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.

At Brook Farm Inn, we’re always interested in literary links to the original Brook Farm, for which the inn was named.  Brook Farm was a utopian farm experiment — the original hippie commune, perhaps — that was founded by the Transcendentalists in the 1840’s.   Hawthorne, Emerson, Margaret Fuller, and other famous intellectuals of the era were involved.  Nathaniel Hawthorne immortalized the farm in The Blithedale Romance, a fictionalized account .  (You’ll find a copy in each of our guest rooms.) The photo shows how the site looks today, in what is now West Roxbury.

This summer, The Mount is presenting a series of literary lectures, Mondays at 4 PM.  They all sound fascinating.  The one that connects most to Brook Farm is the lecture  about Eden’s Outcasts, a dual biography of Louisa May Alcott and her father, Bronson Alcott.  Although not involved with Brook Farm, they were part of the Transcendentalist community, and their lives were fascinating.   We recommend the book, and the lecture!

On Saturday, April 18th at 5 pm, Simon’s Rock professor Peter Filkins will read from and discuss his recent translation of H.G. Adler’s novel, The Journey.  The reading takes place in the Mount, The estate of Edith Wharton at 2 Plunket Street, Lenox Massachusetts

Adler, one of only a handful of German-speaking Jewish novelists to survive the Holocaust, wrote 26 works in German, including poetry, fiction, history, philosophy and religion. This is the first of his novels to be translated into English.  In this work, Adler uses his experiences at the labor camp Theresienstadt to recount the tale of the Lustig family and their struggle to come to terms with the tragedies of war.

Peter Filkins is a poet and translator. His translations include the collected poems of Ingeborg Bachmann, Darkness Spoken, as well as her novels The Book of Franza and Requiem for Fanny Goldmann.  His work has been awarded an Outstanding Translation Award from ALTA, a Berlin Prize from the American Academy in Berlin, and a Distinguished Translation Award from the Austrian Government.

A book signing and reception will follow.

Tickets for this event are $12.  Please phone 413-551-5111 for reservations.  The Mount is located one mile from Brook Farm Inn in Lenox Ma.

Four of the Berkshires’ most visited attractions have combined under the name “American Icons” to make your visit to the area more convenient and affordable.  Now through the end of October you can visit The Hancock Shaker Villiage, the largest working farm from the Shaker era; The Mount Estate and Gardens, the home of the great American author Edith Wharton; Chesterwood Museum, the home and the studio of sculptor Daniel Chester French (Lincoln Memorial and Minute Man statues); and The Norman Rockwell Museum.  Buy an American Icon pass for $46.00 and visit all four or buy a Pick Two pass for $25.00.  The passes are valid for four days including the date of purchase.  Passes may be purchased at any of the four sites.

Book your room at Brook Farm Inn in Lenox Massachusetts and you will be centrally located to all Berkshire attractions during the Fall Foliage Season.

A favorite of summer visitors to Brook Farm Inn in Lenox Massachusetts has always been the author lecture series at The Mount, home and gardens of Edith Wharton. Lectures take place on Mondays at 4 PM, starting July 7th, and they’re followed by tea and book-signing. We’re also glad to announce  Wharton on Wednesdays at 5 PM in July and August, which consists of live readings from her works.  Also a wonderful new idea is called Some Enchanted Evenings — wine & hors d’oeuvres on the Mount’s terrace, 5 – 8 PM Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  A great prelude to any summer evening in the Berkshires!

You may have been reading or hearing lately about the financial difficulties of The Mount, famed estate of the author, Edith Wharton. Brook Farm Inn is within walking distance of this treasure in Lenox, Massachusetts. A tour of the mansion and gardens are a must for every visitor to the Berkshires, and many wonderful events take place there as well. So Brook Farm Inn is offering to buy admission for guests who book a stay of at least two nights, between May 9th and June 12th. We hope it will not only contribute to the fundraising efforts, but introduce visitors to this historic and literary landmark.