Governor of Rhode Island - 1885-1887
U.S Senator – 1895 – 1913
George Peabody Wetmore inherited Chateau-sur-Mer from his father William Shepard Wetmore, who made a fortune in the China trade.
William Wetmore commissioned the architect, Seth C. Bradford to build the chateau in 1851. Richard Morris Hunt directed a major renovation between 1869 and 1880.
George Peabody’s career as U.S. Senator included encouraging the U.S. Navy to expand the Newport naval base on Narragansett Bay.
In Newport he served as a Trustee of the Redwood Library and Athenaeum and Newport Hospital. He and his wife, the former Edith M. Keteltas, entertained in a grand style at Chateau-sur-Mer during the Newport seasons.
See: The Preservation Society of Newport County, “Chateau sur Mer I: A
Study of Chateau sur Mer: The Wetmore Family and Their Domestics”
www.newportmansions.org/learn/research-reports/chateau-sur-mer-i
