Highwood is now owned by the Boston Symphony Orchestra and is used for Tanglewood special events.
Tanglewood
Tanglewood – c. 1865
Tanglewood was built by Caroline Sturgis Tappan (1819-1888) overlooking the Stockbridge Bowl. Caroline and her husband, William Aspinall Tappan (1820-1905) had purchased the property in 1849 next door to their friends the Wards. Until they built their own
Recreation of Hawthorne Cottage (Original Burned in 1890)
property, they stayed at the red cottage that would be home to the Hawthornes in 1850 and then rented Highwood from the Wards.
Given the highly cultural bent of this family, it’s not surprising that Caroline’s granddaughter, Rosamond Dixey Brooks, offered Serge Koussevitsky the family house, gardens, lawns and farm as a home for the summer music festival.
Wheatleigh
Wheatleigh – 1893
Wheatleigh was initially built for railroad financier H.H. Cook, who may have intended the property for one of his daughters from the start. He gave Wheatleigh to his daughter Georgie who had married Signor Carlos Manuel d Heredia. The groom was originally from Cuba and was sometimes called the Count de Heredia. Wheatleigh
Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger at the Lenox Jazz Festival
and been designed by Peabody and Stearns with plans for the ground by Frederick Law Olmsted.
Mrs. De Herdia’s husband died in 1918 but she continued to spend part of her year at Wheatleigh, until her death in 1946.
The main house survives as a luxury hotel, but the rest of the estate was broken up and took different directions. Some of the outbuildings were used in the 1950’s and 1970’s for the Lenox Jazz festival which brought a lot of new rhythm and folk music to the
Music Inn
Berkshires. The next step in the evolution of music in the area was Music Inn which drew crowds with acts ranging from Joan Baez to the Kinks.
The outbuildings have now been repurposed as White Pines Condominiums.
Brookhurst
Brookhurst 1
The couple that built (the second) Brookhurst exemplified how closely associated the cottagers were – in Lenox and elsewhere. The husband in the couple, Newbold Morris (1868-1928) was Edith Wharton’s cousin and used many of the same designers that Mrs. Wharton had used on The Mount: Ogden Codman and Beatrix Jones (Farrand).
Caretaker Cottage – May be Left From Original Brookhurst Estate
The original Eastlake style Brookhurst (except for the stable and gatehouse) had burned. That gave the couple a free hand in building a new house and they hired Francis Hoppin to design a very different looking Georgian revival house.
The Morris Family
Brookhurst II – 1908
Newbold’s family had roots back to colonial New York and New Jersey. His wife, Helen Schermerhorn Kingsland Morris (1876-1956) was a second cousin with equally deep New York connections.
George and Suzy’s Modernist Home on Brookhurst Grounds
Of the three sons, one, George Morris, built his now famous modernist home and studio on the property with his wife, the former Suzy Frelinghuysen. It is now a museum open to the public.
Some of the land on the estate was donated to the Town of Lenox for the Morris Elementary School on West. St. As an added gift, George
Morris Elementary with Mural
Morris painted an abstract mural which stands at the school entrance today.
Another brother, Stephen, took over the main house, but had it reduced in size. That house has now been sold out of the family but remains in private hands.
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For much more on the architecture of these houses and the people who lived in them, see
Houses of the Berkshires, 1870-1930, by Richard S. Jackson Jr. and Cornelia Brooke Gilder, Acanthus Press, 2006
The Tanglewood Circle, Hawthorne’s Lenox, by Cornelia Brooke Gilder with Julia Conklin Peters
The Berkshire Cottages, A Vanishing Era, by Carole Owens, Cottage Press, Inc. 1980
The Sedgwicks of Lenox set a flavor for 19th century Lenox that lingers to this day, so it is worth reviewing who they were and why they had the influence they had.
Thought of as a Stockbridge Family
1808 Portrait of Theodore Sedgwick by Gilbert Stuart
One of the earliest Berkshire Sedgwicks and one of the most famous was Theodore Sedgwick (1746 – 1813). Theodore was born in West Hartford, a descendant of Major General Robert Sedgwick who arrived in Massachusetts in 1636 — part of the Great Migration.
He graduated from Yale in 1766 and began practicing law in Sheffield. His career paralleled that of Major General John Paterson and other local Revolutionary War greats in that he participated in the Stockbridge Congress (1774), participated in the expedition to Canada, fought in the Battle of White Plains and was brought back into the fray during Shays Rebellion. As a matter of fact he was famous enough and wealthy enough by that time for his home to be the scene of a raid.
Mumbet, Elizabeth Freeman, 1744-1829
Theodore went on to a distinguished political and judicial career, but he his most remembered for his defense of Mumbet (Elizabeth Freeman). She was being mistreated by her mistress and was hearing all this talk of freedom so she came to Theodore Sedgwick to see if she could get her freedom. He won the case and it was determined that slavery was inconsistent with the just passed (1780) Massachusetts Constitution (which would be somewhat of a model for the national constitution).
Additional Sources of Fame for the Sedgwick Family
In addition to being a brave soldier and an outstanding jurist, Theodore Sedgwick had the wit to produce nine children — six of whom lived to adulthood. And yes, Kyra Sedgwick is a descendant.
The Sedgwick Pie – With Descendants Encircling Theodore and Pamela
With a large and distinguished family you get to have your own section of the Stockbridge cemetery – and get buried as close to the founder as your distinction and bloodlines allow. The children were all the issue of his second marriage to Pamela Dwight. Pamela was the product of a distinguished lineage also — the daughter of Brigadier General Joseph Dwight and the widow – Abigail Williams Sargent.
Theodore’s Children
The seven children that lived to adulthood were:
Elizabeth Mason Sedgwick (1775-1827)
Frances Pamela Sedgwick (1778-1827)
Theodore Sedgwick II (1780-1839)
Henry Dwight Sedgwick (1785-1831)
Robert Sedgwick (1787-1804) who was a lawyer in New York. He married Elizabeth Dana Ellery, grand-daughter of William Ellery, a signer of the Declaration of Independence.
Catherine Maria Sedgwick (1789-1876)
Charles Sedgwick (1791-1856)
Charles Sedgwick and his friend Judge Rockwell-
The last two – Charles in particular – became the Lenox Sedgwicks. Lenox had become the county seat in 1784 and Charles got a job as Clerk of the County Court in 1821. By this time his sister, Catherine, was a famous author. Although she described Lenox as a “bare and ugly little village,” apparently it grew on her as she spent more and more time at her brother’s home in Lenox.
The antebellum Lenox she experienced is beautifully described in Cornelia Brooke Gilder’s book, Hawthorne’s Lenox. Lenox would have indeed been quite bare since the iron industry was up and
Catherine Sedgwick Wrote Many of Her Most Famous Historical Novels 1820-1850r.
running and using every available tree for charcoal. Charles’ wife, Elizabeth, started a tree planting initiative and Lenox did have some very handsome structures.
Charles’ wife, Elizabeth was apparently no slouch herself in that she ran a school out of her home that was the female counterpoint to The Academy for young men. Her school, founded about 1828, was very well thought of and included distinguished students such as Jenny Jerome – the mother of future Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Ralph Waldo Emerson’s daughter. By 1841, a separate building for the school appears on town maps.
Authoress Catherine never married but Charles and Elizabeth had five children:
Kate – 1820
Charles – 1822
Bessie – 1826 (who was to marry the German pianist Frederich Rackemann and become the mother of Charles Rackemann whose diary has been transcribed by the Lenox Historical Society)
Willie – 1831
Grace – 1833
Atmosphere of the Hive
The Hive – Lenox Home of the Sedgwicks – Now the Site of Spring Lawn
In 1824 the Charles Sedgwicks purchased a home that was to become known as “The Hive”. It was located where Spring Lawn is today.
The combination of a charming couple of famous lineage, the presence of a distinguished female author and famous guests including actress Fanny Kemble, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Sophia Hawthorne (the author himself was not particularly sociable) and Henry Ward Beecher, “The Hive” became a magical cultural melting pot.
Between this cultural melange, educated individuals attracted to the courts and the two schools and the clean air and stunning scenery, “The Hive” and Sedgwicks of Lenox played a major role in putting Lenox on the early summer resort map.
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For more information on the life and times of these early Lenox intellectuals, see:
The Tanglewood Circle, Hawthorne’s Lenox, by Cornelia Brooke Gilder with Julia Conklin Peters, The History Press, 2008
Several authors count Samuel Gray Ward’s (1817-1907) purchase in 1844 of the original Highwood as the beginning of Lenox as a resort community. Ward certainly set the mold for others who would follow shortly. He was the son of Thomas Ward who sought out investment opportunities in the burgeoning American economy for London based Barings Bank.
Young Samuel was a member of Emerson’s circle (a Transcendentalist Groupie?) and he longed to pursue the life of a country scholar.
Time Was Right for an Early Summer Resort
But to understand how this act set off a bit of a ripple of grand summer homes, we should probably consider how the stage was set as New England rolled into the new century.
The economy was shifting from agricultural subsistence to a cash based economy with the emergence of wage labor, professional services and trade as increasingly important — particularly in the Northeast. A mobil wealthy class was emerging.
Other areas – particularly the Northwest Territories and Upstate New York offered better agricultural opportunities than New England. Starting as early as 1790 with Major General John Paterson moving to upstate New York, the phenomenon of investing in land for its economic potential was shifting away from New England. The quality was better and there wasn’t much open land left in Massachusetts
Population density (in the 1830-1850 censes Massachusetts had one of the highest densities per square mile) motivated those who were able to seek the health and beauty of the countryside.
Transportation improvements were accelerating allowing more people to go where they wanted to go and allowing economic specialization (i.e., wheat from the midwest, dairy and fresh food from New England moved to cities). Roads had improved steadily since the Revolution and even before rail service was established, there was regular coach service stopping at what would become the Curtis Hotel. Then several major developments occurred 1820-1850. The completion of the Erie Canal in 1825 eased east west transport through the Great Lakes. The railroad came to Berkshire County by 1841 providing relatively easy access to the countryside for movers and shakers from Boston and New York.
America was just beginning to define its own art and culture and patronage and discussion were eagerly sought by the elite. Between the courts, the Sedgwicks, and the schools there apparently was enough critical mass to attract a steady flow of artists and literati such as Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville and Thomas Cole.
Highwood
Highroad now part of Boston Symphony Orchestra’s Summer Program; Much Altered from the Original Italianate Design
Samuel Ward purchased land from farmer Daniel Barnes’ farm – selected for its beautiful view of the Stockbridge Bowl. Although their home was famously chilly, the Wards lived year round at Highwood from 1845 to 1849 and quickly merged with the Sedgwick cultural circle for teas, talks, recitations and concerts. The original Highwood (the one shown above had been considerably altered) was designed by Richard Upjohn who was, at the time, also working on Trinity Church in New York. Although the country intellectualism of the Wards and the Sedgwicks was much less pretentious than other what would follow later in the century, the trend of out of town architects and conscious design had begun.
Drawing of Cottage Rented to Hawthorne in 1850 (Re-creation now on Hawthorne Rd. Across from Tanglewood)
The couple attracted other Boston visitors and, when Sam was forced to return to Boston to take over his father’s business he rented Highwood to the Tappans who would eventually take up residency on what is now part of the grounds of Tanglewood. In 1850 they rented the little red house at the end of the drive to Nathaniel Hawthorne and his family.
Afterward
Eventually, Highwood was sold to another successful Boston businessman, William S. Bullard. When the property was turned over to the Boston Symphony Orchestra mid twentieth century,
Oakwood, Built in 1876 for Sam and Anna Ward by Charles McKim, Burned 1903
The Wards had never cut their ties to Lenox and when Sam Ward retired in the 1870’s he purchased a property near Highwood and had Charles McKim build shingle style Oakwood in 1876. In 1891, the property was sold to Anson and Helen Stokes who would build Shadow Brook up the hill and convert Oakwoods to a stable. It burned in 1903.
So here was another pattern of tearing down charming existing homes to put up bigger, grander “cottages.”
For much more information on the early days of Lenox as a summer resort see, The Tanglewood Circle, Hawthorne’s Lenox, by Cornelia Brooke Gilder with Julia Conklin Peters
Cozynook was built for George Tucker in 1865. This charming house would have been less a “cottage” than just a very nice, mid century home. It stands today and is apartments.
There were multiple generations of Tuckers – each generation containing at least one attorney working on county and town business. One of the most recent, and most appreciated, public service was that of a recent George Tucker who wrote an unpublished manuscript that is a reference for local historians. (see Lenox Library or Lenox Historical Society).
Nestledown – Gone but Not Forgotten
Nestledown – 1867
Alice Sturgis Hooper (1841-1879) was the daughter of Boston based Congressman and shipping magnate, Samuel Hooper. When she built the house that would be called Nestledown, she used a fanciful stick style similar to that used for Dr. Greenleaf’s Windyside so they might have had the same architect.
It is described as being on the site of the former gallows on the steep part of West Street. That would place it someplace between the Paterson Monument and Kneeland. She was active in cataloging the Lenox Library. She died (tuberculosis?) in 1879.
Summerwood/ Fairlawn
Fairlawn – 1870’s (Lenox Library)
A home called Summerwood was built on this site (where Kneeland Ave. currently intersects West St.) for Sarah Starr Lee about 1847. Lenox born Sarah’s grandfather, Joseph Goodwin, had been a partner in the early iron works. Hawthorne’s Lenox includes colorful stories of the wealthy widow’s life at Summerwood.
In the 1870’s the property was acquired by the Kneeland family. They would transform both the house and grounds
With the death of her father and grandfather, the unmarried daughter, Adele, was a wealthy heiress by the 1880’s. She had (what gilded age family would be
Fairlawn GardensAdele Kneeland (?)
complete without one) a strict aunt who disapproved of George Haven Jr. who she loved. So Adele remained single and poured her energy into Trinity Church and a magnificent garden at this site. In addition she had Ogden Codman do the decorating – so the house must have been lovely inside and out.
The site was in place until at least 1937 when Adele died.
Sketch of Fairlawn Grounds
Her nephews eventually had it demolished and the site was broken up into lots that now contain the housing along Kneeland Avenue.
The extent of the gardens is shown on this drawing. It must have been a beautiful site walking down West Street.
Cushman Cottage?
Per David Woods appendix: built 1860 by Mrs. F. R.. Beck, bought by Charlotte Cushman in 1875. She died soon after and it was sold to Emma Stebbins. Demolished; where Brunel Ave. housing is currently.
The Elms/ Groton Place
The Elms – 1858
Although there was no Yokun Avenue until the 1870’s, The Elms was across from where Yokun would be as early as 1858. The 1858 version was built for William Ellery Sedgwick and
Grenville Winthrop
Constance Irving Brevoort Sedgwick. Ellery was the nephew of Charles Sedgwick of “The Hive” and the Lenox county courts. This seemingly “golden” couple fell out of domestic bliss* and the house was sold in 1871. Subsequent owners did a good deal of re-building until the property was sold in 1902 to Grenville Winthrop.
Grenville, who later some colorful domestic issues of his own*, changed the name to Groton Place, expanded the house, purchased additional property and invested in major landscaping.
Beginning in 1946, Groton Place became the home of the Windsor Mountain School. It is currently the home of the Berkshire University Tanglewood Institute.
Shadow Brook/ Oakwood
Kripalu Yoga Retreat
This highly visible and scenic site (across from Tanglewood) is now Kripalu Yoga Retreat. It was built for the Jesuit Society to replace Shadow Brook
Shadow Brook Burned 1956
which burned to the ground in 1956. It had been gifted to the Jesuits in 1922 after one of its many illustrious residents, Andrew Carnegie, died there in 1919. Itwas built in 1893 by Anson Phelps Stokes and, at 250 rooms was, for awhile, the largest house in America.
Oakwood, 1876
Shadow Brook did not replace Oakwood as much as consume it.
Oakwood had been built by Charles McKim for Samuel and Anna Ward, who had originally built and owned nearby HIghwood in 1844 – essentially kicking off Lenox as a resort community. The Wards sold the property to Anson Phelps Stokes in 1891. Stokes used it as a stable and it burned to the ground in 1903.
The Corners/ Maakenac Farm/ Higginson’s Farm
Mahkeenac Farm – 1886
In 1860 George Higginson, Jr. (1832-1921) purchased the Wilcox Farm next to what would have been the Tappans’ place (now Tanglewood). His purchase included 150 acres and a view of what is known today as Gould Meadows and an old farmhouse. George’s family was friendly with the Wards (Highwood) and Oliver Wendall Holmes and he had been a frequent Lenox visitor. After started a career (with his uncle Henry Lee and William Bullard) in the East India trade, George decided to commit to the life of a gentleman farmer and proceeded to study “practical farming” and set up a model farm. By 1862 he had transformed the old farmhouse and brought home his bride, Lili Barker Higginson (1836-1901).
The Pines/ Lakeside
Lakeside – 1894 (Lenox Library)
This attractive site was originally a farmhouse called The Pines owned by Juliette Starr and Richard Perkins Dana. They sold the property to Charles Bristled Sr. in 1864. The original farmhouse on the property burned in 1885.
The Colonial Revival home that stands today was built for Charles Bristed’s son, also Charles Astor Bristled, by Pittsfield architect H. Neill Wilson of Pittsfield The architect had also designed the mammoth Shadowbrook next door.
The younger Charles practiced law for a few years but was primarily living on his considerable Astor fortune. Over time, he expanded his Stockbridge landholdings to over 400 acres. Even that wealth thinned out after Charles’ death in 1936. His daughters continued to stay at Lakeside and the property remains in family hands.
Beckwithsaw/ Bonnie Brier
Mark Hanna (1837-1904)Bonnie Brier (Rt. 183 Stockbridge) – 1892
Initially known as Bechwithsaw, Bonnie Brier was built by Harry Weeks and H. Neil Wilson for Mark Hanna. Mark Hanna was the Ohio kingmaker largely responsible for making McKinley President.
Hanna assembled about 1,100 acres including 2,500 feet of frontage on the Stockbridge Bowl. Leonard Forbes Beckwith had a “villa” on his 500 acres which was remodeled and then disassembled by Mrs, Samuel Hill of Seattle, who had also added to the acerage. Mark Hanna used the property to raise prize stock. It passed to his son Daniel Rhodes Hanna before taking up its history as a school.
Bonnie Brier (still standing and for sale as of this writing) has been the site of one of the first (if not the first) Berkshire Music Festivals at what was known as “Hanna’s Farm” (think Tanglewood) in 1935 and the Stockbridge School (a progressive education school akin to Windsor Mountain School) 1948-1976. Most recently, it was the home of the DeSisto School
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For much more on the architecture of these houses and the people who lived in them, see
*Houses of the Berkshires, 1870-1930, by Richard S. Jackson Jr. and Cornelia Brooke Gilder, Acanthus Press, 2006
*The Tanglewood Circle, Hawthorne’s Lenox, by Cornelia Brooke Gilder with Julia Conklin Peters
The Berkshire Cottages, A Vanishing Era, by Carole Owens, Cottage Press, Inc. 1980
Cliffwood has so many lovely homes today that they could all be considered estates in modern terms. For the sake of manageability, this enumeration is limited to those that have been written up as “cottages.”
Osceola
Osceola – 1889
Known as Osceola, 25 Cliffwood was built for Mr. and Mrs. Edward Livingston in 1889 by Rotch and Tilden. It has been used as a retreat for General Electric and an Inn. It is currently a private residence.
Sunnyridge I & II
Sunnyridge – 1884
This house was built as a summer home by Mr. and Mrs. George Folsom in 1884. AT the time it would have been next to the (also later burned) Homestead on Cliffwood St.
The half timbered house was designed by Charles Coolidge Haight. Houses of the Berkshires* contains wonderful stories about the life and times in this book laden old house.
Mr. Folsom was the law partner to President Grover Cleveland. Miss Frances Folsom married the President in the first White House wedding. She was 22 years old and President Cleveland was 50 at the time.
Sunnyridge Replacement (49 Cliffwood) – 1926
In 1925 the original house was destroyed by fire and it was rebuilt the following year. Built in the English cottage style, the new house was designed by Delano and Aldrich.
The Homestead
Homestead – 1885
Completed in 1885, The Homestead was designed by Charles McKim with landscaping by Frederick Law Olmsted. His client, Julia Amory Appleton (1859-1887) must have been pleased with his beautiful design as she married the recently divorced McKim the same day her sister married George von Lengerke Meyer. Tragically she died two years later and McKim sold the Homestead to Anson and Helen Stokes in 1889.
Julia Amory Appleton McKim
They expanded the house (a lot) foreshadowing their future edifice – Shadow Brook. In 1905, when the house was rented to the Eric Dahlgren family, it burned to the ground. Fearing a takeover by “outsiders” George Folsom, Morris Jessup, John E. Parsons and Grenville Winthrop bought the site. The Homestead was replaced in 1914 and 1915 by 57 and 61 Cliffwood Street, designed by Harding & Seaver.
71 Cliffwood
Although the numbers do not match the Harding and Seaver home shown here is described as being on one of the lots formerly occupied by The Homestead.
Breezy Corners
35 Greenwood Street
This Greenwood Street property primarily fronts on Cliffwood. As an 1870’s farmhouse expanded over the years, it is more typical of earlier summer homes than the other more elaborate architectural cottages on Cliffwood. It is most often written up because it sheltered one of America’s most prestigious families — the Biddles of Philadelphia.. Their Quaker ancestors came to Philadelphia before American Revolution and had been active in science, law and banking ever since. Mrs. Jonathan Williams Biddle bought the property in 1886. Her daughter, Miss Emily Biddle came there every summer until her death in 1931. She was a founding member of the Lenox Horticultural Society and active in the Tub Parade and other Lenox activities. The property is a private home.
Belvoir
Belvoir Terrace (80 Cliffwood St.) – 1891
Belvoir Terrace was designed by Rotch & Tilden and built between 1888-1890 for Morris K. Jesup, with landscaping by Frederick Law Olmsted. Facing Cliffwood Street and with a “side” entrance on Greenwood Street, this highly fanciful property also had an entrance from Main Street, next to Church on the Hill.
Morris K. Jesup (1830-1908)
Morris K. Jessup (1830-1908) was a successful banker and a notable philanthropist. His philanthropic activities included backing Robert Peary’s Arctic expedition and being president of the Museum of Natural History. He was, along with several other super wealthy Lenox cottagers, in the Georgia Jekyll Island Club.
Belvoir is currently an arts and music camp. It is easily visible from Cliffwood Street.
Underledge
Underledge – 1889
Underledge, still standing as a handsome private residence, was built for Mr. and Mrs. Joseph W. Burden.
Little has been found about the Burdens other than regular references in the social columns to her teas and his golfing prowess.
Rocklawn
Rocklawn (89 Cliffwood St.) – 1888
Once part of Windyside, this home was built for William and Elizabeth Stone Bacon.
Deepene
Deepen – 1886
Up the street from Rocklawn Francis Parker Kinnicutt and Eleanora Kissel Kinicutt built Deepened in 1886. The final home on the tour, Deepdene, was constructed as a Colonial Revival summer cottage on Cliffwood Street in 1886. Deepdene was designed by Bruce Price, an important New York architect. The owners were the socially prominent Dr. Francis and Mrs. Eleanora Kinnicutt. Edith Wharton was one of the doctor’s patients and encouraged her to move to the Berkshires. The entrance is directly into a soaring stairhall while many porches originally overlooked the expansive green of the Lenox Club golf course. The golf course has now been re-absorbed by the woods.
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For much more on the architecture of these houses and the people who lived in them, see
*Houses of the Berkshires, 1870-1930, by Richard S. Jackson Jr. and Cornelia Brooke Gilder, Acanthus Press, 2006
The Berkshire Cottages, A Vanishing Era, by Carole Owens, Cottage Press, Inc. 1980
Jonathan Hinsdale – First European Settler of Lenox
A plaque across from Hawthorne Street celebrates the location of the first settler of Lenox – Jonathan Hinsdale. It was, for a long time, the primary north-south route to Stockbridge and it has beautiful views. So it is not surprising that this street was a major location for beautiful homes – in the early days up to today. Some remain, some are gone.
Rev. Justin Field House
The Original, Modest Rectory for Trinity
Not a “cottager”from a wealth stand point, but an important figure in Lenox’s Gilded Age era, Rev. Justin Field was a long-time (1862-1890) rector of Trinity Church and a leader in constructing the new church on Walker.
The space was also used as a boarding facility for students of Elizabeth Sedgwick’s school — including young Jenny Jerome (future mother of Winston Churchill).
20 Old Stockbridge Road as It Appears in 2016
In keeping with the newly robust and wealthy congregation, the space was upgraded to the Tudor-like structure that stands today at 20 Old Stockbridge Road as a private residence. In 1892 a new rectory was built on the Trinity Church grounds.
Miss Lippicott’s School
School or Perhaps Living Space for Lenox Academy and Other Private Schools
The building that still stands today as privately owned condominiums, was similarly, a re-work of an earlier structure and a facility for wealthy visitors. It has also been referred to as Tanner Cottage.
Moved and Changed
Rockwood (11 Old Stockbridge Road) – c. 1880
One of the first buildings you encounter on Old Stockbridge Road, now the Rockwood Inn, began life elsewhere. It was known as the Williams Tavern in 1825 and was located where Main and Cliffwood now meet. It would have been one of many taverns that did a land office business during Lenox’s busy court days.
Leonard Constance Peters
Around 1880, the building was purchased by Leonard Constance Peters who started a number of successful businesses in Lenox. He added the Victorian front of the building in the late 1880s. As with many successful Lenox businesses at the turn of the century, he catered to the estate owners by providing lodging for their secretaries and horses for hire.
Redwood
Redwood – 1881
Redwood was built about 1880 for S. Parkman Shaw. Later owners used the name Beechknoll.
Beaupre – Gone But Not Forgotten
Beaupre 1902-1961
George and Elizabeth Turnure built Beaupre in 1902 roughly where Turnure Terrace stands today. The house picture here reflects alterations to an 1867 structure. The 1961 fire was thought to have been caused by some Windsor School students.
George Turnure was a New York banker and the father of a 21 year old WWI flying ace. His son was killed and, in his honor, George built the Lenox Brotherhood Club on Walker St. that would become the Lenox Community Center.
Lithgow – Gone and No Photos
This described in David Woods’ Lenox Massachusetts Shire Town (1969) as being on the west side of Lanier Hill on Old Stockbridge Road. The house (apparently extant at that time) is dated to the late eighteenth century although “modernized” in 1870 by Alfred Gilmore.
Burton Harrison House
15 Hawthorne – Burton Harrison House – c. 1882; Now (Brook Farm Inn
In another example of cashing in on resort development, Frederick Rackemann bought a local farm in 1882 and constructed this house for rental. Rackemann was married to Elizabeth Dwight Sedgwick and lived at the Hive.
The first tenants were Burton Harrison and his wife Constance Cary Harrison. The cottage became known as “The Burton Harrison House.”
The Harrisons were originally from Richmond, Virginia. Burton Harrison served as the personal secretary to President Jefferson Davis. Constance was a direct descendant of Thomas Jefferson. After the Civil War the Harrisons moved north and became prominent members of New York society.
How Our Inn’s Berkshires History Is Tied to the Statue of Liberty
Like many of their contemporaries, the Harrisons chose to leave the city for the summer season. They rented the Lenox cottage and entertained their friends there. Guests included the Andrew Carnegies, Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, and the poet Emma Lazarus. Constance was a popular novelist and playwright. She enlisted some of her friends to act out parts of her plays in the library of the Lenox house.
In 1883 Constance chaired a fund-raising art exhibition. A statue was being given as a gift to the people of the United States, from the people of France, and New Yorkers were busy raising funds to construct a pedestal for the statue. Constance joined in this effort by gathering a portfolio of original literary works by leading American authors, which she planned to auction at the art exhibit. Constance asked her friend Emma Lazarus to write a sonnet for the occasion. Lazarus, a member of the Harrisons’ New York set, had been doing volunteer work at a Lower East Side settlement house. Constance suggested that Emma use that as inspiration and several days later received a copy of the famous poem
Frederick Rackemann died in 1900, and to his butler, James Whittenham. Whittenham was in the odd position of having the building, but no property on which to situate it. He purchased real estate on Hawthorne Street from Bertia Parsons, the widow of Julius Parsons. The cottage was moved down the hill, and found a permanent home at 15 Hawthorne Street. It is currently operated as a bed and breakfast.
Parenthetically, on its way down the hill, the house passed the famous elm tree where a fatal sled accident had occurred. Lenox resident Edith Wharton later based her novel, Ethan Frome, on the accident. The tree was eventually removed, but a grassy triangle still marks the spot at the intersection of Old Stockbridge Road and Hawthorne Street.
It was purchased in the 1970’s by Ruth Backes, a direct descendant of Ralph Waldo Emerson. Her family history is important because Emerson was involved in the original Brook Farm, a utopian cooperative community of the 1840’s; Ruth Backes changed the name of the inn to Brook Farm Inn. Nathaniel Hawthorne was also involved in the original Brook Farm, and based his novel, The Blithedale Romance, on his experiences there. How ironic that the inn is located on Hawthorne Street!
(from Brook Farm Inn website)
Plumstead
Plumstead When Home of Joseph Whistler
A jail was among the needs Lenox had when it was the county seat (1784 to 1867). Plumstead was the first site of the jail and the jailer’s house. The jailer is also described as owning Blossom Hill Farm. Part of the structures were burned down by a prisoner in 1814. By the late 19th century
Cortland Field Bishop (1870-1935) drove fast cars, invested in the Wright Brothers, wrote about history and collected books. Like several of his Lenox estate owning counterparts, both his father and mother came from wealthy families. His brother David committed suicide in 1911 and the entire family fortune came to Cortland. He used part of his fortune to buy up a number of properties in addition to those he inherited. His properties surrounded Bishop’s Estate (running from Old Stockbridge Road to Kemble Street across from Canyon Ranch) plus further up OSR (across from Elm Court) Interlaken. He razed The Perch(off Kemble) and built the Winter Palace
He razed Yokun Farm on Old Stockbridge Road and built Ananda Hall in 1927 (demolished 1940)
Yokun Farm – 1791
The original house on Yokun Farm had been built by the William Walker family (one of three Lenox properties William Walker owned) and passed to the Goodman family — perhaps after the Walkers moved to their house in town.
Ananda Hall was razed shortly after Cortland died and only a rock wall remains on Old Stockbridge Road. The Winter Palace he had built off Kemble remains. The Bishop family also built two houses (for all those overflow guests!) on Walker Street that stand today.
The rest of the former and standing estates start bleeding into Stockbridge, but their owners probably would have socialized toward Lenox.
Allen Winden
Allen Winden – 1882
Allen Winden was built next to where Yokun Farm had been and had a spectacular view. The house, apparently named for a town in Switzerland, was built in 1882 by Charles Lanier (1837-1926) and Sarah Egleston Lanier (1837-1898).
Allen Winden Stables
Sarah was a descendant of Azariah Egleston, one of Lenox’s Revolutionary War heroes and early town leaders. Lanier, a banker and investor, lived the good gilded age life with lavish hunt breakfasts and weddings in Lenox plus membership in the famous Georgia Jekyll Island Club and J.P. Morgan’s Corsair Club. Good thing – since J.P. Morgan, a frequent business partner, had to bail Lanier out a couple of times.
The elaborate house was demolished, after Lanier’s death, in 1926 and replaced by a plainer Henry Seaver design. The elaborate landscaping was divided up into lots and it is now the Winden Hill Condominium complex.
Elm Court
Elm Court – 1886
This shingle style spectacular was another product of two fortunes marrying. The original house was much smaller than the 90 room final product. Designed by Peabody and Frederick Law
Emily Vanderbilt and William D. Sloane
Olmsted, it was commissioned by William Douglas Sloane (1840 – 1915) and Emily Vanderbilt Sloane (1852-1946). He was the son of the prosperous Sloane furniture business and she was the granddaughter of Cornelius Vanderbilt.
Miraculously, the property has survived and the current owners are seeking approval to build a luxury hotel around the gilded age complex.
Overlee
The Lenox Hunt at Overlee – Built 1903
Down the road toward Stockbridge, Samuel (1868-1923) and Elinor (1873-1961) Frothingham built Overlee in 1903. As with so many of its wannabe Elizabethan counterparts in Lenox, Overlee replaced a shingle style home called Glad Hill (no pictures). While
Overlee Residence of Samuel Frothingham – 1903
Overlee was being built the Frothinghams stayed at the Poplars across Old Stockbridge Road (also no pictures). As the hunt club gather shown above suggests, the Frothinghams were avid athletes and were active in the hunt club, golf and gardening.
Before settling into its current role as the Hillcrest Educational Center, it had been, along with so many other former estates, a boys’ boarding school.
Merrywood
Merrywood in 2011 – In Its Last Days? – 320 Old Stockbridge Road
Colonial Revival Merrywood was built in 1882 by Peabody and Sterns for Charles Bullard (1857-1911). He had grown up at Highwood and was the son of East India merchant William s. Bullard.
For awhile it was operated as a Music Camp. Its fate is uncertain.
Poplars
The Poplars
Known to have existed near Bean Hill Road (the Frothinghams lived here prior to the construction of Overlee) but limited additional information.
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For much more on the architecture of these houses and the people who lived in them, see
Houses of the Berkshires, 1870-1930, by Richard S. Jackson Jr. and Cornelia Brooke Gilder, Acanthus Press, 2006
The Berkshire Cottages, A Vanishing Era, by Carole Owens, Cottage Press, Inc. 1980
Windyside (111 Yokun) was built by Boston physician Richard Cranch Greenleaf (1845-1913) and his wife Adeline Emma Stone (1849-
Lenox Golf Club
1936). It is notable as one of the few stick style wooden buildings still standing in Lenox.
History of the Lenox Club (and Windyside) Now Available
For awhile, the it had the additional distinction of having one of the earliest American designed golf courses.
Upon Greenleaf’s death in 1913 the house, outbuildings golf course and the entire ninety acres was purchased by the Club which moved in 1914 from its smaller club house on Walker St.
In 1924 the nine hole golf course was expanded to eighteen holes and the ‘Lenox Golf Club’ was formed in association with the Aspinwall and Curtis Hotels both of which used the course for their guests.
The arrangement lasted until 1932 when the Aspinwall Hotel burned. This event and the difficult financial situation caused by the Great Depression led to abandonment of the golf course which gradually became replaced by a heavily wooded forest.
Interest in the Club was revived and major improvements to the clubhouse and grounds were initiated in the 1980s.The course was expanded in the 1920’s and shared with the Curtis and the Aspinall. The destruction of the Aspinall and the general financial mayhem of the 1930’s made the gold course unaffordable and it is now grown in. Fortunately, the Lenox Club was revived in the 1980’s and the building survives as a private club.
Ethelwyn/Ethelwynde I and II
Ethelwyn – 1875Henry Braem
In 1875 Henry Braem (associated with the Cunrad Line and ambassador to Denmark) built the original Ethelwyn (or Ethelwynde) off Yokun Ave. Then as now, his neighbor was Windyside (now the Lenox Club) built around the same time.
In 1893 he sold the estate to the widow of Robert Winthrop who was also the mother of Grenville Winthrop, who would go on to build Groton Place in 1905
“Grandma Winthrop” Owned Ethelwyn until 1925
on West. St. The Wintwops were “those” Winthrop’s who led the great migration and had generations of wealth and notoriety. Mrs. Wintrop (ne’ Kate Taylor) was wealthy in her own right. Her father had been a partner of Cornelius Vanderbilt and first president of City Bank (predecessor of the modern Citibank).
Mrs. Winthrop was, not surprisingly, a social leader in Lenox and New York. Among other things, she was active in the summer garden club competitions (think Downton Abbey).
Ethelwyn (Ethelwynde) II (111 Yokun) – 1928 (Lenox Library)
In 1928 the house was purchased by Halstead Lindsley. He tore down the wood framed original house and had a local architect, Benjamin Greeley, construct the modern Tudor-style mansion that stands today. Recently operated as an upscale cultural retreat, it is now a private home.
Stonover I and II
Stonover – 1875
Ethelwyn had Winndyside as a neighbor on one side and Stonover as a neighbor on the other. Still a lovely street today, Yokun Ave. was newly created in 1874-1875 and must have been quite spectacular from the 1870’s on.
John Parsons
Stonover was built by John Edward Parsons, (1829-1915) a New York Attorney. Among others, his clients included the American Sugar Company. He defended them to the Supreme Court in an anti trust case – very Gilded Age!
The estate spread from Yokun to Undermountain Road and encompassed
Drive on Stonover Property
the area now known as Parson’s Marsh. the still standing Stonover Farm and over Lenox Mountain to what is now the Audubon Bird Sanctuary.
His son Herbert
Stonover Farm – Undermountain Road
inherited the farm (and died there in the 1920’s a freak accident). His daughters (Mary and Gertrude) inherited the house and after some adventuresome travel, re-invented it in 1921 with a Delano and Aldrich design.
Stonover II – 1921
They moved the house further back on the property, dispensed with the turrets and mansard roof and created a sleek stucco house that became a center of mid 20th century culture with speakers like Alexander Kerensky. Mary (Gertrude died in 1927 on a trip to Italy).
Mary donated the Pleasant Valley Bird Sanctuary in honor of her two deceased siblings. In a move of less certain long term value, she became interested in re-populating local beavers (hence Parson’s Marsh.)
Stonover II was demolished in 1942 and replaced with a 20th century house.
Gusty Gable
Gusty Gables 1879 (Lenox Library)
Shortly after Yokun Ave. opened Mary de Pester Carey Sr. (in her ’60’s at the time), her daughter Mary de Pester Jr., and a close family friend, Katherine Buckley Sands pooled their resources to purchase a five acre plot and build
Charles McKim (1847-1909)
Gusty Gables. The Colonial Shingle Style home is the only surviving Lenox design of Charles McKim.
The survivor of the three, Mary Carey, was an avid horsewoman and active in the Village Improvement Society. She, with Edith Wharton and Florence Sturgis awarded prizes for the best-kept village lawns and front gardens.
Gusty Gables (58 Yokun) as it Appears in 2016
Carolyn Cobb, a later owner hired Pittsfield architect Henry Seaver to update the McKim design to a more formal Colonial Revival style. The building survives as a private residence.
Edgecombe
View of Stonover from Edgecombe Drive
The ladies of Gusty Gables must have been pleased when their New York friend, Miss Clementine Furniss decided to build Edgecombe next door. The
Edgecombe – 1880Edgecombe Caretaker Cottage
whimsical and rambling building apparently still standing in the mid 1980’s at the corner of Yokun and Sunset (it’s mentioned in Carole Owens’ The Berkshire Cottages)
The caretaker’s cottage (much altered) still stands on Sunset.
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For much more on the architecture of these houses and the people who lived in them, see
Houses of the Berkshires, 1870-1930, by Richard S. Jackson Jr. and Cornelia Brooke Gilder, Acanthus Press, 2006
The Berkshire Cottages, A Vanishing Era, by Carole Owens, Cottage Press, Inc. 1980
Thirty five and forty five Walker were built as “overflow” guest houses for the Bishop family
Thirty Five, called the Henry W. Bishop House was built in 1885 and is currently (2016) an inn.
Forty Five, called the David W. Bishop House was built in 1895 and is currently offices.
*Orleton
51 Walker St., Harley Procter House – c. 1912
Built as a summer home for Harley Procter, the classical revival style house is said to have been designed to resemble a bar of Ivory Soap.
Harley Procter, son of one of the founders, introduced many of the concepts of modern advertising and marketing. He presumably cashed in big when the P & G partnership incorporated in 1890.
Henry Procter (1847-1920)
The Procters occupied the house for just a short time, selling it in 1919 to Graham Root, who used it as a real estate office. Subsequent uses included a charm school in the 1930’s, a guesthouse, and office space. In 1942 it became Gateways Inn, by which name it is still known.
*The Old Lenox Club/Community Center
The Old Lenox Club – 1860’s?
Heaven forbid the gentleman visiting their estates in Lenox should be without a place to hobnob, so they founded the Lenox Club in 1864. They built a “modest” (at least in terms of the excesses of the day) clubhouse mid century and proceeded to bowl in their own
On the Porch of the Old Lenox Club (Lenox Library)
bowling alley, smoke cigars, play cards, etc. It was incorporated as a reading club for gentlemen in 1874.
Later the club leased a nine-hole private golf course off Yokun on property belonging to Dr. John C. Greenleaf.
In 1914, after Dr. Greenleaf’s death, the house, outbuildings golf course and the entire ninety acres was purchased by the Club. In 1924 the nine hole golf course was expanded to eighteen holes and the ‘Lenox Golf Club’ was formed in association with the Aspinwall and Curtis Hotels both of which used the course for their guests.
The arrangement lasted until 1932 when the Aspinwall Hotel burned. This event and the difficult financial situation caused by the Great Depression led to abandonment of the golf course which gradually became replaced by a heavily wooded forest.
Very active interest in the Club was revived and major improvements to the clubhouse and grounds were initiated in the 1980s.
Community Center (65 Walker) – 1924
In 1921 George E. Turnure purchased the Walker St. site and built a new community center in memory of his son who had been killed in the First World War. This new community center became the home of the Lenox Brotherhood Club, an organization made up of the union of the Men’s clubs of the Episcopal and Congregational Churches. The community center provided recreational facilities such as a tennis court, billiard room, gymnasium, and bowling alley. The center also has a large hall and stage. Membership in the club expanded in the 1930’s and eventually became open to all. It is currently owned by the Town of Lenox, and provides programs for the community such as the Council on Aging for seniors, youth programs, fitness classes, and meeting space.
*Pine Acre
Pine Acre (81 Walker St.) – 1885
Mrs. M. E. Rogers of Philadelphia had this house built in 1885, for use as a summer residence. By 1890 the house had been rented for the season to John Burrell, and in 1892 it was sold to Nancy W. Wharton (Mrs. William C.) who summered here with her daughter.
Mrs. Wharton’s son, Edward, (1850-1928) was
Edward (Teddy) Wharton.
married to novelist Edith Wharton who was to become one of the most illustrious residents of Lenox. After spending several summers in Newport, Edith Wharton, displeased with both the climate and the lack of intellectual life there, came to Lenox. She stayed at “Pine Acre”, home of her mother-in law and sister-in-law, who were abroad at the time. She was very impressed with Lenox that she returned to “Pine Acre” the following summer and, in February of 1902, returned to Lenox to look for a house site of her own. While looking for the site she stayed at the Curtis Hotel. She spent one last summer at “Pine Acre” in 1902, while her house, “The Mount”, was under construction.
Mrs. William C. Wharton continued to stay at “Pine Acre” for several summers until her death in August of 1909 in Lenox. Teddy Wharton spent many of his declining years here after he and Edith divorced.
For awhile the property was run as an inn and known as “Three Gables,” or “The Gables.” It is currently (2016) condominiums.
*Col Oliver House
91 Walker St. – 1895
This property was originally owned by William T. Walker and his wife and was sold to Edwin Spencer in 1852. Mrs. Marion R. Oliver built this house on the site of an earlier house, built by Edwin (Edmund?) Spencer in 1852, and by 1896, had the original house demolished and a more fashionable one built in its place. In 1896 the property was sold to Mr. and Mrs. John Struthers, frequent summer visitors to Lenox. The Struthers’ christened the house “Wynnstay.” and used it for many years as a summer residence. It is currently operated as an inn under the name “Hampton Inn.”
Ventfort Hall
Bel Air/ Vent Fort
Ogden Haggerty, a successful banker and intellectual, had been visiting the Wards and the Sedgwicks for a number of years and often renting a property from Mr. Stanley located where Ventfort Hall is today. In 1853 The Haggertys purchased the property and built a home of their own.
Ventfort (104 Walker) – 1893
In 1891, Sarah and George Morgan purchased the property, moved the original Vent Fort across the street, and used Rotch and Tilden to build a Jacobean mansion of their own.
The original Vent Fort was being used by Lenox Country Day school when it burned in 1961. Much of the extensive average of the Morgan’s Ventfort were sold off for Morgan Manor and individual house lots. The mansion sits on the remaining average and has been restored and is open as a Museum of the Gilded Age.
*Sunny Bank
Sunny Bank – 1865
This wood frame home was built in 1865 for General and Mrs. F. C. Barlow. When the Bruno Aron family was running Ventfort Hall as Festival House, Sunny Bank was used for overflow guests. It is currently a private home.
Francis C. Barlow
Francis Channing Barlow (1834-1896), despite his obvious youth in this photo, became a general by the end of the Civil War. In the small world category, he married, at the end of the war, the sister of Robert Gould Shaw who had married Annie Kneeland Haggerty and honeymooned at Ventfort Hall. A lawyer by training, F.C. Barlow founded the American Bar Association.
Thistlewood
Thistle wood – 1887
In 1887, Mr. and Mrs. David Lydia needed an escape from Westchester. The family estate, West Farms was being incorporated into the Bronx. They hired Rotch and Tilden to build the lovely Colonial Revival at 151 Walker St. The interior has been significantly altered but the exterior and grounds remain quite similar to the original design. It is a private home.
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*Technically these were just very nice summer homes – not quite up to the gigantic scale of the “cottages.”
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For much more on the architecture of these houses and the people who lived in them, see
Houses of the Berkshires, 1870-1930, by Richard S. Jackson Jr. and Cornelia Brooke Gilder, Acanthus Press, 2006
The Berkshire Cottages, A Vanishing Era, by Carole Owens, Cottage Press, Inc. 1980
Frederick T. Frelinghuysen, who served as Secretary of State under Chester A. Arthur, and his wife Martha Griswold Frelinghuysen built this house in 1888 (some sources say 1881) The house, designed by Roth & Tilden, was handsomely furnished, and the
Frederick T. Freylingjuysen (1817-1885)
Frelinghuysen’s entertained lavishly, with former President Arthur among their many guests. Frederick Olmsted was consulted on the landscape.
Both the Griswold and Frelinghuysen families had distinguished histories with many past and present ties to Lenox.
The house was subsequently owned by Thatcher Adams, who renamed it “Sundrum House” R.J. Flick purchased the property in the early 1930’s and lived in it while his estate “Uplands”, was under construction. It was then sold to Mrs. Charles F. Bassett who gave the school to the Lenox School for Boys for use as a dormitory. It is (2016) currently Kemble Inn.
The Hive/ Spring Lawn
“The Hive”
Lenox is a great place to play the “what used to be here?” game on a grand scale. Charles and Elizabeth Sedgwick purchased property on what is now Kemble Street and moved a house there. They quickly expanded to “The Hive” to accommodate their growing family and many guest.
Spring Lawn (10 Kemble St.) -1904
It was replaced in 1903 when J.E. Alexander built Spring Lawn – still standing today; shown here from the same angle as “The Hive.” – not as usually seen from Kemble Street.
John Ernest Alexandre (1840-1910) was a wealthy shipping executive. He, his wife, Helen Lispenard Webb (1857-1929) and their daughters had been coming to Lenox for a decade and were renting the Frelinghuysen house next door when Spring Lawn was being built by Boston architect Guy Lowell.
The house was used by Lenox School for Boys and Shakespeare and Company. When used by the Lenox School for Boys, it was known as Schermerhorn Hall. It is currently (2016) slated to be part of a time share development.
Sunnycroft (Gone But Not Forgotten)
Sunnycroft – 1888
George Griswold Haven (1866-1925) built Sunnycroft in 1888 using John D. Johnson as architect and John Huss for landscaping. In 1926 it became the first building used by the Lenox School for Boys and was known as Griswold Hall. It was demolished in 1940 after St. Martin’s Hall was built.
George G. Haven seemingly had all the gilded age trappings: two wives (Elizabeth Shaw Ingersoll, then Dorothy James), distinguished family ties, business in all the turn of the century favorite — coal, railroads and banking. However, he had a nervous breakdown in 1924 and took his own life.
Clipston Grange
Clipston Grange (30 Kemble St.) – 1850 and 1894
The paneled core of Clipston Grange is an old village house, which originally stood at the junction of Main and Cliffwood Street. George G. Haven, New York stockbroker, Lenox real estate
Clipston Grange as it Appears in 2016
speculator and future next door neighbor to Clipston Grange moved the old house to Kemble Street in 1893. Frank and Florence Sturgis enlarged the house in 1894 in the colonial revival style adorning the roofline with a parapet, installing elegant bow windows in the dining room and study, and adding a new reception room at the south end. The architect is unknown.
F.K. Sturgis
A childless couple, the Sturgises were devoted to animals. Florence Sturgis’ family property is now the Bronx Zoo, and Sturgis was a founder of the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. He served a term as president of the New York Stock Exchange, and on the building committee of Madison Square Garden, on the boards of the Jockey Club and the New York Coaching Club. Florence Sturgis died in 1922, four years later Sturgis left Clipston Grange to the Lenox School for Boys, which was at the time based in Sunnycroft next door to Clipston Grange.
Currently (2016) the property is a private home.
The Perch/ Winter Palace
The Perch (1849) – Fanny KembleThe PerchThe Perch
Fannie Kemble (Butler), actress and all round character, is mentioned by just about everyone who swarmed to mid 19th century Lenox.
She spent some time at The Curtis and various rentals but eventually carved out a place for herself across from what is now Canyon Ranch on Kemble Street.
Young Frannie KembleOlder Frannie Kemble
It was razed and replaced in 1900 by “The Winter Palace.”
The Winter Palace – 1900
The owner, Courtlandt Field Bishop owned property from here through Old Stockbridge Road to Winden Hill–overlapping the current Bishop’s Estate Development.
Cortland Field Bishop
His home, Ananda Hall was built in 1924 on Old Stockbridge Road and razed in 1940.
Bellefontaine
Postcard of Bellefontaine in all its Glory – Rear Entrance
Bellefontaine was built in 1896-1898 for Giraud and Jean Foster. Giraud Foster (born in 1851) lived at Bellefontaine until his death in 1945 and could be considered to have watched over the sunset of Lenox’s Gilded Age.
Somewhat reconstituted after a fire, it is now Canyon Ranch (165 Kemble)
Henry Ward Beecher became minister of Plymouth Congregational Church in Brooklyn (shown here with his equally famous sister Harriet Beecher Stowe) in 1847. He spent time in Lenox 1853-1857. A progressive active in the anti-slavery movement, he became part of the early Lenox intelligentsia.
His stopovers included visiting the Lenox Sedgwicks and preaching at Church on the Hill. He and his family stayed at a house they called Blossom Farm.
Blossom Farm
It was located on what is now Route 20/ Lee Road in an area called, for awhile, Beecher Hill.
In a great example of historical connect the dot, this property was part of a 75 acre plot sold in 1770 to Timothy Way and Samuel Jerome. Samuel Jerome is alleged to be an ancestor of Jenny Jerome, Churchill’s American mother who had come to Elizabeth Sedgwick’s school at the Hive.
In 1803 the hill was sold to Ezra Blossom — the gaoler of Lenox (jailer/sheriff). Blossom built a farmhouse, planted fruit trees, and named the property Blossom Hill.
Blossom Farm
In December 1814, Blossom’s advertisement for the sale of Blossom Hill included a description: “26 acres with a good orchard which makes about twenty barrels of cider annually…a house on the premises, nearly new and well-furnished, and a convenient barn and other out-buildings.”
In 1850 the property was sold to Charles Hotchkiss, Headmaster of the Lenox Academy.
In September, 1853, Hotchkiss sold Blossom Hill to Beecher. Standing on the brow of his hill, Beecher wrote, “From here I see the very hills of heaven.” He claimed he could see “a range of sixty miles by the simple turn of the eye.”
In his day, Beecher was called one of the most famous men alive, but his sister, Harriet Beecher Stowe author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, would eclipse him.
Beecher was named correspondent in a divorce case – not a proper role for a clergyman – and his fortunes began to unravel. Before the scandal, the $4,500 to purchase Blossom Farm was raised by a grateful congregation and a grateful publisher.
From Blossom Farm to Wyndhurst I
General John F. Rathbone
After the scandal, Beecher lost his New York pulpit and was forced to sell the Lenox property. Beecher sold it to General John F. Rathbone for the tidy sum of $8,000.
The old farmhouse was moved to accommodate the first Wyndhurst in 1857. Although quite opulent by mid-century standards it was destined to be replaced.
The First Lyndhurst – 1857
In 1893 Lenox was dubbed “the Queen of resorts,” and Rathbone sold Wyndhurst to John Sloane for the amazing price of $50,000. Sloane retained the name Wyndhurst, but razed the house and Blossom Farm
J.D. Sloane was the brother of W. D. Sloane (Elm Court). Together they established WJ Sloane & Co. in New York City.
The Second Wyhdhurst – 1894 – Now Called Cranwell
Sloane’s Wyndhurst met the new standard in Berkshire Cottages. It was a Tudor mansion built of Perth Amboy brick designed by Peabody and Stearns. The landscape architect was Frederick Law Olmsted.
There was a stable with 16 boxes, a poultry shelter, and cow barn. Milk and cream were shipped daily to the family in New York and produce was shipped three times a week. Everything necessary was on the estate to maintain the Gilded Age lifestyle including obligatory visit of President of the United States (McKinley) as a dinner guest in 1897.
Luxurious Coldbrook Neighbor
Coldbrook, begun in 1882 Became Joseph’s Hall as Part of the Jesuit Boy’s School 1939-1975
Meanwhile, at the back of the hill, another family had built their own enormous cottage. U.S. Naval Captain, John S. Barnes, Flag Officer of the North Atlantic Fleet during the Civil War, purchased the land for $10,000 in 1882 and erected Coldbrook. The railroad entrepreneur kept expanding the Peabody and Stearns original shingle style Queen Anne.
Pinecroft (Gone but not Forgotten)
Pinecroft -1865Adeline Schermerhorn?
Pinecroft is described as being adjacent to the Haggertys (Vent Fort) and later, across the street from Thistlewood. It is identified as one of the properties combined with Coldbrook and Wyndhurst to form a hunt then golf club. From that evidence, best guess is that it was roughly between the modern location of Schmerhorn Court and the Pinecroft development.
To picture the combined estates, you have to imagine a world without Route 20.
Unusual for Lenox at the time, it was brick and stood at least until 1890 since it is, as noted above, mentioned in the article sending up the construction of Thistlewood.
It was built for the recently widowed Adeline Schermerhorn. She is particularly remembered in Lenox for purchasing the second courthouse (now out of use with the court having moved to Pittsfield) in 1872 for use as the town library. One of her daughters, Ellen, married Richard Tylden Auchmuty. They would go on to build The Dormers and play a very active role in the construction of the new Trinity church.
Highlawn/Blantyre
Highlawn (Maybe) – 1870’s?
The southeastern end of this cluster of “cottages” began its story with another adulterous clergyman. Another celebrity preacher, Rev. Russell Salmon Cook (1811-1864). In 1853 he purchased property in Lenox that included a ramshackle farm house. In a dust up over money and the Reverend’s third (fourth?) marriage, he needed to abandon his property.
It was taken over by two New York brothers (one a bachelor, the other a widower), Francis and George Dorr. They expanded the house and planted the grounds – including large specimen trees. Their property made up about half of the several hundred acres acquired by Robert Paterson for what would become Blantyre.
Blantyre – 1902
Robert Paterson was introduced to the Lenox area in the late 1890’s by his friend John Sloan (of W&J Sloane).
Paterson tore down the modest Dorr house, keeping the outbuildings and started building a property on a grand scale, He told his architect, Robert Henderson Robertson. that he wanted a castle of “feudal architectural features,” replete with towers, turrets and gargoyles.
Mr. and Mrs. Paterson at Their Large Organ
The house was modeled after his mother’s ancestral home in Blantyre, Scotland. Construction began in 1901, at times employing over 300 people on the grounds and buildings.
The main house was furnished in the English style with all the furniture being brought in from England. The family used the house for the summer and fall and there were garden parties with musicians imported from New York and grand dinner-dances with each party becoming more and more lavish.
Blantyre – 1902
In the 1920’s the property evolved with its neighbors Wyndhurst and Coldbrook. Blantyre deteriorated considerably in the 1970’s. In the 1980’s it was restored by the late Ann Fitzpatrick Brown and is now run as a luxury hotel.
Properties Rise and Fall Together
By 1928, the party was over. The Gilded Age was ended, and the cottages were relics of a bygone era. On the hill, an ambitious plan for aBerkshire Hunt and Country Club combined four former estates – Wyndhurst, Coldbrook, Pinecroft, and Blantyre. Woodson R. Oglesby, former New York Congressman, started buying the estates at foreclosures.
On August 10, 1929 there was a full page spread about the second season of the Club. On an adjacent page it was reported that a Williams College professor warned, “Unemployment is a problem in need of an immediate solution.” A column on the financial page predicted, “The Stock Market will rally after a minor dip.” The Market crashed on Black Tuesday, October 29, 1929, two months and 19 days later.
The country was in depression. For a moment it looked as if those Club members would be untouched and the Club would continue. By 1933 the Club was assaulted by lawsuits and swamped in debt. In 1939, the land on the hill was sold for (approximately) $9,000 in back taxes.
New Identities in the Twentieth Century
For that price, Edward Cranwell bought the hill with two Berkshire Cottages: Wyndhurst and Coldbrook. In 1939, he gave it to the Jesuits to use as a school. The Jesuits named the school in honor of the donor — Cranwell Preparatory School.
The school closed in 1975. Coldbrook and Cranwell (Wyndhurst) are now operated as a condominium and resort complex, Pinecroft has been demolished, and Blantyre is a luxury hotel.
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For much more on the architecture of these houses and the people who lived in them, see
Houses of the Berkshires, 1870-1930, by Richard S. Jackson Jr. and Cornelia Brooke Gilder, Acanthus Press, 2006
The Tanglewood Circle, Hawthorne’s Lenox, Cornelia Brooke Gilder with Julia Conklin Peters, The History Press, 2008
The Berkshire Cottages, A Vanishing Era, by Carole Owens, Cottage Press, Inc. 1980
