Edith Wharton, an award-winning novelist, also designed and built her home.
Dubbed The Mount, the home in Lenox, Massachusetts, would meet her needs as a designer, gardener, hostess and above all, writer.
Credit: Sarah Kenyon
The Mount was completed in 1902. It now serves as a cultural center that celebrates Wharton’s intellectual, artistic and humanitarian legacy.
A group visit to The Mount encompasses tours of the house and/or gardens with a private tour guide. Tours can be individualized to a particular group’s interests, such as architecture. Wharton wrote books on house and garden design, which greatly influenced the building of The Mount.
“It is an autobiographical house, illuminating Wharton’s nature just as much as her writings,” said Rebecka McDougall, director of communications and community outreach. “After the formal tours, groups are free to tour the house and grounds on their own, shop in our bookstore or enjoy a cool drink at the Terrace Cafe.”
McDougall said most visitors enjoy learning more about Wharton’s range of interests and abilities, her personal life, her intense love of dogs, her friends and her lover.
“Edith Wharton was extremely skilled in house and garden design,” McDougall said. “She worked with the best architects and designers of her day, including Ogden Codman Jr., whose work is reflected in the interior of The Mount. And she worked with Beatrix Jones Farrand, Edith Wharton’s niece, another extraordinarily accomplished woman, who blazed her own impressive career designing gardens for Morgans and Rockefellers, whose designs are greatly admired and emulated today.”
Credit: John Seakwood
The Mount offers discounts for groups of 10 or more, which entitles the group to its own private tour guide and flexibility of schedules. Large groups are divided among two or more guides to provide a more enjoyable and personalized experience.
Other types of specialty tours for book clubs and the very popular ghost tours also are available for groups. Visitors may arrange lunch on the Terrace overlooking the gardens.
For more information on The Mount, call 413-551-5111 or visit edithwharton.org.
