“As usual, H. R. Taylor’s surf pictures at Easton’s Beach and Sachnest Point were the best things in the exhibition.The combination of surf and perfectly fitting sky in the view at Sachnest Point makes up a picture to which one may truly point when wishing to illustrate the advance of photography. This picture we understand was made on a Cramer 70 plate. “Newport Harbor” is a capital moonlight effect and “Newport Rocks” is so well known a picture that comment here is needless.”—Columbia College Photographic Exhibition: Anthony’s Photographic Bulletin, May 23, 1891, p. 300

With roots going back to 1887, Newport’s Easton’s Beach – locally known as First Beach – is the oldest public beach in Rhode Island. According to the Newport Historical Society, Easton’s Beach dates back to 1887, when architectural firm Peabody & Stearns built the original Pavilion. The beach was named after Nicholas Easton, an early settler of Newport and former colonial governor of Rhode Island. Today, First Beach remains one of the most popular attractions in Newport, offering easy access to the Cliff Walk, a board walk and plenty of historical charm.—Newport Daily News, accessed 2026

Henry Taylor was a member of the Columbia College Amateur Photographic Society around the time this photograph of Easton’s Beach in Newport was taken.

Henry Richmond Taylor: 1869-1925

Obituary, The New York Times: December 6, 1925

HENRY R. TAYLOR, CAPITALIST, DIES

Succumbs in Sleep From Heart

Disease in His City Home at 56 Years.

FATHER’S DEATH SIMILAR

He and His Brother Moses Each Inherited $15,000,000—A Director of Metropolitan Opera.

Henry Richmond Taylor, capitalist, a director of many corporations and a member of many clubs, was found dead in bed yesterday morning at his residence, 3 East Seventy-first Street. He was 56 years old. He returned home Friday night after dining at the Metropolitan Club and showed no signs of illness. He apparently succumbed to heart disease during his sleep. On another Saturday morning, that of May 28, 1921, his father, Henry A. Colt Taylor, died of heart disease in the same house.

A grandson of the late Moses Taylor, famous New York merchant and President of the National City Bank, Henry R. Taylor was born in this city and spent practically his entire life here. He graduated at Columbia In 1891. On the death of their father he and his brother. Moses Taylor, of Kean, Taylor & Co., 5 Nassau Street, each inherited a fortune or $15,000,000. Their sister, the Countess Harriet della Gherardesca of Florence, Italy, received $200,000 and a trust fund of $2.000,000.

Mr. Taylor was President of the Deer Range Corporation. which owns the

1,500 acres on Great South Bay, L. I., formerly the property of the late George

C. Taylor, and now involved in a controversy between the corporation and the Long Island State Park Commission as to whether it shall be made into a public park.

Mr. Taylor was a director of the Metropolitan Opera and Real Estate Company, Farmers Loan & Trust Company, Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Rail-road, Seamen’s Bank for Savings, and other corporations. His clubs included the Knickerbocker, Union, Metropolitan.

New York Yacht, Brook, Racquet and Tennis, Turf and Field, India House, Piping Rock, National Golf, Downtown, Links. Links Golf, Garden City Golf, and Automobile of America.

In addition to his brother and sister, Mr. Taylor is survived by his step-mother, formerly Miss Josephine W. Johnson, with whom he resided. Funeral services will be held at 10 o’clock Tuesday morning in Grace Church, Broadway and Tenth Street.