Much of the area north of the village of Lenox was part of the Quincy Grant. Well before Lenox became a town (1767) the royal governor granted land in return…
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Western Massachusetts was ground zero for Shays’ Rebellion (1786-1788). Lenox people and institutions were part of the action. Not Just Shays; Not Revolution The way most of us heard it,…
The current beautiful Church on the Hill building was dedicated in 1806, replacing an earlier meeting house. In 1906 a centennial celebration was held and the Hon. Francis W. Rockwell…
The First Trinity Church By 1818 the Lenox Anglican community had finally amassed the funds to complete its first church. It was in the center of the village at 33…
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…
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…
Frelinghuysen Cottage 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 Lenox Academy The lovely Federalist Academy building (still standing on Main Street) attracted well educated Lenox residents and visitors who would set a tone for future centuries. Although…
By the turn of the 20th century, the episcopal church in Lenox had added four grand looking gilded age buildings to Lenox: church, chapel, and rectory in Lenox village and St….
Repression in Response to Desperation The farmers of rural Massachusetts had been struggling with debt and the non-responsiveness of their representatives since before the end of the Revolutionary War. By…
We know of no eye-witness accounts of Revolutionary War service by Lenox enlisted men. However, Joseph Plumb Martin from Becket gives a fascinating and colorful picture of what life would…
We’ve discussed the economic and political reasons for the Revolution, but there were also emotions that drove colonial Lenox citizens to endure eight years of war and sacrifice. Idealistic reasons…
Almost up to the time of the American Revolution, Lenox residents probably would have been satisfied that they could have the rights of self government to which they were accustomed…
Because records are limited for early Lenox, we probably will not be able to draw conclusions about why Lenox in particular took up the cause of independence from Great Britain….
Bellefontaine Talk by Richard Jackson at Ventfort Hall Bellefontaine was built in 1896-1898 for Giraud and Jean Foster. Giraud Foster (born in 1851) lived at Bellefontaine until his death in…
The Lenox Easter Fire The Easter Fire on Lenox Main Street on April 11, 1909 changed the face of Lenox Main Street and cost six people their lives. The area…
As we approach the annual town meeting it’s interesting to see what constituted important Lenox town business in the late nineteenth, early 20th century. Pauper Costs One issue we’re…
In King George’s War, New France (Canada) Continued to Use Indian Allies to Terrorize New England and Upstate New York In Europe this was known as The War of the…
Started as a Stagecoach Stop Since the earliest days of the county Lenox’s Main St. has been a path-road-highway from the southern entrance to the county to Pittsfield. The site…
The Stockbridge Indian lands included part of what would become Lenox. Why the Stockbridge Indians were here and why they sold their land is an important part of the story…
Settlement of Berkshire County Begins with Sheffield As early as 1662, John Pynchon, son of the founder of Springfield, attempted to establish a trading post on the Housatonic between what…
Queen Anne’s War (1702-1713) In Europe, this conflict was known as the “War of the Spanish Succession,” and was, as the name suggests a balance of power struggle between England…
First of Four Wars Impacting Western New England King William’s War was the first of four wars in which the French colonials (in Canada and elsewhere) and the British colonials…
Four Almost Continuous Wars in the 18th Century All four of the French and Indian Wars were fought before the settlement of Lenox. However they are part of the Lenox story since…
Theocracy By the time Lenox was founded, Massachusetts had become a secular British colony. But it is worth reviewing the evolution from theocracy to colony since many elements of the…
Now gone – structure on southwest corner of Housatonic and Church and on northeast corner. What’s the same? Former Episcopal Church on the left (27 Church) Edge of former Methodist Church…
Between about 1630 and 1640, as many as 20,000 men, women and children left England for New England. Most if not all of the settlers of Lenox can trace their…
Grenville LIndall Winthrop built Groton Place in 1905 as a summer home. It encompassed the stone villa on this site from 1858 (The Elms). The new Carrera & Hastings designed…
Church on the Hill Burying Ground Lenox received three acres for a burying ground in 1770 and the first burial took place the following year. The Church on the Hill…
Lenox Village When Lenox was founded in 1767 most residents would have been farmers – even if lawyering, tavern owning, shoemaking, etc. formed part of the support for themselves and…
Serge Alexandrovich Koussevitzky was born July 26, 1874 to a poor Jewish family in what is now Tver Oblast Russia – about 155 miles northwest of Moscow. His parents were…
An excellent example of the immigrants who came to work on the estates – and whose descendants populate modern Lenox. L.C. Peters, one of 10 children, left Kent, England in…