Marking the 60th anniversary of her death, Steepletop, the home poet Edna St. Vincent Millay lived in for the final 25 years of her life (and the building in which she died accidentally at the age of 58) will be opening to the public – as part of the museum dedicated to her and her work – for the first time this year.　

No matter how many times we visit the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, we find something new.  Now there’s an exhibit of Impressionist painter, Giovanni Boldini, who is new to us and we’re glad to discover him. The exhibit will be on display until April 25th.

During the 1890s and early 1900s, Giovanni Boldini achieved tremendous popularity in Europe and the United States as a painter of striking, stylish portraits. Indeed, he was one of the great portrait painters of his time. Earlier in his career, however, he explored a wide range of other subjects including landscapes, urban views, and scenes of everyday life. Boldini moved to Paris from his native Italy in 1871, and like his French contemporaries, he was fascinated by the life of the city: its bustling streets, its cafés, and concert halls, and the surrounding countryside.

The 25th Annual Festival of Trees
November 14 – January 3

Each year, the Berkshire Museum spruces up the galleries with scores of festive trees decorated by community organizations, businesses, and school children. This year, to mark the Festival’s Silver Anniversary, the trees have been inspired by the theme Silver Bells.

The Festival of Trees is a time-honored Berkshires custom that Brook Farm Inn guests have enjoyed every holiday season.  Ask us for more information, or see www.berkshiremuseum.org

Description

“For the ghost should never be allowed to forget that his only chance of survival is in the tale of those who have encountered him.”

Edith Wharton wrote those words many years ago, but they still seem particularly apt today. Whether using the latest technology or their old-fashioned senses, visitors to The Mount during this season’s inaugural Friday night ghost tours have reported a variety of eerie experiences from unexplained taps on the shoulders to the faint aroma of flowers and cigar smoke.

During Halloween week, the time of year when according to ancient folklore, communication between the spiritual and physical worlds is at its liveliest, The Mount will be hosting a series of events to tell tales, both ancient and new, and shiver the spines of all who care to venture forth.

Halloween Week Activities:

October 26-29 (Monday – Thursday)

3:30 p.m. Daily readings by members of The Mount’s staff of stories and poems by some of Wharton’s favorite ghost story writers including Edgar Allan Poe, Robert Louis Stevenson, M.R. James, and Edith Wharton herself.  These readings are included in the price of admission to The Mount and will start each afternoon at 3:30 p.m. in the Drawing Room.

October 30 (Friday)

8:30 p.m. A reading, in collaboration with the Berkshire Theatre Festival, who made this year’s “Wharton on Wednesdays” so successful, of Edith Wharton’s famous gothic tale, The Lady’s Maid’s Bell. The reading, by BTF favorites Ariel Bock and Jonathan Epstein, will be held in the Drawing Room at The Mount. Admission is $10 and reservations are required. Please call (413) 551 – 5100.

October 31 HALLOWEEN (Saturday)

6:30 p.m. A special Halloween ghost tour of the stables and grounds to be followed by a reading in The Mount’s Drawing Room of Edith Wharton’s spine-tingling tale Kerfol performed by Ariel Bock and Jonathan Epstein of the Berkshire Theatre Festival. Price is $30 per adult and $15 for 16 and under and includes both tour and reading.

Costumes are encouraged during this special week. The tour is not suitable for children under 8, or people with limited mobility. Reservations are required, please call (413) 551-5111 or see www.edithwharton.org for more information.

“If it sends a cold shiver down one’s spine, it has done its job and done it well.”

Find out if Edith Wharton and her beloved house can still make spines shiver.  Celebrate Halloween at The Mount.

Here in the Berkshires, we treasure the Trustees of Reservations.  As a conservationist organization, they provide beautifully maintained, scenic hiking trails, historic homes to visit, and lovely gardens.  Among our favorite places is Naumkeag in Stockbridge (a gorgeous Stanford White home with gardens), and also Ashintully Gardens in Tyringham.  This weekend we’ll have perfect weather for hiking some of the trails as well, so at Brook Farm Inn we’ll be glad to provide maps and directions.  All the sites are close to Lenox.

Frederic Church was one of America’s most important landscape artists, and his home, Olana, is close enough to the Berkshires for a day trip.  A trip there from Brook Farm Inn yesterday took under an hour, and it was worth the trip. Church, a  Hudson River School painter, developed Olana as a 3-dimensional work of art; a totally integrated environment embracing architecture, art and landscape.  The views of the Hudson River — seen in his paintings – are spectacular, and the house tour was fascinating.  We intend to go back to enjoy the hiking trails on the property.

Tuesday evening we had the distinct pleasure of attending a chamber concert at the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, MA.  The Ying Quartet played Mendelssohn and Brahms flawlessly and beautifully.   Then we came home under the full moon and starlit Berkshires sky.  This is one of a series on Tuesdays in August, and we’re recommending it to guests of Brook Farm Inn.  You can even combine the concert with a dinner special.  Here are the details!

Make a night of a performance with a special, fixed-price dinner offered beforehand at 6 pm. On concert days, the galleries will remain open until 6 pm and the museum shop will remain open until 8 pm. Concert tickets are $21 each ($18 members and students). Dinner is $25 per person, and does not include beverage, tax, gratuity, or concert. Reservations are required; seating is limited. Call 413-458-0524 for reservations.

August 11: Trio Solisti has won an international reputation as one of the most brilliant piano trios concertizing today. They will perform the Haydn Trio in G Major “Gypsy Rondo”; Beethoven Trio in B-flat Major “Archduke”; and the Brahms Trio in C Major, Opus 87.

August 18: Ensemble-in-residence at Florida International University, the Amernet String Quartet is one of today’s exceptional string quartets. Returning to the Clark after a well-received 2008 appearance, the group will perform the Haydn String Quartet Opus 76, No. 4, “Sunrise”; Stephen Dankner’s String Quartet No. 10 (premiere performance based on Dove/O’Keeffe: Circles of Influence); and Tchaikovsky’s String Quartet No. 1.

August 25: Annually appearing on the great stages of Europe and America, the American String Quartet is resident quartet at the Manhattan School of Music and at the summer Aspen Music Festival and School. The group will close the 2009 Sights and Sounds Series with a program including the Haydn String Quartet in D major, Opus 76, No. 5; the Bartok String Quartet No. 3; and the Brahms Quartet in A Minor, Opus 51, No. 2.

Tonight’s the opening of “The Torch-Bearers” at Williamstown Theatre Festival, in Williamstown, MA.  This theater has been renowned as a Berkshires tradition for 55 years.  The play is a 1920’s side-splitting farce about a bunch of amateurs trying to produce a play, sort of like “Noises Off.”

Williamstown is about 40 minutes from Brook Farm Inn, and guests can enjoy a full day there at the Clark, the Williams College Art Museum, and some great restaurants and shops.

Who put the Mock in Democracy?  It’s the Capitol Steps, and they’re performing all summer here in Lenox.  We saw their performance a few days ago, and went home with our jaws hurting from laughing nonstop for 90 minutes.  The song and dance political satire troupe is very talented, and no one in the news is safe from theirparodies.  To quote from their program, when they hear of a scandal, they ask “1) Is it funny? and 2) What rhymes with it?”  Shows are nightly except Tuesday at 8 PM. For tickets, phone the box office at 413-881-1636.