Hello, Guest! [Login] [Register]
Rural Intelligence: The Online Magazine for Eastern New York, Western Connecticut and the Southern Berkshires
Search Archives:

RI Archives: Rural Road Trips

View past Excursions articles.

View all past Rural Road Trip articles.


Pin Us Up on Pinterest
Become a
Facebook Fan
Find Rural Intelligence on Facebook
Follow RI on Twitter
Twitter.com/RuralIntel


Turkana Odyssey

Berkshire Property Agents

Filler - No Boundaries

Seven Salon Spa

Cupboards and Roses

Travel Essentials

Amtrak Empire Service between Albany, Hudson or Rhinecliff, NY and Penn Station, NYC

Amtrak 449 Lake Shore Limited between Pittsfield and South Station, Boston

Bonanza Bus Lines between Williamstown, Lee, Stockbridge, Great Barrington, MA, or Canaan, CT and Port Authority Bus Terminal, NYC

Mega-bus between Albany and Ridgewood, N.J. and Penn Station, NYC

Metro-North Railroad between Wassaic, Dover Plains, or Poughkeepsie, NY and Harlem (125th Street)  or Grand Central Station, NYC

Peter Pan Bus Lines between *Albany, Great Barrington, *Lee, Lenox, *Pittsfield, Stockbridge, Williamstown and Boston South Station and Boston Logan Airport  (*greater frequency, better fares)

Weather Underground
The radar is especially useful for tracking snow, sleet and thunderstorms.

Gas Prices
The price of gas at many of the stations in your zip code and those immediately surrounding it. 

Historic Homes, Museums & Gardens

Adams, MA
Susan B. Anthony Birthplace & Museum

Annandale-on-Hudson, NY
Rural Intelligence Road Trips
Montgomery Place
A 434-acre intact Hudson River Valley estate

Athens, NY

Howard Hall Farm a laboratory for restoration training

Austerlitz, NY

Old Austerlitz

Catskill, NY

Cedar Grove home of Hudson River School founder, painter Thomas Cole

Germantown, NY

Clermont an early Hudson River estate

Rural Intelligence Road Trips
Olana home of Hudson River School painter Frederic Church

Hudson, NY

The American Museum of Firefighting

Hyde Park, NY

Rural Intelligence Road Trips
Home of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt

Rural Intelligence Road Trips
The Vanderbilt Mansion relic of the Gilded Age

Kent, CT

Sloane Stanley Museum artist’s studio and tool collection

Kinderhook, NY

U. S. President Martin Van Buren house

Lenox, MA

Rural Intelligence Road Trips
The Mount Edith Wharton’s estate and gardens

Frelinghuysen Morris House & Studio Cubist paintings in a Modernist house

Ventfort Hall the Gilded Age Museum

Old Chatham, NY

Shaker Museum and Library

Pittsfield, MA

Hancock Shaker Village

Arrowhead home of Herman Melville.

Rhinebeck, NY

Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome aircraft and auto museum; air shows

Wilderstein Historic Site elaborate Queen-Anne style house of the Suckleys. 

Poughkeepsie, NY

Locust Grove home of Samuel F.B. Morse

Sheffield, MA

Ashley House c. 1735 house; oldest in Berkshire County

Staatsburgh, NY

Rural Intelligence Road Trips
Mills Mansion house remodeled in Beaux Arts style by McKim, Mead & White

Stockbridge, MA

Chesterwood Estate & Museum home of Lincoln memorial sculptor Daniel Chester French

Mission House 1739 house with Colonial Revival garden

Rural Intelligence Road Trips
Naumkeag McKim, Mead & White summer cottage and gardens

Williamstown, MA

The Folly at Field Farm Modernist house and sculpture garden

[See more Excursion articles]

Lenox Celebrates Its Gilded Age

Rural Intelligence: Rural Road Trips: Excursions Image

Ventfort Hall Mansion and Gilded Age Museum in Lenox

When Edith Wharton lived in Lenox in the early 20th century, the town was known as the “inland Newport.”  Unlike the famous Rhode Island resort with its Cliff Walk that allows visitors to oogle a 3.5 mile long strip of mansions, Lenox’s connection to the Gilded Age is less conspicuous (and its vestiges are mostly “hidden” away at places like Canyon Ranch and Stonover Farm.) Even the Ventfort Hall Mansion and Museum of the Gilded Age—a formidable 19th century brick pile that is being renovated slowly but meticulously—is tucked away near the center of town, behind some banal late 20th century houses on Walker Street.

Rural Intelligence Road TripsBut this weekend, Lenox celebrates its history as a refuge for the rich and famous with A Weekend of the Gilded Age and a full program of events. One of the (free) highlights of the weekend is the annual “Lenox Tub Parade” at 1 PM on Saturday, which features a parade of horse drawn carriages (aka “tubs”) with passengers wearing period costumes.
Weekend of the Gilded Age
September 12 -14
Lenox, MA
413.637.3646 or 413.637.3206

(0) Comments

Enjoy this post? Share it with others.

TwitThis    Facebook    del.icio.us    Email    StumbleUpon    Pinterest   

Posted by Dan Shaw on 09/11/08 at 03:26 PM • Permalink