Gilded Age Society Gossip and Beefs

According to NewportMansions.org, Rosecliff, built in 1902, “Was built for Nevada silver heiress Theresa Fair Oelrichs, who used it to host many fabulous Gilded Age entertainments. Architect Stanford White modeled Rosecliff after the Grand Trianon, the garden retreat of French kings at Versailles.” Its heart-shaped staircase, shown above, is famous for its beauty and design.

Mrs. H. Oelrich Has More Enemies Than Any Other Society Woman, Assertion

NEWPORT– Already those who pretend to read “sermons in stones” and “find tongues in trees” are sympathizing with Mrs. Herman Oelrichs, who, it is said, has more enemies than any other woman in society. Whether Mrs. Oelrichs will require any of this sympathy remains to be seen, but she has started well by placing herself on the “outs” with the Charlie Oelrichses. Whatever may be said of the Kay street family, it certainly has the commanding position, and should Mrs. Charlie wish to be real horrid she could be the means of keeping certain very desirable people away from Rosecliff. 

Until two or three years ago there was never a throb of love lost between the two Mesdames Oelrichs, when all at once Tessie became absolutely intense in her devotion to her relatives by marriage, and, according to the gossip of the moment, exhibited her devotion most materially. Newport avers that the moment darkness falls upon the cliff’s Tessie Oelrichs and Alva Belmont grab their picks and shovels and may be seen digging trenches and throwing up earthworks in their respective back yards.

There are strange tales also of code messages to the Krupps and of heavy consignments to Marble House and Rosecliff from the Du Pont works in Wilmington. If one is to believe everything one hears. Mrs. Hermann Oelrichs is at loggerheads with everybody but such charmingly diplomatic souls as the Elisha Dyers, who never antagonize anyone; the Dolans, who can’t afford to fight, the Pembroke Jonses, who are wise enough to keep out of any trouble, and Harry Lehr, who is still sufficiently alive to prove troublesome. 

Moreover, it is said that Mrs. Oelrichs’ Newport pilgrimage this summer was in a spirit of I'll-show- them-they-can't-freeze-me, and that she realized that if she did not pitch her tent this season and keep in touch with things, being as gentle as a suckling dove, she might have serious trouble later on. I have an idea that people are not altogether in sympathy with some of the extraordinary friends she has made in the past year.

Mrs. Oelrichs dined with her son Hermann at Berger's on Sunday night. and the manner in which she nagged the youth, who as usual was doing nothing to merit such treatment, so got on the nerves of a party of yachtsmen at a nearby table that one of them actually stopped eating to turn and look several volumes of etiquette at her. Others present thought there was going to be a scene, but the boy, with rare discretion, employed only the soft answers advised by Holy Writ, so at last an armistice prevailed. Perhaps she was disappointed in not having been invited by the Dolans, who entertained their usual Sunday night party, though this time they could secure less than two dozen guests. – Evening Herald, 1909

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