Private Newport - with Bettie Bearden Pardee

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Initial Thoughts


Christmas 2025 at Parterre

12 / 18 / 2512 / 18 / 25

There’s nothing like “Decking the Halls” for the holidays to get one in the mood…unless it’s following through with that creative spirit and pulling together a blog…the final step. Which gives me… Read More

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Celebrating Christmas at Marble House

12 / 3 / 2512 / 4 / 25

Hope yours was a Happy and yummy Thanksgiving…and now, like a snap of the finger, the first week of the most festive month of the year is here! What better… Read More

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Thanksgiving 2025

11 / 27 / 2511 / 28 / 25

As we gather around our table today, I feel a heartfelt gratitude for you, my Private Newport follower, who makes this “social community” such a joy to share. Thank you… Read More

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A Rare Offering at Historic Bonniecrest

11 / 12 / 2511 / 12 / 25

Having chronicled the gorgeous and historic Newport mansion, Bonniecrest, in a blog September 2024, I smiled at the serendipity that a beautifully appointed condominium within this landmark manor house is… Read More

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October in New York, Part 2

10 / 23 / 2510 / 23 / 25

Openings, Re-Openings, Shows, Restaurants, Exhibits…New York in October is vibrant and buzzing, just when you’re looking for a good pickup after a Newport summer. Two re-openings prompted this trip and… Read More

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“Bellevue and Beyond” Garden Tour

9 / 11 / 259 / 11 / 25

I’ll start this post not with my own words, but with kind observations from a visitor to Parterre over this past weekend during the garden tour….”The lovely French inspired design… Read More

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Flower Couture: From My Garden to My House

6 / 26 / 256 / 26 / 25

Last December while in Paris, I revisited one of the most captivating, fanciful spots in a city of many elegant shops…Ladurée on rue Royale. Could I have imagined then that… Read More

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Biddulph Grange, an Historic Garden of Delight Part 2

6 / 5 / 256 / 4 / 25

As a gardener, imagine that you lived in the Victorian era when men and women were in the enviable position of having a wealth of new and totally unknown plant… Read More

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Postcards From England

5 / 22 / 255 / 21 / 25

Writing this as I sit in the perfectly named “morning room” at our comfy country house hotel, Fischer’s Baslow Hall, in Derbyshire. With its well-tended gardens to be enjoyed through… Read More

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Anticipating Summer 2025

5 / 1 / 254 / 30 / 25

Hurray! It’s the Merry Month of May! Spring is popping (after a too cold, too windy winter). And I’m off mid month to England. But when I return this is… Read More

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About Bettie

Author of Private Newport and Living Newport, designer of the Parterre Bench, national lecturer, and entertaining expert.
Meet Bettie »

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Insta Happenings

privatenewport

Breathtaking! Paris in October, photographed by Private Newport in 2023. #parismoments #parisviews🇫🇷 #loveparis #travelmemories #parisbridges

View Instagram post by privatenewport

Oct 8

138 2
Open post by privatenewport with ID 18151329112542909
Breathtaking! Paris in October, photographed by Private Newport in 2023.  #parismoments #parisviews🇫🇷 #loveparis #travelmemories #parisbridges

privatenewport

I love this time of early evening, when the warm lantern light draws us to the back courtyard… where the rooflines and architectural details recall a small French village. #privatenewport #classichome #grandmellennialstyle #timelessstyle #arcitecturelovers luxurylifestyle

View Instagram post by privatenewport

Sep 30

337 9
Open post by privatenewport with ID 18492143782100391
I love this time of early evening, when the warm lantern light draws us to the back courtyard… where the rooflines and architectural details recall a small French village.  #privatenewport #classichome #grandmellennialstyle #timelessstyle #arcitecturelovers luxurylifestyle

privatenewport

Some Newport invitations are simply too good to decline...

A spontaneous Sunday morning brought us back to one of our favorite places, The Elms, where Gilded Age grandeur gives way to one of Newport’s most enchanting garden moments✨

Beyond the sweeping lawn lies the sunken garden, its formal parterres remarkably preserved from the original 1914 design. Nearly 125 years later, the symmetry, architecture and romance of it all feel as timeless as ever.

For a gardener, this is the part of The Elms that always calls us back🌿

Save this for your next Newport garden day💚
#theelmsmansion #theelms #newportrhodeisland #newportmansions #privateliving

View Instagram post by privatenewport

Aug 26

261 11
Open post by privatenewport with ID 18030356249846368
Some Newport invitations are simply too good to decline...

A spontaneous Sunday morning brought us back to one of our favorite places, The Elms, where Gilded Age grandeur gives way to one of Newport’s most enchanting garden moments✨

Beyond the sweeping lawn lies the sunken garden, its formal parterres remarkably preserved from the original 1914 design. Nearly 125 years later, the symmetry, architecture and romance of it all feel as timeless as ever.

For a gardener, this is the part of The Elms that always calls us back🌿

Save this for your next Newport garden day💚
#theelmsmansion #theelms #newportrhodeisland #newportmansions #privateliving

privatenewport

Another Newport summer is beginning to slip away… and we’re not quite ready to let it go🤍

Long afternoons on sweeping lawns, doors thrown open to grand rooms, garden cocktails and evenings that call for getting dressed up - A Newport Summer captures that unmistakable rhythm of life in our City by the Sea🌊

As Bettie wrote when the book was released, “Newport has an understated elegance that truly sets it apart from other resort towns”. These photographs by Nick Mele @nickmelephotography feel like a love letter to exactly that, the houses, the people, the parties, and those fleeting summer moments we wish could last just a little longer☀️

Consider this our reminder to savor what’s left of the season. ✨

📖 A Newport Summer by Nick Mele and Ruthie Sommers
@nlmele @sommersruthie
#anewportsummer #nickmelephotography #privatenewport #newportri #vacationdestination

View Instagram post by privatenewport

Aug 20

543 11
Open post by privatenewport with ID 18132202138725202
Another Newport summer is beginning to slip away… and we’re not quite ready to let it go🤍

Long afternoons on sweeping lawns, doors thrown open to grand rooms, garden cocktails and evenings that call for getting dressed up - A Newport Summer captures that unmistakable rhythm of life in our City by the Sea🌊

As Bettie wrote when the book was released, “Newport has an understated elegance that truly sets it apart from other resort towns”. These photographs by Nick Mele @nickmelephotography feel like a love letter to exactly that, the houses, the people, the parties, and those fleeting summer moments we wish could last just a little longer☀️

Consider this our reminder to savor what’s left of the season. ✨

📖 A Newport Summer by Nick Mele and Ruthie Sommers
@nlmele @sommersruthie 
#anewportsummer #nickmelephotography #privatenewport #newportri #vacationdestination

privatenewport

There are beautiful coastlines… and then there is Newport☁️

Its beauty isn’t defined by one mansion, one garden, or one stretch of shoreline. It’s the way the salt marshes glow at sunset, the ledge-lined coast meets an endless blue horizon, and every bend in the road offers an entirely different perspective.

Perhaps that’s Newport’s greatest luxury, not just the architecture, but the landscape that has quietly framed it for centuries🤍

It’s a place where the light changes by the hour, the tides reshape the shoreline, and yet the feeling remains exactly the same.

Timeless🌊

Save this as a reminder that some of Newport’s most extraordinary views exist beyond the front gates✨
📸: David Thalmann

#newportcoast #skyline #newportsummer #privatenewport #timelesselegance

View Instagram post by privatenewport

Aug 6

394 13
Open post by privatenewport with ID 18104855060129050
There are beautiful coastlines… and then there is Newport☁️

Its beauty isn’t defined by one mansion, one garden, or one stretch of shoreline. It’s the way the salt marshes glow at sunset, the ledge-lined coast meets an endless blue horizon, and every bend in the road offers an entirely different perspective.

Perhaps that’s Newport’s greatest luxury, not just the architecture, but the landscape that has quietly framed it for centuries🤍

It’s a place where the light changes by the hour, the tides reshape the shoreline, and yet the feeling remains exactly the same.

Timeless🌊

Save this as a reminder that some of Newport’s most extraordinary views exist beyond the front gates✨
📸: David Thalmann

#newportcoast #skyline #newportsummer #privatenewport #timelesselegance

privatenewport

Some homes make an impression before you ever reach the front door..

A long, winding driveway unfolds through a park-like landscape filled with remarkable specimen trees, setting the stage for an estate that quietly reflects Newport’s architectural legacy. Built with traditional three-coat stucco construction and crowned by an original slate roof, every detail speaks to craftsmanship designed to stand the test of time.

It’s the kind of approach that reminds you why Newport’s historic estates continue to captivate generations.

🌿 Follow @privatenewport for more of Newport’s hidden beauty and timeless estates✨
#privatenewport #newportestates #privateliving #newportri #parterre

View Instagram post by privatenewport

Aug 2

895 24
Open post by privatenewport with ID 18099479645580417
Some homes make an impression before you ever reach the front door..

A long, winding driveway unfolds through a park-like landscape filled with remarkable specimen trees, setting the stage for an estate that quietly reflects Newport’s architectural legacy. Built with traditional three-coat stucco construction and crowned by an original slate roof, every detail speaks to craftsmanship designed to stand the test of time.

It’s the kind of approach that reminds you why Newport’s historic estates continue to captivate generations.

🌿 Follow @privatenewport for more of Newport’s hidden beauty and timeless estates✨
#privatenewport #newportestates #privateliving #newportri #parterre
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Bettie's Faves

  • Charlotte Moss
  • La Dolce Vita
  • My Beautiful Paris
  • The Enchanted Home
  • The Glam Pad
  • The Lush List
  • The Potted Boxwood
  • Vicki Archer
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