Bailey's Beach (officially named as and owned by the Spouting Rock Beach Association) is a private beach and club in Newport, Rhode Island, United States.
Bailey's Beach (officially named as and owned by the Spouting Rock Beach Association) is a private beach and club in Newport, Rhode Island, United States.
According to the Providence Journal, Bailey's Beach in Newport Rhode Island was:
founded in the 1890s after new trolley service gave mill workers from Fall River ready access to Easton's Beach, a wide expanse closer to downtown Newport that the well-to-do had claimed as their own. Not wishing to associate with people who took their lunches in buckets, high society relocated several miles to Spouting Rock, smaller and often seaweedy but safely beyond the reach of trolleys. Today, approximately 500 families belong, and for the most part, new members are added only when old ones die. [1]
According to The New York Times :
Spouting Rock Beach Association, named for a geological formation, and membership in it tends to define summer life here in ways that are sometimes difficult to comprehend, even for insiders. [2]
The organization has attracted notable members of nearby families such as the Vanderbilt family, Astor family, and Sheldon Whitehouse. The 1938 Hurricane destroyed the original clubhouse, and the current clubhouse and cabanas appear relatively modest to passersby. Bailey's Beach was one of the centers of elite Newport social life along with other institutions such as the Redwood Library, Newport Country Club, Trinity Church, Clambake Club, Newport Reading Room, New York Yacht Club summer clubhouse and the Newport Casino.
Local reporters have criticized Bailey's Beach for its alleged all-white membership, saying it lacked diversity. [3] Newsweek magazine described it as an "elite all-white beach club" in its June 21, 2021, issue. [4] Jack Nolan, the general manager of the beach club, denied the report, telling The Boston Globe two days later that members of the club and their families include people of "many racial, religious, and ethnic backgrounds from around the world who come to Newport every summer." [5] Questioned about his family's membership, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) defended the club as "a long tradition in Rhode Island". [6] Whitehouse also told the Globe he was not a member of the beach club, but his wife has been a member of the club for decades, and is currently one of the club's largest shareholders. He stated that the club has "no discriminatory policy," and it has members who are people of color. [5]
Despite the exclusive status of the beach club and membership, the northeast end of the beach is open to the public and known colloquially as Rejects' Beach (or Reject's Beach or Rejects Beach).
Notable former members include:
The New York Yacht Club (NYYC) is a private social club and yacht club based in New York City and Newport, Rhode Island. It was founded in 1844 by nine prominent sportsmen. The members have contributed to the sport of yachting and yacht design. As of 2001, the organization was reported to have about 3,000 members. Membership in the club is by invitation only. Its officers include a commodore, vice-commodore, rear-commodore, secretary and treasurer.
Newport Country Club, is a historic private golf club in the northeastern United States, located in Newport, Rhode Island. Founded 131 years ago in 1893, it hosted both the first U.S. Amateur Championship and the first U.S. Open in 1895.
Marble House, a Gilded Age mansion located at 596 Bellevue Avenue in Newport, Rhode Island, was built from 1888 to 1892 as a summer cottage for Alva and William Kissam Vanderbilt and was designed by Richard Morris Hunt in the Beaux Arts style. It was unparalleled in opulence for an American house when it was completed in 1892. Its temple-front portico has been compared to that of the White House.
Sheldon Whitehouse is an American lawyer and politician serving as the junior United States senator from Rhode Island since 2007. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the United States Attorney for the District of Rhode Island from 1993 to 1998 and as the 71st attorney general of Rhode Island from 1999 to 2003. In 2006, he won his first term to the Senate, defeating Republican incumbent Lincoln Chaffee. Whitehouse was reelected in 2012, 2018, and 2024.
Ochre Court is a large châteauesque mansion in Newport, Rhode Island, United States. Commissioned by Ogden Goelet, it was built at a cost of $4.5 million in 1892. It is the second largest mansion in Newport after nearby The Breakers. These two mansions, along with Belcourt Castle and Marble House, were designed by architect Richard Morris Hunt. It is owned by Salve Regina University.
The Metropolitan Club is a private social club on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City, United States. It was founded as a gentlemen's club in March 1891 by a group of wealthy New Yorkers led by the financier John Pierpont Morgan. The clubhouse at Fifth Avenue and 60th Street was designed by McKim, Mead & White and is a New York City designated landmark. The club is controlled by a 25-member board of governors. Initially, only men could become members, though women were given membership privileges in the mid-20th century. Like other Gilded Age social clubs, the Metropolitan Club functioned largely as a meeting place for the wealthy, hosting events such as luncheons, dinners, debutante balls, and business meetings.
The Clambake Club of Newport is a historic private club at 353 Tuckerman Avenue in Middletown, Rhode Island.
Richard Thornton Wilson Jr. was an American investment banker and capitalist who was a prominent figure in thoroughbred horse racing in the early decades of the 20th century.
Grace Graham Vanderbilt was an American socialite. She was the wife of Cornelius Vanderbilt III. She was one of the last Vanderbilt's to live the luxurious life of the "head of society" that her predecessors such as Alice and Alva Vanderbilt enjoyed.
The Newport Reading Room, founded in 1854, is a gentlemen's club located on Bellevue Avenue in Newport, Rhode Island, USA. Its primary building features an actual book reading room. The Spouting Rock Beach Association, which owns the famed Bailey's Beach, has been reported to own the building. However this claim, according to the club's leadership, is incorrect.
Robert Goelet Jr. was an American heir, businessman and yachtsman from New York City during the Gilded Age.
Ogden Goelet was an American heir, businessman and yachtsman from New York City during the Gilded Age. With his wife, he built Ochre Court in Newport, Rhode Island, his son built Glenmere mansion, and his daughter, Mary Goelet, married Henry Innes-Ker, 8th Duke of Roxburghe.
Richard Thornton Wilson was a multimillionaire American investment banker known for being the father of five children who all married into prominent families during the Gilded Age of New York.
Mary Rita Goelet, known as May Goelet, was an American socialite and member of a family known as "the marrying Wilsons".
Edwin Sheldon Whitehouse was an American diplomat who served as the U.S. Minister to Guatemala and U.S. Minister to Colombia.
Marshall Orme Wilson was an American banker and prominent member of New York Society during the Gilded Age.
Marshall Orme Wilson Jr. was an American diplomat and member of the Astor family.
Robert Wilson Goelet was an American social leader, banker, and real estate developer who built Glenmere mansion.
