Belcourt Castle has been one of the crown jewels of world- famous Bellevue Avenue in Newport, Rhode Island. Author Harle Tinney knows the house like the palm of her hand, because she resided there longer than any other owner including the Belmonts who built it, Harold Vanderbilt, Defender of the America’s Cup, and the Lorillards who began the Newport Jazz Festival. Harle is the last survivor of the Tinney Family who bravely saved Belcourt from the wrecker’s ball in 1956.

The author, Harle Tinney, lived in an overlooked history of the City of Newport during the mid-twentieth century. She sold Belcourt, the building, in 2012. and has become an entertaining knowledgeable lecturer. A long-awaited autobiography about her years living a fairy tale life and love which kept Belcourt Castle alive for the present generation is romanticized in a motion picture called “Newport Castle” by the Providence Lyceum. which will be released by the film makers Karen and Michael Iacobbo.

Enjoy reading about Newport’s evolution from the post-war decline in Newport Society to its re-gilded Age of tourism in Mrs. Tinney’s memories of her elegant castle.