A copy of J. P. Morgan’s stock certificate in the Newport Fishing Club, 1910. From a private collection.
All of the great financiers and captains of industry visited Newport during the Gilded Age but not all had summer cottages here. John Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913) had numerous business connections with Newport families and participated in yacht racing as commodore of the New York Yacht Club while staying on his yacht Corsair (of which he had three). He had little interest in the frivolities of the Newport social scene and chose to spend time fishing with his buddies in the waters of Rhode Island Sound and Narragansett Bay. He was instrumental in establishing elite fishing clubs at Gooseberry Island and Graves Point, with clubhouses and a support staff to serve meals and other refreshments as needed.