Take a trip with Larry Stanford through 350 years of Newport s hidden dark history. Founded by a small band of religious freedom seekers in 1639 Newport Rhode Island subsequently became a bustling colonial seaport teeming with artists sailors prosperous merchants and perhaps most distinctively the ultra-rich families of the Gilded Age. Clinging to the lavish coattails of these newly minted millionaires and robber barons was a stream of con artists and hangers-on who attempted to leech off their well-to-do neighbors. From the Vanderbilts to the Dukes the Astors to the Kennedys the City by the Sea has served as a sanctuary for the elite and a hotbed of corruption. Local historian Larry Stanford pulls back the curtain on over 350 years of history uncovering the real stories behind many of Newport s most enduring mysteries controversial characters and scintillating scandals.