About The Cliffside Inn

The Cliffside Inn, our historic Newport RI hotel, is an authentically restored Second Empire Victorian Manor House. Built by Maryland Governor Thomas Swann c. 1876, the house was then known as “Swann Villa," and his family summered there until 1897. During his lifetime, Swann held a variety of distinguished positions, including railroad president, member of Congress, and ambassador. From 1897-1901, Swann Villa was converted to a schoolhouse and served as the first home of St. George's School, a prestigious prep school for boys. St. George's later moved to its permanent campus in nearby Middletown, RI, where today it thrives as a world renowned co-ed prep school. In 1907, the Turner family of Philadelphia bought the property and returned it to its former summer home glory, naming it Cliffside. Andrew Turner was a successful cotton merchant and his wife Adele was a prominent Philadelphia socialite descendant from Jacob Shallus – the engrosser of the United States Constitution in 1787. The Turner’s only child, Beatrice, who was 18 when her family took ownership of the property, summered at Cliffside until her death in 1948. A fascinating and sometimes mysterious 20th century painter, and Newport legend, some of her original work still adorns the walls of The Cliffside Inn today.