Berkshire Cottages

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America's Gilded Age, the post-Civil War and post-Reconstruction era, from 1865 to 1901 saw unprecedented economic and industrial prosperity. As a result of this prosperity, the nation's wealthiest families were able to construct monumental country estates in the Berkshires in Massachusetts.

Contents

History

Although most uses of 'cottage' imply a small house, the use of the word in this context refers to an alternative definition, "a summer residence (often on a large and sumptuous scale)". [1]

Cottages

Approximately seventy-six estates were built in Lenox and Stockbridge, Massachusetts, including: [2] [3]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Berkshire County, Massachusetts</span> County in Massachusetts, United States

Berkshire County is the westernmost county in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. As of the 2020 census, the population was 129,026. Its largest city and traditional county seat is Pittsfield. The county was founded in 1761. The Berkshire Hills are centered on Berkshire County. Residents are known as Berkshirites. It exists today only as a historical geographic region, and has no county government, with the exception of the retirement board for former county workers, and certain offices such as the sheriff and registry of deeds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lee, Massachusetts</span> Town in Massachusetts, United States

Lee is a town in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts, metropolitan statistical area. The population was 5,788 at the 2020 census. Lee, which includes the villages of South and East Lee, is part of the Berkshires resort area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great Barrington, Massachusetts</span> Town in Massachusetts, United States

Great Barrington is a town in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 7,172 at the 2020 census. Both a summer resort and home to Ski Butternut, a ski resort, Great Barrington includes the villages of Van Deusenville and Housatonic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Gould Shaw</span> Union Army officer (1837–1863)

Robert Gould Shaw was an American officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Born into a abolitionist family from the Boston upper class, he accepted command of the first all-black regiment in the Northeast. Supporting the promised equal treatment for his troops, he encouraged the men to refuse their pay until it was equal to that of white troops' wage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lenox, Massachusetts</span> Town in Massachusetts, United States

Lenox is a town in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. The town is in Western Massachusetts and part of the Pittsfield Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 5,095 at the 2020 census. Lenox is the site of Shakespeare & Company and Tanglewood, summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Lenox includes the villages of New Lenox and Lenoxdale, and is a tourist destination during the summer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Berkshires</span> Region in western Massachusetts and northern Connecticut

The Berkshires are highlands located in western Massachusetts and northwestern Connecticut in the United States. Generally, "Berkshires" may refer to the range of hills in Massachusetts that lie between the Housatonic and Connecticut Rivers. Highlands of northwest Connecticut may be seen as part of the Berkshires and sometimes called the Northwest Hills or Litchfield Hills. The segment of the Taconic Mountains in Massachusetts is often considered a part of the Berkshires, although they are geologically separate and are a comparatively narrow range along New York's eastern border.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tanglewood</span> Music venue in Massachusetts, United States

Tanglewood is a music venue and festival in the towns of Lenox and Stockbridge in the Berkshire Hills of western Massachusetts. It has been the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra since 1937. Tanglewood is also home to three music schools: the Tanglewood Music Center, Tanglewood Learning Center, and the Boston University Tanglewood Institute. Besides classical music, Tanglewood hosts the Festival of Contemporary Music, jazz and popular artists, concerts, and frequent appearances by James Taylor, John Williams, and the Boston Pops.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Naumkeag</span> Historic house in Massachusetts, United States

Naumkeag is the former country estate of noted New York City lawyer Joseph Hodges Choate and Caroline Dutcher Sterling Choate, located at 5 Prospect Hill Road, Stockbridge, Massachusetts. The estate's centerpiece is a 44-room, Shingle Style country house designed principally by Stanford White of McKim, Mead & White, and constructed in 1885 and 1886.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Mount (Lenox, Massachusetts)</span> Historic house in Massachusetts, United States

The Mount (1902) is a country house in Lenox, Massachusetts, the home of noted American author Edith Wharton, who designed the house and its grounds and considered it her "first real home." The estate, located in The Berkshires, is open to the public. The property was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1971.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kripalu Center</span> Health and yoga retreat in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, United States

The Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health is a nonprofit organization that operates a health and yoga retreat in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. Its 160,000-square-foot (15,000 m2) facility is a former Jesuit novitiate and juniorate seminary built in 1957.

Rotch & Tilden was an American architectural firm active in Boston, Massachusetts from 1880 through 1895.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elm Court (Lenox and Stockbridge, Massachusetts)</span> Historic house in Massachusetts, United States

Elm Court is a former Vanderbilt mansion located on Old Stockbridge Road, straddling the town line between Lenox and Stockbridge, Massachusetts. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and until July 2012 was owned and operated as a hotel by descendants of the original owners.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chesterwood (Massachusetts)</span> Historic house in Massachusetts, United States

Chesterwood was the summer estate and studio of American sculptor Daniel Chester French (1850–1931) located at 4 Williamsville Road in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. Most of French's originally 150-acre (61 ha) estate is now owned by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which operates the property as a museum and sculpture garden. The property was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1965 in recognition of French's importance in American sculpture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">H. Neill Wilson</span> American architect (1855–1927)

H. (Henry) Neill Wilson was an architect with his father James Keys Wilson in Cincinnati, Ohio; on his own in Minneapolis, Minnesota; and for most of his career in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. The buildings he designed include the Rookwood Pottery building in Ohio and several massive summer cottages in Berkshire County, Massachusetts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Belvoir Terrace Summer Camp</span> Performing arts camp in Lenox, Massachusetts

Belvoir Terrace is a performing arts summer camp for girls near Lenox, Massachusetts, US. The camp is used by girls to expand their abilities in theatre, art, music, and dance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Giraud Foster</span> American businessman and socialite (1850–1945)

Giraud Foster was a businessman and socialite notable during America's gilded age. An avid bridge player, equestrian and sailor, Foster accumulated a large fortune from coal and shipping.

Lenox Memorial High School is a public high school located in Lenox, Massachusetts, United States, founded in 1803. Since 1966 it has shared a campus with the town's middle school. The schools are officially known as Lenox Memorial Middle and High School.

The Foxhollow School was a private boarding school for girls. Founded by Aileen M. Farrell in 1930 on the Foxhollow Farm in Rhinebeck, New York. The school was moved to the Lenox, Massachusetts former estate of the Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt family. The school expanded to the neighboring property, The Mount. Miss Farrell was a British citizen and Oxford University graduate, who never sought American citizenship. She led the school for forty years until 1970. The school closed in 1976 and the property became an inn. In 2017, it was announced the building would be converted to luxury apartments.

Blantyre is one of the grand Berkshire "cottages" put up during the Gilded Age in Western Massachusetts. Built in 1902 by Robert Paterson, a wealthy New York City businessman, it is named for his mother's ancestral home in Scotland.

References

  1. Sayer, Karen (2000). "Introduction". Country Cottages: A Cultural History. p. 1. ISBN   978-0719047527.
  2. Owens, Carole (1984). The Berkshire Cottages: A Vanishing Era. Cottage Press. ISBN   978-0-918343-00-0 . Retrieved 16 September 2020.
  3. Gilder, Cornelia Brooke (2017). Edith Wharton's Lenox. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN   978-1-62585-788-0 . Retrieved 16 September 2020.