The next formal event at Newport was a Ragtime Dinner Reception and Formal Ball held at Glen Manor House in Portsmouth, Rhode Island. Glen Manor was designed by renowned architect John Russell Pope to resemble the Petit Trianon at Versailles. Construction began in 1921 and the house was completed in 1923.
It is truly lovely inside and out, as you will soon see in the photos! I have 1,266 pictures from that evening… and even though I’ve slimmed down the number I’m going to share with you I’m going to have to break the evening up into two posts. The first part will be before the ball and the second part during and after the ball.
The exterior of Glen Manor.One of the ladies’ changing rooms just off of the entrance hallway.Once I passed through the rooms, this was the view that greeted me.The magnificent garden was also behind the main house.Before dinner we took some group photos. While standing in the group I took the opportunity to snap a shot of Bill Cunningham taking photos of us! We were a little afraid for his safety on the ladder, so you can see people keeping careful watch.This is Scott, from the Portsmouth Police. He has worked this particular event in years past and really loved it; indeed, he jiggled his work schedule around to join us again this year. He was so excited by the historic clothing that he had purchased a historic uniform to wear just for the event!After the group photo the four of us and our faithful photographers set out to be silly and take beautiful pictures.One of our faithful photographers caught Bill Cunningham (another of our faithful photographers) taking photos of us! It was really magical to have Bill Cunningham hurrying to catch our pictures! At one point he said he would “stop bothering us for five minutes” and then five minutes later he was back again, saying “I couldn’t resist, it’s been five minutes!”The picture Bill Cunningham was trying to capture included frantic waving of the arms…Running around is a returning theme for us. This time we were just enjoying the beauty and being silly.Striking theatrical poses under the trees…I think we resemble the Muses…There were so many lovely flowers in the garden! We found some to match each of our dresses!Flowers to match the burgundy in my dress.Looking the other way. I think I like the first one better, but this is lovely as well.Purple, white, and green!Those hibiscus flowers were huge! And they matched so well!There was also this lovely hydrangea bush that looked so droopy we just had to imitate it.Peek a boo!Elegantly perched.One more panorama of the garden, because it is just so lovely!After being in the gardens awhile we began to be drawn toward the water…But decided to turn and take another picture before heading down the hill.Heading down the hill toward the water.At water’s edge. Literally, the water was lapping at the rocks just a few feet away.Silly time!Looking to our left, we noticed that enticing dock…So naturally we had to go and investigate!Diving in! With a red moon rising beyond the water.The sun was obviously setting as the moon was rising. We stood on the end of the dock, thinking of the Great Gatsby, pointing across the water at the moon, and talking of West Egg and the green light.Looking off into the distance and enjoying the twilight.The sash on the left was another of my last minute creations. There was a breeze and we just had to soak in the atmosphere. So magical!Don’t you just want to jump into the picture and join us?By this point in the week the “young set” had taken on the name TNG “The Next Generation” (of the Commonwealth Vintage Dancers). We’re trying to spell TNG, but the N is hard to see and the G is a little like a blob…So we tried again with all caps. Can you see it?Now do you see it?The new name sparked many bouts of Star Trek references… I hope that you see the connection!
I leave you for now, in a magical twilight world with TNG.
The Quintessential Clothes Pen 
You made the letters! hooray! That is so cool, and works especially well with the night sky background.
Yes! It is one of my favorite pictures! 🙂 It does work really well with the twilight sky…