Ne(w)po Babies

There’s been a lot of talk about nepo (read: nepotism) babies lately and the leg up they have in life, and we couldn’t resist taking a look at where some of the descendants of Newport’s finest ended up.

The VANDERBILTS

If any name is synonymous with the Gilded Age, it’s the VandyBs (I’m so sorry). Hailed as the favorite grandson of family patriarch and wealth builder Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt, Cornelius Vanderbilt II is credited with introducing his prominent family to Newport’s social scene. He commissioned the construction of a seventy-room “cottage” now known as the Breakers on Bellevue Avenue. The family reigned over the City by the Sea for decades before ultimately turning the property over to the Preservation Society of Newport County in 1972. While the family no longer has residential ties with its old vacation spot (an agreement allowed heirs to reside in an upstairs wing until 2018), many descendants kept a firm grasp on their relationship with fame.

 

John Wilmerding

b. 1938

An American art historian who has taught at Dartmouth College and Princeton University and served as senior curator and deputy director at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.

Connection: Wilmerding is the great-great-grandson (on his mother’s side) of Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt. 

 

Timothy Olyphant

b. 1968

An actor best known for his starring roles in the television shows “Deadwood,” “Justified” and “Santa Clarita Diet,” as well as the film Catch and Release.

Connection: Olyphant is the great-grandson (times four) of Cornelius II. Timothy is John Wilmerding’s nephew.

 

Anderson Cooper

b. 1967

An American broadcast journalist and political commentator who currently anchors for CNN and hosts “Anderson Cooper 360°.” He also serves as a correspondent for “60 Minutes” on CBS.

Connection: Cooper’s mother, Gloria Vanderbilt (an artist, author, actress and fashion designer in her own right), was the daughter of millionaire equestrian Reginald Claypoole Vanderbilt, aka the youngest son of Cornelius II.

 

John P. Hammond

b. 1942

A Grammy Award-winning American singer and musician.

Connection: His
paternal grandmother, Emily Vanderbilt Sloane Hammond, was an author, philanthropist and socialite, likely assisted by the fact that she was the great-granddaughter of Cornelius II. Fun fact: Hammond’s father, also named John P. Hammond, was a successful record producer and talent scout credited with discovering Aretha Franklin and Bob Dylan.

 

James Vanderbilt

b. 1975

An American screenwriter and producer best known for penning the films Zodiac, The Amazing Spider-Man and Independence Day: Resurgence.

Connection: The only one on this list to retain the Vanderbilt name, he is the grandson of former New York Racing Association chair Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt Jr., and the great-grandson of Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt Sr., Cornelius II’s third son who died in the 1915 sinking of the RMS Lusitania.

 

James Spencer-Churchill

b. 1955

The Twelfth Duke of Marlborough

Connection: The Duke’s great-granny was socialite Consuelo Vanderbilt, Commodore Cornelius’ granddaughter (and Cornelius II’s niece).

 

Other Newport Notables

The Astor Family  

The Astors were household names not just in Newport high society, but in New York City and England as well. To this day, the family’s patriarch, John Jacob Astor, is regarded as one of the wealthiest people in history. His grandson, William Backhouse Astor Jr. — the head of the “American line” of Astors — bought Beechwood Mansion on Bellevue Avenue in 1880 for nearly $200,000 (close to $6 million in today’s economy) as a summer and grand party destination. Following his death, the mansion passed to his son, John Jacob Astor IV, who later became known as the richest passenger — and victim — aboard the HMS Titanic. Beechwood remained in the family until it was sold to a non-Astor in 1940. Though the Astor name is lesser known in present-day Newport circles, it still has staying power elsewhere. William Backhouse Astor Jr.’s nephew, William Waldorf Astor, had a heavy hand in the founding of the famed Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, while the “British line” of Astors is still going strong with current descendants possessing the noble titles of viscount and baron.

 

Kennedy Connection

The twenty-eight-room main house of Hammersmith Farm on Harrison Avenue was originally built in 1887 for financier John W. Auchincloss. He later sold it to his younger brother, Hugh, who eventually passed it down to his son, Hugh Jr. In 1942, Junior married the mother of Jacqueline Bouvier when the future First Lady was thirteen years old. The two were very close, and Bouvier spent many a summer at her stepfather’s family estate in Newport. In fact, Hammersmith Farm served as the reception backdrop for her 1,200-guest wedding to John F. Kennedy on Sept. 12, 1953.

Campbell’s Soup and Judge Judy

Campbell’s Soup heiress Dorrance “Dodo” Hamilton summered in Newport throughout her life, starting with her family’s French chateau-style Gilded Age mansion, Bois Doré, on Narragansett Avenue, and ending with the Bird House, a six-bedroom, six-bathroom estate she built on the grounds of the former Arthur Curtiss James estate in 2013. Following Hamilton’s death, the latter property was purchased by Judy Sheindlin, known to most as Judge Judy, in 2018.

 

Edith Wharton and Marion Oatsie Charles

Age of Innocence author Edith Wharton (nee Jones) summered at Pen Craig, an estate overlooking Newport Harbor that was built in 1860, when she was a child. In 1893, Wharton and her ill-matched husband, Edward, invested in a summer property of their own. Land’s End, a five-and-a-half acre property overlooking the cliff walk, served as Wharton’s home for more than a decade before the “stuffiness” of Newport society drove her to sell and build a country estate in the Berkshires where she would go on to write her first bestseller.

But Land’s End’s notoriety doesn’t end with Edith Wharton. Marion Oatsie Charles — the grande dame of the Georgetown-Newport social circuit whose circle of friends included James Bond author Ian Fleming and President John F. Kennedy (she’s even credited with introducing the spy series to the president) — bought the property in 1992. Alas, it wasn’t a forever home: Charles forwent it for another oceanfront Newport home, the Whim, in the late 1960s, and remained the owner until her death in 2018. Her grandson is photographer Nick Mele, referred to by many as the ‘modern day Slim Aarons. He has worked with brands like Lili Pulitzer and Sam Edelman and had his photography published in People, Town and Country, Veranda Magazine.

 

The Oelrichs and Drew Barrymore 

Hermann Oelrichs was a steamship tycoon who purchased Rosecliff on Bellevue Avenue in the 1890s. His wife, Nevada silver heiress Theresa Fair Oelrichs, was responsible for the beautiful mansion we know and love today, having commissioned architect Stanford White to remodel it after the Grand Trianon at Versailles. Their son, Hermann Oelrichs Jr., kept Rosecliff in the family until 1941, then the estate went through several changes of ownership before eventually ending up with the Preservation Society of Newport County.

But here’s the real interesting piece of trivia, stay with me if you can: Hermann’s brother was Charles May Oelrichs. Charles had a daughter named Blanche Marie Louise Oelrichs, a poet and playwright who married, and divorced, three times. She had a daughter with her second husband, John Barrymore — an actress named Diana Barrymore who also married three times before unfortunately dying prematurely and childless at age 38. Diana’s half-brother from her father’s third marriage (John Jr.), however, went on to father none other than actress Drew Barrymore.