Welcome to The Mount and thank you for taking our audio tour.The Mount was the home of Edith Wharton, who built the estate in 1902. Today, it is a National Historic Landmark, one of the few dedicated to a woman. It is also a vibrant cultural center that celebrates Wharton’s intellectual, artistic, and humanitarian legacy.So who was Edith Wharton, and what was her life like here at The Mount?She came from an upper-class New York society that discouraged women’s intellectual ambitions. She defied the social and gender expectations of her day to become one of America’s greatest writers. Today, Wharton is best known for her novels, particularly The Age of Innocence, Ethan Frome, and The House of Mirth, but she wrote over 40 books in 40 years, including works on architecture, gardens, interior design, and travel. She was the first woman awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the first woman awarded an honorary doctorate of letters from Yale University.She was born Edith Newbold Jones in 1862. After a childhood in Europe, New York City, and Newport, Rhode Island, Edith Jones married Teddy Wharton in 1885. Initially they split their time between New York City and Newport. However, Edith grew to dislike Newport. She and Teddy looked for property in Lenox, and in 1901 they bought the 113 acres that would become The Mount.The Whartons designed the estate, including the Stable you see before you, as a complete work of art informed by French, Italian, and English traditions, yet adapted to the American landscape.Construction began in July 1901. An estimated 400 workmen and artisans recruited locally and from all around New England, New York, and Eastern Canada contributed to the project.Fifteen months later, in September 1902, the Whartons moved in, bringing with them their indispensable household staff, including the butler, housekeeper, lady’s maid, and cook.For the next 10 years, Edith Wharton would spend her summers here writing and gardening. However, in 1911, with their marriage disintegrating, the Whartons sold The Mount. Edith moved to Paris, and two years later divorced her husband.When World War I began in 1914, Wharton devoted herself to humanitarian efforts, providing relief for thousands of children and refugees. In gratitude, the French and Belgian governments awarded her their highest medals of honor. After the war, Wharton remained in France. She died on August 11, 1937 and is buried outside Versailles, France.
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Historic Drive
Look to your right, and you will see the original entrance. The Main House, a quarter-mile to your left, is not visible from the road.The driveway came through the main gates, past the superintendent’s lodge, which is now called the Gatehouse. It currently houses our administrative offices. In Wharton’s time the Gatehouse was the home of Thomas Reynolds, her head gardener, who lived at The Mount year round. Next to the Gatehouse is the historic Greenhouse, where Reynolds nurtured plants and seedlings.Between the Gatehouse and the Stable lies a beautiful green field. In the Wharton era, this was a kitchen garden designed by Edith Wharton’s niece, Beatrix Jones Farrand, one of the most successful landscape architects in the United States. The surviving designs for the kitchen garden show both functionality and beauty, with fruit trees and vegetables planted in classic symmetry.The small, white cottage on the edge of the field was not part of the original estate. It was added in 1965 when Foxhollow School for Girls owned the property.Lining the drive are sugar maples, evenly planted by the Whartons to create an allée, or tree-lined lane. Wharton and Farrand adapted the European allée to New England by using the characteristic sugar maple. We have lost many of those trees to age and storms, but you can still see the outline of the allée, which consisted of a double row of trees. This entrance is most striking in the fall when the leaves turn color. In the Wharton era, autumn was the high social season in the Berkshires. The weather and the foliage attracted many visitors – and still does today.
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The Stable
El lado sur del establo es el lado que todavía está en uso y es el más interesante arquitectónicamente. Fue inspirado en la Casa Belton, una propiedad inglesa del siglo 17. La casa y el establo fueron diseñados por la firma de arquitectos Hoppin & Koen. Observe la sección a la izquierda que ahora se usa como auditorio: antes se usaba para guardar carruajes y autos. La sección del medio, llamada “Carriage Wash” o lavado de carruajes, tiene un elegante arco flamenco, grandes puertas dobles, y un piso de ladrillos que se inclina hacia un desagüe. La sección a la derecha tenía un cuarto trastero y establos de caballos. Los caballos para los carruajes y para montar vivían aquí, mientras que los cerdos, las gallinas y las vacas se mantenían en otro lugar. Los Whartons usaban ambos, carruajes y automóviles, así que sus caballos - Duchess, Dowager, Don, Dobbins, y Frank—compartían el mismo espacio con su Pope-Hartford 1904 y después con una sucesión de Mercedes.Teddy Wharton pasó mucho tiempo en el establo. Disfrutaba de sus caballos, sus automóviles, y de entretener a los hijos de los cocheros.“El orgullo del Sr. Wharton es el establo, seguramente uno de los más elegantes en Lenox.” –Berkshire Resort Topics, 1904 El cochero inglés de los Whartons, William Parlett, vivía en el segundo piso con su esposa, Emma, y tres hijos pequeños: Charles, Cecily, y Marjorie. Hoy día nadie vive allí. No obstante, es una área muy activa para nuestros recorridos populares de fantasmas, y ocasionalmente, se ven aparecer caras fantasmales por las ventanas.Por favor, explore libremente por dentro del establo cuando esté abierto.
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The Springhouse
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The Pinch Point
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Forecourt Entrance
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Entrance Hall
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Main Stairwell
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Gallery
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Teddy Wharton's Den
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Library
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Drawing Room
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Dining Room
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Terrace
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Bedroom Floor Landing
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West Guest Suite
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Edith Wharton's Suite
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Teddy Wharton's Suite
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Henry James Suite
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Sewing Room
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Backstairs
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Kitchen and Scullery
The Kitchen was probably the busiest room in the house. It is where Mary Bagley, the Whartons’ cook, prepared meals both for guests and up to 20 staff. The servants’ dining room was originally on the other side of the chimney wall, near the modern elevator. Kitchen staff sent food up to the Butler’s Pantry via a hand-pulled dumbwaiter that you will see in the scullery. Wharton’s dinner parties may not have been large, but meals and menus were elaborate. The life of a cook was not easy. The stove, fueled by coal or wood, had to be kept fired most of the day, and regulating its temperature by its flues was a hard-earned skill. Not surprisingly, Wharton’s cook Mary Bagley was frequently ill with rheumatism. Wharton paid for her treatment and missed her cooking. “Our cook,” she wrote a friend, “was called away for three days, so I could only offer tea & buttered toast. We ourselves lived on cold chicken, which was extra cold with the mercury so near zero.”The Scullery is where servants scrubbed pots and pans and cleaned produce. The term “scullery” comes from an Anglo-French word for bowl. It was one of the toughest places to work in the house. The scullery maids were usually the youngest girls, often hired in from local farms. This room has not been restored, allowing you to see the original historic material. If you look up at the ceiling, you will see the steel beams that were added during the restoration to provide structural stability.
