(function() { (function(){function b(g){this.t={};this.tick=function(h,m,f){var n=void 0!=f?f:(new Date).getTime();this.t[h]=[n,m];if(void 0==f)try{window.console.timeStamp("CSI/"+h)}catch(q){}};this.getStartTickTime=function(){return this.t.start[0]};this.tick("start",null,g)}var a;if(window.performance)var e=(a=window.performance.timing)&&a.responseStart;var p=0=c&&(window.jstiming.srt=e-c)}if(a){var d=window.jstiming.load; 0=c&&(d.tick("_wtsrt",void 0,c),d.tick("wtsrt_","_wtsrt",e),d.tick("tbsd_","wtsrt_"))}try{a=null,window.chrome&&window.chrome.csi&&(a=Math.floor(window.chrome.csi().pageT),d&&0=b&&window.jstiming.load.tick("aft")};var k=!1;function l(){k||(k=!0,window.jstiming.load.tick("firstScrollTime"))}window.addEventListener?window.addEventListener("scroll",l,!1):window.attachEvent("onscroll",l); })();

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Lenox





A week ago today I was en route to the Adirondack house and chose to take a short detour to the Berkshires to visit Edith Wharton's restored home, The Mount, in Lenox, Mass. I had the place nearly to myself (always my preference when touring). The gardens, though past their summer prime, were still lovely.


Photography was prohibited indoors - a nuisance, as I would have particularly liked to show you what was going on on the third floor. I had expected to see bedrooms done in period style. Instead, it had been given over to life-size vignettes from Wharton's novel, Fruit of the Tree. Wharton did first-hand research for this novel in the textile mills of nearby North Adams - unheard of at the time for a lady of her background and social standing. Locals had contributed period clothing, jewelry, furniture and accessories, not to mention talent - and the result was surprisingly effective. Next year there will be something entirely different in its place - a good plan, I think, to get people to keep coming back.




I hadn't been to Lenox before, so I poked around the town for a bit afterwards. Here's the reading room of the local public library.



And the periodicals on display at the local bookstore. Agni is there; all is well.


1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

my husband and i visited 'the mount' recently---i loved it...we bought all sorts of books...for some reason, i am discovering edith wharton only now at 62...i long for her facility with language--i was inspired to read more of her books after reading her ghost stories...they are wonderful...i had also read that the mount was haunted but the staff said no...hmmmm...i like your blog...i love the idea for a reading group where everyone reads whatever they want and then come together to discuss...i have never joined one because i just cannot read what i do not want to read!!

11:34 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home