Well, readers, it's been a while. I have not traveled anywhere exciting in over three years, so the time has certainly come for an adventure.
This time, I will be returning to familiar territory, but will be enjoying a different perspective. Next week will be the first vacation I have had since 2016, and I will be returning to Lenox, Massachusetts--albeit for a completely different reason than last time.
As readers know, I last visited Lenox purely for the purpose of seeing Edith Wharton's home (which she designed herself), The Mount. This trip was planned rather haphazardly back in February, mostly as a way to cheer myself up after the tragic death of my beloved father back in December 2018. I wanted to do something exciting that would not only bring me some much needed happiness, but would also prove to be a worthy addition to my travel experience.
It must be stated up front that I am a massive Hilary Hahn fan. Having played violin since I was 10 years old (with a, ahem, 13 year hiatus in the middle of all those years--but who's counting?), I have followed Hilary's career and looked up to her. Back in February, I wondered if she was planning to go on tour any time soon, and lo and behold she is performing at Tanglewood this year. I thought about it for about a minute, then decided I would travel for this concert. When I saw Tanglewood was in Lenox, my first thought was, "Oh, I can see The Mount again!" Then I remembered Shakespeare and Company also performs in Lenox. And a trip was born!
This trip will be considerably shorter: only four days. I will fly to Albany, New York, which is another new location for me, and then travel to Lenox. I will see Hilary Hahn on Tuesday, then a production of Taming of the Shrew outside at...THE MOUNT the next night. During the day, I will visit The Mount, and by night I will experience the finest culture possible. Friday will be my day to return. So, a short trip with a sharp punch.
Over the past several months, whenever I have felt low or depressed, I have thought about this trip, and my distress always melted away. Although the impetus for this trip was inordinately somber, I am thrilled to be returning to a quaint town (despite how much I did complain about Lenox last time). I think only spending four days there will prevent me from getting too annoyed with Lenox's shortcomings and snootiness. And also...Hilary Hahn! And Edith Wharton! And Shakespeare!
Stay tuned for more details.
Laura
Showing posts with label #LenoxMA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label #LenoxMA. Show all posts
Sunday, July 7, 2019
Wednesday, May 25, 2016
The Mount, Part Deux and Farewell to Lenox!
Sunday and today (Tuesday) I took it easy; I stayed at the hotel all day and just read and wrote. It was refreshing to have some time just to chill, but Monday was back to the vacation grind with a second visit to The Mount!
Because I roamed the grounds for hours by myself last time, I decided to take the guided tour on Monday. I arrived around 11:00, and first roamed again, then had lunch at the terrace cafe, which has a spectacular view of the grounds. Incidentally, I met a retired couple from Decatur, Georgia who were very sweet. When I heard the wife saying "y'all" so many times, I felt at home.
After lunch, I met the group outside the house to await the tour. The Georgian couple started talking to me and asking me questions about Edith Wharton, which I answered as thoroughly as possible. In a gesture that was both flattering and embarrassing, a woman tapped me on the shoulder and asked if I was giving the tour. I reassured her I was only a visitor, but I must confess I was rather proud to be mistaken for the tour guide!
The tour was an excellent introduction for anyone not familiar with Edith Wharton's life or works. I was surprised when she asked the group if they had ever read her works, and only half of them had. The rest of them had only read one or two of her books. And then there's me, the nerd. When the docent asked me how many I read, I just said, "A lot." I'd have to sit down and count how many books by and about Wharton I've read over the years. That is thanks in part to interest, but also to my thesis director: whenever I asked her a question, she replied simply, "You need to read more," and she would print me a list of books from the Thomas Cooper catalog that was several pages long. As a result, I've read most secondary sources on Wharton that were published before 2010, and I've read a good bit of Wharton's writing. Her work has always been important to me, both professionally and personally, so coming to her house both times was a thrill.
One of the first details of the house that Ann, the docent, addressed was the symmetry. If you look at the front, you can see how the windows all align, but there are some shutters that are closed:
Ann pointed out that the closed "windows" were not windows at all, but Wharton designed them to look that way to maintain symmetry. Also, in the center windows on the second and third floors, the windows are open. When you are standing outside the house and look directly into the windows, it looks as though you are looking through the house. However, Wharton was pulling a little architectural trick; what she did was put large mirrors directly across from the windows to reflect the woods. As a result, the house looks much bigger than it really is. Pretty clever, eh?
Much of the house is designed this way. The entire structure of the house is symmetrical. Doors facing each other at the end of the halls, the numbers of windows, the design of entrances into rooms - everything is made to look ordered and even. Ann pointed out that in the design of the house you can see Wharton's struggle with the rigidity of her class: she rebels against it in keeping the house rather modest architecturally (no chandeliers, no gaudy designs or wallpaper, etc.), but she also conforms by keeping her house in such a rigid, structured design.
Take, for instance, the inside of the first floor.
As you can see, the entry way is very plain but elegant - much like everything with Wharton. The mirrored doors in the bottom picture lead to a servants' area, which is closed to the public. Essentially, guests would enter the first floor and wait for the butler to see if "Mrs. Wharton" was accepting company; if she wasn't, you had to leave.
Teddy Wharton's rooms are interesting as well, and they reveal his personality. Teddy and Edith had a bad marriage, but it was mostly because they were completely ill-suited. Teddy was carefree, part of the leisure class, and had no taste for anything intellectual, especially literature. Edith had a history of depression and anxiety, and she had been incredibly precocious and intellectual her whole life; in her autobiography A Backward Glance, which is a must-read, she says that as a little girl, her favorite activity was to go "make up," which meant she would hold a book from her father's library in her hands and walk around while she "made up" the words in the book aloud. She had wanted to be a writer ever since she understood what writing was, but her family never took her seriously, nor did they encourage her. She had two older brothers whom her mother favored over Edith, and Edith never had any kind of formal education, which makes her literary achievements, to me, that much more incredible.
She married Teddy when she was 24, which in those days was considered spinster age. They were engaged very briefly - engaged in January, married in April. I think her mother pushed the quick engagement so that Edith would not be considered an "old maid" when she did wed Teddy. Not surprisingly, as those who have read The Age of Innocence know, Newland Archer's rushed engagement has terrible consequences; I'm certain Edith used her own experience to color Newland's choices.
She and Teddy were married for twenty years and divorced by 1913. What happened was Teddy began to show signs of mental illness while they lived at The Mount (from about 1902 - 1914), and historians believe he had bi-polar disorder, which at the time had neither treatment nor even a name. Teddy grew more and more ill, and he began to have wild states of mania. His adultery was rampant, too, and he took Edith's money: $50,000, which today would be the equivalent of about $1.1 million. He was named the trustee to Edith's inheritance, and he used this $50,000 to build his mistress a swanky Parisian penthouse. Needless to say, when he confessed to Edith, it was the final straw, and she filed for divorce.
It is important to remember a few key things with this marriage. One, Edith's inheritance was not nearly as massive as many people of her class. Her oldest brother, Frederic, received the bulk of the family fortune, and her younger brother, Henry, got a smaller portion. The remainder of the money was divided into thirds. This means Edith inherited one-third of the remaining scraps of the inheritance. As a result, Edith made most of her money herself through her books. She wrote over 40 books in 40 years, and was most successful. In fact, she built The Mount with her money made from the success of The House of Mirth. Considering Edith also designed it and paid for it herself, The Mount was really and truly Edith's house. The fact that she sold it when she got divorced is quite tragic, really.
Another important thing to remember is divorce 100 years ago was a colossal scandal. People who got divorced were seen as outcasts, as trashy people who had failed at life. When Edith got divorced, she moved to France and stayed there for the rest of her life. She was also shut out of some social circles for being a divorcee`, which she explored so movingly in The Age of Innocence.
At The Mount are two nice displays about Teddy: one in his bedroom, one in his den.
The second floor is very open and bright without being ostentatious.
Teddy's den, which you see below, was an open, airy room with some secret doors.
One of the jokes was that Teddy's door to the library was a secret because he probably never opened it!
The rest of the house is like this, as I wrote last time. The grounds are magnificent, and there are some interesting animals there. Take, for instance, this garden snake I found:
When I got home that day, I found a tick on my ankle! I got the critter off of me and gave him a "burial at sea" (i.e., flushed him down the toilet). I must say, ticks were not something I associated with The Mount!
The house looks bigger than it really is. Look at these views! Bear in mind, Edith also designed the gardens.
One thing I found very touching, as a dog lover, was Edith's doggie cemetery. I noticed most of her dogs died in January, which was Edith's birth month (January 24). My sweet Jasmine died only a week before my 22nd birthday, so I completely know how she must have felt.
The cemetery is at the top of this random hill. It was scenic and somber. I took pictures of each doggie's tombstone.
There are also several paths to take to venture out into nature. On my first visit, I went through all of them, but yesterday I kept it simple and only walked down two or three.
The gift shop at The Mount has some really neat stuff. Evidently, there is a man who hand-makes jewelry designed to look like first editions of all of Edith's books. You can buy a charm, a charm and necklace, or a pair of earrings. I couldn't help myself; I bought Age of Innocence and Summer earrings, and I will wear them with pride!
I bought a friend of mine a gift, but in case he's reading this, it will remain a secret.
Lastly, before calling my taxi and returning to my hotel, I was very thirsty and decided to buy a drink at the terrace cafe. One of the drinks they had was an orange soda, and I bought it. And I drank it. This may not sound like a big deal to some reading this blog, but the truth is I have not been able to drink orange soda since I was 19 years old and a girl poured a massive 32 ounce cup of orange soda on my face while I was having a seizure. That entire incident was jam packed with horrible stupidity - a man took his belt off his pants and "offered" to put it in my mouth, people were running and screaming, a woman jumped on top of me while I was convulsing and shouted for someone to get her a wooden spoon - but the orange soda was the icing on the cake. It is a story I enjoy telling because it is almost too outrageous to be believed, but it was very, very true. And in a way, orange soda has kind of served as a symbol of how I have felt about having seizures. I have not been able even to look at it since then, let alone drink it. When I drank that soda, I felt as though I had closed a door on a very sad and stressful part of my life.
As I drank this, I thought about the impact Edith Wharton's works have had on my life and how much reading her work has helped me understand and articulate many complicated emotions I have felt. As silly as it may sound, I said a quiet prayer of thanks for her work and for the wonderful opportunity to see her home that inspired so much of her great fiction. Merci, Madame Wharton.
Well, tomorrow marks the end of my trip! I will be returning to Columbia, South Carolina, and from then on it's back to work! This trip has been incredibly rewarding; I have learned so much about travel and about myself on this journey. I feel confident about traveling alone, and I feel I exorcised some darker emotions while here - emotions that I hope to replace with some happiness in the days to come.
That's all, folks!
Laura
Because I roamed the grounds for hours by myself last time, I decided to take the guided tour on Monday. I arrived around 11:00, and first roamed again, then had lunch at the terrace cafe, which has a spectacular view of the grounds. Incidentally, I met a retired couple from Decatur, Georgia who were very sweet. When I heard the wife saying "y'all" so many times, I felt at home.
After lunch, I met the group outside the house to await the tour. The Georgian couple started talking to me and asking me questions about Edith Wharton, which I answered as thoroughly as possible. In a gesture that was both flattering and embarrassing, a woman tapped me on the shoulder and asked if I was giving the tour. I reassured her I was only a visitor, but I must confess I was rather proud to be mistaken for the tour guide!
The tour was an excellent introduction for anyone not familiar with Edith Wharton's life or works. I was surprised when she asked the group if they had ever read her works, and only half of them had. The rest of them had only read one or two of her books. And then there's me, the nerd. When the docent asked me how many I read, I just said, "A lot." I'd have to sit down and count how many books by and about Wharton I've read over the years. That is thanks in part to interest, but also to my thesis director: whenever I asked her a question, she replied simply, "You need to read more," and she would print me a list of books from the Thomas Cooper catalog that was several pages long. As a result, I've read most secondary sources on Wharton that were published before 2010, and I've read a good bit of Wharton's writing. Her work has always been important to me, both professionally and personally, so coming to her house both times was a thrill.
One of the first details of the house that Ann, the docent, addressed was the symmetry. If you look at the front, you can see how the windows all align, but there are some shutters that are closed:
Ann pointed out that the closed "windows" were not windows at all, but Wharton designed them to look that way to maintain symmetry. Also, in the center windows on the second and third floors, the windows are open. When you are standing outside the house and look directly into the windows, it looks as though you are looking through the house. However, Wharton was pulling a little architectural trick; what she did was put large mirrors directly across from the windows to reflect the woods. As a result, the house looks much bigger than it really is. Pretty clever, eh?
Much of the house is designed this way. The entire structure of the house is symmetrical. Doors facing each other at the end of the halls, the numbers of windows, the design of entrances into rooms - everything is made to look ordered and even. Ann pointed out that in the design of the house you can see Wharton's struggle with the rigidity of her class: she rebels against it in keeping the house rather modest architecturally (no chandeliers, no gaudy designs or wallpaper, etc.), but she also conforms by keeping her house in such a rigid, structured design.
Take, for instance, the inside of the first floor.
As you can see, the entry way is very plain but elegant - much like everything with Wharton. The mirrored doors in the bottom picture lead to a servants' area, which is closed to the public. Essentially, guests would enter the first floor and wait for the butler to see if "Mrs. Wharton" was accepting company; if she wasn't, you had to leave.
Teddy Wharton's rooms are interesting as well, and they reveal his personality. Teddy and Edith had a bad marriage, but it was mostly because they were completely ill-suited. Teddy was carefree, part of the leisure class, and had no taste for anything intellectual, especially literature. Edith had a history of depression and anxiety, and she had been incredibly precocious and intellectual her whole life; in her autobiography A Backward Glance, which is a must-read, she says that as a little girl, her favorite activity was to go "make up," which meant she would hold a book from her father's library in her hands and walk around while she "made up" the words in the book aloud. She had wanted to be a writer ever since she understood what writing was, but her family never took her seriously, nor did they encourage her. She had two older brothers whom her mother favored over Edith, and Edith never had any kind of formal education, which makes her literary achievements, to me, that much more incredible.
She married Teddy when she was 24, which in those days was considered spinster age. They were engaged very briefly - engaged in January, married in April. I think her mother pushed the quick engagement so that Edith would not be considered an "old maid" when she did wed Teddy. Not surprisingly, as those who have read The Age of Innocence know, Newland Archer's rushed engagement has terrible consequences; I'm certain Edith used her own experience to color Newland's choices.
She and Teddy were married for twenty years and divorced by 1913. What happened was Teddy began to show signs of mental illness while they lived at The Mount (from about 1902 - 1914), and historians believe he had bi-polar disorder, which at the time had neither treatment nor even a name. Teddy grew more and more ill, and he began to have wild states of mania. His adultery was rampant, too, and he took Edith's money: $50,000, which today would be the equivalent of about $1.1 million. He was named the trustee to Edith's inheritance, and he used this $50,000 to build his mistress a swanky Parisian penthouse. Needless to say, when he confessed to Edith, it was the final straw, and she filed for divorce.
It is important to remember a few key things with this marriage. One, Edith's inheritance was not nearly as massive as many people of her class. Her oldest brother, Frederic, received the bulk of the family fortune, and her younger brother, Henry, got a smaller portion. The remainder of the money was divided into thirds. This means Edith inherited one-third of the remaining scraps of the inheritance. As a result, Edith made most of her money herself through her books. She wrote over 40 books in 40 years, and was most successful. In fact, she built The Mount with her money made from the success of The House of Mirth. Considering Edith also designed it and paid for it herself, The Mount was really and truly Edith's house. The fact that she sold it when she got divorced is quite tragic, really.
Another important thing to remember is divorce 100 years ago was a colossal scandal. People who got divorced were seen as outcasts, as trashy people who had failed at life. When Edith got divorced, she moved to France and stayed there for the rest of her life. She was also shut out of some social circles for being a divorcee`, which she explored so movingly in The Age of Innocence.
At The Mount are two nice displays about Teddy: one in his bedroom, one in his den.
The second floor is very open and bright without being ostentatious.
Teddy's den, which you see below, was an open, airy room with some secret doors.
One of the jokes was that Teddy's door to the library was a secret because he probably never opened it!
The rest of the house is like this, as I wrote last time. The grounds are magnificent, and there are some interesting animals there. Take, for instance, this garden snake I found:
When I got home that day, I found a tick on my ankle! I got the critter off of me and gave him a "burial at sea" (i.e., flushed him down the toilet). I must say, ticks were not something I associated with The Mount!
The house looks bigger than it really is. Look at these views! Bear in mind, Edith also designed the gardens.
One thing I found very touching, as a dog lover, was Edith's doggie cemetery. I noticed most of her dogs died in January, which was Edith's birth month (January 24). My sweet Jasmine died only a week before my 22nd birthday, so I completely know how she must have felt.
The cemetery is at the top of this random hill. It was scenic and somber. I took pictures of each doggie's tombstone.
There are also several paths to take to venture out into nature. On my first visit, I went through all of them, but yesterday I kept it simple and only walked down two or three.
The gift shop at The Mount has some really neat stuff. Evidently, there is a man who hand-makes jewelry designed to look like first editions of all of Edith's books. You can buy a charm, a charm and necklace, or a pair of earrings. I couldn't help myself; I bought Age of Innocence and Summer earrings, and I will wear them with pride!
I bought a friend of mine a gift, but in case he's reading this, it will remain a secret.
Lastly, before calling my taxi and returning to my hotel, I was very thirsty and decided to buy a drink at the terrace cafe. One of the drinks they had was an orange soda, and I bought it. And I drank it. This may not sound like a big deal to some reading this blog, but the truth is I have not been able to drink orange soda since I was 19 years old and a girl poured a massive 32 ounce cup of orange soda on my face while I was having a seizure. That entire incident was jam packed with horrible stupidity - a man took his belt off his pants and "offered" to put it in my mouth, people were running and screaming, a woman jumped on top of me while I was convulsing and shouted for someone to get her a wooden spoon - but the orange soda was the icing on the cake. It is a story I enjoy telling because it is almost too outrageous to be believed, but it was very, very true. And in a way, orange soda has kind of served as a symbol of how I have felt about having seizures. I have not been able even to look at it since then, let alone drink it. When I drank that soda, I felt as though I had closed a door on a very sad and stressful part of my life.
As I drank this, I thought about the impact Edith Wharton's works have had on my life and how much reading her work has helped me understand and articulate many complicated emotions I have felt. As silly as it may sound, I said a quiet prayer of thanks for her work and for the wonderful opportunity to see her home that inspired so much of her great fiction. Merci, Madame Wharton.
Well, tomorrow marks the end of my trip! I will be returning to Columbia, South Carolina, and from then on it's back to work! This trip has been incredibly rewarding; I have learned so much about travel and about myself on this journey. I feel confident about traveling alone, and I feel I exorcised some darker emotions while here - emotions that I hope to replace with some happiness in the days to come.
That's all, folks!
Laura
Saturday, May 21, 2016
Third Day in Lenox: 'Round Town
Well, folks, as much as I love The Mount and the Lenox Library, I can't say there's really anything else to admire about this town.
Lenox is basically a rich people vacation town - specifically, a white rich people town. Seriously, there are no people of color here. None. Everything is very spread out and difficult to find. The public transportation is lousy. And there seems to be an overall snooty attitude. The librarians were nice, but that is all. More important, most of these buildings are not very accessible, and trying to get around this town is challenging, to say the least. Oh, and I've seen Trump bumper stickers (that's stickers, plural). Jolly!
One thing that is rather creepy and confirms this town's status as a white rich people area is the number of places where you can get plastic surgery - all just around the corner from your local candy store! I shit you not; this building was just beside a bakery:
And I saw this one when I left a little sandwich place that was situated amid several little chocolate and candy stores:
I don't know if this is like when you see a Marble Slab next to a Jenny Craig, but damn. I guess this explains why many women in this town have solid, unmoving facial expressions.
Curiously, it is incredibly difficult to find an ATM in this village. I would assume Yankees need cash just like anyone else, but good luck getting it. Back home, you can find one on most street corners, and there will always be one in a grocery store, drug store, or gas station.
In New England, not so. I have had to ride a taxi to get around in this town, which is sucking me dry financially, and the driver was kind enough to help me find one - we had to go to three places just to find an ATM! Today, when I left my hotel, I asked a man in a shop for some help finding one. He had to think for a while. When I said I was confused by the lack of ATMs in the North compared with the South, he snorted at me, then said, "This is New England" with a malicious look in his eyes. Thanks, dude.
I haven't done much today other than check out the library again, read, and write. And that's pretty much all there is to do. This is a village without much to find, and I cannot stress enough how hard it is to get around. Everything is expensive, too.
The town grocery store is really a glorified convenience store. I think I've seen nicer 7/11's. The store is filthy, and everything is smashed together and overpriced. I get the importance of having local businesses, but I'll take my Bi-Lo or Publix over this crap any day. At least there the vegetables aren't covered by flies, and you can actually find food to cook.
I would be very curious to learn the statistics on people with disabilities in this town. It's financial murder being here without a car, and I can't imagine how Lenox's citizens with epilepsy or any other issue that prevents them from driving can survive here. And forget getting around in a wheelchair. The handicapped entrances are hard to find and hidden, as though they want to hide people with disabilities. And getting from shop to shop can be fraught with difficulty.
I almost laughed today when the snooty man referred to this place as "Downtown Lenox." I think Irmo, South Carolina is more industrial; Lexington is a veritable metropolis by comparison. And you can definitely get around Irmo or Lexington without a car much, much more easily than Lenox, Massachusetts.
I'm a bit mad at myself for making plans to stay here so long. If anything, staying in Lenox has made me yearn to go home, which is probably a good thing.
Northampton was wonderful; I could live there. The people were friendly, the town was so easy to get around that I didn't even need the bus - although they have a bus if you need one. And Northampton is a very liberal, progressive town. Throughout it, at businesses, churches, and even places at Smith, there were rainbow flags welcoming LGBT people and signs with "Black Lives Matter" presented proudly. Yet, in Lenox, everything has the same stale look. It is a town built around privilege - in terms of class, ability, and race. It is an uncomfortable town. I felt at home in Northampton; I feel like an outcast here.
I guess one cool thing is I found the hill where the sledding accident that inspired Wharton to write Ethan Frome took place. At the top of the hill is an 18th century church called simply "The Church on the Hill."
I finally leave on Wednesday, which cannot come soon enough. I'm going to high-tail it out of here Wednesday morning and head for the airport, not once looking back. I will probably go see The Mount one more time, but I can't say I want to return here any time soon, if ever. Northampton, however, I will definitely return to.
Lenox is basically a rich people vacation town - specifically, a white rich people town. Seriously, there are no people of color here. None. Everything is very spread out and difficult to find. The public transportation is lousy. And there seems to be an overall snooty attitude. The librarians were nice, but that is all. More important, most of these buildings are not very accessible, and trying to get around this town is challenging, to say the least. Oh, and I've seen Trump bumper stickers (that's stickers, plural). Jolly!
One thing that is rather creepy and confirms this town's status as a white rich people area is the number of places where you can get plastic surgery - all just around the corner from your local candy store! I shit you not; this building was just beside a bakery:
And I saw this one when I left a little sandwich place that was situated amid several little chocolate and candy stores:
I don't know if this is like when you see a Marble Slab next to a Jenny Craig, but damn. I guess this explains why many women in this town have solid, unmoving facial expressions.
Curiously, it is incredibly difficult to find an ATM in this village. I would assume Yankees need cash just like anyone else, but good luck getting it. Back home, you can find one on most street corners, and there will always be one in a grocery store, drug store, or gas station.
In New England, not so. I have had to ride a taxi to get around in this town, which is sucking me dry financially, and the driver was kind enough to help me find one - we had to go to three places just to find an ATM! Today, when I left my hotel, I asked a man in a shop for some help finding one. He had to think for a while. When I said I was confused by the lack of ATMs in the North compared with the South, he snorted at me, then said, "This is New England" with a malicious look in his eyes. Thanks, dude.
I haven't done much today other than check out the library again, read, and write. And that's pretty much all there is to do. This is a village without much to find, and I cannot stress enough how hard it is to get around. Everything is expensive, too.
The town grocery store is really a glorified convenience store. I think I've seen nicer 7/11's. The store is filthy, and everything is smashed together and overpriced. I get the importance of having local businesses, but I'll take my Bi-Lo or Publix over this crap any day. At least there the vegetables aren't covered by flies, and you can actually find food to cook.
I would be very curious to learn the statistics on people with disabilities in this town. It's financial murder being here without a car, and I can't imagine how Lenox's citizens with epilepsy or any other issue that prevents them from driving can survive here. And forget getting around in a wheelchair. The handicapped entrances are hard to find and hidden, as though they want to hide people with disabilities. And getting from shop to shop can be fraught with difficulty.
I almost laughed today when the snooty man referred to this place as "Downtown Lenox." I think Irmo, South Carolina is more industrial; Lexington is a veritable metropolis by comparison. And you can definitely get around Irmo or Lexington without a car much, much more easily than Lenox, Massachusetts.
I'm a bit mad at myself for making plans to stay here so long. If anything, staying in Lenox has made me yearn to go home, which is probably a good thing.
Northampton was wonderful; I could live there. The people were friendly, the town was so easy to get around that I didn't even need the bus - although they have a bus if you need one. And Northampton is a very liberal, progressive town. Throughout it, at businesses, churches, and even places at Smith, there were rainbow flags welcoming LGBT people and signs with "Black Lives Matter" presented proudly. Yet, in Lenox, everything has the same stale look. It is a town built around privilege - in terms of class, ability, and race. It is an uncomfortable town. I felt at home in Northampton; I feel like an outcast here.
I guess one cool thing is I found the hill where the sledding accident that inspired Wharton to write Ethan Frome took place. At the top of the hill is an 18th century church called simply "The Church on the Hill."
I finally leave on Wednesday, which cannot come soon enough. I'm going to high-tail it out of here Wednesday morning and head for the airport, not once looking back. I will probably go see The Mount one more time, but I can't say I want to return here any time soon, if ever. Northampton, however, I will definitely return to.
Friday, May 20, 2016
The Mount, Part Une
Well, friends, today I visited The Mount, and it was just as majestic and beautiful as I had hoped. I took so many pictures that the battery to my camera died. As a result, I have far too many pictures to put on the blog; however, I will post some of the best. Also, I am exhausted, so today's post will be more of a picture collection than a write up. I intend to visit The Mount again while I'm here, so later this week I will write a more thorough post about Wharton and the history of her house.
The estate is about 113 acres, which Wharton and her husband bought upon her success with The House of Mirth. The Mount's website has an excellent and concise article about the history of the estate. Built in 1902, The Mount is glorious and was one of Wharton's favorite places, although she moved to France in 1911 and never lived in America again after that. The house and estate were private property until it was transformed into a girls' school in 1942. By the 1970s, the school went bankrupt, and the house was used by the Shakespeare Company until the 1990s when historic restorations began. Now, it is a registered historic home and one of only 5% of historic sites devoted to women.
When I arrived, the docent asked me if I knew anything about Edith Wharton. When I told her I wrote my Master's thesis on her, she goes, "Oh, so you know about this house, then?" I told her yes, and I declined the offer to take a group tour. I prefer exploring things for myself, and later when I overheard the tour I was glad I declined: the information they were giving about Edith's work during World War I was so basic that my teeth were gnashing; I wanted to pipe in SO BADLY and fill in the gaps, but instead I gritted my teeth and walked to another room. Here are some shots of the entrance:
The estate is beautiful...and Wharton designed it herself! To me, that is the really cool thing about this house and estate: not only did not belong to one of America's most important authors who was also a woman, but the author herself designed it.
There are three floors: the first has little and was basically where guests would enter so that the butler could decide whether they were worthy of visiting; the second floor has the drawing room, library, and den, and from there is where you can access the veranda (which is exquisite!); the third floor has the bedrooms, including Edith's, Teddy's, a guest room, and Henry James's room (as Edith's mentor and best friend, he was a frequent guest).
As you can see the staircase was elegant. Although, I have no idea why the docents running this place chose this leopard print carpet to put on the stairs. I understand having carpet, but leopard print? You know who would have despised it most of all? Edith Wharton! Especially given she often said cats were just snakes with fur.
There was not much to photograph on the first floor, other than some servant areas. Doesn't this just make you feel like you're on Downton Abbey? Speaking of which, Edith's butler was very close to her, and he came with her when she got married and worked for her until his death. Very Carson and Lady Mary.
Also, Edith put an elevator in her house. Pretty swanky!
The second floor is lovely and very bright.
On the third floor is Edith's bedroom and her boudoir, which she used as an office. Teddy Wharton and Henry James had rooms, too. The museum noted that a lot of the furniture in Edith's rooms is donated, and they had corresponding pictures that were taken in Edith's day so that you could see what it really looked like. The desk, however, really was Edith's.
Because this post is already extremely long, I'll put up pictures of the grounds tomorrow. I took an ungodly number of pictures, and I'm sure all of you will enjoy them. For now, so long!
Laura
The estate is about 113 acres, which Wharton and her husband bought upon her success with The House of Mirth. The Mount's website has an excellent and concise article about the history of the estate. Built in 1902, The Mount is glorious and was one of Wharton's favorite places, although she moved to France in 1911 and never lived in America again after that. The house and estate were private property until it was transformed into a girls' school in 1942. By the 1970s, the school went bankrupt, and the house was used by the Shakespeare Company until the 1990s when historic restorations began. Now, it is a registered historic home and one of only 5% of historic sites devoted to women.
When I arrived, the docent asked me if I knew anything about Edith Wharton. When I told her I wrote my Master's thesis on her, she goes, "Oh, so you know about this house, then?" I told her yes, and I declined the offer to take a group tour. I prefer exploring things for myself, and later when I overheard the tour I was glad I declined: the information they were giving about Edith's work during World War I was so basic that my teeth were gnashing; I wanted to pipe in SO BADLY and fill in the gaps, but instead I gritted my teeth and walked to another room. Here are some shots of the entrance:
The estate is beautiful...and Wharton designed it herself! To me, that is the really cool thing about this house and estate: not only did not belong to one of America's most important authors who was also a woman, but the author herself designed it.
There are three floors: the first has little and was basically where guests would enter so that the butler could decide whether they were worthy of visiting; the second floor has the drawing room, library, and den, and from there is where you can access the veranda (which is exquisite!); the third floor has the bedrooms, including Edith's, Teddy's, a guest room, and Henry James's room (as Edith's mentor and best friend, he was a frequent guest).
As you can see the staircase was elegant. Although, I have no idea why the docents running this place chose this leopard print carpet to put on the stairs. I understand having carpet, but leopard print? You know who would have despised it most of all? Edith Wharton! Especially given she often said cats were just snakes with fur.
There was not much to photograph on the first floor, other than some servant areas. Doesn't this just make you feel like you're on Downton Abbey? Speaking of which, Edith's butler was very close to her, and he came with her when she got married and worked for her until his death. Very Carson and Lady Mary.
Also, Edith put an elevator in her house. Pretty swanky!
The second floor is lovely and very bright.
Because this post is already extremely long, I'll put up pictures of the grounds tomorrow. I took an ungodly number of pictures, and I'm sure all of you will enjoy them. For now, so long!
Laura
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