Many are the charms of a Newport summer, but a particular favorite of mine are the fanciful garden houses, buildings and “follies” to be found on many properties. Enjoy this sampling that represents the breadth of architectural diversity that we enjoy here.

With a glass roof that can be opened as needed, the Orangery at “Parterre” can be used both as a favorite entertaining space as well as a greenhouse.

Exact in every detail to the 1793 Samuel McIntire original (to be found in Derby, Massachusetts) the little teahouse at “Bellevue House” (twenty by twenty feet and two and a half stories tall) was re-ceated for the garden in 1923.

The tearoom, its walls covered in handprinted nineteenth-century paper, graces the small second floor.

Inspired by the prominent feature of a Samuel McIntire-designed church in Salem, Massachusetts,  “Bellevue House’s” cupola is the new centerpiece of the back garden.

At “The Whim,” the blue door of the potting shed (originally part of Edith Wharton’s “Land’s End”) contrasts with the pink of the ‘Miss Newport’ rambling rose.

Sheltered by a large copper beech tree, the shingled playhouse at “The Lindens” sports a sleeping loft for afternoon rest.

The latest addition to “Hillside” is a Japanese Teahouse, designed and built by David Pritchard (without nails!) with a dry rock bed on two sides of the Teahouse; a gurgling fountain within a small boulder carries out the Japanese aesthetic.

A National Historic Landmark in its own right, the charming “summer house” gracing the John Russell Pope alleé at the Redwood Library and Athenaeum was built ca. 1766 by Peter Harrison. The exterior, in the same rusticated pine wood style as the Library, is a beautiful example of Colonial-period design.