continuously for fifty-five years.
In 2012 Harle Tinney, the last surviving member of the family, sold Belcourt to Carolyn Rafaelian, founder of the jewelry company Alex and Ani, for $3.6 million. Rafaelian invested an additional $5 million in restoration, including a $3 million roof replacement, and reopened the house for tours under the name Belcourt of Newport.
Sources
The Tinney family curated Belcourt's collection during their five decades of ownership and developed the haunted reputation that still anchors the property's evening programming. The Gothic Ballroom became the focal point. Two oak chairs in the room, originally designed to conceal salt for medieval royal tables, are described in tour accounts as resistant to sitters: visitors report a cold, prickling sensation when they approach and a sudden physical pushback when they try to sit.
A suit of armor displayed in the same ballroom is the subject of one of the most-cited Belcourt accounts. According to the Tinneys, the original wearer died when a spear pierced the eye slot of the visor. Harle Tinney recounted in published interviews that on at least one occasion, while the room lights were off, a screaming sound erupted from the direction of the armor and the lights had to be turned back on. The episode is repeated on Belcourt's current candlelight tour.
A gold coronation carriage in the porte-cochère is described by guides as an object visitors frequently react to physically: people report a chill and an inability to remain near the carriage for long. The Gothic Ballroom is also said to contain residual apparitions of dancers from the Belmont era.
Following Carolyn Rafaelian's purchase in 2012, Belcourt has continued to offer the candlelight ghost tour as a year-round nighttime offering. The investigative crew of Ghost Hunters filmed at the property during the Tinney era and the episode remains in syndication.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
A guided walk through the 60-room, 50,000-square-foot summer cottage Richard Morris Hunt designed for Oliver H.P. Belmont in 1894. The tour visits the Gothic Ballroom, the courtyard porte-cochère, and the restored stables, with attention to the Belmont and Tinney-era collections.
A 60-minute candlelit nighttime tour focused on the property's reputation as 'the most haunted house in Newport.' Guides recount the Tinney-family accounts of the screaming suit of armor, the Gothic Ballroom 'salt chairs,' and the gold coronation carriage said to chill anyone who approaches it.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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