Human activity including migrations, individual people, families and the institutions they formed in Lenox. Geography, historic sites and homes in Lenox.
Teddy Wharton Apparently Shared his Wife, Edith’s, Affection for Small Dogs.
Born in 1850, Edward R. (Teddy ) Wharton was destined to live the stereotypical version of the Gilded Age life so elegantly portrayed by his wife Edith Jones Wharton.
Son of Nancy Spring Wharton and William Craig Wharton, Teddy grew up in a beautiful Brookline home and graduated from Harvard. Upon graduating and coming into his trust fund, Teddy successfully pursued the life of a rich 19th century American – travelling, being a good sportsman and being all round charming.
He was a friend of Edith’s older brothers, Frederic and Henry Jones. In 1883 he met Edith in Bar Harbor, Maine, and they were married in New York in 1885. Shortly after their marriage they moved across the street from the Wharton family summer estate in Newport. In 1893 Edith purchased her own Newport estate called Land’s End. She eventually tired of Newport and purchased 113 acres in Lenox, which would become, in 1901, The Mount, which you can still visit today.
The marriage had been strained for a long time and Teddy stole from Edith to maintain a mistress in Boston. Edith moved to France in 1911 and divorced Teddy in 1913. (Edith died in 1937 in France and is buried in the American Cemetery at Versailles, France.)
Born to a wealthy New York family in 1835, Annie Haggerty Shaw represents both the Berkshire Civil War widows and the “first generation” of Lenox summer homeowners.
Her parents, Elizabeth Kneeland Haggerty and Ogden Haggerty (also buried at Church on the Hill) summered at Vent Fort. Pictured here, the building, no longer standing, was moved and replaced by the far grander Ventfort Hall built by Sarah Morgan in 1893 and still standing today.
This transformation was illustrative of the 19th century evolution of Lenox from a charming, intellectual watering hole for the Sedgewicks, Melvilles and Hawthornes to the “can you top this,” opulence of the Gilded Age.
In 1861 she met Robert Gould Shaw, the son of a wealthy Boston family active in the Abolitionist movement. The Shaw family used their influence to get Robert appointed as leader of the Union’s first all Black regiment, the Massachusetts 54th.
Annie and Robert married in 1863 and honeymooned briefly at Vent Fort before Shaw shipped out at the head of his regiment. As portrayed in the movie, “Glory,” Robert Gould Shaw and many of his troops were mowed down in the assault on Fort Wagner.
Annie Haggerty Shaw never re-married and died in Boston in 1907.
Although born in Great Barrington in 1798 (not Lenox), Anson Jones is a colorful example of the many Lenox residents who moved on in the early 19th century to New York, Ohio, – or in his case Texas – in search of land, opportunity or a clean slate.
Jones was licensed as a doctor in Oneida, NY in 1826 and opened a practice but was not successful. After being pursued by creditors, including a side trip to Venezuela, Dr. Jones was arrested in Philadelphia. After failing in business in New Orleans, he moved to Texas in 1833 and finally established a successful medical practice.
He became a supporter of independence for Texas, fought in the revolution against Mexico, and served in various capacities in the new government of the Republic of Texas, until eventually being elected the second and last President of the Republic in 1844. He had married Mary Smith in Houston in 1840. She went on to be the first head of the Daughters of the Republic.
Judge William Walker – Photo of Portrait Hanging in Pittsfield Probate Court
William Walker was born in Rehoboth in 1751. This location is not far from one of the early Puritan settlements, and he is undoubtedly one of the many Lenox settlers who was three-four generations removed from the Puritans of the Great Migration of the 1630’s.
William Walker came to Berkshire County at 20 years of age in 1770, Lenox in 1773. He, like Egleston and Paterson, signed the non-importation agreement, was in Boston during the battle at Bunker Hill, the failed invasion of Canada, the crossing of the Delaware, the battle of Princeton and at the battle of Bennington (part of the defeat of Burgoyne at Saratoga) and marched as captain with a company of Lenox men to Sheffield to put down Shay’s rebellion .
A lawyer by training he attended the Berkshire Convention in Stockbridge in 1774 and was a member of the convention that framed the Massachusetts Constitution in 1780. He was instrumental in important business enterprises including the iron industry in Lenox Dale and land development. He was a stockholder in the Phelps and Gorham purchase in central New York.
As the list of offices he held indicates, William Walker was a true pillar of the community:
President Berkshire Agricultural Society in 1820
President of the Berkshire County Bible Society from 1817-1831
Member of the Congress of Deputies of Berkshire held at Stockbridge July 6, 1774`
Member of the convention which framed the Massachusetts Constitution in 1780
General Court in 1778, 1780, 1784, 1787, 1791, 1794 and 1795
Appointed by Gov. John Hancock February 16, 1781 as Register of Wills for Berkshire County (until 1785)
Selected by the two branches of the General Court on October 16, 1783 as State Senator for the District of Berkshire
Samuel Adams appointed him Judge of Probate for Berkshire County (resigned 1824 when his son succeeded him)
Appointed February 25, 1794 by Gove. Samuel Adams as one of the justics of the Court of Common Pleas for the County of Berkshire
James Sullivan appointed him a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas for Berkshire County in 1807
Associate justice of the Berkshire Court of Sessions in 1809 and from 1811-1814 (commission from Gov. Elbridge Gerry)
Presidential Elector in 1824 for Berkshire.
His most important role was as a judge for Berkshire County with court being administered from 1789 to 1868 in Lenox. He was described as “tall with white locks and of great personal dignity.”
He was born in Sheffield in 1757, son of Seth Eggleston and Rachel Church Eggleston. Like many of his generation, his father was born in Westfield and emigrated west – as his father may have done before him. Many Revolutionary War veterans were 3rd or 4th generation descendants of the Puritans who had landed in Boston in the 1630’s.
About 200 Lenox residents are listed on the Revolutionary War rosters. Not all would have served as long as Major General Paterson or Major Egleston, but it was clearly a town with strong patriot sympathies.
Azirah must have been very committed to the Revolution since he enlisted as a Private in April 1775 at age 18 and participated in many crucial battles and left the service as a Major.
Jonathan Hinsdale was the first known European inhabitant of Lenox. He was born March 17, 1724 in Hartford, CT. Many early Berkshire residents came from Connecticut. It may have been easier to move up the Housatonic River Valley then to cross directly from eastern Massachusetts.
As has been discussed elsewhere, the main reason to come to frontier territory (which Lenox would have been at the time) was to get land which was increasingly in short supply to the East and the South.
A.J. Jessup Mansion built in 1890 is a typical Lenox Gilded Age Mansion
Belvoir Terrace was designed by Rotch & Tilden and built between 1888-1890 for Morris K. Jesup, with landscaping by Frederick Law Olmstead. John Shepherd purchased the estate in the early 1920’s, making many renovations: the addition of two rooms, the enclosure of the porch, and the installation of a slate roof. Like Mr. Jesup, Mr. Shepherd and his family enjoyed summering at Belvoir. As a summer camp, Belvoir Terrace preserves the great lawn, wooded paths, and imported trees, while restoring the mansion and carefully developing new facilities.
In 2001, a study prepared by The Pioneer Valley Planning Commission and The Berkshire Regional Planning Commission stated, “Among the great estates, Belvoir Terrace is one of the best examples of an estate that maintains a reasonable balance between active use and preservation. The balance is attributable to the current owners’ singular knowledge of building preservation standards, adherence to a maintenance plan, and to the estate’s successful re-use as a summer arts camp. The estate is itself an important focal point on Cliffwood Street.”
From Surveys Completed 2011-2012 by the Lenox Historical Commission
ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION:
This Colonial Revival style building has two stories, an asphalt shingle roof and has been altered. It now has a 4-bay, wood frame; mansard roof with a dentiled band at the cornice, gable roof dormers and shed dormer on the rear ell. It has wood clapboard siding. There are 4 brick chimneys-1 on front wall, 1 rear wall; 1 side wall & 1 interior on side/rear ell. The house has some early 12 over 1 and 6 over 1 windows. There is a full front porch with fluted Doric columns and dentils. The front door is surrounded with molded header, architrave, and 2/3-length side lights. The 2-story right side ell extends to the rear and probably incorporates the original kitchen wing off of the right rear corner (depicted on 1876 Beers Map). The rear porch has Doric columns at the interior corner of the main house & west side of rear ell. It has a 1-story faceted bay window on front of right side ell and authentic window blinds on the 2nd story windows on the front facade and bay window.
HISTORICAL NARRATIVE:
The original portion of the structure was the home of Israel Dewey, one of Lenox’s earliest settlers. Dewey, who established a home in the area by 1764, was one of the proprietors of Lenox and served in a number of public positions. Like many Berkshire householders, Dewey was licensed as an innkeeper. He left Lenox for Vermont in the early 1790’s, and after several changes in ownership the property was acquired by Zadock Hubbard in 1798. He enlarged the house and opened it as the Hubbard Tavern. In 1806 the building was sold to Azariah Egleston, a locally prominent man, and converted back to a private residence. The house was substantially enlarged and altered after Mary Loring bought it in 1868. In 1885 it was sold to Mr. and Mrs. Richard S. Dana of New York and was remodeled for use as a summer home. The Dana family retained ownership until 1953, when it was sold and returned to use as an inn.
The property was sold to Toner Associates Inc. in 1991 and then to Ellen Gutman Chenaux in 1999.
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES:
Not shown on1854 Clark Map. 1939 Sanborn Map depicts current footprint.
The Book of Berkshire, Clark W. Bryan, 1886
Lenox – Massachusetts Shire Town, David H. Wood, 1969
County Atlas of Berkshire, Mass., F. W. Beers, 1876
Atlas of the Garden Spots of Berkshire, Barnes and Jenks, 1894
From Surveys Completed 2011-2012 by the Lenox Historical Commission
ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION:
This is a 2-story, wood-framed house with wood clapboard and shingle siding prominently sited atop a hillock. It displays characteristics of both the Shingle and Queen Anne architectural styles. It has an asymmetrical arrangement of the front facade and irregular footprint. The roof is cross-gabled, clad with asphalt shingles, and features a number of dormers. A small dentil band on the cornice encircles the house. There are four massive brick chimneystacks (having multiple flues). There are a variety of shingles—the front gables have scalloped shingles with incised circles; the right side gable has sawtooth and tongue shingles alternating every row; and the second floor has rows of notched shingles over regular rectangular cut shingles. Scroll sawn brackets support all the projecting gables. Two projecting front gabled bays dominate the front facade. The larger of the two is on the right. It has a projecting gabled roof with a set off three attic windows, a broken pediment spanning all three. (This attic window arrangement is repeated on the right side of the house.) A canted bay window on the second floor is centered below, and below it is a 1-story sunporch with balcony atop. The left side pavilion is similar, except with a single 6-o-6 attic window and second floor French door that gives out onto a balcony that tops a fairly recent 1-story addition to the front. (It obscures the original front entry). The entrance, which was moved to the left (north) side, has a porch with two plain pillars and two pilasters with spindled balustrade atop, finials at its corners. The current entry door surround has a fanlight and 2/3-length sidelights. There is a 1-story ell on the left side of the rear ell. In 1885 a large 2-story rear addition was constructed. Attic windows are generally 6-light barn sash type, though on the right side, it has been replaced with a screen. There are a number of original Queen Anne style windows (small square panes surrounding a larger pane) and others with multi-paned transoms.
A large wood-framed carriage barn is sited well behind the house to the east. It has a gable roof with dormers and a cross-gabled right side ell. A greenhouse is also set back from the house, north and west of the carriage barn. A newer front gabled 2-stall garage is located behind the house and south of it is an in-ground swimming pool and gable-roofed pool house. The rear side yard in which the pool and pool house are located is fenced. A curvilinear driveway off Yokun Avenue with its entrance to the north of the house ascends the hill to a wide drop-off area at the front entrance, continues behind the house to access the garage, with a branch eastward to access the carriage barn. There are many mature coniferous and deciduous trees throughout the property.
Architect Henry M. Seaver (3/6/1873 –
The Edward A. Jones Memorial Building was designed by Pittsfield architect Henry M. Seaver. He graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1897 and began his own architectural firm in 1901.[1] By 1903 he had entered into a partnership with George C. Harding that lasted until Harding’s death in 1921.[2] During that period the firm designed the YMCA Building in Pittsfield; the Chapel at Colgate University in central New York; the Museum of Natural History and Art in Pittsfield; the Colby Academy in New London, New Hampshire; and the Lenox Town Hall.[3] After Harding’s death in 1921, Seaver kept the office open through 1933, during which time he designed the Jones building at the House of Mercy. Other buildings for which he was responsible in this period include the R.J. Flick Residence; an addition to the Berkshire Life Building in Pittsfield; and an addition to the Pittsfield Boys Club Building. He was also an associate architect on the Pittsfield High School Building.[4]
Architect Charles Follen McKim FAIA (August 24, 1847 – September 14, 1909)
McKim, with the aid of Richard Morris Hunt, was instrumental in the formation of the American School of Architecture in Rome in 1894, which has become the American Academy in Rome, and designed the main campus buildings with his firm McKim, Mead, and White.
“KING EDWARD HONORS CHARLES F. McKIM”. NY Times. June 9, 1903.
Moore, Charles (1929). The Life and Times of Charles Follen McKim. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co. pp. 204-241. The royal gold medal was awarded for the restoration of the White House. In 1902 Congress appropriated $475,445 for this purpose to be spent at the discretion of President Theodore Roosevelt.
HISTORICAL NARRATIVE:
This house was built for Miss Mary DePeyster Carey. In 1917, it was sold to Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Strong and in 1931 to Miss Anna R. Alexandre, daughter of John Alexandre builder of Spring Lawn. In 1994 Miss Alexandre sold the house to Dr. and Mrs. Milos Krofta. In 2004 it was acquired by Barbara Crosby.
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES:
Valuation of the Property, Lenox Library
Wood David, Lenox: Shire Town, P193.
Book of Berkshire P144
Lenox Assessor’s database
[1] Berkshire Athenaeum/Pittsfield Library, History Department, Architects file.
[2] Henry F. Withey, AIA and Elsie Rathburn Withey, Biographical Dictionary of American Architects (Deceased)(Los Angeles: Hennessey & Ingalls, Inc., 1970) p 264.
[3] Massachusetts Cultural Resource Inventory System (MACRIS) online at: <http://mhc-macris.net>
[4] Berkshire Athenaeum/Pittsfield Library, History Department, Architects file.
From Surveys Completed 2011-2012 by the Lenox Historical Commission
ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION:
This house displays a transitional architectural style from Gothic Revival to Queen Anne. The wood-framed building originally had an upright and wing form with cross-gable roof. Verge boards have scroll sawn ends, and there are exposed rafter ends. A broken-eave front gabled dormer is at the center of the roof. There is an exposed brick side wall chimney on the right facade. Cladding is wood clapboard on the first floor, wood shingle on the second. The front gabled right bay has an oculus in the gable, tall, narrow paired windows on the second floor over a canted bay window on the first. Modillions and a scroll sawn bracket ornament the underside of this second floor overhang. The foundation is constructed of large rough-faced cut stones and there is a basement-level entry under the porch. In addition to this being converted to a dwelling, the front gabled section on the left side has been added above the exposed basement. It has a 1-story extension off its left side at the first floor level that is supported by piers/pillars. The front porch, with a front gable entry feature and millwork railing, is another addition or reconstruction. Although it is complementary in style to the original building, the architectural details are larger in scale and the fenestration slightly different in this addition. Windows and doors are all likely replacements.
A 1.5-story barn is located southeast of the house. It has a cross-gable roof that extends over a rear ell. A broken-eave dormer with 6-light window is located on the street facade of the rear ell. Wood clapboard siding is on the first floor and vertical board and batten siding is above with a scalloped lower edge. There are three vehicle bays oriented to the north (facing the dwelling) and a 1-story, 1-stall garage has been added to its right side. It has a fieldstone foundation. An in-ground swimming pool is located behind the barn, south of the house. A semi-circular driveway has two access points on Yokun Avenue. A stream runs through the property south of the buildings.
HISTORICAL NARRATIVE:
This building was originally one of a group of three dependencies (accessory buildings) on the Stonover estate. It may have served as a caretaker’s dwelling, as well as other utilitarian needs such as a greenhouse on the basement level. This set of buildings predates the elaborate Stonover Farm, located in the far western part of the estate. The Stonover Mansion was located northeast of the site of this property; it was demolished in 1940. The 1876 Beers and 1904 Barnes and Farnham maps illustrate a group of three outbuildings as a part of the John E. Parson’s Estate.
Mr and Mrs. Ronald Woodger acquired the property in 1942. It was acquired by Mark Liponis in 1995.
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES:
1876 Beers, 1894 Barnes and Jenks, 1904 Barnes and Farnham Maps, 1894 Barnes and Jenks Map
