NRF promotes and invests in the architectural heritage of the Newport community, the traditional building trades, and Doris Duke’s fine and decorative arts collections, for the enjoyment, education and inspiration of all.
As a leader in the preservation of early American architecture, NRF supports research and education in areas directly related to its collections and issues of critical concern to the field of historic preservation.
Tour Doris Duke’s art-filled mansion and enjoy panoramic ocean views from the extensive grounds, designed by Frederick Law Olmsted. Open April to November.
Experience the only museum in the world specializing in 18th-century Newport furniture and related decorative arts.
Explore 40 acres of open space, a tribute to the agrarian heritage of Aquidneck Island. The site is open daily from dawn to dusk for public enjoyment.
Newport Restoration Foundation holds one of the largest collections of period architecture owned by a single organization anywhere in the United States.
Celebrate excellence in historic preservation efforts within the City of Newport, Rhode Island.
Live amidst history by renting one of our many historic properties.
Help us to continue a lived-in legacy by becoming a Restoration Partner today.
Rough Point is a mansion and a museum with an extensive collection of fine and decorative arts and a sprawling historic landscape with panoramic views of the Atlantic Ocean. The property is experienced today largely as it was lived in during the lifetime of its most famous owner, the heiress, philanthropist, and preservationist Doris Duke.
Every season at Rough Point offers a certain kind of magic — come experience Doris Duke’s Newport home during the darkest and merriest days of the year.
Museum Hours The museum is closed for the 2019 regular season, reopening April 2020.
Rough Point Museum will be open for holiday programming December 7, 14, 21 & 28. Click here for more information.
Tickets Adults: $20.00 Students with ID: $10.00 Children 12 & under: Free
Ground Pass All visitors: $5
Combine Your Ticket Purchase a combined ticket to both Whitehorne House Museum* and Rough Point Museum for only $25! *Whitehorne House Museum closes for the season after October 27, 2019.
Group Tours For groups larger than 10 visitors, please visit our Group Tours page.
Guided Tours Highlights of the Museum guided tours introduce the singular personality of Doris Duke through the home she created, the art she collected, and the causes she embraced. The tour visits two floors of the house and special exhibition galleries. Tours last approximately 60 minutes.
Tours offered daily at 11:00 am and 2:00 pm. Included with admission.
Garden Tours 30-minute tour of the historic gardens at Rough Point. Enjoy breathtaking ocean views as we talk about the transformation of the grounds over the seasons and how NRF’s celebrates Doris Duke’s interest in environmental conservation and sustainable horticulture. Weather permitting.
Tours offered daily at 1:30 pm. Included with admission.
Roam Around Rough Point After hours access to the house, special exhibitions, and the grounds
Wednesdays, 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm. Newport, RI County Residents are free!
Tickets for all admissions available at the door; no advance reservation necessary.
680 Bellevue Avenue Newport, RI 401–847–8344 visit@newportrestoration.org
Parking is available at the property. The estate is fully air-conditioned and wheelchair accessible.
Pair of musical automatons by John Henry Cox
Portrait bust of Julius Caesar in bronze
Portrait of Charles Oldfield Bowles by Hoppner
Near Reef of Norman’s Woe by Lane
Dutch Rococo marquetry chairs
Portrait of Lady Fitzroy, nee Mundy by Hoppner
This pair of whimsical mechanical pieces (only one is shown here) were made in England for export to the Far East market. To fit English perceptions of Asian aesthetics, a pagoda shape includes animals exotic to Westerners such as elephants and ostriches. When operating, the devices play one of six tunes, and ships and horseback riders parade through painted backdrops revolving behind glass panels in the base. The automatons were acquired by Doris Duke in Bangkok, Thailand, in the 1960s.
The bust and the pedestal were purchased separately by Doris Duke in 1962 from the sale of the contents of The Elms, the Bellevue Avenue mansion owned by the Berwind family and designed by Horace Trumbauer.
Charles Oldfield Bowles (1785-1862) was the son of an amateur painter and musician Oldfield Bowles (1739-1810) of North Aston, Oxfordshire. This was the first of five John Hoppner paintings owned by James B. Duke. He purchased it in 1908 not long after his marriage in 1907 to Nanaline Holt Inman, a widower from Macon, Georgia, who had a son, Walker, of about the same age as the sitter when Hoppner captured his likeness.
A set of four chairs, each part ornately shaped and decoratively inlaid with foliage, urns, and flowers. Doris Duke bought these chairs in New York at auction in 1972.
Doris Duke’s parents purchased this Hoppner painting in 1923 to add to their collection of other Hoppner portraits (two in this room and two on the Main Staircase).
