Newport Symposium Draws Distinguished international Guests & Speakers

The annual Newport Symposium, an august gathering of scholars, historians, architects, designers, authors and managers of historic properties, this year was entitled "Great Places". The Symposium, sponsored by The Preservation Society of Newport County, comprised three days of lectures, tours of historic buildings in Newport, our very own "Great Place," and various receptions, with a dinner at The Breakers on the concluding evening.

Mornings began with coffee, pastries and lectures at The Hotel Viking, where a wide array of design and architecture books and author book signings were held. Afternoon sessions were held in various Preservation Society locations, with experts speaking on Newport's treasure houses, as well.

Lady Shaw Stewart, Princess Marie-Sol deLa Tour d'Auvergne, Giles Waterfield, Dr. Sarah Lawrence, David Adshead, and John P. Stern and others delivered an array of fascinating topics and images. Lady Shaw Stewart spoke on Dumfries House in Renfrewshire Scotland, saved in 2007 by the Prince of Wales from a sale and dispersal of its contents, and later charmed guests at the dinner.

John Hays & George H. McNeely IV at The Elms

NewportSeen attended a lively lecture by George H. McNeely IV and John Hays of Christie's on the Cadwalader furniture of Philadelphia, the collections and commissions of General John Cadwalader. A descendant of the Cadwalader family, Mr. McNeely was joined by Sandra Cadwalader, in from Philadelphia for the Symposium. Newport Seen was rapt, as the dispersal of paintings, furniture and objects d'art from the family collections went as far from the then-colonies as England. In the audience were Les Ballard, Mary Riggs, author Pauline Metcalf, Diana Bitting, Diane Brown, and Bill Vareika. Dr. James Reibel was in from Greenwich Connecticut.

A reception for attendees was held at Ronald Lee Fleming's Berkeley House, where we caught up with young scholar Crawford Alex Mann from The Rhode Island School of Design. The cocktail talk was about the sessions : Carolle Thibault-Pomerantz, Bill Rives, Lydia C. Kimball, Alexandra Kirtley, Lady Shaw Stewart, Meg Lilly, Suzanne Lammers and Sandra Ourosoff, Ivan Colon of the Preservation Society, Ann and Jeff Gonya of the National Trust Insurance Services enjoyed the completed garden Allee, and Mr. Fleming was a special host.

Princess Marie-sol de la Tour d'Auvergne, Host Ronald Lee Fleming

& Ljiljana Milosavljevic at the reception

The dinner at The Breakers was a gathering of experts, authors and participants. Angela Brown Fischer and Betsy Ray of the Symposium committee were there, as was and Donald Ross, Chairman of the Board, and CEO of the Preservation Society Trudy Coxe. The final morning
was the interesting lecture on Stourhead: A River Runs Through It, by David Adshead, Head Curator and Architectural Historian, on a New England landscape laid out between 1741 and 1780.

--L.P.