Happy Birthday to Alva Vanderbilt! Born Alva Erskine Smith in Mobile, Alabama in 1853, she was about 35 years old when she posed for this portrait. She first came to Newport as a girl, staying two doors down from where she would later build Marble House. Alva grew to become an influential society hostess as the wife of William K. Vanderbilt, and would use that stature to help drive great societal change. #thepreservationsocietyofnewportcounty #newportmansions #theelms #thebreakers  #marblehouse #rosecliff  #newport_mansions #newportri  #daytrip  #gildedage  #rhodeisland  #americanhistory #NewEnglandDayTrip  #NewEngland #theoceanstate #theclassicpost