Ask: Please sign-up by August 10th.
Website: https://edithwharton.org
We will meet at the parking lot of Edith Wharton's estate, the Mount, at 11 am.
After welcomes and name tags, we'll stroll the approximately 1/4 mile to Edith Wharton's house. Along the way, we'll pass through the beautiful Wharton's Woods and take in the Mount's 2025 juried sculpture exhibition. (Golf cart transportation for those who prefer.)
At 11:45, we'll be treated to the main event: a private tour of Edith Wharton's magnificent gilded age mansion. The tour will last 45-60 minutes. (Note: If alums have specific requests as to which books they would like to see as a special part of our tour, please let Shawn know, and the Mount will accommodate these requests.)
At 1pm, we'll proceed to the Mount's terrace cafe for a leisurely lunch. If our numbers are below 10, we will individually purchase lunch. If our numbers are above 10, the Mount has asked that we do a buffet lunch at a cost of $26/person inclusive of tax and tip.
At 2pm, our tour of the Mount will continue with a focus on the (stunning) English and Italian gardens. This portion of the tour will take 30-45 minutes with lots of places to sit down along the way.
At the end of our garden tour, we will make our way through an extension of the Wharton Woods to Highlawn Farm, famous in the Berkshires for its ice cream and the cutest cows on record. This flat hike will take about 20-25 minutes, and we will have to get creative here with some alums not doing this hike but instead backtracking to the parking lot and driving over to Highlawn Farms, with the idea that these alums/cars will ferry all ice-cream eaters back to our starting point at the Mount. Transportation by golf cart from the mansion to the parking lot will also be available.
The day will end at about 3:30.
Notes:
1. For those who are staying the night, book ahead for dinner in Lenox, or take in a play at Shakespeare and Company or the Berkshire Theatre Group. (Unfortunately, there is no performance at Tanglewood in the evening.) There is also lake swimming close by at the edge of the Wharton Woods.
2. Fran Hurley (Ed.D. 1999) and Karen Slade (Ed.M. 1994) will host this event and invite each of you for a fun, festive, knowledge- and beauty-filled day.
Backstory:
From the Mount's website: Edith Wharton (1862-1937) was born into a tightly controlled society at a time when women were discouraged from achieving anything beyond a proper marriage. Yet, Wharton broke through these strictures to become one of America’s greatest writers. Author of The Age of Innocence, Ethan Frome, and The House of Mirth, she wrote over 40 books in 40 years, including authoritative works on architecture, interior design, gardens, and travel. She was the first woman awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, an honorary Doctorate of Letters from Yale University, and full membership in the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
In 1901, Wharton bought 113-acres in Lenox, then designed and built the Mount, a home that would meet her needs as designer, gardener, hostess, and above all, writer. Every aspect of the estate—including its architecture, interior design, and gardens—evokes the spirit of its creator.
In a letter to her lover, Morton Fullerton, Wharton revealed how much of herself she put into The Mount:
“I am amazed at the success of my efforts. Decidedly, I’m a better landscape gardener than novelist, and this place, every line of which is my own work, far surpasses The House of Mirth…"