Class Book ><^^^ GopightN?- CiJI-MyGHT DEPOSIT. PRICE 75 CENTS. Tf]z j^Ew ;.^<.<^ 0/ GliA^K W. BjRYAN 3t CO. PUBLISHERS, Springfield, Mass. Established 1864 THE TRAVELERS Insurance Company of hartford, conn. Largest Accident Company in the World, only large one in america the home 0F!--'CE Assets Surplus $11,528,649.30 $2,365534.06 Paid Policy-Holders $18,000,000 $1,580,000 in 1889 James G. Batterson, President. Rodney Dennis, Secretary. John E. Morris, Asst. Secretary- Growing Old Gracefully Is a subject that writers and others are very apt to turn their thoughts to, when they find that staying young is no longer possible, but the wiser way is to begin while yet young by taking out a good round policy of Life Insurance. A policy that calls for no more payments, but may be converted into cash if necessary, is one of the finest mental tonics that the elderly mind can contemplate. For particulars apply to THE JIaSSACHUSETTS ^UTUyqL Life- Insurance cocdpapjy. OF SPKINOFIELD, MASS. ASSETS, December 31, 1889, $10,415,817.64 LIABILITIES, December 31, 1889, 9,558,475.63 SUR 'LUS BY MASS. STANDARD, $ 857,342.01 GROWTH OF THE MASSACHUSETTS MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE CO., BY YEARS. AMOUNT OP NEW BUSINESS WRITTEN IN THE YEAR 1880, $3,929,904 1885, $7,992,020 1881, 4,101,705 1886, 8,064,390 1882, 4,085,070 1887, 10,022,465 1883, 5,917,950 1888, 12,007,550 1884, 6,343,270 1889, - - 15,032,200 M. V. B. EDGEELY, Pkesidknt. HENRY S. LEE, Vice-President. JOHN A. HALL, Secretary OSCAR B. IRELAND, Actuary. E. D. CAPRON, Assistant Sec. L. L, BROWN PAPER CO. ADAMS, MASS., U. S. A. MANUFACTUBBRS OF FIRST-CLASS Lineo Ledger and Record PAPERS 9 Which will stand the severest tests of erasure and re- writing, being These papers possess unusual streugth and beauty, and contain a sizing that resists the severest erasure and re-writing tests. Every ream is water-marked with name, and put up with binders' boards, trimmed perfectly square and ready for ruline machine. NEW BOOK OF BERKSHIRE}. o w H c Li! C >■ w A NEJV BOOK OF BERKSHIRE, Which gives the history of the past, mid forecasts the bright and glowing future of Berkshire s Hills and Homes, * Telling luhere they are and how to find them ; what they are, and why they are what they are — at once the most charming and desirable Summer Homes in the world. 1^- -NT Clark W. Bryan & Co., Publishers, SPRINGFIELD, MASS. ■v"" \^ f1^ 3^^"^ iuM '■.j;V J?^ i 1 -i*>- 1 ^^^ m ^m ^^a^itstOTrfffigg^^^g^^ 1 rlf^iJ||jpp)B{llB|M[| fSbi ^^^^h ^^^|3|fcf^twS?5Mff«:r-i.aaT«iv^?»::' <-^^n ' n;^^ ^^^ m ^ ^^^gs^ if 1 a^^ ^^^^^0 ^ ^^ta a^^^^S^^ei^ Mm ji " '' "fflSW liffiH*'^ ■ JBUjBB K.^4vE4ttislB "*^1»* '^^^■ilw MlHBBB^B^B^B HuUUIR lHj vSi^sw ^^^M P ^^ fi^HUHii n 9^1^^ 1 Dome of the Taconics— (Mount Washington.) Copyright, 1890. AH Righls Reserved. PRKKATORY. THE outcome of a thorough revision and re-writing of The Book of Berkshire, originally published in 1886, is A New Book of Berkshire for 1890. The words of intro- duction used on the occasion of the first issue of the book are as jiertinent and proper now as then, and were these : — Berkshire, by common consent, is not only a good place to be born in, but a good place to live in, and a good place to die in, as well. It is also prominently recognized as a good place to go out from, and equally a good place to come back to. Its tradi- tions are marvelously full, rich and interesting. Its history is replete with story, song and incident — with mention of good deeds, of patriotism, valor, chivalry and refinement; of enviable record and renown, and ''last, but not least," — so to speak — it is big with promise for the future ; that is to say, To-Day sees rising from the embers of its altars and its fires of Yesterday, a wealth of golden wreaths around the brows of fame and fortune, with which to gloriously perpetuate its To-Morrow. The record which Berkshire has made, both at home and abroad, is one to be proudly recited and to be read of admiringly and profitably. Its beauties of form, its favorable features of landscape, and its pictures of loveliness, in combination, are unsurpassed, however broad the comparison may be made. A Berkshire birth is something to be proud of, a Berkshire sojourn a delight, a rest, a recreation, a circumstance of pleas- ant memory, ever after, and a Berkshire residence a rich and THE BOOK OF BERKSHIRE. enjoyable life experience, far beyond that of *Hhe common lot of humanity/' as scattered broadcast over the earth. To illustrate and describe — all too briefly, however, — what God and man have done for this region among the hills; to pict- ure its beauties and glories, and to forecast the possibilities and the probabilities of Berkshire as it may be, is the object of the issue of this little book. The work of its preparation has been a labor of love, albeit that labor has been exacting, perplexing and sometimes discouraging. But it has had the pleasant thought and careful consideration of several years, the best efforts of our head, heart, hands and feet for many months, and these would have fallen far short of what has been accomplished, but for the valuable assistance and aid which have been so freely accorded to the enterprise. Our Book, as the public will readily discover, is prepared in a spirit of much enthusiasm regarding the subject matter in hand. Should the reader feel that there is, as the late Artemas Ward, once said, " Too Mutch " in this vein, and incline to the opinion that it savors somewhat of "gush," by comparing our own writ- ing with those from the " outside world," from whose eminent and conservative pens we have made quotations, it will be seen that we are in good company in making up our estimate of the Berkshire Hills and Homes. With this much of remark we close this ceremony of intro- duction with the simple announcement that whether The Book OF Berkshire is good or bad, perfect or imperfect, valuable or valueless, worthy or unworthy of regard and patronage, it is pe- culiarly its own, and strong in individuality, if in nothing else. It is not a History, nor is it a hastily prepared Guide Book, alone, but it is The Book of Berkshire, now A I^ew Book of Berkshire. The Publishers. BKRKSH IRK, ERKSHIRE, among all the summer resorts of the United States, is the solitary representa- tive of its kind. There is no other such combination of the wild and the beautiful in nature — of perfect harmony in variety. An- other region may be found conspicuous for imposing wildness, another that is pretty, possibly beautiful ; others may be healthful and invigorating, pleasant places for summer sojoiirn and interesting in their surroundings, where guests may find agreeable provision for " -_ theii comfort and enjoyment ; but there is not """ *" another region with which Berkshire must divide the honor of having all these at once — certainly, none possessing them all in the same high degree. Though the sublime work of nature may be found here, it is subservient to extraordinary beauty in the general eiSect upon the visitor. In the quality of this beauty Berkshire admits no rival ; if duplicates of its other claims may be found scattered else- where, the beauty of its scenery is unique and unrivaled. It seems as if, walled in from outside contamination and set apart from the spoiling hand of manufacture and traffic, here had been assembled the choicest touches of the Creator's handiwork. In most mountainous regions there is a tiresome similarity among the mountains, the hills, the forests, the valleys, the streams and the land- scape, but this is not so in Berkshire. Here, not only has no other region been patterned from, but the mountains and hills, on every hand, are fashioned in the most varied styles, the valleys are no two alike, and the scenery everywhere passes before the eye of the traveler in the richest and most lavish profusion of dissimilar characteristics. Amid all this, not an inharmonious effect is perceptible ; but, more than this, there is a marvelous blending of masterpieces of natural beauty, of the wild and the picturesque. Though there is civilization, somehow THE BOOK OF BEKKSHIKE. a wilderness is not out of place, and though the surface of the earth be ruffled and rugged, often forest- covered and untillable, yet it impresses one as the fittest dwelling-place of the highest civilization, above and removed from the toil and trouble, the money getting struggle of busi- ness and professional life. The effect of the environment upon the visitor from cities, upon the hard worker who would seek refuge from the cares of life and a tiresome noise and bustle, is of a most soothing character. Not only are the nerves rested from an irritating tension, but there is something about the scenery that imparts a quietude, a repose, a freedom from distrac- tion, a healing with the balm of Dame Nature. The unequaled harmony of the surroundings exhales an influence that enraptures the beholder, and creates within him an inward form of the external. The hills and mountains of Berkshire are now gentle and sloping in their lines, now wild and broken, sheltering well watered, thoroughly cultivated valleys, where towns and villages, famous for their beauty, hide among the trees ; a region of lakes, mountain torrents, glens, lovers' lanes, rocks, and echoes ; a region, too, where one may spend the summer and not die of ennui from lack of good and congenial society. People who go to mountain resorts expect to suffer more or less dis- comfort, to step out of civilization and enter primitive communities, to whom the world is strange, if not unknown. Berkshire, of all of them, is alone the place where this expectation is disappointed. One may leave a civilization to come here, but he enters another ; he may abandon a pleasant home, but he finds a new one of unalloyed charms. He escapes from a world that is in many respects uncongenial, and discovers in its neighborhood, yet separated from it, a region of the best civilized insti- tutions, thriving in their own soil, and at the same time deriving nour- ishment from foreign soils. Here his ideas and feelings will be as cosmopolitan as in New York or Boston, and the comforts of living, all things considered, many fold en- hanced, unless during the winter, and even then there are pleasures unknown to city life. The daily morning newspapers of Springfield and Albany are received by nine o'clock or earlier ; New York and Boston morning papers arrive before noon ; evening papers are recei^ ed on the same date ; numerous mails are in daily receipt, including Sunday. The facilities for telegraphing and telephoning are ample in every part of the county, and a dozen excellent local newspapers collect and spread the news. Local tradesmen are provided with an abundance and a large variety of the goods, the wares and the merchandise of the world. The THE BOOK OF BEEKSHIRE. central jjart of the county being but 110 miles from salt water, the food that is brought therefrom is always fresh and abundant. There is nothing in the way of nutriment, either for body or mind, that is not common in Berkshire and may not be had easily and cheaply. A journey from New York city to the southern half of the county, which is the portion of this famous region most sought, requires but four hours and a half in drawing-room cars or in first class passenger cars that are the tidiest and best furnished and finished ones in the United States. The distance is about 150 miles. From Boston the time is less than five hours, the distance being a little over 150 miles. Three lines of railway cross the region, and a line of railways extends up and down. At the north end is the Hoosac Tunnel route of the Fitchburg road; in the center the Boston & Albany; at the south end the Central New England and Western road, from Hartford to and across the Pough- keepsie bridge. From the center of the county, at Pittsfield, to the north end runs the Pittsfield & North Adams railroad, and towards the south runs the Housatonic road to Bridgeport, where connection is had with the New York, New Haven & Hartford road. These railway lines afford accommodations for travel to and from the region that make it easily accessible, and that make the return to the city an easy and short matter. No railroad in the country has taken greater pains to accommodate people who go to summer resorts than have been taken by the Housatonic road. Through cars on express trains are run to and from New York in about four hours and a half, and, if the traveler does not care to take the drawing-room car, he can ride in a car that almost seems like one, with its brussels carpet, toilet-room, fine upholstery and cabinet finish. He can leave New York in the morning and eat a noon dinner in Berkshire, or leave near the close of business hours and eat a late dinner or supiier here. The facilities for return are equally good, for he can leave Berk- shire at several convenient times, the last one being about 5 p. m., when an express ti'ain leaves, to arrive in New York about nine. Several express trains run both ways, and for Monday morning return a special one arriyes in New York about 11.45 a. m. Within five hours of this region, over these railroads and connecting lines, there are about ten millions of people, the most intellectual, the most cultivated, the most wealthy on the continent, and possessing the highest social develojiment, and from these people, are contributed those who resort to Berkshire and can appreciate its offerings. The Berkshire region has been referred to as a summer resort, but it is more than this. It is the only autumn resort in the United States, 10 TUE BOOK OF BERKSHIRE. takinj? no account of mere sportsmen's resorts. The seaside resorts are not frequented in autumn, because of the raw winds and the dreary out- look ; inland resorts, away from mountains, lose their attractiveness witli the loss of hot weather, and the visitor is no longer able to keep up his indulgences with comfort ; and in the mountainous regions, gener- ally thei-e is no autumn, except in name, and the passage from summer to wintry weather is rapid. But in Berkshire there is an autumn of sur- passing loveliness. The air may get a frosty keenness and there may be some cold waves, but these are only the cheap price of ruddy cheeks and elastic muscles, a clear brain and bountiful flow of spirits. In place of the dreary time that comes upon most resorts by the middle of September, Berkshire often gets a climate that is quite mild up to the middle of November, and now and then a month later. As September passes, the foliage begins to turn from green to brilliant and varied liues. It is said by travelers to be true that nowhere else in the world are such wonderful effects in autumn foliage coloring seen as here. As the leaves lose their green, the reds, scarlets, cardinals, yellows, purples, in a dozen shades, interspersed with evergreens, all in iufinite arrangements, con- front the beholder on every hand with their amazing spectacles. Every mountain is a huge bouquet, chameleon like under the changing sunlight. In October the leaves fall, coloring the very breezes into brilliance as they float along in irregular buoyancy, and making vast carpets, woven with a gigantic hand, from the richest colors. Toward the close of this, an eastern wind and rain will obliterate the last vestiges of the delaying leaves on the trees, and in a night the genii of the storm will transform the illuminated forest into bare limbs and twigs. But the scenery is by no means spoiled. The hazy-bluish browns and greens alternate with darker shades, and the winter snow and sleet at last whiten the limbs or clothe them with diamonds. A driving wmd will so place the snow upon the limbs that it seems at a distance as if some great spirit had blown his breath upon the forest and it had frozen there. The most striking effect of all is caused by a rain, that freezes as it falls ; then an icy coat is put about everything, and among the curious and strange results, the long, slim, white birches are bowed to earth, and every part of every tree is bent into graceful curves, making pictures that few city people ever saw, except in engravings, which, however, could never express the wonderful beauty of the rainbow colors made from the sunbeams by the refracting ice. Until such a time of the year Berkshire entertains guests, not only those who come to enjoy the country in good health, but those who come THE BOOK OF BERKSHIRE. 11 to find a sanitarium. Among the latter is a gentleman who has lived in the far South many years, where he had a home that he has abandoned for a home in Berkshire, declaring that his best health is realized here. An extract from a New York Herald editorial article expresses the dictum of hygienic science : " People in search of health are very eager to get to the mountains in summer, but ignore the hygienic properties of high level air in winter. Many invalids who cannot go to seaside winter resorts, and conclude that they must languish throughout the cold weather in their city homes, might do surprisingly well to try the beneficial effects of a winter sojourn on some of the moderate elevations of our Atlantic highlands." There is another point applicable alone to this region. One goes to other resorts to find himself a foreigner, as it were, and after the "'sea- son" is ovei", an intruder ; but he comes to Berkshire to a home. If he does not own a place here, still he can obtain the best of keeping at any time at highly attractive hotels. The making of an autumn season in Berkshire is due to the people who come to Lenox. In the waning of the summer they leave Newport and other places and take possession of their Berkshire homes or find entertainment at hotels. Until this was done it was not known by any but the permanent residents that the autumn season here was enjoyable ; and now the discovery of winter's beauties is keeping people later and later, even to the middle of January. So, Berkshire has become dear to a great many of the people who come here, because here they have established homes, built fine houses, and bought real landscape views, the paintings of which, in their wealth of beauty, would be worth thousands of dollars. One may withstand the allurements of all other resorts, but he capitulates to Berkshire as the only place choice enough for his country home. A New York Tribune correspondent, in 1885, wrote : "Nature certainly made one of her most successful efforts when this secluded and reStful region in Western Massachusetts was planned and brought forth. No- where else do little hamlets, with their white church spires pointing skyward, seem to nestle so cozily and contentedly among the hills ; no- where else do the lakes and rivers hold such flattering mirrors for the mountains, and nowhere else does Nature get from Jack Frost so tine a cloth of gold as she throws over the bosom of these hills." Again, it may be claimed solely for Berkshire that no other region offers such varied inducements to visitors, guests and new residents. They range from simple farm-house accommodations to hotels that are as delightfully agreeable homes as hotels can be, and where the fare is 12 THE BOOK OF BERKSHIRE. high class ; the temporary society is from that of people of quite limited means, who come to stay two weeks, for instance, to the elite of fashion and wealth, who have their homes here with all luxurious accessories. Old people can find seclusion and quiet ; children, isolation, where they will be tolerated ; brain workers, rest and recreation ; the man or woman of society and fashion, congenial surroundings ; houses can be hired for family use ; it is the place for the tourist as well as the resident — for the wheelman, the pedestrian, the horseback rider and tourists in carriages ; while it is much sought for camping out locations. One can find village life, with many villages to select from, or he can enjoy farm life ; he may pick from hotels or from private families ; he may keep house or board ; and he may live upon mountains and hills or in valleys. The roads of Berkshire have for years been known for their excellence. The drift gravel that is found in abundance has been freely used where the roads were naturally heavy with mud or sand, and the consequence is that everywhere— upon mountains as well as along valleys — the roads are smooth and hard, free from cobble stones, ruts and mud holes, and upon the main lines of travel as good as the roads in any pai-k in the country. For this reason wheelmen are numerous, and carriage driving general. Within a few years several towns have utilized stone-crushing machines, for further highway improvement. Pittsfield alone has laid over 20,000 square yards of macadam during the past four years. The manufacturing establishments that are in Berkshire are so situ- ated as to be in no wise offensive ; the typical factory village is nowhere to be found, but, on the contrary, the work-people generally live in neat homes. Mills are situated in narrow, deep valleys, where they are hidden from view. In paper manufacture Berkshire has been famous for nearly 100 years; wood pulp was first used successfully in paper-making in Lee ; the quality of the correspondence papers made at Dalton and South Lee, and of the record papers made at Dalton and Adams, is hardly equaled anywhere in the world, for reasons that are peculiar to the location. The excellent advanced schools that are in Berkshire afford such opportunities for education, that homes, permanent and temporary, are sought here by many people who have young children. In Great Bar- rington is a well taught High School, the Sedgwick Institute for boys, and the Housatonic Hall School for girls ; in Stockbridge, the Williams Academy and Prof. Hoffman's School for young men ; in Lee, Pittsfield, Adams, North Adams and Williamstown, excellent High Schools — in the last named and beautiful historic town, are located Williams College, THE BOOK OF BERKSHIRE. 13 and Glen Seminary for young ladies; in South Williamstown, Greylock Institute; Chickering's Commercial College, Prof. J. E. Peirson's School, for boys fitting for college, and Miss Saulsbury's School, for young ladies, in Pittsfield; in North Adams, Drury Academy; and the Robbins School, in Norfolk, Ct. Besides good schooling for children, for wealthy people who are the victims of municipal .extravagance and thievery in cities, Berkshire has many towns where taxes are light and the rate low. In freedom from contagious diseases Berkshire has always been for- tunate ; though it is almost a suburb of dense populations, yet it has a seclusion and a situation off the main lines of travel, so that the intro- duction of disease from without is not easy. Cholera never penetrated the region, though it came to the outskirts. Within the region the germs of disease do not thrive, partly on account of the altitude and the dry air, and partly because the sanitary conditions are high and the pre- cautions prompt and prescient. Every town has a board of health, and several villages have sewage systems. The people understand that filth furnishes nourishment for disease germs, and are careful to remove it to harmless places. The climate is dry, cool and bracing ; the elevation of the country has the effect of stimulation, it accelerates the breathing and the circulation, and gives tone to the nervous system. The disease most benefited is consumption, and the registration reports show that the mor- tality from this disease is less in Berkshire than in any other county of the state, being little more than half what it is in some of the maritime coun- ties. For children the air is extremely favorable ; cholera infantum, the summer scourge of cities, is rarely seen, and other summer diseases are comparatively rare and mild. The temperature is two to six degrees lower than it is in the lower country on the east and west. The drinking water is every where of extreme purity ; the principal villages get their water in pipes from mountainous springs, and where this is not done each family gets water from a spring or excellent well. The drinking water is never a source of disease. Within a very few years Berkshire has been getting a reputation for architecture. A large portion of the houses, of course, are in the usual style of country architecture, but scattered among them are many beau- tiful buildings that will surprise city people, accustomed as they are to square, monotonous, roofless houses. Mrs. Mark Hopkins's million dollar house in Great Barrington will rank among the finest in the United States ; the Congregational Church there is a beauty, and contains the best organ on the continent, and the parsonage adjoining is excelled hardly anywhere. In Stockbridge, St. Paul's Church is one of the I. — Lake Garfield 2.— Congregational Church, Lenox. 3. — Ancient House, South Egremont. 4 —Sage's Ravine, Mount Washington. 5.— Plantain Pond, Mount Wash- ington. THE BOOK OF BEUKSHIBE. choicest ones in the country, and among notable dwelling houses are those of Joseph H. Choate, the Rev. Dr. Henry M. Field, the late Henry Ivison, Lucius Tuckerraan, Charles E. Butler, C. F. Southmayd, the Town Offices, and others. In Lenox beautiful and superb dwellings lie on every hand, in locations commanding charming views ; only a few of these houses can be mentioned — those of Charles Lanier, the houses of W. D. Sloane, Dr. R. C. Greenleaf, F. A. Schermerhorn, John E. Parsons, William R. Robeson, William B. Shattuck, D. W. Bishop, George West- inghouse, Jr., ex-Secretary Frelinghuysen, C. G. Havens, and many others. Of late years the old colonial style has become very much in vogue. The new Ti'inity Church in Lenox is notable. Dwelling house architecture in Pittsfield has tine representatives in W. R. Allen's house, W. F. Milton's house, the residence of E. Pope Sampson, and many new cottages of unique and pretty design for successful young business men have sprung up within a few years. Architect H. Neil Wilson has been instrumental in bringing about many changes in this regard in the Athe- nasum, in Mrs. Pollock's house, and many others. Governor Weston's house, Hon. Zenas Crane's house, and the handsome new Congregational Church, in Dalton, James Renfrew's house in Adams, the new Morgan building, the Clarke building and the Hopkins memorial building at Williams College, are among the notable buildings, all of which would be given distinction anywhere. The geological formation of Berkshire has been the subject of much controversy for many years, and has long brought to the region the best geologists of the country and enlisted those who lived here — Prof. Amos Eaton, Di'. Chester Dewey, Prof. Ebenezer Emmons, Prof. Edward Hitch- cock and Prof. James D. Dana. Prof. Dana began to study the rocks in 1871, and continued with assiduity up to 1885, and he embodied a con- densed account of his conclusions in a paper read before the Berkshire Historical and Scientific Society, published in the Berkshire Courier of February 11, 1885. He sustains Prof. Emmons in these conclusions : " That this non-fossiliferous Taconic series was older than those Hudson river slates ; older than the lowest fossil bearing rocks of New York ; older than the oldest known rock of the New York Silurian, the Potsdam sandstone; therefore a distinct system of rocks, the Taconic System. In the geological series, the system, in his opinion, came in between the Adirondack rocks, or Archaean, and the Potsdam sandstone, the rock directly overlying the Archaean in Northern New York. Thus the name of the Taconic Mountains became of wide importance in geological science, for geologists abroad, as well as at home." 16 THE BOOK OF BERKSHIRE. Besides numerous literary, social and village improvement associa- tions in the towns, there are several county societies, to which it would be an honor to belong. The Historical and Scientific Society has done and is doing better work than any other county society of the kind in the country has done. There are three agricultural societies, one of them the second best in the state, and the old Berkshire, begun in 1807, is the pioneer in the country. The Berkshire County Bible Society was organ- ized in 1817, nearly the first in the country; the Berkshire and Columbia Missionary Society, established in 1798, was probably the earliest mis- sionary society organized in this country. The Berkshire Branch of the Woman's Board of Missions has about 1,700 members ; and there. is a Berkshire County Sunday School Union. The Clericus Club, organized by Rev. W. W. Newton of Pittsfield, and the Congregational Club, are among the newest county societies. While Berkshire has no dense population, on the other hand it is not so sparsely populated as to sufEer from paucity of numbers. The popu- lation of the county in 1885 was 74,000, and that of the principal towns, and those in which the visitor is interested, varies from about 14,500 to 160. The sojourner has a choice among villages varying in size from hamlets to cities, and among more rural places that descend in popula- tion, from village suburbs to an isolated farm-house in remote regions. The model villages of the American continent are in Berkshire : Stock- bridge, Lenox, Great Barriugton, Sheffield, Williamstown, Pittsfield— where can the like of these be found anywhere in the New World, and all within 45 miles of each other ? Indeed, some of these villages are absolutely unique; there is only one Stockbridge, no other Lenox, — none like Pittsfield, and but a single Williamstown. Each have attractions peculiarly its own, and yet each possessing traits in common with their sister villages. Amid the glory of these hills and valleys, villages have grown that lead a vast nation in beauty, in neatness, in picturesqueness, and in social composition. As Prof. Hitchcock writes, "Where does the traveler meet in any part of our land with lovelier spots than Pittsfield, Lenox, Lee, Stockbridge and Great Barrington ? " Unlike other resorts where a man finds his surroundings agreeable wherever he is able to pay for his keeping, Berkshire is composed of many distinctive communities where he who enters may find himself a sad misfit. One seeking the quiet of Stockbridge, would be out of place in fashionable Lenox, and if he should mistake Lenox for Mount Wash- ington, Cheshire or Tyringhara, he would be in a pitiable situation. Some THE BOOK OF BEKIiSHIRE. 17 idea of the peculiarities of each place is meant to be conveyed in this book, but after all, one may have to live here to know where he likes it best. He cannot toss a cent for choice among Berkshire's varieties. The guest will find Berkshire's hotel life most perfect — that is, where summer and autumn visitors are in the habit of going. There is no landlord here, with a vast building, bragging of its 500 or 1,500 rooms and who rarely comes in contact with his guests ; there is no place where the guests jostle each other as strangers and where they shift for them- selves, as in large hotels. But, on the contrary, fellow guests become acquaintances, associates and friends; the landlord, with perhaps an as- sistant, gives personal attention to their wants, and in every way they m-e made to feel at home, and as it were, members of one lai'ge family. Hotel keeping is an art that has reached a high development in Berkshire. The native people of Berkshire compare very favorably, indeed, with those of any region or city in the United States. Under good schools, reading habits ; leisure for study and thought, in the winter at any rate ; well developed electric, railway and postal communication; and under frequent traveling, these people, as a whole, are up with the times; they know what is going on in the world, they are abreast with the thought of the age, they live at least in comfort and often in luxury. The average well-to-do and wealthy people of the cities who come here, expecting to find a native population of country bumpkins, will be sur- prised in finding a large portion of the people as cosmopolitan as them- selves and many who are decidedly more intelligent. If the people act slower than city people do, the latter will be taught a lesson that if life is worth living, it is more worth the living when one takes time to de- rive the most happiness on the way. The city people who have acquired homes here have learned this lesson. The nature of the inhabitants of this region and its fitness for the residence of literary and of intellectual and cultivated people is attested by the famous people who were natives or who were nurtured here, and by the distinguished people who have found here a congenial atmos- phere. In the early days of Lenox as a resort, there came Nathaniel Hawthorne, Frances Anne Kemble, Henry Ward Beecher; John Morell left this town eventually to become Chief Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court. In Stockbridge, were Jonathan Edwards; Rev. Dr. H. M., David Dudley, Stephen D., and Cyrus W. Field; G. P. R. James'; Theodore Sedgwick, Mrs. Charles Sedgwick and Catherine Sedgwick; here the Rev. Dr. Mark Hopkins was born. In Great Barrington, there were notably William CuUen Bryant, the Rev. Samuel Hopkins and jg THE BOOK OF BEKKSHIRE. other members of the Hopkins family, from one of whom descended the Kev. Dr. Mark Hopkins, ex-president of Williams College, president of the American Board of Foreign Missions for over thirty years and a vig- orous writer on religious subjects. Sheffield is known as the native town of the Eev. Dr. Orville Dewey, of his sister Miss Jerusha Dewey, of his daughter Miss Mary E. Dewey; of President Frederick A. P. Barnard and of his brother Major General John G. Barnard; of Bishop Janes of the Methodist church; Prof. George F. Boot of Chicago, the musician; Judge Daniel Dewey of the Supreme Court; of Daniel Dewey Barnard, who was Minister to Prussia from 1849 to 1853. In New Marlboro, lived that stout defender of Calvinism, the Kev. Jacob Catlin. From Egre- mont weiit Grosvenor P. Lowrey, the New York lawyer. In Pittsfield were Herman Melville, Oliver Wendell Holmes; the Rev. William Allen, a native, afterwards president of Bowdoin College; Pittsfield is the home of Senator Dawes and has been the home of many distinguished politi- cians, judges and lawyers, among them Governor Briggs, Judges Julius Eockwell, James D. Colt, James M. Barker and Congressman Francis W. Rockwell. Governor E. D. Morgan of New York was a native of Wash- ington. The Rev. Dr. Barnas Sears was a native of Sandisfield, and was for ten years president of Brown University; "Josh Billings" lived and died in Lanesboro. Mrs. D. H. R. Goodale lived on Mount Washing- ton, where the childhood of her daughters, the poets, Elaine and Dora R., were passed. In Hinsdale were born Governor F. E. Warren, of Wyoming Territory; R. H. White, the Boston merchant; A. D. Matthews, Brooklyn's oldest merchant; President William E. Merriam, of Ripton College ; the Rev. Dr. John W. Yeomans, once president of La Fayette College. North Adams was for some time the home of the Rev. T. T. Munger. Col. T. J. Skinner, in Williamstown, was for many years Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas; Daniel N. Dewey was long a Probate Judge, and Charles A. Dewey, both from Sheffield stock, was a Judge of the Supreme Court. The mountain town of Peru has sent out two judges, four missionaries, besides one college president. The mention of these names, that come most readily to mind out of many more that have been or are distinguished, shows what kind of stock the permanent resident population of Berkshire is and some of the distinguished people who have found it a congenial home. Under each town, reference will be found made to well-known people who have summer and autumn homes here. A great gathering of the sons and daughters of Berkshire, who had gone into every part of the Union, was held at Pittsfield in 1844, when THE BOOK OF BEKKSHIEE. 19 there came to the meeting in person and in spirit a multitude of Berk- shire people, of whom.in many ways, the nation has time and again had abundant reasons for being proud. Governor Briggs was president; the Rev. Dr. Mark Hopkins preached a sermon ; poems were composed by Frances Anne Kemble, Mrs. Lydia H. Sigourney, Oliver Wendell Holmes, William Pitt Palmer and the Rev. Dr. William Allen. The oration was delivered by the Hon. Joshua A. Spencer of Oneida County, X. Y. ; and speeches and sentiments were given by Drake Mills, New York; Judge Charles A.Dewey, Northampton ; Thomas Allen, St. Louis ; Theodore Sedg- wick, New York ; the tragedian , Macready ; the Rev. Dr. Heman Humphrey, president of Amherst College; the Rev. Dr. Orville Dewey, New York; Prof. Chester A. Dewey, Rochester, N. Y., ; Josiah Quincy, New Hamp- shire ; David Dudley Field, and others. The assemblage was made up of a large number of people who were born in Berkshire or had spent a con- siderable portion of their lives here, among them being many distin- guished people. It need not be surprising, then, that the county abounds in literary and social clubs, in village improvement associations and in public and private libraries. The face of nature here is a stimulus to thought, to the imagination, to the higher feelings and emotions. If Berkshire renews the vitality of the tired worker who seeks recreation, so it creates and strengthens genius, talent and proficiency. In other resorts there is nothing beneath the outward show to hold the visitor after the effect becomes monotonous; but beneath the forms of beauty and majesty and harmony, of which one here never tires, there is something that consti- tutes an abiding place, a Promised Land, a fixed country home, "For Childhood's opening bloom, For sportive Youth to stray in, For Manhood to enjoy its strength, And Age to wear away in." XHE FUTURE OF BERKSHIRE. The future of no part of the country is more apparent than that of Berkshire. While other resorts see only a horde of sight-seers, a stream of humanity that hurries along as if in a public street, Berkshire, while entertaining transients, will be the great country home of the wealthy and cultivated people of New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Albany, Hart- ford, New Haven and the East. The tendency this way has been ap- 20 THE BOOK OF BERKSHIRE. parent for many years, but never so much as lately. The price of land for agricultural purposes is worth on the average hardly $50 an acre; but where the site commands a fine view or has a social value, the price has already gone up to hundreds of dollars an acre, and the time will come when thousands will be the measure of value outside of villages, as it is now within them. Within the distance of a day's ride on a railway, the 10,000,000 people of the present day, who will probably double their number in thirty years, are sending here increasing numbers of country home seekers every year, while the visitors of a transient character are coming more than ever before to stay a short time in one place or to make a tour of the region. Those now living may not live to see the time, but that time is surely coming when the sides and tops of every hill and mountain here and the best valley locations will all be taken up with the houses of the people to whom reference has been made. With the influx of this population comes the development of the aesthetic emotions in the beauty that is purchased by wealth and the sentiments that arise from it, and a development of the region itself, in making its treasures more accessible and in converting it into a vast inhabited park, charming the senses, invigorating the health, prompting thought aud imagination, a retiring place for the weary and a pleasure ground for ap- preciative thousands. Every year marks an increase in the summer home-making of the city cousin in the grand old Hills of Berkshire. t*,iv,.^r" ^^j#i I^KNOX. T is a conspicuous feature of Berkshire towns that though they all owe a kinship to Berk- shire characteristics, yet they have differen- tiated into individualities. Lenox, Stock- bridge, Great Barrington, Williamstowu, Pittsfield, Lee, Sheffield, Mount Washington, New Marlboro and Egremont will bear as strong contrasts among each other in nature and in society as each will bear with the world external to Berkshire, and yet all are distinctively Berkshire towns in their com- position. This unlikeness of parts in a gen- eral union of underlying constitution entitles Berkshire to great distinction as a resort, for the peculiarity is not to be found else- where. The lavish hand of nature has accomplished this singularity for the aspect of the country ; and a strong local feeling, fostered by town government and a high spirit of freedom and independence, and the inborn talent and capability of the inhabitants, have been the means of differentiating the social characteristics. In this general movement Lenox bears the impress of an external hand more than any other town. It is now owned and regulated principally by people who migrate to it for a portion of the year; the native influence has not been extinguished, perhaps, but it is all subservient to the new comers. Hence Lenox has been moulded into one of the most singular of the Berkshire towns, and it has grown into a resort that is quite flttingly termed ''The Inland Newport." People of wealth and fashion flock to it in the summer, aod their numbers increase in the autumn, beginning about the 1st of September, when the Newport season wanes and when many of the people who have been there in the summer travel this way with their costly turnouts to take possession of their Berkshire homes in Lenox or find entertainment at Curtis' s Hotel. But Lenox never can attain a social character that will in the least obscure the work of nature. Here, as in neighboring towns, the beautiful and the picturesque, after 22 THE BOOK OF BEKKSHIBE. types of their own, admit no rivals. The lap of earth spreads out in an original phase of Berkshire's common beauty, and provokes the pro- foundest admiration that never tires. The Eakly Visitors. No civilized people can behold Lenox without coveting an incessant inspiration of the spirit of its landscape. It lay in the nature of things that man could not once behold it without renewing the acquaintance, until frequency must end in possession. So Lenox has come to be the chief country home resort of the continent, and is rapidly developing in the same tendency. Though the town never lay on any great thorough- fare, yet, being the shire town from 1787 to 1871, it was early the destina- tion of many people who came from a distance beyond the county. Here came the judges of the State courts and many distinguished lawyers and some witnesses and litigants from all over New England and New York, so that the town, let it once be noised about as a thing of beauty and worthy of resort, would be called to mind by many people scattered over the East as fulfilling all that was said in its praise. An influential part of the public was thus made familiar with the town and prepared to ele- vate it to renown, if not to visit it for pleasure. The discoverer of Lenox was Charles Sedgwick; that is, he was the first discoverer to make his discovery known. Through his culture he appreciated the natural aspects of the town, and through his wide ac- quaintance he made them known to many people of taste and intelli- gence, who in turn noised abroad the delightful character of the region. Mr. Sedgwick moved to Lenox in 1821, a time that marks the first coming of visitors; yet it is doubtful that the very first visitors came through his influence. As near as memory serves the oldest inhabitants, the first people to come and stay during the summer were the widow and chil- dren of the Eev. Samuel Munson, who was pastor of the Congregational church from 1770 to 1793. They were here, it is thought, somewhere between 1820 and 1825. About that time, also, the Misses Merritt, of New York, came to stay during the summer; they were amateur artists, and, as they remained season after season, they made many sketches of scenery, which they took to New York — so many that one room in their house there was called " Lenox," where their friends were enthusias- tically shown pictures of scenes in their summer home. But Charles Sedgwick soon brought greater numbers of people this way, and before long cooperating causes brought this charming town to the notice of the whole country. The Lenox Academy, incorporated in THE BOOK OF BERKSHIRE. 9R 1803, cjraduatecl pupils that returned in after years; Mrs. Charles Sedg- wick established a school for girls that brought many noted people to town; and the residence of Catherine M. Sedgwick, begun in 1831, gave an immense impetus to the movement. Influence of the Lenox Academy. The Lenox Academy has been a very famous institution. It has had many excellent principals, among them being Matthew H. Buckham, president of the University of Vermont; and among the many men of distinction who have been pupils here were the Rev. Dr. Mark Hopkins, Judge Henry W. Bishop, the Eev. Dr. Henry M. Field, Prof. Chas. A Joy, Anson Jones, once president of Texas, Charles Sedgwick, Samuel R- Betts, who was a United States district court judge, and a long list of others. Sometime in the '70's the school was suspended, but in Sep- tember, 1880, Prof. H. H. Ballard, an accomplished scholar, was the principal. In 1875 he organized here a school scientific society for the study of natural history, in connection with the Lenox High School. This was given the name of the Agassiz Association in 1880, and an invi- tation from Prof. Ballard was published in the St. Nicholas Magazine to young people to organize branches on the same plan as the parent soci- ety. The idea spread rapidly and took with both young and old, so that within a short time (1886) there were classes in nearly every State and Territory in the Union, embracing many thousands of members. Three new branches are organizing every week, on the average. Of this asso- ciation, Science says, editorially : " The conductors of these enterprises have done something permanent and effectual towards spreading a taste for self-culture in an almost new sense." A hand-book of this associa- tion may be got from Prof. Ballard, now the libi-arian of the Pittsfield Athenaeum. It is to this academy, now eighty-three years old, and its pupils, that Lenox owes much of the fame that has gone abroad. The school is now of the past, however, and the old academy building on the Main street is an interesting though now tenantless land-mark of the town, and always attractive to the eye of visitors — a connectmg link of golden memories between the past and present. The Influence of Catherine M. Sedgwick. The residence of Catherine M. Sedgwick in Lenox at once made the town known to all the reading, literary, and leading people of the day. Here Han-iet Martineau visited her several times, the last time being in 1835. The social features of Lenox .under the reign of Miss Sedgwick 24 THE BOOK OF BERKSHIBE. are feelingly expressed by Fanny Kemble, " Our Fanny," as Miss Sedg- wick has called her: "Of the society which gathered summer after summer to the pleasant hill region, the seat of her family home, at- tracted thither even more by the delightful intercourse of its various gifted members than by the pure air and fine scenery of Berkshire, Miss Sedgwick was the center and soul, dispensing the most graceful hos- pitality and doing the honors of her beautiful hills and valleys to her visitors with an unwearied kindliness and courtesy that must forever have combined in their memories the most delightful social intercourse with the most charming natural scenery." The last time that Miss Sedg- wick was in Lenox was in the spring of 1863. In Lenox, Miss Sedgwick wrote the last of her works: " Live and Let Live;" "Home;" "The Morals of Manners;" "The Boy of Mount Khigi," the scene of which lies on the mountain in the northwestern part of Salisbury, Ct. ; and "Married or Single." Miss Sedgwick took unbounded pride in the preeminent beauty of Berkshire. Referring to this, the Editor's Easy Chair of Harper's Maga- zine for October, 1867, says: " If some lover of the coast, some devotee of the ocean, looked doubtingly upon the pine sheeted hillsides as too rigid and monotonous, she knew where to take him to silence his scepti- cism by one wide and sufficing glimpse of inland splendor. Nor were her pride and confidence misplaced. Returning, haply, after the lapse of years, the lover of the sea, who had been unjust to the real charms of the superb Berkshire landscape, recanted wholly as he stood looking from the heights of Lenox southward over the lovely lake [Mahkeenac] to Monument Mountain, and the soft smooth outline of Taconic in the delicate heaven further away. There was no sense of imprisonment in the hills, no feeling of oppression, and as his eye turned northward to the tranquil dignity of Greylock, it was only to confess that neither Bryant, nor Hawthorne, nor Miss Sedgwick, nor Herman Melville, all of whom had made their homes in Berkshire, had too warmly praised the beauty or described the character of its landscape." Miss Sedgwick's remains were entombed in the earthly paradise she loved so well — in a portion of it set apart for a cemetery, in Stockbridge. The house occupied by Miss Sedgwick, and Charles Sedgwick, who owned it, is on Kemble street, and is owned by Mrs. Elizabeth Sedgwick Rackemann, who, with her family, is to occupy it in the future, after letting it for several years. The influence of Miss Sedgwick upon Lenox is incalculable; she brought hither many of the first people of the land, and founded here a literary MiBadquarters that endured for many years. the book of berkshike. !'•-> Influence of Mrs. Charles Sedgwick's School. Another source of Lenox's fame was Mrs. Charles Sedgwick's school. She was of the Northampton Dwight family, and was a highly cultured woman with a wide and distinguished acquaintance. In 1828 she re- ceived into her house a few pupils to educate with her own, and this was the beginning of the celebrated school that closed only with her life in 1864. She wrote sevei'al books for children, among them " The Beati- tudes," and she contributed to periodical publications. Her school was regarded as one of the best, if not the best, in the United States for years for the education of girls and young women; and her pupils were accordingly drawn from the wealthy and cultivated people of the day. Among the few early pupils that are remembered were Charlotte Cush- man, Harriet G. Hosmer, Lucy Marcy, daughter of Governor Marcy, the wife of Chief Justice Brigham, of the Superior Court, Lydia Saltonstall, of Salem; Maria Cummings, author of "The Lam]3ligliter;" a daugh- ter of John Van Buren ; daughters of Weyman Crow, of St. Louis ; Hattie Bellows, of Bellows Falls, Vt. ; Alice Delano, Carrie White, Carrie Train. There were eighteen or twenty pupils in all, and their parents, relatives and friends often came to the town to visit them, to find that the town itself was so rich in natural charms that it must be revisited again and again. So came Governor Marcy, John Yan Buren and other distinguished men. Lady Churchill, wife of the late secre- tary for India, was formerly one of Mrs. Sedgwick's pupils as Miss Jerome, of New York. The Residence of Fanny Kemble. Miss Sedgwick had not long been living in Lenox after 1833, the time when Frances Anne Kemble first came to this country, before she in- duced her to come to Lenox. The great actress has said that she found Miss Sedgwick her first friend in this country. Mrs. Kemble came, she saw, she was conquered. She worshiped the matchless, outspread, lav- ish beauties of natui-e that she saw here, and annually came to revel in their delights. For years she stayed at Curtis' s Hotel, but finally bought a house that she called " The Perch," situated on Kemble street. To have Mrs. Kemble at any place in those days was to distinguish it above all others in the United States ; where she went, the wealth and culture of the country must also go, and when it was known that sbe had found a charming summer country home in Lenox, the town got its first decided start as a summer resort. Here Mrs. Kemble came off and on for about thirty years. She is spoken of by Miss Sedgwick in a letter of 26 THE BOOK OF BERKSHIRE. November 16, 1861, as knitting garments for soldiers. Finally Mrs. Kem- ble sold her house, the one now owned by Mrs. Thomson, and after liv- ing at the Kneeland place, "Fairlawn," which she hired, and boarding at the hotel for several years, she returned to England. Recent reports have been to the effect that she had talked of returning to this country, to pass the remainder of her days, but these lack verification. If she were to be buried in the village graveyard, she once said, "I will not rise to trouble any one if they will let me sleep there. I will ask only to be permitted once in a while to raise my head and look out upon this glorious scene." Mrs. Kemble's cultivated imagination was in harmony in Lenox with its natural and social environment, and it is no wonder that her enthusiasm over the town should have endured so long. Mrs. Kemble thus writes of the views from her house: " Immediately sloping before me, the green hillside, on the summit of which stands the house I am inhabiting, sinks softly down to a small valley, filled with thick rich wood, in the center of which a jewel-like lake lies gleaming. Beyond this valley the hills lie, one above another to the horizon, where they scoop the sky with a broken, irregular outline that the eye dwells upon with ever new delight as its colors glow and vary with the ascend- ing and descending sunlight, and all the shadowy procession of the clouds. In one direction this undulating line of distance is over-topped by a considerable mountain with a fine, jagged crest, and ever since early morning troops of clouds and wandering showers of rain and the all-prevailing sunbeams have chased each other over the wooded slopes and down into the dark hollow where the laKe lies sleeping, making a pageant far finer than the one Prospero raised for Ferdinand and Mir- anda on his desert island." Again Mrs. Kemble describes a scene: " The day is bright and breezy and full of shifting lights and shadows playing over a landscape that combines every variety of beauty — valleys, in the hollows of which lie small lakes glittering like sapphires; uplands, clothed with grain fields and orchards, and studded with farm houses, each the center of its own free domain ; hills, clothed from base to brow with every variety of forest tree ; the woods, some wild, some tangled and all but impenetra- ble, others clear of underbrush, shady, moss carpeted and sun checkered; noble masses of granite rock, great shafts of marble, clear mountain brooks; and a full, free, flowing, sparkling river; — all this under a cloud varied sky, such as generally canopies mountain districts, the sunset glories of which are often magnificent." Mrs. Kemble has published three volumes of autobiography and recollections, and a volume of THE BOOK OF BEBKSHIKE. 27 poems, among which may be found "Lines Addressed to Young Gen- tlemen Leaving Lenox Academy," and the poem read at the Berkshire Jubilee in 1814. The village clock in the tower of the Congregational church, on the hill, was a gift of Miss Kemble, and is the more prized on that account as the years it ticks away pass by. Residence of Henky Ward Beechee. The late Rev. Henry Ward Beecher came here about 1853, and bought a house and several acres on a hill towards Lee, since called Beecher Hill. General John F. Rathbone now owns the place, and the old house has been moved to another site and is now occupied by his farmer. The effect of such a region as Berkshire upon Mr. Beecher's imagination and feeling can well be imagined. His whole soul went into his adoration, and his enthusiasm was boundless. Berkshire was too fine a place to be absent from an unnecessary moment, and so often did Mr. Beecher come here that his congregation in Brooklyn stood in actual fear that he would abandon his church and pass the remainder of his life in Lenox. The members of his church bestirred themselves, and at last prevailed upon him to accept a country home in Peekskill after he had spent a few seasons here. Mr. Beecher's Berkshire inspiration found expression in several of his letters, republished as " Star Papers." He speaks of Lenox as " known for the singular purity and exhilarating effects of its air and for the beauty of its scenery." " The endless variety of such a country never ceases to astonish and please. At every ten steps the aspect changes ; every variation of the atmosphere, and therefore every hour of the day, produces new effects. It is everlasting company to you." He wrote in admiration of the trees of Lenox, of which there are 175 to 200 kinds; of the restful effect of the surroundings, and of the ministering influence of nature here toward happiness. " This is perfect rest," he wrote. " The air is full of birds' notes, of insects' hum, of the barn-yard clack of hens and peeping chickens ; the eye is full of noble outlined hills, of meadow growing trees; of grass glancing with light shot from a million dew drops, and of the great heavenly arch, unstained with cloud, from side to side without a mote or film, filled with silent, golden ether, which surely descends on such a morning as this from the very hills of heaven." Again Mr. Beecher wrote of a morning: "On such a glorious morning of a perfect day as this, when all the smoky haze has gone from the horizon, when the sun comes up fresh and clear and will go down unred- dened by vapor, the mountains come back from their hiding, and I wan- 28 THE BOOK OF BERKSHIRE. der forth, wondering liow there should be sorrow in the world. * * * Each hour is a perfect hour, clear, full and unsated. It is the joy of be- ing alive. * * * Such days are let down from heaven." Nathaniel Hawthorne. Here, too, came Nathaniel Hawthorne, in 1850, and occupied a house on the slope north of Lake Mahkeenac, in the edge of Stockbridge, now owned by W. A. Tappan and generally known as the Hawthorne place. Herman Melville came down from Pittsfield, his frequent visitor. G. P. K. James came occasionally from Stockbridge, and Fanny Kemble was often at the house. She was a daring horsewoman, and it is said that she once rode a horse to the very summit of Monument Mountain, a most courageous feat. Julian Hawthorne, then a small boy, calls to mind a day when she rode to the house in the saddle, and, holding him before her, gave him a gallop up and down the road. Mr. Hawthorne came here to get from Berkshire what all weary and over-worked men can have for the coming after — recuperation. The great novelist was soon able to work, and one of his greatest efforts, after his " Scarlet Letter," was written in this little red house — "The House of the Seven Gables." Mrs. Hawthorne, in describing the sur- roundings, uses this language: " Sit down upon the couch, and you will see such a landscape out of the window as will charm perpetually; for the motion of light and shadow among the mountains and on the lake varies the scene all the time. The effect of living here upon Hawthorne is told in his own words: "After such a winter and spring as I have passed, of tranquil and com- plete joy, with mountain air and outlines to live upon." Hawthorne left Lenox late in the autumn of 1851, after writing "The Wonder Book," many of the events in which had a reality in Lenox, and planning and preparing his materials for " The Blithedale Komance." In commenting on the literary work in Lenox, Julian Hawthorne writes : "Lenox was one of those places where a man might be supposed to write because the beauty around him moved him to expression." The old desk on which much of his writing in Lenox was penned, is now in the Pittsfield Berkshire Athenaeum Museum. Curtis' s Hotel and Its Guests. An important feature of Lenox for many years has been Curtis's Hotel. The front portion of the building was erected in 1820 and called the Berkshire Coffee House, designed for the accommodation of judges. THE BOOK OF BEEKSniEE. 29 lawyers and others coming to court. In 1833 William O. Curtis came from a farm in Stockbridge to Lenox, and after some time was engaged in staging between here and Pittsfield and in the livery business till 1853, when he bought this hotel. At the time Lenox was already a popular resort for people who were choice in their preference, and under Mr. Curtis' s management the house, in the course of time, gained a reputa- tion and a character of the very highest order. In short, such entertain- ment here has long been famous, and many are the people, who know what the best public house entertainment throughout the world is, who can indorse the fact. Mr. Curtis's son, William D. Curtis, has for sev- eral years been associated with him, and, indeed, has borne the principal duties of management, besides constantly looking after the renting of the many cottages in town for the owners, and being a general agent for doing all sorts of business transactions for people who do not reside in town all the time. William O. Curtis has many interesting reminiscences of the noted people who have been at his house or lived elsewhere in town during the fifty-three years of his residence here. He taught many of the pupils of Mrs. Charles Sedgwick's school how to ride horseback when he was a young man, and accompanied them many a mile over the delightful roads of Lenox and vicinity. He tells of the innocent frolics of school girls, since distinguished, and calls to mind numerous recol- lections of Fanny Kemble. He spent days and days with the great actress in driving around the country or in fishing. Indeed, a volume would be required to specify all that Mr. Curtis can call to mind about his noted guests. But, after all, the best informed person in Lenox about Lenox affairs and traditions is William D. Curtis, who has stowed away a vast amount of information in orderly fashion about the inhabi- tants of the town, past and present, the drives for many miles around, and everything that pertains to the town. The old hotel had long been too small for the demands that were made upon its space, until, in 1884, extensive additions and repairs were made, and the whole house was put in the best condition. There was built a brick addition, double the size of the original hotel, three stories high, with attic and cellar. The dining-room is the best lighted and most cheerful one to be found in a hotel, with a seating capacity of about 225. The heat in cool weather comes from fire-places, of which there are many in the house, or from steam; the lighting is done with gas; and an elec- tric bell system extends through the whole house. Each floor is pro- vided with several Brighton water closets in a room perfectly secluded from other rooms, and all the plumbing of the house is of fine and in- 30 THE BOOK OF BEKKSHIKE. telligent workmanship. There are three stairways between floors. There are several private parlors; and many of the other rooms are so made as to be used en suite, if so desired. All walls are of brick, the floors are double, and hot and cold water comes to one place on each floor, from which place it is carried to rooms. No sewer pipes run into living rooms. The ventilation of the house on every floor is faultless. In one respect, the rooms become better as one ascends to the upper floor, and that is in the views of the beauties of nature with which Lenox has been so bountifvilly supplied by a prodigal hand. The most charming views are obtained from the attic story; the range of vision extends as far as the Dome on the south, the West Stockbridge mount- ains on the west, Gi'eylock on the north, and the distant mountain tops where begins the eastern slope of the valley. The emotional and imagin- ative soul can revel in the perception of cottages, lakes and woodland, mountain, valley, glade and hill, that make Lenox and her surroundings such a paradise. In the past few years this plan of "cottaging" has come to be quite popular in Lenox. The gentleman hires a cottage — practically a large house already furnished — in the village, and the family therein enjoy all the privacy and comfort of their own home. Their meals are taken at the hotel. By this means they have the advantage of the society of friends whom they may meet at the hotel, while at the same time they are relieved of all the care of an establishment of their own — the worry over details of house management and servants. During the past season a larger number of people enjoyed this phase of Lenox life than ever before in the history of the famous resort. The table of Curtis' s Hotel has long been famous for its excellence, and the attendance throughout the house is the most painstaking. The Messrs. Curtis have about 250 guests at the height of the season — Octo- ber 1st. The hotel is supplied with vegetables from Mr. Curtis's three- acre vegetable garden on his large farm, not far from the village, and with milk, cream and butter from the choicest dairy. The proprietors own a large livery stable, in which sixty to seventy horses and many vehicles of all kinds are kept for the uses of the guests and the public in general as well. The hotel has had so many guests of more than common note that probably twenty-five pages of this book could not contain their names. If, as is maintained by some scientists, the actinic rays of the sun im- press our photographs, though unseen, upon the surfaces to which the rays are reflected from our faces and forms, what a remarkable array of invisible pictures must be spread out upon the walls of the old hotel, — THE BOOK OF BEKKSHIKE. 31 the pictures of the chief justices and judges of the supreme and supe- rior courts for many years, the talented lawyers from all parts of the country who practiced before them, Chief Justice Shaw, Governor An- drew, John Van Buren, Governor Marcy, of New York, Fanny Kemble, Charlotte Cushman, Henry Ward Beecher, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Cath- erine Sedgwick, Horace Greeley, Dr. Channing, and all the others. The registers of the hotel are a treasure of autograph signatures of noted people who have been here, most of them as visitors of the town. In the register of 1857 are the names of Edwards Pierrepont, Fanny Kemble; Captain, later Commodore, Inman, of the United States navy; Harriet G. Hosmer; Horace Gray, Jr., now a judge of the United States supreme court; Cassius M. Clay, John Jacob Astor; George S. Boutwell, President Grant's Secretary of the Treasury; Chief Justice Shaw, and, most conspicuous of all, the name of James Fiske, Jr., whose frequent signatures for several years were made with his dashing pen when he stayed here while meeting his various peddlers. During the few subse- quent years are the names of Mr. and Mrs. James Ticknor Fields ; the Eev. Dr. George P. Fisher, professor in Yale College; Parke Godwin, Horace E. Scudder, Bret Harte, John A. Andrew; C .B. Dahlgren, of the United States navy; Mrs. Ledyard, mother of the African traveler, and so on, with many more. About 1836 Judge David Davis studied law with Judge Bishop, and subsequently married a daughter of Judge Walker, of this town. To this hotel have been Joseph Pulitzer, editor of the New York World ; the late Frederick T. Frelinghuysen, Secretary of the Treasury; General McClellan, Millard Fillmore, Jenny Lind, James Russell Lowell, Epes Sargent, Mrs. Mowatt, the actress. The Rev. Dr. W. E. Channing delivered an address in town on August 1, 1842, anniversary of the West Indian emancipation, his last public address; and the day before he left town he had a long ride to Mount Washington, with William O. Curtis for driver. On his way to Vermont, where he died a few days there- after, Mr. Curtis drove the team that took him as far as Williamstown. Dr. Channing came here for his health, and, in endeavoring to get it, he saw so much of the country that he wrote to a friend: " We enjoy our life here greatly. The country is inexhaustible in pleasant excursions." Mr. Curtis calls to mind a memorable time when Kossuth came to his hotel, drawn to town by the Sedgwicks. He was then the lion of the nation, and that he should come here was reason for thinking that Lenox must be a remarkable place. And so it is ! One evening there was dan- cing at the hotel in honor of Kossuth, and in the distinguished company 32 THE BOOK OF BEEKSUIRE. were Catherine M. Sedgwick, Charles Sedgwick, Judge Bishop, and Fanny Kemble. While a guest at this hotel, Charles Sumner courted his wife, the widow Hooper, who was living in a neighboring house. Sir Edward Thornton, once British minister, has been here, and in 18S3 here came Sir Sidney and Lady Wateriow, Lord Carrington, and the Earl of Cork and Orrery. A good idea of who the guests are that now come to Curtis's Hotel may be formed by the stranger from these names of people who have been here within recent years: Sir Lionel Sackville West, British minis- ter; Horace Helyar and family, British legation; Th. Eoustan, French minister; B. Lovenorn, Danish minister; M. Eeuterskiold, Swedish min- ister; A. Iswolsky, Eussian legation; Count Gyldenstolpe, German lega- tion; ex-President Chester A. Arthur; Admiral Jouett, United States navy. Among the many well-known families represented are the follow- ing in New York: Schermerhorn, Astor, Webb, Leavitt, Winthrop, Iselin, Eoosevelt, Frelinghuysen, Tompkins, Jones, Barclay, Kane, Crocker, Potter, Aspinwall, Goelet, Brown, Thorne, Stuyvesant, Van "Nest, Folsom, Harriman, Godkin, Parsons, Newbold, Lanier, Barnes, Sands,Bradford, Lawrence, Ingraham, Ledyard, Eives, Harper, Pulitzer, Dehon, Bartlett, Tailer, Draper, Chapin, Livermore, Trevor, Egleston, Delafield, Sloane, Marie, Johnson, Kneeland, MoUer, Van Auken, Collier, Haven, Warren, Bouvier, Carey, Livingston, Vanderbilt, Westinghouse, Mrs. ex-President Cleveland. In Boston: Shaw, Hunniwell, Perkins, Sar- gent, Brooks, Meyer, Lee, Brimmer, Higginson, Wharton, Otis, Apple- ton, Saltoustall, Endicott, Armory, Winthrop, Minot, Sears, Lawrence, Curtis, Thayer, Silsbee, Gray, Eotch, Adams, Kuhn, Beebe, Chadwick, etc. In Philadelphia: Eogers, Biddle, Mason, Meigs, Struthers, Devereux, Adams, etc. In Troy: Green, Griswold, Ogdeu, Warren, Burden, etc. The First Country Homes for City People. In the establishment of country homes in Lenox of people from cities, the pioneer is thought to have been Mrs. Sarah G. Lee, of New Orleans, who bought a home here about 1837; John Brown came and built the house subsequently bought by Fanny Kemble, in 1840. Within a few years, before 1850, came at brief intervals Samuel G. Ward about 1843, Wickham Hoffmann, Ogden Haggerty in 1845, E. J. Woolsey and William H. Aspinwall, all of New York, and Eussell S. Cook, of Boston. Ed- wards Pierrepont, who had been here for many seasons, finally bought property, and so did his father-iu-law, Mr. Willoughby. William A. Tappan, of Boston, was also one of the early comers to buy a home. THE BOOK OF BEKKSHIBE. 33 As long ago as 1844, Barber's history of Massachusetts towns thus re- fers to Lenox: "The refined state of society in this place, the fine mountain air and scenery, and the superior accommodations at the hotel, all render Lenox a most desirable place of resort during the warm season." But earlier than this, in the first quarter of the century, Prof. Silliman, in his tour from Hartford to Quebec, speaks of Lenox as "a town of uncommon beauty. Lenox has fine mountain air, and has equally fine mountain scenery. Indeed, it is one of the prettiest of our inland towns, and, even in the view of an European traveler, it would appear like a gem among the mountains." Full List of Homes. The many homes of the people who have sought Lenox for its beauties and society, will now be briefly mentioned and located as well as can be by taking them in order, beginning at the center of the village and going out on each of the various streets that radiate therefrom. The Egleston house, opposite the hotel, was built about 1790 by the grandfather of the present owner for the former's father-in-law, General Paterson. It has had the successive ownership of Judge Bishop, Edwards Pierrepont, and Thomas Egleston, and is now owned by a son of the last named, Thomas Egleston, who spends the season here. The house has been considerably repaired and overhauled. Next beyond, the house that Mrs. Lee, the pioneer, built, is now owned by Mrs. Charles Kneeland, of New York, entirely remodeled, and called " Fairlawn." Continuing down West street, on the same side we come to the "Cushman Villa," built about 1860 by Mrs. F. R. Beck, of New York, who owned and occupied it till her death. It was bought, about 1875, by Charlotte Cushman, who died soon after. It was then sold to Emma Stebbins, the sculptor, and after her death it passed into the hands of her sisters, Mrs. Garland and Mrs. Fleming, both of New York, and Mrs. F. R. Tilton, whose husband is an artist in Rome. It is occupied at vari- ous times by the owners. The Judge Bishop house, on the West street corner, opposite the Egleston house, built. about 1855, is owned by his son, H. W. Bishop, of Chicago, and is now occupied by J. L. Barclay, of New York. Mr. Bishop has just built a summer home at Pittsfield. The house beyond, owned by Miss Helen Parish, of New York, and lately remodeled by her, was built about 1860 by the late county treas- urer, George J. Tucker. Miss Parish comes here every summer. 34 THE BOOK OF BERKSHIKE. The Hooper house, built about 1865 by Miss Alice Hooper, of Boston, is now owned by her sister, Mrs. T. K. Lothrop, of Boston, and is rented for several years to John T. Williams, of New York. "The Elms," on the south side of West street, owned by W. R. Eobe- son, from Boston, was obtained from Prof. Salisbury, of Yale College, who bought it from William Ellery Sedgwick, the builder of the house about 1855, and a permanent resident while he lived here. Mr. Eobeson lives in town about half the year, and has a taxable residence here. The house of William B. Shattuck, of New York, is an exceedingly fine one, on the south side of West street. The first house built on the place dates early in the century. The property was bought about 1865 by Dr. E. J. Dunning, of New York, who sold to Mr. Shattuck in 1883. The present owner, who is a season resident, spent about $50,000 on the place in 1885 in building a fine new house, and in providing such belong- ings as a bowling alley, tennis court, and so on. We now come to houses at the farther end of West street and around the north end of Lake Mahkeenac. Here Henry A. Barclay, of New York, has his " Bonnie Brae," where he built a fine house in 1885. His stable is considered the best in town. From this house and the others in this part of the town the outlook is most enchanting. Miss Cecile Bristed, of New York, who had often been to Lenox, built a pretty cottage at the base of Bald Head Mountain in 1885, and called the place "The Orchard." Miss Bristed is now Mrs. S. W. Griffeth. "Lakeside," on Lake Mahkeenac, was owned by Charles Astor Bristed, and, since his death, by his widow. The hovise was burned in 1885. Samuel G. Ward, of New York, owns " Oakswood," where he built a house about 1878, after being absent from, town for several years. It is a beautiful place, with a fine oak grove back of the house. George Higginson, Jr., from Boston, who is a permanent resident and lives here nearly all the year, owns a place with an enchanting outlook, which he bought about 1860. His land extends down to Lake Mahkeenac. The "Tanglewood" of the late Mrs. Caroline Tappan, of Boston, is near the Hawthorne House. She came here before 1850. The property is now the summer home of Miss Mary Tappan. Across the way is a little red house, formerly occupied by Hawthorne, and now owned by William A. Tappan, from Boston, who came to Lenox before 1850, and who lives here throughout the whole year. Stockbridge people are very particular to have it known that the house is in their town; however, it is a Lenox house in everything but the accident of a town boundary. Few visitors are allowed to inspect the cottage. THE BOOK OF BERKSHIRE. 35 Near the lake, William S. Bullard, of Boston, has his " Highwood," which he bought from S. G. Ward about 1860. We return to the hotel now, and proceed along hilly South street. S. Parkman Shaw, from Boston, several years ago built a house, whicli he occupied for some time. It is now, by lease, the summer home of Prof. Horsford, of Cambridge, and of chemical fame. Mrs. F. W. Rackemann comes to town every season, and occupies the place for some time leased to Mrs. Burton N. Harrison, the well-known dramatic writer. Alfred Devereux, of Philadelphia, a few years ago bought a house half a mile south of the center, and repaired it for summer and autumn resi- dence. Alfred Gilmore, from Scranton, Pa., is now a permanent resident here on his "Lithgow Farm," which he bought from Edwards Pierrepont about 1870. A handsome house and extensive grounds, bought several years ago from J. F. D. Lanier, are the summer and autumn home of Mrs. Joseph White, of New York, opposite to the house next mentioned. The "Allen Winden " (pronounced "Allah Vendah ") of Charles Lanier, of New York, is one of the most sightly places in town, on top of a high hill. The views from this and other houses on this hill are truly ravishing. The house is a costly one, built in 1882. On the Judge Walker place, called " YokunFarm," live Richard Good- man, who has been here many years, and his son, Richard Goodman, Jr. The old house is a fine relic of the olden time, from which modern arch- itects have drawn ideas. The Messrs. Goodman take great interest in town affairs, and Mr. Goodman, the junior, is a constant writer on agri- culture, cattle breeding, and many other topics. Both have long been permanent residents. The "Interlaken" (between the lakes) of D. W. Bishop, Jr., of New York, on the east side of the road, was bought by him about 1875. Three lakes are visible from it: Laurel Lake on the southwest, and nearly to the west, Lily Pond and Lake Mahkeenac. Within the past two years this handsome villa has been extensively remodeled and en- larged, the grounds tastefully laid out by the deft hand of the landscape gardener. The view from the east piazzas of " Interlaken " are sard to be among the finest in all Berkshire. On the west side of the road, is one of the finest houses in Berkshire, that of W. D. Sloane, of New York. It is an exceedingly large house, 160 feet by 100, and costing a good fortune. The grounds were laid out 36 THE BOOK OF BERKSHIRE. by Frederick Law Olmstead, sanitary and drainage matters were looked after by Col. George E. Waring, of Newport, and the furnishings are by Davenport, of Boston. Eight miles of tile are used in drainage, A sys- tem of water supply has been made for Mr. Sloane and Mr. Goodman ; water is forced from Lily Pond, a distance of 2,000 feet, to an elevation of 300 feet to a large stone reservoir. Mr. Sloane paid §500 an acre here for 100 acres. This is one of the most striking residences in Lenox, and all that wealth, and architectural and engineering skill can devise, has been availed of. During the year 1889 an elegant music room, said to be the finest in the country, was built. The house is said to have cost over half a million dollars, and some of the most noted receptions and musical gatherings in this town have been held within the walls of " Elm Court." Mr. Sloane' s summer residence is among the most notable in Lenox, and during the season is the center of attraction of the social life of the village. Towards half a mile south of this house, on the east side of the Stock- bridge road, is the house of Philip J. Sands, of New York, who has spent the summer here at " Glad Hill," for the three years during which the house has been in existence. The view toward Laurel Lake is a master- piece. On the opposite side of the road is the " Merrywood" of Charles Bul- lard, from Boston, who has lived here since 1883, before which time he lived with his father, W. S. Bullard, whose home has been mentioned. Taking the cross-road that leads from the Stockbridge road to Lenox Dale, the first place is the "Larchmont" of Mrs. Madeline Schenck, from New York, who built here about 1881. Some two or three years ago, George Westinghouse, Jr., of Pittsburg, Pa., a gentleman whose name and fame are widely known by the " air brake," and also one of the famous electrical inventors in the country, became possessed of this estate, and later began operations for the erection of a mansion which promises to eclipse all others in this section, and which is to be occupied during the present season (1890). It is of marble, quarried on his own premises near the house, and in its appointments is said to have few equals in all Berkshire. The house and grounds when completed will cost upwards of a million dollars. Near by is the "Norwood " of R. S. Chapin, of New York, who bought the premises in 1885, after having hired houses in town for several sea- sons. He paid $18,000 for thirty acres. Opposite "N"orwood" is the late F. W. Eackemann's place, which was rented to Dr. William H. Draper, of New York, for several seasons. It THE BOOK OF BEBKSHIKE. 37 is a pretty cottage, built in 1880, and is now the summer home of John Struthers of Philadelphia. Between this road and Laurel Lake a fine stock farm of 150 acres is owned by Eobert and Ogden Goelet, of New York, who spent every sum- mer and autumn at Curtis's Hotel for many years. This estate was bought about 1875. Fine horses are reared here for their own stables, and there is also a good herd of Jei'sey cattle. At the junction of this cross-road with the Lee road is the "Laurel Lake Farm" of John O. Sargent, of New York, which he bought a few years ago. Beginning at the upper end of Kemble street, the first house beyond Trinity church on the left is the house owned by the Rev. Dr. A. J. Lyman, of Brooklyn, a native of Lenox, whose father was a teacher in the Academy. It is to be the home of Rev. Wm. M. Grosvenor, of Brook- lyn, the new rector of Trinity church. Directly opposite Trinity church, on the right hand side of the road, is the handsome residence of the late ex-Secretary Frelinghuysen. and one of the most charming locations in Lenox; having a sweep of view down the valley to the west unsurpassed in many respects. The house is of old colonial style, and is among the first of that style of architecture in the village, of the later day adoption of that sort of home. It is a strik- ing house, handsome, roomy, and yet unpretentious. The acre and a little more comprising this site, cost about $13,000. Ex-President Arthur was a guest of the Frelinghuysen's soon after his retirement from the presidential chair. On the right-hand side of the street is the Sedgwick place, now owned by Mrs. Elizabeth Sedgwick Rackemann, who, with her family, will hereafter occupy it, after having rented it for several years. On this same street, and built only two years ago, is the handsome res- idence of C. G. Haven, of New York. It is one of the most attractive homes in Lenox. This, too, is of the old colonial style of architecture, and has a beautiful view to the west. Mr. Haven and family are so charmed with Lenox that they are loth to leave it, even in the late autumn, and have spent some of their wintex'S here, making occasional trips4o the city when they desired a few days "recreation," as he terms it. Mr. Haven and family are capital entertainers, and his coaching parties are looked forward to with great anticipation. Further down the street, on the right, is " The Perch" of Mrs. Ellen L. Thompson, of New York. It was Fanny Kemble's old place, built by John Brown in 1840 ; she gave it to her daughter, the wife of Dr. Wister, 38 THE BOOK OF BEKKSHIBE. of Philadelphia, who sold it to the present owner. The house was the home of one of the first Lenox home-seekers, and has been much im- proved since it wao built. Its history makes it always an interesting place. Taking up Walker street, the house at the east corner of Walker and Church streets is that of D. W. Bishop, of New York, which is to be rented. He paid $21,000 for it in 1885. Opposite this is the house of Mrs. E. S. Jones of New York, who bought it of John Struthers. The latter built it in 1882. East of the Club house, a house was built for Mrs. M. E. Rogers, of Philadelphia, in 1885. It is now rented to John E. Burrell. The second house beyond is that of Mrs. Robert Shaw Oliver, of Albany, who has lived in it, but who rents now to Peter Moller, Jr., a former extensive sugar refiner, a permanent resident. The house was owned by Mrs. Ogden Hoffman, of New York, several years ago. The next house is General F. C. Barlow's, which was built for him several years ago. He has a fine view northward, including Greylock. On the opposite side is " Ventfort," which Secretary of the Navy Will- iam C. Whitney held under a five-year lease. It is the Haggerty place, one of the early country homes in the town, now owned by Mrs. Ogden Haggerty. It has some of the finest trees and one of the best lawns in town. The coming and stay of the Whitneys in Lenox was the occasion of a great deal of social life, and some of the finest receptions ever planned and carried out in this town were those at "Ventfort." Here, last season (1889), Mrs. Grover Cleveland was a guest, and the hospitality and social life of Lenox in connection with the Whitneys will long be remembered with pleasure in this village. A very fine home is the " Pine Croft" of F. Augustus Schermerhorn, of New York, on the south side of the road. The house, built by his mother, is large, and the grounds are extensive, including a heavy forest. He owns 400 acres, some of them comprising a farm, on which he breeds the best horses for his stable. The new residence of David Lydig, old colonial, and with a fine music room and other accessories, will be occupied this season (1890) for the first time. On the Lee road. Captain John S. Barnes, United States navy, of New York, has his " Coldbrook Farm." He built the house in 1882, and added thereto in 1885. On Beecher Hill, General John F. Rathbone, of Albany, has a house for summer residence, which was built about 1865. Mr. Beecher' s house THE BOOK OF BERKSHIRE. 39 has been moved down into the valley, and is now occupied by General Rathbone's farmer. The place, formerly known as " Blossom Farm," is now called " Wyndhurst." The Dorr place, " Highlawn," on top of the hill, one-half mile from Lenox Furnace, was built by Eussell Cook, of Boston, near 1842, who was one of the early men to get a country home here, on one of the finest hills in Berkshire. The lawn is one of the best in Lenox, and has the best specimens of foreign and native trees in town. The heirs of George and Francis Dorr own the property and rent it. On East road, which runs north and south about a mile east of the vil- lage, is the "Sunswick Farm," that Edward Delafield bought about 1875. His widow owns it and occupies it summers. On the same road, south of the road to Lenox Station, is the home of E. S. Dana, of New York, who built the house about 1875. He has a fine stable of fast horses. On Tokun avenue, which runs from West street north, is the house of Miss Clementina Furniss, of New York, at "Edgecomb," built about 1880. The house is noted about town for its beautiful furnishings. From the houses on this avenue the views south and west are superb. Next to this is the " Gusty Gables " of Miss DeP. Carey, of New York, built for her about 1880. This attractive cottage was occupied by Morris K. Jesup, of New York, in the season of 1885, while the owner was in Europe. George W. Folsom, of New York, has a beautiful place on this avenue, at " Sunny Eidge," which he occupies in the summer and autumn ; the house was built in 1884. John E. Parsons, of New York, came to Lenox a long time ago, and in 1875, on the west side of Yokun avenue, built a house, to which he made extensive additions in 1885. The place is called, " Stonover." On the same side of the avenue, north, is the house of Henri M. Braem, of New York, the Danish consul, which he built about 1875. His famous Jersey herds are among the most valuable in the county. Still farther along is one of the notable houses of the town, at " Windy Side," that of Dr. R. C. Greenleaf, from Boston, who now makes Lenox his permanent home. This house, built about 1875, has a very large music room, with a Eoosevelt organ and an enormous fire-place; the whole house is furnished in exquisite taste. Clifiwood street, or the Lebanon road, as it is also called, affords a beautiful outlook toward the southwest. Beginning at Main street, Prof. J. S. Schanck, of Princeton College, occupies a house on the left, built 75 years ago or more. 40 THE BOOK OF BERKSHIRE. "Hope Cottage" has been rented to Mrs. Henry P. Eglestou, of New- York, for a term of years Mrs. S. Parkman Shaw and family have a handsome cottage on this avenue, which has recently been extensively remodeled. On this avenue Dr. Barnard McKay, of New York, built a house about 1880, which he occupies summers. On the north side of this street is the pretty new cottage, old colonial style, of E. McA. Livingston, of New York, who will occupy it largely as a permanent home for summer and winter residence. Winchell cottage has been rented to Mrs. Hartman Kuhn, of New York, for a term of years. On Cliffwood avenue, also, Mrs. J. W. Biddle, of Philadelphia, bought a summer home about 1880, and is a summer resident. A queer house on the south side of this avenue was owned until 1889 by Mrs Charles F. McKim ; it was built for her and her sister, Mrs. George Von L. Meyer, in 1885. On the death of Mrs. McKim the prop- erty was purchased by Anson Phelps Stokes, who has also purchased several acres of land from adjoining farmers and is converting the same into an extensive country seat. A large music room is being buiit, and will be completed this season. It is said to be one of the finest music rooms in the country. The next below is the new residence of W. B. Bacon, who has built a house of the old colonial style, finished in 1889, and is one of the attract- ive places of Lenox. Directly opposite is the new summer home of J. W. Burden of Troy, for many years a summer resident of Lenox. Still further is the new residence of Dr. F. P. Kinnicut, and a cozy, permanent home. Returning to Main street and going north, the first houses above the hotel are the " Elm Cottages," one occupied by W. C. Schermerhorn and the other by Buchanan Winthrop, both houses built about 1880. The Bennett cottage is rented to Henry S. Leavitt, of New York, for a term of years. The Platner house is rented for a term of years to Mrs. William C. Wharton, of Boston. The Wright cottage is let to Miss Carey for a term of years. The Tucker cottage will be rented for 1890, as also the Cook cottage. Ambrose C. Kingsland, of New York, has built recently a fine cottage at the junction of Main and Northwood streets, and known as the Elezur Williams corner. THE BOOK OF BERKSHIRE. 41 Miss May Tucker, of New York, occupies her cottage on " Chestnut Hill," which she built in 1884. The house at " Hillside " was established about 1870 by Mrs. Grace M. Kuhn, of Boston, and it is occupied by Mrs. Cruger of New York. The Loring house, owned by Mrs. E. S. Dana, of New York, at the head of Main street, is rented everj' year. Opposite the Loring house is a handsome villa occupied by the owner, Mrs. Hartman Kuhn. The Newton cottage, built in 1883, was occupied by Mrs. Marshall O. Roberts, of New York, in 1885, and is rented every year. The extensive estate of " Cliffwood " is owned by Mrs. E. J. Woolsey, of Astoria, L. I. The house was built by E. J. Woolsey and William H. Aspinwall many years ago. The estate is a natural park of 500 acres, taking in the whole of a ridge of woods running from the Congregational church to West Mountain. The drives are eight miles in length, and there are three main entrances. The house may be seen from the lower end of the county and from adjacent Connecticut. Following up the Pittsfield road is the home of Henry Naylor, of New York, which he built in 1883, and is occupied by his family for a short season every summer. Mrs. Lucinda Morgan has built a summer home for herself and family^ called "Cliffwood," on the Pittsfield road, a short distance north of the church, on the right hand side. It is surrounded by a large stone wall with massive posts and caps. William H. Bradford, of New York, has an estate that embraces five farms, bought in 1882. His land has a mile of street frontage. The name of this home is " Wayside." Col. R. T. Auchmuty, from New York, is a permanent resident at " The Dormers," and is a leading man in town affairs. He came here many years ago and bought three farms. He has been very active in pro- moting the welfare of the town, in the construction of the sewer sys- tem, in getting water for public and private use; he has been a selectman several times, is a member of the school committee, he was one of the prime movers in organizing the Lenox Club, and he was chairman of the building committee of Trinity church. Lenox owes a great deal to the public spirit of Col. Auchmuty. The cottage on Walker street, run as a boarding house by Mrs. Flint, has been leased for a term of years by Henri Matthieu, formerly chef for Mr. W. D. Sloane, who will run the place as a hotel. He has named the house " Bellevue," and opens it this season (1890). 42 the book of berkshire. Land Prices and Purchases. Real estate prices in Lenox have gone up to astonishing figures for a country place. The average price per acre for all the land sold in 1885 was S933, not including house values enough to materially affect the figures. Applications for land purchase are constantly coming in from those who want to establish homes here. The increase in land prices has been enormous.. About 1853, Judge Bishop sold the Egleston place for $3,000, because the assessors taxed it to that amount, and he thought that he was getting a high price. In 1885, this property sold for $25,000, and the place is worth at least $30,000. Location governs price. No matter how fabulous the figures for a lot rightly located, it will find a purchaser, and he who pays the highest price for the smallest lot is the king of the Lenox realm. Latest fashionable prices, $25,000 an acre. In 1890 the number of homes that people from cities own in Lenox and occupy to the exclusion of other homes, or for a season every year, or nearly so, is about 80. A few of these are rented now and then a year, because of the absence of the owner in Europe, perhaps, or else- where; including these and the houses that are regularly let every year, the total number of rented cottages in 18S0 was 60. There are half a dozen boarding-houses in the village, where guests are taken. Besides these, six or eight coachmen's boarding-houses may be found, a kind of accommodation peculiar to Lenox. Drives and Walks. The drives and walks in and around Lenox are incomparably lovely. A large list of the drives, with distances appended, will be found else- where in this volume. To characterize the peculiar charms of each one would take many pages. Whichever way one turns, the variety will be found inexhaustible and the beauty exquisite. Eight roads radiate from the village, connecting with a network of roads without, so that every drive out has a return by some other way. The roads of the town and of the towns up and down the great valley are most of them in perfect con- dition, and all are better roads than can be found in any other country region in the Union. An interesting drive or walk may be made to Lenox Furnace, two and a half miles distant, to see the process of glass making. A few 'walks may here be specified by way of introduction. The most attractive ones, perhaps, are through the Woolsey estate, where a half- dozen walks may be had from one and a half to six miles in length out from the village and back. The "Ledge" is a favorite spot, three- quarters of a mile out. THE BOOK OF BERKBHIKE, 43 The "Pinnacle," one mile out, on W. O. Curtis's "Pinnacle Farm," affords pretty views from its wooded top. Walks are made to Tucker Hill, one-half mile out east of the Congre- gational church. Through the Schermerhorn woods, one-half mile distant, the walk is very refreshing on a hot day, through the dark aisles of the giant pines. Lily Poud, through the Lanier woods, is another resort, a mile and a half distant. To the top of Bald Head Mountain, two and a half miles out, is a walk that will always leave an impression. The view is one of the best in Berkshire. On the North Lenox Mountain, four miles distant, the scene is very fine. Near this, four and a half miles distant, is Yokun's Seat, 2,080 feet high, the highest mountain in town, with extensive view. Several walks are made to the Housatonic Eiver, two and a half miles off, to Laurel Lake, three miles away, and to the head of Lake Mah- keenac, two miles distant, all exceedingly beautiful. Social Features. The favorite game among the younger people is tennis, which is played at many private courts and at the court of the Lenox Club, than which there is no finer. The annual tennis tournament is held in October and lasts three days. The best players in the country and many from abroad have participated in the tournaments. The last day's games are played on the club courts, and the prizes which are given by the club are pre- sented then. The scenes at these tournaments arc always brilliant and interesting. Archery is indulged in to some extent. The entertainments given by those who live in cottages consist of lawn parties, archery meets, tennis matches, breakfasts, dinners, dancing, and musicales, the last mostly at the Ladies' Club or the Lenox Club. The social features of Lenox long ago attained a character and a reputation that have become so well known as to need but a few words here in the way of calling up some of the doings of the season of 1885. Among society people Lenox is a continuation of Newport, from which place people come about the 1st of September. Ex-President Arthur was the social lion of the town for several weeks, and was frequently at the din- ner and tea parties that are a prominent feature of the town. He became such an admirer of Lenox that he prolonged his stay beyond the time originally contemplated. Secretary of the Navy Whitney entertained mmy friends, among them being William C. Endicott, Secretary of War. 44 THE BOOK OP BERKSHIKE. At Curtis's Hotel were the family of the late Frederick T. Frelinghuyseu, Secretary of State ; Minister Th. de Bounder, from Belgium ; Sir Arthur and Lady Aylmer ; Sir Arthur Guest; John A. Kasson, ex-minister to Ger- many and Austria; Frank Thompson, president of the Pennsylvania Rail- road; Admiral and Mrs. Upshur, and Captain Carter, U. S. N. Several elaborate weddings were the excitement of their time. Coaching parties were frequent, one going on a trip to Richfield Springs and C'azenovia, and another being made by some of the members of the New York Coaching Club, who rode from New Hamburg, on the Hudson, and were the guests of their associate, F. A. Schermerhorn, for a few days. One day there was a "tub parade," in which fourteen carts participated, all lavishly decorated with autumn leaves, flowers, ribbons, and drapery of various sorts. After a parade through the principal streets, the partici- pants and their friends were entertained by Miss Furniss at her beautiful house on Yokun avenue. This has now come to be a regular thing, and the annual "tub" parade di-aws visitors to Lenox in great numbers. A ladies' fair was held for a charitable object; and the Lenox Club had its annual reception and ball; and its races were held on Lee Pleasure Park. One million dollars' worth of diamonds is said to have been displayed at an evening reception. One lady is reported to have received sixty calls in one day. The great social event of one week was that given in honor of a tennis tournament at Sedgwick Hall. Everybody was there, the costumes of the ladies were beautiful, flowers, palms and ferns decked the rooms, and an army of waiters from New York attended to the guests. There is unremitting gayety, and a constant round of ele- gant balls, tea parties, dinners, lawn parties, and so on, sometimes several at the same time, during every season. Another annual event of great interest is the Lenox Club races held at the Lee Pleasure Park. The races are attended by " all Lenox " and the enjoyment of the contests is genuine. The Clubs. The Clubs of Lenox are natural to its social life. The Lenox Club, for gentlemen, was organized about 1865 by Ogden Goelet, William Ellery Sedgwick, Richard Goodman, Sr., George B. Warren, and the late Ed- ward M. Rogers. About 1874 the club was incorporated and buildings were erected, at a cost of $10,000, containing a billiard room, bowling alley, and other club belongings. In 1885, at an expense of $10,000, sev- eral rooms were added, and a fine tennis court. There is a reading room, and a library has been started. So many members live in the town in OLD COUBT HOUSE— NOW SEDGWICK HALL. 46 THE BOOK OF BERKSHIKE. the winter that the club house is heated aud kept open and occu- pied throughout the entire year. The club has over 100 stock- holders and 115 members. Ladies are admitted to the premises on such public occasions as musicales and tennis contests. In some years the ladies were given the use of the tennis court. In 1889 a large piece of property adjoining the grounds was purcliased by the club, and here new tennis courts are to be laid out. Sedgwick Hall was the old court house, and was bought for $6,000 in 1871 by Mrs. Adaline E. Schermerhorn and given to trustees for the use of the town. She established the Charles Sedgwick Library and Read- ing Room, which the trustees maintain. The Library has towards 6,000 volumes. The Hall has been used for dancing. The children of Mrs Schermerhorn have repaired the building at a cost of $10,000. In 1880, the " Schermerhorn Annex" to Sedgwick hall was built by F. A. Scher- merhoi'n at a cost of $25,000. It is a large brick building, standing in the rear of the old hall, and contains the already famous assembly room. Here it was that Mrs. Whitney gave a ball in honor of Mrs. Cleveland in the fall of 1889, one of the most brilliant events ever given in Lenox. The appearance of Lenox village is that of the most exacting neatness and beauty. Not a blemish offends the eye. Tasteful homes, smooth lawns, flowers, graceful trees, the coming and going of handsome equip- ages and many harmonizing accessories please the sight constantly. The residents are so careful of the perfect appearance of all things that there is little work for a village improvement society to do. But, neverthe- less, there is a Ladies' Village Improvement Society that has planted many hundreds of trees, kept the sidewalks in order, and looked after the neatness of the village. Most of the village houses are connected with Col. (Jeorge E. Waring's sewage system. In four recent years the town spent $45,000 for various public improvements. Notwithstanding the system of sewerage that was introduced a few years ago, the growth of the village since then compelled an enlarge- ment of the system, and this was completed in 1889 ; so that Lenox boasts of the best sanitary arrangements in that regard of any village in Berkshire. The water supply is to be still further enlarged the present season at a cost of some $30,000. This will give a new and larger reser- voir, supplied from mountain brooks, and a ten-inch main is to be put in during the summer of 1890. This will give the village ample accommo- dations in this direction for pure water for domestic use, as also furnish- ing an additional safeguard against serious damage by fire. The necessity for a bank was apparent long ago, and it was sometimes THE BOOK OF BERKSHIKE. 47 diflScult for a gentleman, however well fixed he might be financially, to obtain ready money, on account of getting a check or draft cashed. Be- sides, a place of deposit for moneys or valuables was also a growing necessity, and so that demand culminated in the organization of the Lenox National Bank, in the fall of 1889. The stock is largely held by city people, and it has demonstrated a paying investment as well as ac- commodation for the business men of the village as well as the people who come here for a summer or more transient residence. A savings bank is also to be established ere long. Another season it is possible that electric lights will be introduced; in fact, a company for that purpose was organized some time ago, and it is now talked that a system by which Lee, Lenox and Stockbridge may be lighted from one central station will be adopted in the near future. A substantial drinking fountain, made of Italian and Tennessee mar- bles, was placed in the " triangle" on Main street in 1885. It was a gift to the town in memory of Miss Emma Stebbins, the sculptor, from her friends, at a cost of $1,500. The Late Season. The season in Lenox ended the first week in September, many years ago. Now the height of the season is in October, and many people re- main till November and December, while some tarry till far into January, or come for a visit at that time, and some even stay all winter. Main street is a lively scene in an October afternoon, with many people and carriages and vehicles of all sorts, drawn by the best bred horses. One of the more recently introduced forms of amusement is "hare and hounds" hunting, aud the ladies as well as the gentlemen get much en- joyment and the most invigorating sport from these dashes across coun- try. Hence the season is a very long one in Lenox, beginning moderately in the early summer, and making a round of summer, autumn, and part of winter. The charm of October in Lenox is incomparable outside of Berkshire. The brilliant foliage, the warm days with their invigor- ating climate, the beautiful drives, and all nature, visible, tangible and intangible, combine to make the region a paradise, in which living is a transcendant delight. The October appearance of the country made the following impression upon the Lenox correspondent of a Chicago paper: "There are no autumnal pictures in any other part of our country more beautiful than those of Berkshire. The pictures the Great Master has painted upon the woody hill-sides are inimitable. The yellow leaves of the sugar maples. 48 THE BOOK OF BEKKSHIRE. the combination of bright colors of the black maples, interwoven with the long, slender red leaves of the shumach, together -with the purple and bronze of the oak, contrasted with the green of the hemlock and pine, all standing against a background of gray rocks, is a charming picture which the eye never tires of looking upon." As winter comes on, the factors of the country aspect are changed, but not the charm of the result. A winter scene is not the dreary thing that people who have never seen it here think that it is. So beautiful are these scenes that the most artistic engravers nowadays reproduce them the best they can for magazine readers, and there is no place where they can find better originals than here in Berkshire. Miss Sedgwick's love of winter scenery manifests itself in a letter of December 1st, 1844. She writes " of the beauty of yesterday morning, when winter rose in her 'robes pontifical, ne'er seen, but wondered at.' Summer is but a draw- ing-room scene compared to it. The sun of these days rises behind the highest point in our eastern horizon, and consequently his beams shoot down the sides of the mountains, and even into the laps of the hills, be- fore he is himself visible. A newly fallen snow covered the whole area between the hills from mountain top to mountain top, and every tree and shrub ; not a breath of air had shaken the snow off the lightest twig. It was intensely cold, and the smoke from our village homes — the breath of their nostrils — rose in a solid column white and bright as molten silver. Here a rose-colored light flushed the hills, and then the light dropped down into their hollows like a cloth of gold. The whole vault of heaven was of the brightest blue; not a cloud, not a paling hue, over any portion of it; and far up in the clear atmosphere, and relieved against this blue, stood the magnificent trees, with their winter foliage of snowy wreaths. Then up came the sun, and the trees that crested the summit all along his horizon glittered as if they were shining in another world." Writing of the winter climate, Mrs. Hawthorne says: " This superb win- ter's morning, when to live seems joy enough. * * * There have been no winter horrors of great cold and storm here, as we were led to expect. The children have lived upon the blue nectared air all winter, and papa said the other day that he did not believe there were two other children in New England who had had such uninterrupted health and freedom from colds. Such clear, unclouded eyes, such superb cheeks, as come in and out of the icy atmosphere ! Such relish for dry bread, such dewey sleep, such joyous uprisings!" Hawthorne himself went so far as to write in the winter: " On the whole, I think that the best time for liv- ing in the country is in the winter." the book of berkshire. -19 Tkinity Chukch. Lenox has an unpretentious, yet substantial and well-finished church in Trinity. It is built of dolomite, finished in 1886, at a cost of forty to fifty thousand dollars, and consecrated in 1888, Bishop Potter of New York preaching the consecration sermon. At the laying of the corner-stone, the sealed box was placed in position by ex-President Arthur. The tower and porch are the gift of F. A. Schermerhorn and Mrs. K. T. Auchmuty, in memory of their brother. The eight stained-glass win- dows in the chancel, representing scenes in the life of the Savior, are the gift of Mrs Charles Kneeland. The large circular stained glass win- dow opposite the chancel is " The Children's Window," given by the children of the church. The chancel is the gift of the Misses Kneeland in memory of their brother, George Kneeland. The half-acre that is the site of the church, was bought for $8,000, and the whole cost, ex- cept special gifts, was paid by subscription. The Congregational church, on the hill, will always be an object of interest. The Methodists also have a cozy little house of worship in the old Trinity church building, and the Catholics have also a pleasant and commodious house of worship on Main street. There is But One Opinion. That Lenox really is what its admirers claim for it, is proved by the fact that the peoi)le who come here have most of them done extensive traveling where the finest scenery of the world is found, and that they are people of taste and culture whose opinion is law. This is referred to for the benefit of those who have not been here. Many landscape painters have been here, and many paintings of Lenox scenery have been made. Among the artists who came early were Inman and Gray, both of New York. A correspondent of the Boston Globe from Lenox, in 1885, wrote: "It is not wonderful that visitors here are enthusiastic over the beauties of the Berkshire hills. The place has a charm peculiarly its own." A New York Tribune correspondent adds: " The region is becoming much like a large park." Prof. Thomas Egleston, of New York, has said : " Thirty years ago, every house in Lenox was the home of a refined and intelli- gent household." It is no less so to-day. President Chapin, of Beloit College, wrote: " Let me send a filial greeting to old Bald Head, and my thanks, that swell with precious memories, to the genii of the Ledge and its pine grove; of the Pinnacle and its rough, romantic paths ; and to 50 THE BOOK OF BERKSHIKE. the naiads of the Mountain Mirror [Lake Averic], whose placid beauty must be forever enchanting." Miss Sedgwick writes of a fine day in 1860: " It is a divine day — a day when hope and faith spring forth from the glorified earth in harmony with the soaring birds and the opening flowers. The air this morning is such as might come from Paradise, when the guardian angel opens its gates to happy mortals. There is a worship of beauty, a sweet breath of praise from all this wide landscape before my door. Nature is the heavenly messeoger whose voice is melody and harmony." But, perhaps, enough has been said to give the reader a good idea of Lenox and its people. Nothing remains now for the stranger to do but to visit the town and see for himself; and, if he has an appreciative and discriminating eye and taste, he will discover a thousand times more than this tells him of. Lenox is now in the fashionable age. Its literary age, so appropriate to this remarkable region, has passed, to give place to the luxuries of the wealthy and the fashions of the ceremonious. The people who come this way in the summer and autumn to live a long or short time, at home and hotel, number about 1,500 at any one time, and as people are constantly coming and going, the total number of all is much larger. The town is now owned principally by those who have come here to establish country homes, and the almost complete acqui- sition of the town's territory by these people is in the near futui'e. Already large portions of Lenox and Stockbridge constitute a huge garden, and it cannot be many years before their whole included region shall be one interrupted, magnificent park, tenanted by happy owners. The town is better for the influx of wealth and culture, and Berkshire as a whole is better in many ways for the growing demand for summer homes here in the leading resort of Berkshire. STOCKBRIDOH. O ONE can undertake to describe Stockbridge without a deep felt realization of how in- adequate both tongue and pen are to express the sense pleasures and the feelings they awaken, that fill the writer to overflowing. But regret gives place in time to a resigna- tion to the incompetence of human com- munication to deal with such masterpieces of the Creator as are scattered lavishly over this town. Stockbridge is one of the two or three places on the continent where the dis- tinguished men of the earth make pilgrim- ages to adore the acme of village and country beauty, and where travelers speak of the choicest scenes of the world in comparison; yet more of contrast than comparison, for it is here alone that the tone of scenery, peculiar to the town, is anywhere found. It is an indescribable cast of the beautiful and the picturesque, too fine for the common soul, too exquisite for a duplicate. The youthful, intellectual fancy of the poet Bryant was touched to the quick upon his first entry into this town. While walking from Cum- mington to Great Barrington, to enter a law office, on October 3d, 1815, accustomed as he had been all his life to the charms of nature, he here beheld touches that he had never found before. Referring to the im- pression that the scene made upon him, he wrote, fifty-seven years after: *' The woods were in all the glory of autumn, and I well remember, as 1 passed through Stockbridge, how much I was struck by the beauty of the smooth, green meadows on the border of that lovely river, which winds near the Sedgwick family mansion, the Housatonic, and whose gently flowing waters seemed tinged with the gold and crimson of the trees that overhung them. I admired no less the contrast between this soft scene and the steep, craggy hiUs that overlooked it, clothed with their many colored forests. I had never before seen the southern part 52 THE BOOK OF BEKKSHIBE. of Berkshire, and congratulated myself on being a resident of so pictur- esque a region." But the poet could never do justice to Stockbridge, except in appreciation. He, like many others, must have felt that the mind was capable of entertaining emotions aroused by natural scenery, that no power of expression could truly represent. The Spikit of the Sueeoundings. How thoroughly the spirit of the surroundings is absorbed by living among them is illustrated by an effort at their description by an old time resident, E. W. B. Canning, who begins with this striking incident: "An eminent son of Stockbridge — though for many years of his later life a resident elsewhere — escorted his newly married wife, who was an entire stranger to Berkshire, on her first visit to his native town. He planned that his arrival should occur at sunset of a bright evening in the time of the apple blossoming, and over the hill that rises north of the village. The wondrous beauty of the landscape, and the charms of its houses, nestled among the elms and maples of the quiet streets, left an impres- sion which, thirty years thereafter, found joyous utterance among the last words of her death bed delirium. Had she confused that unforgot- ten scene of her early bridal with the prospect of the heaven on whose shadowy borders she was lingering ? "Beautiful for situation, and a joy of the whole Commonwealth, is Old Stockbridge on the Plain. The town singularly combines, in its scenery, grandeur and beauty. The wooded foot-hills of the Taconic range bound it on the west, sloping in places gently downward to its triple lakes and its winding river, and again boldly breaking off in abrupt precipices. The Housatonic comes placidly in from the east- ward, and, after slowly executing numerous romantic curves through extensive meadows, makes a more rapid exit into Great Barrington. Eattlesnake Peak — the De-ow-hook of the Indians — dominates on the northeast border; Nau-ti-kook answers its defiance from the west; while Monument, famed in story and in song, bounds the immediate view on the south. Southeastwardly the hills ascend rather steeply to a high plateau called 'Beartown,' and, in a huge fissure of a spur ridge, lies Ice Glen, one of the ' lions ' of the place, overlooked by the much frequented resort called 'Laura's Best.' Such a variety of hill, plain and valley affords a corresponding variety of prospect ; and it is a fact, often remarked by visitors, that rarely, if ever, elsewhere will a drive in any direction open so frequent a succession of views, so constant, so diverse, and all so beautiful." THE BOOK OF BERKSHIBE. 53 The Sedgwick Family. As with other Berkshire towns, the character of the people who first resorted to Stockbridge was determined by the residents. The social status of the town was due, in the first place, principally to the Sedg- wick family. In 1785, Theodore Sedgwick began to practice law in the village, and to him is due the credit of the first practical anti-slavery agitation. Col. Ashley, of Shefiield, who supposed that he owned a negro woman, who had run away from him, brought suit against the man who harbored her. Under Mr. Sedgwick's defence, it was decided that slavery was impossible under the State Constitution of 1780. The woman was so grateful that she became a member of his household for her life ; she took care of his children, and was buried in the family lot, where a monument, inscribed by Catherine M. Sedgwick, commemorates her humble virtues. The first slave in America, whose chains were broken by the law as early as over a century ago, lies buried in Stockbridge. It was chiefly through the exertions of her benefactor that the Massachu- setts law was made permanent. Among the earliest reported cases of the Supreme court, in Greenwood vs. Curtis, in volume YI of the Massa- chusetts Reports, Mr. Sedgwick, then a judge of the court, and an early member of the most distinguished line of judiciary of all the States, laid broad and deep the foundations of justice, in this State, by declaring that the law of nature should be the law of the land, and that no person could hold property in the person of another. Before he was judge, Mr. Sedgwick was a United States senator, and was a prominent man in launching the ship of State, under the Constitution, and such was his reputation that Aaron Burr studied law with him. Burr lived in the J. Z. Goodrich house. Judge Sedgwick and his children, Charles and Catherine, were instru- mental in atti-acting the first visitors to Stockbridge, who were at the same time their own visitors. The daughter has described how this began: "My father's public station and frequent residences in town gave him a very extensive acquaintance, and his affectionate temper warmed acquaintance into friendship. There were then no steamers, no railroads, and a stage route through our valley but once a week. Gentlemen made their journeys in their private carriages, and, as a mat- ter of course, put up at their friends' houses. My father's home was a general depot, and when I remember how often the great gate swung open for the entrance of traveling vehicles, the old mansion seems to me to have resembled much more a hostelrie of the olden times than the quiet house it now is. My father's hospitality was unbounded." 54 THE BOOK OF BEBKSHIKE. Through the marriages, relationships, fame and friendships of the Sedgwick family, people of taste, refinement, intelligence and wealth were brought to Stockbridge from all parts of the East, — people, too, who could not behold the town and neighboring country, and breathe its enchanting air, without owning subjection to the matchless charms of the region. Eakly Visitors. In time, the stage coach thoroughfare, between Boston and Albanj', ran through Stockbridge, and travel increased so that eight stages passed each day— four each way. The late Daniel B. Fenn, who managed the Stock- bridge House, from 1826 to 1831, for his father-in-law, remembered many of the distinguished men who tarried in the town a few days on their way through, during those years, and a few years before and after. They were Daniel Webster, William L. Marcy, Martin Van Buren, Daniel N. Dickinson, Robert C. Winthrop, Governor Strong, Governor Lincoln, Attorney General Davis, all the judges of the Supreme court. — in short, all the other executive and judicial officers for many years: Franklin Granger, of Canandaigua; Judge Buel, of Albany; Governor Van Ness, of Vermont; Silas Wright, John Van Buren, Harrison Gray Otis, the Danas and Appletons, and so many more of the distinguished men of the day that the names mentioned are but a few of the whole number. Thus it was that Stockbridge, through the Sedgwick family, became, in point of time, the first place of resort in Berkshire. Catherine M. Sedgwick. Catherine M. Sedgwick attracted around her Bryant, from Great Bar- rington, and many other congenial spirits, and in the course of time her own literary works came to be published. Her "New England Tale" appeared in 1822, and was received with such interest and favor as to give its author an immediate position in the world of American litera- ture. Then followed " Redwood," in 1824, which was published also in England, and was translated and published in France; afterwards " Hope LesUe; " " Clarence," in 1830; and, after 1834, " Linwoods," " Le Bossu," " The Poor Rich Man and the Rich Poor Man," and " The Love Token." Miss Sedgwick's precedence among American literary women was never questioned until "Uncle Tom's Cabin" was written. Besides a wide acquaintance. Miss Sedgwick had an interesting corre- spondence with many of the distinguished people of her day, in this country and in Europe — with Sismondi, Harriet Martineau, Dr. Chan- ning, Mrs. Jameson, and so on. Stockbridge became known to the THE SOOK OF BEEKSHIBE. OD literary people of the day, and to many others who were the patrons of literature and sought the society of its producers. Such people, among others, came to the town. The sympathy of the Sedg^icks was awakened for the Italians, who were exiled by the Austrian government about 1831, and Foresti, Albinola, Confalonieri and Castillia came here as their guests. About the same time. Miss Sedgwick went to live with her brother Charles, in Lenox, who was then clerk of the courts. The house in which Miss Sedgwick hved in Stockbridge is owned by H. D. Sedgwick, her nephew, on the south side of Main street, in the center of the village, and she was buried in the village cemetery. A Pebfect Inn. It was but a natural result that, after the introduction of the outside world to Stockbridge by the Sedgwicks, the attractions of the town should bring a constantly increasing number of visitors from people of a kind with those who had been here. Public accommodations for those who had no private entertainment by friends were given by the Stock- bridge House, which stands, to-day, under the proprietorship and man- agement of C. H. Plumb, one of the choice hotels of the world. The oldest part of the building, the west end, was erected in 1764, or there- abouts, and was called for many years '" The Red Lion Inn.'- People are now living in Stockbridge who can remember the old sign as it stood in front of the hotel with its picture of a lion, done " after the old masters," in red paint. This part of the hotel still preserves its olden architecture unaltered. There was not room enough between floors and in walls for the huge beams; so they project into the rooms and are encased. The ceiling in the rooms on the first floor is of varying height, a curious feature that a prominent architect, who has been Mr. Plumb's guest, has introduced in the plans of some old style houses. The rooms have quaint old cornices and other inside finish, with outside doors of Dutch fashion, and, extending nearly across them, are long hinges instead of the modern butts. The furniture of these rooms is in keeping with their antique appearance, being genuinely old, and not the product of a modern antique furniture factory. There are old tables, bureaus, chests of drawers, chairs, and so on. One article of fui'niture is an old side- board with inlaid work, made by William Whitehead, one of New York's first cabinet makers. In the halls and rooms are placed spinning wheels, reels, warming pans, old sleigh bells, an Indian tomahawk found at Ti- conderoga, deers' antlers, old clocks, and many other things that har- monize with the relics of the olden time. About forty years ago, an 56 THE BOOK OF BEEKSHXBE. addition of thirty-six feet front was built on one side of the old house and the new addition of 1SS4 is of about the same size, the roof of the former addition being carried up to make three stories and an attic. Many of the rooms in the hotel have Franklin stoves, or lire-places, and they are cheerfully lighted and nicely finished and furnished. The hotel now accommodates about one hundred guests, besides giving table board to the occupants of about ten cottages outside. Mr. Plumb has a fine early garden for supplying fresh vegetables — those great luxuries to city people. A very large cold room, one of the largest and best in the county, is attached to the hotel, for keeping meats, fruits, and other per- ishable provisions. This hotel is not so large that the guests must depend upon servants for the satisfaction of all their wants. In all matters where it is not out of place, they have the personal attendance and service of Landlord Plumb, a genial and model boniface. Many of the guests of this house have been here for many seasons, John H. Gourlie, ex-president of the Xew York Stock Exchange, for instance, for thirty-one years, including the season of 1SS9. The guests are upon the most friendly terms, and new guests, if they do not fijid friends among the old ones, as they gen- erally do. at any rate soon find congenial company, or they need have none at all if they prefer. It is said by travelers that they never saw, outside of England, a hotel that reminded them of the best-kept English inns of the country towns so much as this one does. Be that as it may, this inn is not, while under its present management, the subject of im- provement, while perhaps the English inn is. Hotel Guests. The Stockbridge House has always had a high quality of guests. As far back as 1S56, such men as Charles Buckingham, the Xew York mer- chant; Frederick A. Burrall, the Xew York broker: WiUiam Clark, the Brooklyn merchant; Essex Watts, of New York, and Mr. Joslyn, one of the owners of the Buckingham Hotel, in New York, came here and stayed for the season. The hotel registers bear the names of many dis- tinguished and prominent people, and every season the house is fiUed with well-known people from New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Brook- lyn, Washington, Hartford, and other places. One of the most sightly and picturesque views to be had in Stockbridge is from a point on the hillside where runs the western-most roadway from Stockbridge to Lenox, not far from the residence of David Dudley Field and Rev. Henry M. Field, and other places. This view overlooks ,TS«E-5B- .-..? :m»- i.Tif .^ -JM. 58 THE BOOK OF BERKSHIRE. Governor of Queensland, in Australia, expects to retire to this place, it is said, upon leaving his present office. Mr, Field owns more real estate in Stockbridge than any other person; he has not lived here much of late years, but is often here for short periods. Charles E. Butler, of Nev? York, whose wife was a granddaughter of Judge Sedgwick, came from New York and bought the Morgan place, near Glendale, where he erected a fine stone house, and gave his home the name of " Linwood." His law partner, Charles F. Southraayd, bought the Nathan Appleton place, "Oak Grove," which had been given to the poet Longfellow, whose wife was a daughter of Mr. Apple- ton, but was never occupied by him. The Rev. Dr. Henry M. Field, editor of the New York Evangelist, bought the Rev. Dr. West place, on Prospect Hill, and put up a fine house, where he has entertained many distin- guished people. He has occupied his "Windermere" for twenty sea- sons, during which time he has done everything in the way of making lawns and planting shade trees, to add to its natural beauty. Adjoining, a beautiful home was made by the late Henry Ivison, at " Bonnie Brae," on land that he bought from the founder of Williams College. He was a friend of Dr. Field's, whom he had long known in New York. Such was the intimacy and friendship between these neighbors, that they never had a fence between their grounds, the two lawns being like one. It is occupied summers by Mr. J. E. Parsons, of New York. Lucius Tuckerman, of New York, bought the Missionary Kirkland place, " Ingleside," called generally the President Kirkland place, form- erly, from his son, the president of Harvard College. Mrs. G. E. Beck, of Poughkeepsie, N. Y., bought from H. W. T. Mali, of New York, his "Edge Hill Farm," not far from the south end of Lake Mahkeenac. The late William Ashburner, a native of the town, but long a resident of San Francisco, has a place near Ice Glen, " Maple Hill;" and on the opposite side of the way is the place of the late Charles Boyden, of Bos- ton. William E. Doane, of New York, who has a place on Main street, is very active in village improvement. Professor C. A. Joy, formerly of Columbia College, came here twenty years ago, and procured a home on the slope of Prospect Hill, and, a few years after. Professor Rood, of Columbia, made a country home as his near neighbor. In 1885, Joseph H. Choate, of New York, who had spent many seasons in town, purchased land extending from Main street up to Prospect street, where he has recently built one of the loveliest homes in the country. The house on the lower side of Prospect street cost 8100,000, it is said, and is a rare possession, with its many adornments, couveui- THE BOOK OF BERKSHIRE. 59 ences and comforts. It is finished in many handsome natural woods, and the windows are so arranged that the view from each one is like a framed picture of surpassing beauty. The greatest length of the house is 96 feet; breadth, 46 feet, and, on the lower side, three stories high. It is a wooden house, somewhat in the old English style of architecture. The outside is shingled down to the basement, and has no paint, except on trimmings. Five stacks of chimneys and two towers rise above the roofs, two spacious piazzas are on the rear, and the whole building is beautifully broken up with bays, angles, windows, and various archi- tectural designs. Just north of the Choate place is the new summer residence of Mr. Birdseye Blakeman, of the wellknown publishing firm of Ivison, Blake- man & Phinney, of New York. The house is large, constructed of marble, and is one of the finest homes in the county. The grounds are particu- larly fine, and in summer are turned into one vast garden. The views from these places are of surpassing loveliness. The handsome new home of Mrs. lasigi, of Boston, is just opposite the Blakeman place. Dr. Chapman, of Hartford, has lately bought land at the upper end of Prospect street, where he is to build a home. Mrs. Julia Van Rens- selaer bought a house in the same quarter some time ago, and has re- placed it with a handsome modern cottage, which she occupies with her sister, Mrs. Philip Livingston. Bringing to a close the mention of the owners of country homes in Stockbridge, a delicate matter cannot be avoided. A petty jealousy toward each other possesses Stockbridge and Lenox, lest one shall claim some of the other's " glory." There was a time when the talk of a few Lenox people tried to belittle the other town, and the remembrance thereof still rankles. Indeed, Stockbridge claims that the grievance has not been suppressed. On the other hand, Stockbridge " claims" all that it can tax. The division line between the towns runs through the outskirts of Lenox village, on its southwest, and here, and in the north also, are places in Stockbridge territory owned by people who are four to five miles from Stockbridge village, and who are not identified with its society, but who are essentially Lenox people in spirit and association. What credit is due to Stockbridge for embracing the land on which these people live shall here be given, but the accuracy of this volume demands that they shall be classed where they belong. The homes that are the subject of this feeling are owned by TV. D. Sloane, Charles Lanier, W. S. Bullard, W. A. Tappan, S. G. Ward, the Misses Tappan, and George Higginson, Jr. 60 THE BOOK OF BERKSHIKE. Permanent and Temporary Kesidents. There are a few people who may be called permanent residents among the people who have come here to find a home. These are "W . E. Doane H. J. Canfield, John Winthrop, Harry D. Sedgwick, JNliss M. A. Wey- man, Miss Grace Stanley Parker, the Rev. Arthur Lawrence, rector of St. Paul's Church; Mrs. Samuel Lawrence, H. D. Cone, Mrs. Charles Adams, and Colonel James F. Dwight, from whose house, next to the Indian Burial Ground, the most delightful view in the village is to be had toward the southwest. His house is one of the old ones of the village, and is a fine survival of the old-time dwelling, as is Mrs. Ward's Edwards Hall, which is the oldest building in town. First and last, Stockbridge has been visited by many distinguished people, some of them as the guests of residents, others at the hotel or as lessees of houses. Dr. Kane, of Arctic fame, came when the Grin- nells lived here. In 1841 Lord Morpeth, later the Earl of Ripon, wanted to acquaint himself with the life and homes of American yeomanry while visiting here, and was taken to the house of Paul S. Palmer, in this town, where he ate dinner with a man who had been in the Revolu- tion, and was introduced to a specimen of the best and most intelligent of Berkshire farmers, than whom there are no better representatives of American yeomanry. Hai'riet Beecher Stowe lived here several seasons, some of the time in the Timothy Woodbridge place, now owned by Lady Musgrave, one of the old houses of the village. The family of President Garfield was at the Stockbridge House in 1885. Frances Hodgson Bur- nett hai5 been liere ; and General Armstrong, the Indian educator, often visits at D. R. Williams's. William M. Evarts and Judge David Davis have been here several times, and so has Longfellow. There has hardly been a governor of the State who has not visited the town — Andrew, Washburn, Bullock, and nearly the whole long line of executives. No one in town has entertained as many distinguished people here as the Rev. Henry M. Field. Among his earliest visitors was the Rev. Dr. McCosh, president of Princeton College, then on his first visit to America, who was so captivated by the prosjiect, as he stood on the piazza of Dr. Field's house and looked off upon the mountains, that he exclaimed: "There is not a finer view in all Scotland!" — which was a good deal for a Scotchman to say. In support of this he quoted Walter Scott, who was wont to say that the finest scenery in Scotland was not in the Highlands nor in the Lowlands, but midway, where the bald, bleak mountains lowered their rugged fronts, as if stooping to the vales between, so that the whole effect was one of grandeur, mingled with the THE BOOK OF BEKKSHIRE. 01 exquisite beauty that it softened. This description, Dr. McCosli said, applied perfectly to the scene here before his eye. Dean Stanley, who was David Dudley Field's guest here in 1877, said that the view from this hill was the most beautiful that he had seen in America. Two years ago Sir William Thompson, among the first scientific men of Great Britain, spent several days with Dr. Field at " Windermere," and was equally en- thusiastic over the view, combining the charms of hill and valley, mount- ains and rivers. As might be supposed, a home with such attractions and with inward charms, presided over by one of the best hosts in the land, has no lack of visitors from the city and from abroad. If we could trespass further on this private home, a long list of distinguished guests could be named. Dr. Field has been a great traveler, having been in all parts of the world, and he often has the pleasure of welcoming under his roof missionaries and others whose guest he has been in India, China, and Japan. Memories of the Indians. Stockbridge has unusual memories of the aborigines. An early mis- sion of the settlers was the Housatonic mission among the Stockbridge Indians. The matter was agitated as early as 1734, and the work was inaugurated by the Eev. John Sergeant, in October of that year, on the present location of Great Barrington village, where a school was opened. The Rev. Timothy Woodbridge, whose grandson wrote " The Autobiog- raphy of a Blind Minister," came to the mission soon after. For the jjurpose of giving the missionaries a better support, the town of Stock- bridge was set apart, and some of it given to them. In May, 1736, the mission moved to Stockbridge, comprising some fifty souls, of whom forty were pupils in the school. Its fame went abroad, and such were the accessions from Connecticut and New York that, upon the general migration of the Indians westward, their number was about 400. In- deed, it seems to have been the most famous Indian mission of its day in the Colonies, and from it several missionary undertakings branched. Mr. Sergeant died in 1749, and was buried in the village cemetery. The epitaph on his tombstone is said to have been composed by an Indian. The conduct of affairs was taken in succession by Jonathan Edwards, 1751-8; the Eev. Dr. Stephen West, 1759-75; John Kirkland, and, lastly, John Sergeant, son of the missionary. But civilization crowded upon the Indians, and, in 1786-8, the Stockbridge Indians went to live near the Oneidas, in Central New York. Since that time, with four other re- movals, these Indians, about 2-50 in number, now live in Shawnee county, Wisconsin, where their existence is gradually fading. Old Indian Burial Ground. THE BOOK OF BEBKSHIRE. 63 The services of the Stockbridge Indians to the Revohitionists were so valuable that Washington, on the declaration of peace, ordered that an ox for a barbecue, with whisky rations, be given to them to celebrate the event after their own customs. The ceremonies were performed on their council ground, at the slope of Laurel Hill, where, after an abundance of good cheer, they shot, scalped and burned an effigy of Arnold, and buried their war hatchet. About .$400 were raised in 1877, by the exertion of Mrs. J. Z. Goodrich, for a memorial for their Indians. Their burial place, before the estab- lishment of the mission, was in the rear of the home of Col. James F. Dwight, on a blufl: overlooking the meadow. A natural shaft, about fifteen feet long and two feet square, was got near Ice Glen and set west of Col. Dwight's home, on a base five feet high, concealed by a cairn of small boulders and covered with vines. A large flat slab was built into the front of the cairn, and inscribed: " The Burial Place of the Housa- tonic Indians, the Friends of our Fathers — 1734-1877." It has been greatly admired for its simplicity and appropriateness. Jonathan Edwards. The name of the Rev. Jonathan Edwards is inseparable from Stock- bridge. He was installed here August 8, 1751, and first occupied "Edwards Hall," now the oldest building in town and a place where summer guests find entertainment. It was built for the Rev. John Sergeant in 1737, and the front portion, minus the veranda and dormer windows, is the same now as then. Mr. Edwards erected an addition. In a closet in the house, six by fifteen feet, he wrote that great work, "The Freedom of the Will," which was followed by "God's End in Creation " and " The Nature of Virtue." Here he reviewed and pre- faced his treatise on "Original Sin," "The Harmony of the Old and New Testaments," and prepared for the press his sermons on " The History of Redemption." Several characteristic stories of him are told, which may be got in the literature of the town. He left Stockbridge, January 4, 1758, to become president of Princeton College, where he died on the 22d of the next March of small-pox, at the age of 54. The table on which President Edwards wrote is still here, in the hands of Prof. Hoffman. The outside of the house is still made of the original clapboards put on 149 years ago; they were not sawed, but were split from pine logs with axes, and were fastened with hand-made nails. The same ponderous doors that kept Indians out now let summer boarders in, three little glass windows at the top (it was in Queen Anne's time), a 64 THE BOOK OF BERKSHIRE. paneling outside, a heavy batten of plank inside, four wrought-iron hinges, each three feet long, an elaborate and ingenious latch, opened by a knob and closed by a spring, a brass knocker, and a great staple on each side within and a hickory bar six feet long standing in the corner and fitting the staples, with which the doors have always been fastened every night. About 200 descendants of President Edwards gathered here, Septem- ber 6 and 7, 1870, in commemoration of their great ancestor. They were hospitably entertained by the village people, and all united in public meetings, music, speeches, and festivity, which closed with a dinner, tendered by the citizens on the old Indian Square. The outcome of the gathering was the erection by the descendants of a monument to their great ancestor, of Scotch granite, costing §.3,000. It stands within a few rods of the site of the old Indian meeting house toward the west end of Main street. Public Benefactions. Stockbridge is fortunate in being a place of monuments, drinking fountains and public benefactions of various sorts. The second soldiers' monument erected in Western Massachusetts was placed here and dedi- cated October 17, 1866, with orations by Governor Bullock and Harry D. Sedgwick. J. H. Gourlie and G. Albinola have given fountains to the town, one of them being in the small park near the hotel. By the efforts of George Lawrence, in 1S81, $600 were contributed to the erection of a unique stone drinking fountain, with appropriate in- scriptions, on the Library corner. The literary taste, in which the town has never been lacking, found expression, in 1790, in the establishment of a public library, which con- tinued until 1822, and in many other ways the inhabitants obtained much reading matter during that time and subsequently. In 1862 Nathan Jack- son, of New York, born in Tyringham and educated here, gave $2,000 for a public library, provided that others would add $1,000 and erect a suitable building. The cash contributions nearly doubled the $1,000, a corner lot was given by Mrs. Frances F. Dwight, J. Z. Goodrich erected a fine stone building at a cost of $.5,000, and 400 volumes were contributed. The Jackson Library Association has a permanent fund, and the town and many residents contribute generously every year. The Library has about 8,000 volumes, and over 9,000 volumes are drawn yearly. A fund of $3,000 was bequeathed in 1842 by Cyrus Williams for the education of indigent lads at Williams Academy, in the village. THE BOOK OF BERKSHIRE. fi5 Cyrus W. Field, in 1879, added to the grounds on which formerly stood the Congregational church, ten or twelve acres adjoining, and laid out the whole for a public park, all at an expense of towards $15,000. John Z. Goodrich gave Williams College towards $75,000, $50,000 being in cash. He gave the hall above the Library for the use of the Congre- gational Society. Miss A. D. Woodbridge left a legacy of $3,600 to the Laurel Hill Association. Mrs. H. D. Cone has made many public gifts and maintains in the village of Housatonic a free public library and reading room, for the special use of Mr. Cone's paper mill operatives. On the site of the old Indian meeting house, David Dudley Field, in 1878, erected a Mission Tower of stone, in handsome design, and placed in it a clock and chime of nine bells, called the Children's Chimes, which are rung at his own expense during a portion of the year. The bells weigh 8,000 pounds, the largest one 2,000, and the nine cost $4,200. The Tower is seventy feet high. It commemorates the Indian mission, and the chimes are in memory of Mr. Field's grandchildren. Mr. Field also built a road over Monument Mountain, by the way of the Smith farm, a few years ago, but it is now somewhat overgrown with bushes and trees. The Laurel Hill Association and Village Perfection. As lovely as Nature has been formed in Stockbridge, Art has con- tributed finishing touches to the village aspect, so that the artificial environment is absolutely matchless in unsullied beauty. This is due to the native taste of the inhabitants, who do what they can privately to enhance the charm of the village surroundings, and, for further work, have established a society for organized public improvement. The parent village improvement society of the nation was the Laurel Hill Association. In this village, in 1853, Mrs. J. Z. Goodrich, then Miss Hopkins, was instrumental, through agitation, in securing the organi- zation of this society. The meetings have always been held on Laurel Hill, the ancient council ground of the Indians, which was made a play ground for school children by the Sedgwicks in 1834, and was deeded by them to the association in 1866. The scattered sons and daughters of the town, in all sections of the county, volunteered their aid, and, with $1,400 in cash and a large amount of promised labor, the association was launched on its aesthetic career. In its thirty-three years of existence, it has expended about $8,000, planted 2,000 trees, exclusive of hedges; and its watchful care for village appearance may be seen in the side- walks, street crossings, foot bridges, village paths, drives and shades in 66 THE BOOK OF BEKKSHIEE. the cemetery, in the shaven lawns, in the absence of street fences, in the constant cleaning and graveling, and, moi-e plainly still, in the improved taste and culture of the people in all that tends to rational pleasure and refinement. At the annual meeting there are an oration from a rustic rostrum, speeches, and music. In 1881, Prof. H. B. Adams, of Johns Hopkins University, traced the Germanic origin of New England towns; and, in the following year, he gave an account of the origin of Stockbridge and village improvements in Berkshire. The laws of village improvement, he says, beginning with restraining the wanderings of swine and cattle, have developed to this product of a refined community and of an edu- cated common sense, and not only effectually prevent trespass upon open lawns and in attractive gardens, but even forbid the accumulation of rubbish about the village premises and along the highways and hedges ; nay, these laws have even restrained the last vestige of swinish litter once caused by thoughtless persons scattering, as they came from the post office, torn envelopes and newspaper wrappers upon cleanly walks and drives. The Unspotted Neatness of the Village. The fame of this association has gone so far that the demand for its printed constitution comes from every part of the American Union. The village neatness is the wonder of every stranger. W. A. Croffut, writing to the Boston Herald in July, 1882, says : " Stockbridge is unique — the neatest, most orderly, and best kept town that I have ever seen in this country. The main street is 120 to 150 feet wide, and all the streets outside the wagon way are kept closely mown and swept clean of every twig and every dead leaf. Hedges, constantly trimmed, often supersede fences — hedges of privet, osage, orange, hawthorn, blackthorn, arbor vitse, hemlock, cedar, and all sorts of thrifty evergreen. Everywhere one sees the hedge trimmer and the lawn mowers busy, and, as my eye strays out of the window, it rests on a man with a broom, with which he is carefully picking up every stray leaf. The first day I came here, I flung away a crumpled visiting card fi-om the front porch. Then it looked so conspicuous on the lawn that I went and picked it up and flung it into the street. That, it was instantly apparent, was worse yet. It lay on the close cropped emerald stubble, and looked as if it could be seen for ten miles. I picked it up and carried it to the waste basket; there was no other way. Almost every house in town has a handsome lawn around it and flowers before it — flowers in beds of every shape, THE BOOK OF BERKSHIRE. 67 flowers over the doors in red boxes, flowers in pretty window ledges, flowers growing in crotches of the abundant trees, and the whole village has an ample shade. There is hardly a house or barn that needs a coat of paint; hardly a hedge with frowsy hair. Everything is in order, indi- cating not only wealth, but, what is much rarer, good taste and a love of beauty." The festhetic influence infects every visible village component. la 1884, the Town Offices were built at a cost of $10,000, a fine building with handsome rooms, surpassing anything that can be found elsewhere. The interior of the Housatonic Bank building is the most elegant one in New England outside of Boston ; and one of the stores has no parallel in any other country place in the land in its appearance and appoint- ments. St. Paul's Church. Stockbridge is fortunate in having a perfect gem of a church, St. Paul's, which was pictured and somewhat described in the Century soon after it was built, in 1884. It was given to the society by Charles E. Butler in memory of his wife, Susan Ridley Sedgwick Butler. The interior is open to visitors during the day time every week day, except Saturday, for prayer or inspection. The building and its belongings are choice works of art, the total cost being, it is said, about $100,000, exclusive of land. The stained glass pictorial window in the rear of the chancel is a memorial of the Rev. Dr. Samuel P. Parker, who was rector of the church for about fifteen years. The artist was La Farge. The window was given by friends of Dr. Parker. The massive chancel furniture of antique quartered oak, communion table and two chairs, was given by Mrs. Franklin H. Delano, of Xew York. The antique brass lecturn was given by Charles S. Weyman. The pulpit, symbolically carved, was the gift of the Rev. Henry F. Allen, of Boston, rector of the church, 1S65-T2, in memory of his mother. On the wall in front of the organ is a repro- duction of the famous " Singing Boys and Girls " of Lucca Delia Robbia, the Florentine sculptor of 1400-80. The oi'iginal, ten panels sculptured in all degrees of relief, finished in 1445, was the marble frieze that was in front of the organ in the cathedral at Florence, but is now set up in the Uffizi Palace, in that city. A few copies have been made from a cast of the original taken by a Berlin art society. This work of art is given by Misses Emily and Laura Tuckerman. The baptistery is a precious work of art in f ossilif erous marble from France and in brecciated marble. The memorial tablet was designed by St. Gaudiens, and the stained glass windows came from Tiffany's. The Roosevelt organ is a very effective Chime of Bells Tower. THE BOOK OF BEKKSHIBE. 69 one for its size, with a carved case of quartered oak and with forty-seven front pipes peculiarly decorated. There are several memorial windows of stained glass, carved liammerbeams, and other choice belongings, all of which, with what has been mentioned, make this church one of the notable ones of the country. With singular pi'opriety this work of art and beauty, and harmony and religion, is placed in Stockbridge and in Berkshire where nature is in harmony with art and beauty, and where religion should reach its purest and most exalted form. The church that this displaced was a wooden building, whose architect was the famous Kichard Upjohn ; the bell, now in the new church, was given by David Dudley Field; and the clock, also put into the new church, was largely the gift of G. P. E. James. In the old church had officiated many distinguished divines, and it had many noted attendants, among them Charles Sumner. Here Dean Stanley delivered a discourse, his only one in America. The Home of Distinguished People. Besides the large number of distinguished persons that have made Stockbridge their home, both native and adopted, already mentioned, there are many more, a few of whom ought to be mentioned, because of the pleasant association. " Cherry Cottage " was the birth place of the Rev. Dr. Mark Hopkins. The Eev. J. T. Headley preached in Curtisville from 1840 to 1842. The Rev. Dr. Kirkland, who was president of Harvard College, first became an educator in this town. The Rev. Dr. Stephen West, pastor of the Congregational church from 1759 to 1818, was a noted polemical preacher, who wrote "An Essay on Moral Agency," a treatise on "The Atonement," and many sermons and essays. The Rev. Samuel Whelpley, author of " The Triangle " and a " Compend of Ancient and Modern History," was born and reared here. Among citizens of the town have been Prof. Albert Hopkins, of Williams College; Prof. J. W. Hart, of Philadelphia; Miss Abby D. Woodbridge, of Albany and Brook- lyn; the Rev. Henry Fowler, of New York and Chicago; Judge Ezekiel Bacon, of Utica, N. Y. ; Judge Pierrepont Edwards ; President Edwards, of Union College ; Theodore Dwight, Henry W. Dwight, Henry and Rob- ert Sedgwick, of New York; the poet William Pitt Palmer, who was born here. Timothy Woodbridge, Jahleel Woodbridge and John Bacon were judges of the Supreme Court, the former chief justice; Ephraim Williams was judge of the Court of Common Pleas; Horatio Byington was judge of the Superior Court. Nine judges, counting promotions, have been appointed from this town, and seven congressmen, among them Theo- TO THE BOOK OF BEKKSHIRE. dore Sedgwick, who was speaker. Judge Sedgwick was also United States Senator. John Z. Goodrich was congressman and lieutenant gov- ernor, and was one of the originators of the Eepublican party in 1856, being chairman of the National Committee which organized the party. Horace J. Canfield was president of the State Senate. Jonathan E. Field, whose distinguished brothers' names are so intimately associated with the history of the town, was president of the State Senate, and, when in that oflBce, received the visit here of the whole Senate, and was a member of the commission to revise the Statutes. Stephen D. Field, his son, is an electi'ician and an inventor of a system of quadruplex tele- graphy and an electric motor. Enoch, son of Timothy Woodbridge, was chief justice of the Vermont Supreme Court. Several devoted mis- sionaries have gone from the town — the Eev. Cyrus Byington to the Choctaws, the Rev. Josiah Brewer to Turkey and Greece, Mrs. Catharine Watson to Burmah, Mrs. Catherine Sergeant De Forest to Beirut, Mrs. Sarah Perry Powers to Persia, Mrs. Mary Perry Ford to Aleppo, Miss Susan J. Johnson to the Choctaws. The subject of this paragraph could be continued much farther. Village Attractions. The new Casino, on Main street near Edwards Hall, built in 1887, is one of the attractive features of the village. The lot was purchased with con- tributions from David Dudley Field, William E. Doane, John Winthrop, Lucius Tuckerman, C. E. Butler and Charles F. Southmayd. The building is two stories high, of the old colonial style of architecture, with a fine lawn in front, largely devoted to tennis courts. On the iirst floor is a very pretty little theater which is in constant demand during the season for the- atricals, dances, etc., the upper floor contains billiard and smoking rooms. The oldest shade trees in the village are the four elms standing before the premises of Mrs. Owen, on Main street, which wei-e set by Col. W. M. Edwards, grandson of President Edwards, in 1786. The oldest maples are the remains of a row on the south side of Main street, which were planted by residents on Fast Day, 1814. Some trees were set in 1840, but a large part of the shades of the village and all those on the outleading roads were set by the Laurel Hill Association since 18-53. The money has been promised, and will be some day forthcoming, for setting out a row of trees on each side of every highway within the town. People who do not want to hire a house nor live at the hotel can obtain excellent keeping in and near the village in private families, eight or ten of which each offer accommodations to a few people. THE BOOK OF BERKSHIRE. Tl There are about fifty miles of public roads in this town, all in a most perfect state of repair. Riding over them is as easy as over a railroad ; they are well graveled, hard, smooth, and even, and the town takes a great deal of pride in them, as it ought. Over these roads the rides are enchanting, and on fair days most of the people are out with handsome turnouts and fine horses. Ice Glen. Walks about town are in numerous directions. A favorite one is to Ice Glen, a cleft across the spur of Bear Mountain, a short distance from the village. Here, in a deep, cool, shady, wild ravine of irregular forma- tion, is a luxurious retreat in a hot day, where ice may be found all summer down among the fallen rocks. The ravine is forty rods long, and is thickly strewn with enormous boulders and the great trunks of fallen trees, all mossy and slippery and in wild confusion, so as to leave cavernous i-ecesses and an often impeded passage for a lively brook. To clamber up this ravine in the dank air and gloomy shade is a most romantic undertaking, and a weird aspect is imparted to the scene by a torchlight visit in the night. Laura's Eest. Beyond Ice Glen, and about two miles from the village, a magnificent mountain outlook is had from Laura's Rest, where David Dudley Field had built an observatory fifty feet high, wrecked in a heavy wind last winter. Here the range of vision extends wide into Connecticut, New York, and to Vermont, on nearly every side of the observer, and the beauties that are spread before him are transcendent. Where to Walk. Fine sidewalks extend from the center of the village from one-half to three-quarters of a mile in every direction, and these, well shaded, make delightful strolls. Prospect Hill, just above the village, commands one of the choicest views of beauty in the world, — so say the Rev. T. T. Hunger and every one else who has traveled enough to sustain so bold a comparison. Of the view from Prospect Hill, Henry Ward Beecher, in one of his Star Papers, says Stockbridge is " famed for its meadow elms, for the picturesque scenery adjacent, for the quiet beauty of a village which sleeps along a level plain, just under the rim of hills. If you wish to be filled and satisfied with the serenest delight, ride to the summit of this encircling hill ridge, in a summer's afternoon, while the sun is but an Stockbridge Bowl. THE BOOK OF BERKSHIRE. 73 hour high. The Housatonic winds in. great circuits all through the val- ley, carrying willows and alders with it wherever it goes. The horizon on every side is piled and terraced with mountains. Abrupt and isolated mountains bolt up here and there over the whole stretch of the plain, covered with evergreens." The Kev. Henry M. Field has paid many a tribute to the beloved town. In a letter, he says: " The peculiar beauty of Stockbridge is that it is a valley set in an amphitheatre of mountains, which close round it like the walls of some mighty castle, as if to guard it from intrusion from the outer world. The point of view from which one takes in all its features best is the brow of the hill, on the northern side, where at the same mo- ment we look down on the valley below, and round the whole horizon. There is one point, on the shoulder of the hill, which has an outlook up and down for miles, and, because of this, was chosen by the early settlers as the position for a watch-tower against the Indians. After those dan- gers were passed, this spot was always a favorite resort for the view. It is a tradition of the town that old Judge Sedgwick, the ancestor of the famous Sedgwick family, as he rode over the hill, always reined in his horse at this point to take in the enchanting prospect." Laurel Hill, on the edge of the village, is the object of another walk, a delightful place that is a frequent resort. A walk to " Cherry Cottage," toward Monument Mountain, is often taken by those who want to go three miles. A four-mile 'walk is from Palmer's to East street, and a most wild, romantic walk of six miles may be had over the old Burgoyne road, which begins close by the artesian well, three-quarters of a mile beyond Ice Glen, and extends up the mountain. It is not a public road, but connects with the Beartown road, going down to South Lee, which is the way of return. But the stranger in Stockbridge needs no direc- tions beyond these to find the beautiful. It is everywhere ! Where to Drive. The town has three noted lakes — Mahkeenac (Stockbridge Bowl), at the north, covering 500 acres, gracing a scene of surpassing loveliness; Averic, half a mile southwest of it, covering fifty to sixty acres; and Mohawk, a mile northwest of Glendale, comprising about twenty-two acres. There are ample facilities for boating on these charming lakes. Drives outside the town are made to Lenox, West Stockbridge, Eich- mond. Great Barrington, Bashbish Falls, The Dome of the Taconics, Lake Buel, "Highlawn Farm," and other places mentioned in the table of distances and drives. 74 THE BOOK OF BEKKSHIRE. Miss Sedgwick's Description of a View. A view of Stockbridge is charmingly depicted iu Catherine M. Sedg- wick's " Hope Leslie:" "A scene of valley and hill, river and meadow, surrounded by mountain, whose encircling embrace expressed protection and love to the gentle spirit of the valley. A light summer shower had just fallen, and the clouds in a thousand liveries bright had risen from the western horizon and hung their rich drai^eries about the sun. The horizontal rays passed over the valley and flushed the upper branches of the trees, the summits of hills and the mountains with a flood of light, while the low grounds, reposing in deep shadow, presented one of those striking and accidental contrasts in nature that a painter would have selected to give effect to his art. The gentle Housatonic wound through the depths of the valley, in some parts contracted to a narrow channel and murmuring over the rocks that rippled its surface; and in others spreading wide its clear mirror and lingering like a lover amid the vines, trees and fiowers that fringed the banks." The Huge Old Willow. About a mile south, on the road to Great Barrington, is the huge stump of a willow tree, whose branches, weakened by age, were blown down by wind a few years ago. It was said by all who saw it to be the largest willow they ever saw. The trunk measures 32 feet around, and the branches were 115 feet from tip to tip. This tree grew from a riding whip that a Mr. Goodrich stuck in the ground in 1794, when he passed that way on horseback on his way from Weathersfield, Ct. A finely written meditation, from the pen of the lie v. Dr. Henry M. Field, on the fall of this tree, was published in his New York Evangelist, in July, 1884, and we give it in picture, in connection with the initial letter of this chapter on Stockbridge, as it apjieared a few years before its destruction. Stockbeidge Must Be Seen and Lived in. The opinion of many visitor.s to Stockbridge might be quoted from their writings as to its attractions, for never a year passes without more or less of such publications ; but the reader of this volume ought not to need the quotations. Yet, at best, words cannot do Stockbridge justice; they cannot describe its omnipresent charms, the exquisite quality of its beauty, the unspotted neatness of the village, nor the refined quiet of the place. The associations that group here are all matters that interest the exile from cities. The memories of Judge Sedgwick, who was one of the remarkable men of his time, and who should be remembered, as well THE ISOOK OK IJERKSniKE. 75 as for other matters, as the first man who was instrumental in making slavery illegal ; of Catherine M. Sedgwick, who was the first American literary woman of her day ; of the great metaphysician, Jonathan Ed- wards ; of one of the first protestant missions among the Indians ; — all these and many more memories, and the absolute perfection attained in village life and aspect, together with the choice society of the town, make it of the highest interest to visitors. As with other parts of Berk- shire, Stockbridge is still growing as a summer resort for the tourist and for those who stay a few days or weeks, and, at the same time, it is becom- ing the summer and autumn home of an increasing number of people. Most charming locations for new homes are still plentiful, and in the spreading tendency to come this way for a season's sojourn, it is probable that not many years will pass before the best of- the remaining ones will be converted into many more precious Country Homes in Berkshire. H S o Pd X f- s o z o H O Z erf <; O ore: AX BARRINGXOP7. ^NE of the pioneer attractions in the Berk- shire movement was Great Barrington. Here the singular beauty of the region first found appreciation, and a few dev- otees early made pilgrimages to the Cre- ator's choicest shrine of Nature. As the late Rev. Dr. Samuel P. Parker remarked many years ago, nature has been most prolific with this town. While sharing in the marvelous beauty of the other towns, this one has appropriated the boldest and most daring touches, which, outside of Berkshire, instead of heightening the charm, would have ruined it. The fac- tors of the landscape have been thrown into the most striking com- binations, all in exquisite harmony, imposing in effect, multiplied into astonishing variety, and admirable to the last extreme of good critical taste. The Fibst Visitoks. Among the first in the county, this town was sought by refugees from the summer of the city and by country home seekers. Before a i-ailroad came from Bridgeport on the windings of the Housatonic river, in 1842, these people were necessarily few; but after that their numbers soon and steadily increased. William Cullen Bryant frequently, after 1825, made summer visits; Elias W. Leavenworth, now of Syracuse, N. Y., who passed his youthful years here, often returned, and, in renewing fond remembrances, invariably first hurried to command the magnificent prospect from Berkshire Heights. William Sherwood came often from New York to visit his nieces, the Misses Kellogg, who kept a famous school for young ladies. This was attended by his daughter, Mary F. Sherwood, who here became acquainted with her future husband, Mark Hopkins, subsequently of Central Pacific Railroad fame. John F. Bacon, 78 THE BOOK OF BEBKSniKE. of Albany, came to visit relatives ; and a guest of the Misses Kellogg was William Gilmore Simms, of South Carolina. The coming of other visitors than former residents and friends and relatives of the town's people was conditioned upon good hotel accom- modations, which were not provided till the Berkshire House was built by George R. Ives, in 1840. Then, with the railway communication with the outside world, which was established in 1842, came people who at once made Great Barrington an established summer resort. From 1842 to 1850, among the visitors who are remembered were Henry Bush, con- sul to China, who had a Chinese servant, a great curiosity in those days; Dr. Barstow and family, of Salem, Mass. ; Dr. Prescott, who was a surgeon in the Revolution; Mr. and Mrs. Bamman, who remained during the win- ter, and were the first to make so long a residence; and Dr. Ticknor, who had been an army officer. W. B. Dinsmore, now president of the Adams Express Company, stayed at the Bei'kshire House in the summer of 1846, or thereabouts. Park Benjamin, who was a frequent visitor, read an original poem at a Fourth of July celebration in 1847, in the oak grove where E. D. Brainei'd's house now stands, on the road to Berkshire Heights, and C. Edwards Lester, who was often here in those days, and whose "Glory and Shame of England" had given him notoriety at the time, delivered the address. Dr. Parker, when he preached at Lenox or Stockbridge, years ago, told a village inhabitant here that some years previously he stepped into the Pearl street store of a New York friend, who told him that he had sold his New Jersey property. "Why so?" asked Dr. Parker. " I'm going to the finest town on the American con- tinent," was the enthusiastic reply; " and that town is Great Barrington, Berkshire County, Mass." The unfortunate merchant died before he could move to the earthly paradise. The first country home seeker in this town was David Leavitt, the wealthy New York merchant, who, in 1852, bought the property that he called " Brookside," now owned by Mrs. Hotchkiss of New York, and located on the east side of the Housatonic River, below the Fair Grounds. There he meant to experiment in agriculture, and, at a cost of about $60,000, built a huge barn, then the largest and most costly one in the United States, and attracting so much attention that Horace Greeley came to examine it, and wrote an account of it for his Tribune. The barn was burned in 1885. Three sons of Mr. Leavitt subsequently established summer homes here, and also David S. Draper and M. Ludlow Whitlock, New York business men, and J. Milton Mackie, who came from the eastern part of this State, and whose "Pine Cliff," near Green Rivei-, X o ?! z M CO w r w en O :2 (/I o < 5 30 THE BOOK OF BERKSHIRE. has a most beautiful outlook. Mr. Mackie is known for his literary work, as a leading Jersey cattle breeder, and as the president, a few years since, of the Jersey Cattle Club. From Great Barrington, interesting journeys may be made in any di- rection — to Stockbridge and Lenox, to Sage's Kavine, Bear Rock, Bear Mountain, Lookout Point and the Dome of Mount Washington ; to Al- f ord and on up the Green River valley, of which Bryant said in his earher writings: — I often come to this quiet place. And breathe the air that rufHes thy face. Along the roadway of this river, whose incomparably clear waters pass leisurely upon and over beds of cleanest of slaty gravel, the way leads by and over the foot-hills of the Taconics into New York state, where Columbia county vies with Berkshire in the presentation of good farms, good homes and charming landscape layouts. Mrs. Edward F. Searles. Since the summer of 1883, Great Barrington has acquii-ed increased fame from the doings of Mrs. Edward F. Seai'les, formerly Mrs. Mark Hopkins, and the visitor is now first concerned to know about them. The Kellogg Terrace property, just south of the central portion of the village, having been given to her by the will of her aunt. Miss Nancy Kellogg, in 1881, Mrs. Searles had the old house repaired and elegantly refitted, and has since made the place her home a part of the summer or autumn, her other home, for winter and spring residence, being her princely house in San Francisco, In the spring of 1883, a $45,000 barn was built for her, but it was burned in December, 1885, and afterwards rebuilt. Her large gifts to the Congregational society, consummated in the spring of 1884, had become widely known, when shortly after the news went to the remotest corner of the land that she would have a $1,000,000 house built here. This is now nearly completed. The house has a frontage to the north of 180 feet, and is about 100 feet deep. Its massive walls are broken by seven beautiful towers and numer- ous gables. The material is native blue dolomite, taken from a quarry across the river and conveyed to the site by a tram railway constructed for the purpose. It is somewhat difficult to designate the style of architect- ure of the building, but it may be said to be a combination in which the old French style predominates. At the north the house has four stories, and at the south there are two more, made by the slope of the hill. On the south side is a high and massive terrace which is paved with marble, THE BOOK OF BERKSHIRE. 81 the rail being surmounted with the same stone. Under this terrace is a large winter conservatory in which are kept the palms and other tropical plants that beautify the grounds in summer. The appearance of this terrace gives the impression of a fortress, and it is one of the most strik- ing features of the building. The main entrance to the mansion is through a grand porch on the north side. The doors for this entrance are to be historical solid bronze doors, and were cast in Munich. Their cost is $15,000, and they have not yet been placed in position. From the hall-way immediately after entering, is the entrance to the grand atrium. There are three of these atria and they are the central feature of the house. The grand atrium is of large size, and its angular lines are broken on either side by rows of massive marble pillars which support the I'oof. These pillars represent all the marbles of the world, no two being alike. As in the hall-way or passage leading to the atrium, the wood- work is all of the finest English oak and the ceilings and upper wall are of stucco-work, pure white and of exquisite design. Right here it may be stated that throughout this entire mansion there is not a par- ticle of coloring, excepting that which may be in carpets, hangings or furniture. The walls and ceilings are all of oak and stucco, and not a drop of oil has been used in the finish of the wood. It is polished by hand alone and the finish is magnificent. To the right of this grand atrium, in one of the towers, is the library, and on the opposite side in another tower is a reception room. The library has the same finish of oak and stucco, and is lighted by an ingenious arrangement of windows over the shelves. The walls of the reception room are paneled in oak, these round rooms being extremely tasteful and handsome. Coming back into the grand atrium, one has his attention drawn to the brilliant light that comes through a massive arched door-way at the opposite end. Looking toward this, the main source of light for this royal chamber, the idea of light and distance obtained is marvelous, and a look between the massive marble columns, and a second double row of oak columns to the music room entrance, is like a glimpse of fairy-land. The floors of the atrium are of quartered oak, the walls are wainscoted high with oak, and above the beautiful marble columns rises the arched roof. The sur- rounding rooms are for domestic purposes, and are in perfect harmony with the rest of the house. The second row of columns, just mentioned, are all of a rare oak of tan-color, and are richly carved. The columns lead up to the grand entrance to the music room, and the oak, like that used in the grand archway, is of the same kind as that used in the 82 THE BOOK OF BERKSHIRE, music room. Eugland and Scotland were hunted over to find enough of this rare wood, and its cost was $35,000. Passing on under the arch, one enters the music room, which is 52 by 45 feet, and occupies an extension on the west side. Pages might be written about this music room alone, and it would not then be ade- quately described. The room is oblong, the organ being built at one end, while the other end is oval. The ceiling is arched and very high, the construction being with a view to getting the best possible musical effect. At one side, over the arched entrance from the atrium, are two balconies, which curve and sweep in irregular lines, giving a peculiarly pleasing effect. The side walls are wainscoted high up, and above the oak is again seen the marvelous stucco work, wrought in the beautiful musical designs. About the room in niches are magnificent carved oaken seats, so arranged as to be retired, and hung with beautiful tapes- tries. But the crowning glory of this room is the organ. The case is a beautiful musical temple, made of carefully selected oak, and is a work of art in itself that is probably not excelled iu this country. The wood used in this case cost $12,000 and a large number of men worked two years in carving the elaborate designs. The organ case and the balco- nies are built into the room, and the effect is of an entire whole, not a room broken by protruding line of balcony or organ case. The lines are so softened that the harmony is perfect and the effect is marvelou sly del- icate and beautiful. The organ, which cost $75,000, is of the best metal, and is one of the finest instruments ever made. The front of the organ is not marred by an organ-seat, but the organist is located on a conical shaped oak booth, depressed somewhat, and placed some distance from the organ. The room is lighted by several hundred incandescent lights, concealed in the ceiling. These are controlled by the organist, and the lights are raised and lowered in accordance with the character of the music. Above and apart from the music room is a beautifully finished chapel for the use of the family. Leaving the music room and coming back through the grand atrium into the hall-way, the grand staircase is pointed out as an object of in- terest. It is made of oak, but the rail, which was made in France, is of hammered steel of unique design. There are also two elevators in the house, making access easy to the upper floors. The rest of the rooms in the house are of different designs and each is a study in itself. There is a Moorish room, Turkish room, Eoman and Grecian rooms, and in each the stucco, the carving, the windows and everything are in keeping with the style of architecture represented. THE BOOK OF BEKKSHIRE. 83 All through the house are scattered the most magnificent bronzes, statues, and other works of art. The kitchen has a tile floor and tile wainscoting, and is as nearly com- plete in its way as any room in the house. The plumbing is another feature, for it is made as nearly perfect as possible, and by no chance can any gases return to the living rooms. The main idea of the building is a great musical palace, all else being subservient to this. The music room is the central feature, and the magnificent atrium is designed simply as a sort of preparatory chamber for the sublimity of the musical temple beyond. The living rooms are nec- essary adjuncts to the art rooms and are fitted up in harmony with them. From the south windows of the house, the views are as fine as any in southern Berkshire. They take in the beautiful Berkshire meadows, the valley of the lower Housatonic and the range of East and June mountains. It is the intention of the owner to make of the 150 acres a grand park or garden, and a few years more will see this plan carried out. Two beautiful and artistic bridges will be thrown across the river, the grounds will be traversed by carefully-constructed roads, and the whole will become a veritable garden of Eden. Along the front of the place a stone wall is now being built. It is of the same material as the house, and will be surmounted by a hammered iron rail of a peculiar design. Some $2,U00,000 will have been expended on the place when it is finished. On both sides of the river at this point Mrs. Searles owns about 200 acres of land, including the large meadow between the house and the river and southward, a quarry of 70 acres on the west slope of Mount Bryant, and nearly the whole north half of Prospect Mountain, which rises abruptly from the river. The High Fountain, In the large meadow below the terrace a fountain has been constructed that sends a large column of water aloft to the extraordinary height of eighty to ninety feet, with the mountain background to show it off. In the first frosts of autumn, the water has a remarkable appearance, for at the rising of the sun, the spray that sheaths the column of descend- ing water, is converted into aqueous vapor, so that it rises and floats upon the lazy air, following graceful lines a thousand feet or more till it becomes invisible, or joins the low clouds or early morning vapors. The projected water then has no appearance of returning to the basin below, but all seems to be taking flight. 84 the book of berkshire. One of the Earth's Choicest Views. The view from the street near Kellogg Terrace is one of the choicest ones on the earth. It is there had in greatest perfection, though charm- ing phases of it are seen from other points, further south or up the westward hill. A gentleman who has spent several years in town, who has traveled extensively in Europe and America, and who has a keen and critical appreciation of the beautiful, is one of hundreds of similar people, who declare that there is no more lovely outlook than this, even in Switzerland or Italy. The Sunsets of Marvelous Beauty. The sunsets that are thrown upon this East Mountain are often of marvelous beauty. Some years they are absent; others, they are fre- quent, depending partly upon meteorological conditions. The best effect is obtained from the lower portions of the valley, because the ob- server is then in the shade of the western hill. Though visible at all times of the year, the best sunsets are in June, October and Novem- ber. The sunsets seen in the west by city, seacoast and prairie people, are incomparably inferior to the magnificent colorings of refracted sun- light, reflected upon the west side of this mountain on the east of the village, in mellow golden, in crimson, jjurple and many other tints. Sev- eral years ago a village resident was passing a man standing in the street below Kellogg Terrace when the latter, a stranger, waked from the spell that was upon him and ejaculated "There," with a gesture toward the mountain. No longer able to retain his admiration, he said that he had traveled far among the Alps and the Appenines, and beheld the richest sunshine of the old world, but had never found one that so deep- ly stirred his feelings as this one. The echoes of the locomotive whistle, from this mountain, continue for 50 seconds. The transformation of this prospect into a winter's scene is often of wonderful effect. The Berkshire Courier describes one as follows: " These are the days when to live in the country and see the beauties of a frosty morning is joy enough. One morning last week the sun looked over East Mountain and saw a cloud of frost crystals suspended in the air and rising from the meadows to the top of the mountain ; and as he threw the beams of his dazzling eye through the feathery prisms, a singular effect was visible to the observer from Main street. In the southeast stood a column of rainbow light, apparently a thousand feet high, and in the east was another of similar appearance. Berkshire in winter rivals Berkshire in summer." the book of berkshire. 85 The Congregational Church. No religious society elsewhere in a country town, and few in cities, have such a possession as that of the Congregational society in Great Barrington. The cost of this was not far from $200,000, the cost of the land, which would be a principal item of expense in cities, being only an insignificant twentieth of the whole. The superiority of the blue dolo- mite, composing the buildings, over most other building stones, is here apparent. A description of the interior is unnecessary here, for visitors are admitted to the church, and as it is one of the notable chuiches of the country, all strangers coming to town ask permission to enter on week days, if they do not attend Sunday service. There is not a veneer about the whole building; all materials are the best and are * 'solid." The solid mahogany platform and pulpit are the gift of Mi-s. J. M. Wasson of Pittsfield; and the mahogany furniture was given by Mr. and Mrs. Edward Leavitt of New York. The carved work, the decoration in colors, the stained glass and pictorial windows, and all the belongings are sure to attract admiring attention. The chapel is unex- celled and is connected with a ladies' parlor and kitchen thoroughly equipped with cooking utensils and chinaware. At the dedication, Sep- tember 26, 1883, the Rev. Dr. Mark Hopkins preached the sermon. One of the Best Organs Ever Made. The Roosevelt organ in this church cost over $30,000, and in mechan- ical construction excels every other organ in Europe and America, with one exception, that in the Hopkins mansion, already described. The size equals that of the average large organs at home and abroad. The compass of the manuals is C C to A 3, 58 notes; of the pedals, C C C to F, 30 notes. The organ has 3,954 pipes, 60 speaking stops and 34 mechanical accessories of various kinds, among the latter being 13 combination pistons, which, in a fraction of a second, bring into use combinations that have been made among 309 adjusters on the face of the key box. By their recent invention, which has been applied to only a very few organs, all of the Roosevelt make, the player can make any combinations of stops that he pleases before playing (billions of them are possible), and bring them into instant use by pressing the pistons. The best oi'gan in Europe operates by pistons only 24 combin- ations, all fixed. An echo organ is behind the wall at the opposite end of the church and is operated over two and a half miles of electric wires. There are but few echo organs in the world. 86 THE BOOK OF BERKSHIRE. It is ouly in the hands of a master that this organ ever begins to show its possibilities ; indeed, only one of the expert organists who have played it, and he the most competent one in the Xew World, if not in the whole world, has been able to do justice to the instru- ment. Public recitals are given by Frederick Archer every summer. The ebony and antique mahogany case, ornamented by the best carvers in America, was the design of the London architect, G. A. Audsley. The 83 front pipes are decorated with §250 worth of gold leaf. The gen- erosity of this gift has been ascribed to Timothy Hopkins, treasurer of the Central Pacific Kailroad Company; and also to Mrs. Edward F. Searles. The Parsonage. The parsonage, its furniture, and the barn cost about $100,000. Here is a most luxurious home, that is all the gift of Mrs. Searles, in memory of her husband's great-grandfather, the Kev. Dr. Samuel Hopkins, the pastor of this church from 1743 to 1770, who was the author of the famous Hopkinsonian doctrines, and one of the vigorous thinkers of his time. Mrs. Searles and her brother-in-law, Moses Hopkins, of San Fran- cisco, each contributed $5,000 toward the cost of building the church and chapel. The First Armed Resistance in the Revolution. Great Barrington has the honor of being the first place in the Thirteen Colonies where the first armed resistance was made to the dominion of George III, and his officers openly defied and bereft of authority. On the 16th of August, 1774, more than eight months before the battle of Lexington, the judges of the Crown came here, then the shire town, to hold court; but they were prevented from doing so by a large concourse of men, principally from the south end of Berkshire county and the north end of Litchfield county, Conn. The court house stood in the center of the street, directly in front of where the Berkshire house now stands. It faced to the east, and the street diverged here, passing on either side of the building. One of the three judges who was to hold court was David Ingersoll Jr., who resided in the house now used as a lodge at Mrs. Searles' Kellogg Terrace. He owned this property and was a pronounced Royalist. The crowd seized Ingersoll and placed him on an antiquated horse, with his face to the tail. His cocked hat was battered, his wig was knocked away, and in this undignified manner he was ridden out of town amid the jeers of the crowd. He was taken to the Litchfield THE BOOK OF BERKSHIRE. 87 jail, from which he afterward escaped and fled to Boston. While there he sold his Barr!ngtou property in order to raise money with which to re- turn to England. The old house, of such historic interest, is well pre- served, and can be readily seen from the street. In this old court house, in 1780, was made the first decision freeing a slave. The slave was Eliz- abeth Freeman, better known as "Mum Bet." She was the property of John Ashley, and her case was pleaded by Theodore Sedgwick, who se- cured her freedom under the Massachusetts bill of rights. The Shays rebellion of 17S6-7, against burdensome taxes and imprisonment for debt, made Great Barrington a historical scene of action, and culminated in a pitched battle in the northwest part of Sheffield, a few rods south of the Goodale quarry. The men of Berkshire and other counties of Western Massachusetts constituted the two best and most famous regiments of the Army of the Potomac in the Civil War — the Tenth and the Thirty-seventh — adding new evidence of the patriotism and spirit of liberty pervading the region. William Cullen Bryant. William Cullen Bryant's residence in this town, 1815-25, has left asso- ciations that will always endure. The strong impressions that the sur- roundings made upon his poetic nature found some voice in his poem on Green River, a stream a mile west of the village, that "glides along, through its beautiful banks, in a trance of song"; in his " Monument Mountain," an elevation in the town, half way towards Stockbridge; and about two scores of others, among them being '' The Ages," " The Rivu- let," "Autumn Woods," " After a Tempest," "Forest Hymn," " A Win- ter Piece," " The West Wind," anda"Walk at Sunset." These works of the poet were all the inspiration of the Nature in which he lived. In- deed, Berkshire is a vast volume of poems that no pen can fully tran- scribe, no words adequately express. Mr. Bryant was town clerk for several years, and the records, abounding in his autographs, are pre- served. He made record of his marriage to Frances Fairchild, of this town, which took place in the Henderson house, June 11, 1821, and re- corded the birth of his first child. The old house stands on Main street, opposite Kellogg Terrace — and was once used for storing Revolution- ary supplies, and where General Burgoyne stayed for a time on his way to Boston after the Saratoga defeat, when Colonel Elijah Dwight lived there. General Burgoyne was riding by the house, when he was sud- denly taken ill, and would have fallen from his horse but for the timely aid from one of his staff officers. Colonel Dwight witnessed the scene m a s Q Z < a » ■< CO Z Z < B! >• O X SO l-I b ft) M I a P O W H Z OS THE BOOK OF BERKSHIRE. 89 from his piazza, and hastening out, he tendered the hospitality of his house to the sick general. The offer was gratefully accepted, and Bur- goyne remained several days, his troops remaining in camp near by. The old house is now owned and occupied by Mrs. Culver, a niece of Bryant, and despite the fact that it was built in 1759, it is well preserved, and is one of the most interesting buildings in Berkshire. In connection with the Initial letter of this paper on Great Barrington, we give a picture of the house and a full page picture from an 1889 photograph. Among the prose work that Mr. Bryant did while here was " A Border Tradition," that he wrote for the United States Review and Literary Gazette. The meadow south of Kellogg Terrace was once a swamp, and was supposed to be haunted. At any rate, strange lights had been seen there. Monument Mountain. Long famous for the views of extraordinary beauty from its summit and from its dizzy precipice, Monument Mountain, four miles from the village, is a choice possession, even in Great Barrington, A fine tribute to this mountain comes from "Octavia Hensel " (Lady Alice Seymour), a native of this town, in a letter a few years ago from Austria, describing a concert given by Liszt, whose music brought back to her memory a visit to this mountain. The apparent fancy of the description has an objective reality; for Nature, in Berkshire, always goes hand in hand with Fancy: " Liszt sat down to the piano. Many years ago a little child climbed to the top of Monument Mountain, among the Berkshire Hills. She wandered away from the merry party of parents and friends, and found a marble nook under a gray rock, fringed with ferns and lichens. Down on the moss bed, among the wintergreen berries, she knelt to look over the frightful precipice into the valley where pines and hemlocks waved. She heard only the sad sighing of wind in the pines, she saw only cloud shadows moving over the landsape, but they were replaced by a haze of golden glory; for, 'after the shadow, the golden sun' smiles on the field lily bells, and sets them ringing for joy. The child could not hear these flower bells ringing, but she thought she did ; she saw the bright waters of the Housatonic ' winding through meadows in a path of light ' and the sunbeams playing among the tree shadows over the stream, and the silly child thought she heard the fairies laugh at this game of hide and seek. The glorious mountains that wall in the Housatonic Valley stood solemn and dark away to the north; the awful precipice above which the Monument Mountain from Under the Cliffs. THE BOOK OF I5KRKSHIKE. 91 child stood filled her with that unspeakable awe which we sometimes feel when organ notes announce in the Te Deum the majesty of earth's glory." Berkshire is not only a poem, but it is a poem set to entrancing music. Of Monument Mountain, Prof. Hitchcock writes: "It does not rise more than 500 feet above the plain and 1,250 feet above tide water; but its eastern side is an almost perpendicular wall of white granular quartz ; and, shooting out boldly, as it does, into the heart of a beautiful country, the prospect from its summit is delightful. * * * in several places frowning masses [of rock] are still left projecting from the cliff, more than 200 feet above the base, still holding on to the parent rock with ap- parent firmness. And it is an interesting trial of the nerves to ci'eep to the edge of these jutting masses, and to look down upon the fragments some hundreds of feet below. * * * N'ear the highest part of this cliff, a pointed mass of rock, only a few feet in diameter, has been parted at the top of the mountain; but its base not giving way, it now stands insulated, and from 50 to 100 feet high " on different sides. It is called Pulpit Rock, and is very difiicult of ascent, though a few people have been to its top. The name of this mountain is derived from a monument of stones that had been made by Indians at the foot of the southern slope of the higher part of the mountain. The tradition on which Bryant's poem was founded was told by an aged Indian woman, who said that an Indian maiden, having formed a passionate attachment for a young brave, who was her cousin, and whom the customs of her tribe forbade her to marry, threw herself from the precipice, and that she was buried where the Indians, passing that way, have each placed a stone. Another tradition has it that the pile marks the spot where invading Indians were slaugh- tered by the resident Indians. Still another is that the heap was raised over the grave of the first sachem who died after the Indians came into the region; and, again, it is said to have been a territorial boundary between tribes. The accepted conclusion now is that the monument has a religious import, and was very likely connected with the burial of some Indian. Whites scattered the stones half a century ago, and dug to find treasure or human bones, but were unsuccessful. The cairn was re- placed in 1884. Ei.don's Cave. Eldon's Cave is a recently discovered point of interest, and is named in honor of Eklon French, its discoverer. This young man is a graduate of 92 THE BOOK OF BERKSHIRE. the Great Barrington liigh school and of Cornell University, and accident- ally came across the entrance to the cave some three years ago. It is in the Tom Ball range of mountains near the village of Williamsville in the town of West Stockbridge, and is of limestone formation. The entrance is through a corridor some 500 feet long, and in places so low, that the explorer is compelled to wriggle along on his stomach, snake fashion. After passing through the many trials encountered in this dark passage- way a large chamber 15 feet square is reached. The roof is some 30 feet high, is arched, and is covered with beautiful stalactites, each holding a globule of water. The sides are of marble, polished by carbonic acid gas dissolved in the water which trickles down from above. When lighted by a torch or candle, the cave has the appearance of being a cave of diamonds, and the sight is dazzlingly beautiful. Beyond the main cave are several smaller chambers, which are not without their attractions. Belcheb's Cave. In the north end of the village, where a spur of the mountains comes to an abrupt end, a cave is formed by the disruption and falling together of rocks. It is known as Belcher's Cave, because tradition says that a man named Belcher counterfeited silver coin there before the Revolu- tion. The place is often made the object of easy, summer days' walks by those who want to see what the rough hand of Nature has done, and to get the refreshing coolness imparted to the air by rocks and shade. Mount Peter. A more pleasant walk, and an easy one, is to Mount Peter, in the south end of the village, from whose summit charming views may be had. On this mount. President Garfield sat, on August 25, 1854, on his way to col- lege, and wrote some verses to an unknown maiden who had some stanzas