NEWPORT DESIGN_150_END_FINAL2_TEXT 12/27/13 4:07 AM Page 207
THE FRENCH PICNIC IT WAS A SCENE
that Theodore Havemeyer would have
Newport was retained.
loved.
“My grandmother,” recalled Robert Manice, “never
They would wander down the fairways, seven, eight
really took to The Gilded Age way of life, and we were
or 10 of them, young, middle-aged, and old, with Jack
told to stay away from the indulgences. With her
Russell terriers and labrador retrievers sniffing the air
around, there was no lying around on the beach after
and the ground while their owners’ conversations flowed
lunch, it was ‘Let’s go do something — sailing, tennis,
between English and French, dipping from one language
golf, something.’ ”
to the other when in need of a better word or phrase.
Years later, one of Manice’s sisters married a French-
This was “The French Picnic,” an ever-changing
man, a brother married a Frenchwoman, and Manice’s
mélange of the Goelet and Manice families that during
own wife, though American, was raised in France.
the late 1970s and the 1980s included uncles,
The nickname “The French Picnic” was
aunts, nieces, nephews, cousins, siblings,
probably inevitable, for it perfectly fit the
grandparents, and grandchildren. And
group’s carefree, elegant spirit. True golf-
never was a scorecard seen.
ing attire was eschewed — the
“They were just out there for a
ladies often wore wide-brimmed,
walk in the park — literally,” said club
European-style hats — and golf clubs
president Barclay Douglas, Jr. “They didn’t know the
were passed around to whomever wanted to take the next
rules, and they didn’t keep score, but they would always
shot.
stand aside in the rough and wait if any serious golfers
Douglas said, “It was all about family — as if they
caught up and wanted to play through.”
were sitting around the family table, talking and being
In the 1880s, the Goelet brothers, Ogden and Robert,
with each other, but they were taking a walk together
built houses near each other in Newport. Robert’s son
instead, looking at the views, hitting some golf balls,
purchased a property outside of Paris and a house in the
and watching the bunny rabbits. If anyone disap-
city’s 16th arrondissment, and in 1921 married the
proved, saying, ‘They aren’t taking golf seriously,’ well,
daughter of the wine merchant Daniel Guestier; all four
the right reply probably was: ‘Maybe you’re taking it
Goelet children were born in France, but the property in
too seriously.’ ”
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