In this week's podcast episode, we explore the real-life Newport homes and talk a bit about how the concept of summer came about in the first place. We also go over some of the popular architectural styles of Victorian era homes, and how the Newport cottages took some of the most popular architecture of the time period to the next level, and again, left a lasting impact that we can still see in cities and towns today.

Activities like taking a summer holiday and hosting a laid-back, casual social event in the warmer months are part of the concept of leisure that grew out of the 19th century. Nowadays, we look upon summers of the past with a lot of nostalgia. The romanticism of retreating in summer didn't emerge from nothing, however: in the U.S., the idea of taking a summer vacation began with the habits of the wealthy (and trend-setting) elites in the Gilded Age.

As we saw in the series "The Gilded Age," the elites began to ritualize summer by traveling to resorts, camps, and hot springs to get some well-deserved rest and relaxation. The ultra-elite of New York also bought seasonal residences in the coastal town of Newport, Rhode Island. The size and extravagance of these summer "cottages" in Newport are unlike anything we saw before or, possibly, will ever see again in American history. Yet, the ritualization of summer that they started and the styles of the palatial vacation homes they built has really remained fashionable and has been a part of the nostalgia of our national consciousness ever since.

In this episode of "The Gilded Age," drama unfolds against a backdrop of a very significant change happening in cities around the world in the 1880s: the dawn of electricity being widely available, and the start of lightbulbs as common household items. Over 140 years later, it's easy for us to take for granted electricity and artificial lighting, which surrounds us every day in our homes, workplaces, even on our portable devices. Putting ourselves in the shoes of late 19th century individuals, seeing the first electric lightbulbs lighting a city or in a home must have been breathtaking. In this episode of the podcast, we take a quick jaunt through the lead-up to the invention of lightbulbs, look at how fast electricity was installed across cities in the U.S. and around the world, and think about how it transformed our every day activities.

// What inspired this episode?

In one of the most memorable scenes of the HBO streaming series' first season, a crowd of spectators gathers to watch as the New York Times building is lit up by the opening of a new electric generating station in the city. This scene was inspired by a real-life event that took place in September of 1882, when Thomas Edison’s Edison Illuminating Company turned on his power station on Pearl Street in lower Manhattan. This station then proceeded to provide electricity to New York City homes at a price that was comparable to gas. Residential and business customers quickly signed up, and the electrical age began. "The Gilded Age" chose to highlight this moment in American history because it did symbolize a big turning point in the U.S. and in the world: when we stopped using fire and gas to light our homes, and suddenly had access to the infinite possibilities (like coffee machines!) that electricity could offer.

HBO's "The Gilded Age" series has featured real-life, prominent influencers of the historical era within its fictional environment. But who exactly were these individuals who shaped the Gilded Age into how we remember it today? In this podcast episode, we explore who the real, so-called tastemakers of this time period were in actual American history. Individuals such as Ward McAllister, Lina Astor (Caroline Schermerhorn Astor) and Edith Wharton were major figures who were both a product of, as well as molded, the era at the time according to their vision. Their "Gilded Age" helped give this time period the qualities we remember it as having to this day: a time period for showing off extravagant wealth, for practicing incredible formality, restraint, and upholding rigorous social codes. It was also a time period when many Americans came into money for the first time and therefore were "guided" by the more established elite circles as to how how they could and should behave, act, and even decorate their homes. We explore where New York's elite even came from and who or what, exactly, they were modelling their "society" after.

// What inspired this episode?

Who, exactly, was Ward McAllister? And who was Lena Astor? We explore their background and lives to understand more about the people who molded both The Gilded Age according to their vision and left a lasting impact (for better or worse) on American "high society." We also take a look at Edith Wharton, her life and her works as both an interior designer and an author who, in the 20th century, reflected on the Gilded Age and helped shape the period into what we now remember it as: a time of extravagance as well as rigid social mores.

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