Newport has never been short on ghost stories, maritime legends or tales from its colorful past. This Halloween, one of the city’s historic mansions is leaning into that history with a celebration inspired by pirates, shipwrecks and the darker side of life on the Atlantic.
On Friday, October 30, The Vanderbilt, Auberge Collection will host its annual Halloween soirée, transforming the historic downtown mansion into Ghosts of the Atlantic: Drowned Pirates Ball.
From 7 to 11 p.m., guests can expect the halls of The Vanderbilt to take on an entirely different personality. Think candlelight, ghostly sailors, restless sea captains and Gilded Age socialites, all drawing inspiration from Newport’s long relationship with the sea.
It’s a fitting theme for a city where maritime history runs deep. Long before Newport became synonymous with Gilded Age mansions and summer society, its harbor was a bustling colonial port filled with merchants, privateers, sailors and plenty of characters whose stories have become part history and part legend.
Perhaps no figure captures Rhode Island’s pirate history better than Thomas Tew, the Newport privateer who became one of the most notorious local figures associated with the Golden Age of Piracy. Tew sailed from Newport in the 1690s and became famous for his enormously profitable voyages across the Atlantic and into the Indian Ocean.
His adventures helped establish what became known as the “Pirate Round,” a route followed by other pirates seeking fortunes far from New England. Tew’s story eventually ended at sea, reportedly killed during an attack on a Mughal ship in 1695, but his connection to Rhode Island has endured for more than three centuries. Even today, his name remains part of local culture through Newport’s Thomas Tew Rum, a modern nod to the state’s maritime past and one of its most colorful historical characters.
The Vanderbilt is adding its own Gilded Age twist to that history. The evening will feature nautical-inspired cocktails, passed hors d’oeuvres, food stations and live entertainment throughout the mansion.
Costumes are encouraged, and there is plenty of room to have fun with the theme. Guests can arrive as shipwrecked pirates and haunted sailors or take a more polished approach with dark Gilded Age glamour.
The 21+ event is open to hotel guests and locals alike, making it a chance to experience one of Newport’s historic properties in a setting that is decidedly different from your typical mansion tour.
For a city that already does history, mystery and Halloween particularly well, a haunted pirate ball inside a historic Newport mansion feels pretty appropriate.
Ghosts of the Atlantic: Drowned Pirates Ball takes place Friday, October 30 from 7 to 11 p.m. at The Vanderbilt in Newport. Tickets are offered at $275pp.
