Edith Wharton’s Mount – Lenox, Massachusetts
Exploration through road trips was a big part of homeschooling in our household. Each spring, when historic homes reopened for the season, off we would go, ready to step into another life and another era.
One such stop was Edith Wharton’s home in Lenox, Massachusetts, a place we returned to more than once, always drawn back by its gardens and her remarkable library.
Known as The Mount, the house was designed by Wharton herself in the early 1900s and reflects her sharp eye for architecture, landscape and order. Long before she became the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for fiction, Wharton was already shaping spaces as carefully as she shaped sentences. The home blends classical symmetry with European influence, set high on a hill overlooking the Berkshires
It was here, between 1902 and 1911, that Wharton wrote some of her most important works, including “The House of Mirth”, “Ethan Frome”, and “The Custom of the Country”.
We were captivated by the gardens, layered terraces, stone stairways and carefully framed views. And her library, a room that showed her life was steeped in reading, travel and intellectual rigor. One more special detail was Wharton’s breakfast nook, a small-elegant space flooded with light and positioned to overlook the grounds.
The Mount was just one of the stops in our homeschooling road trips. History is so rich in these houses, and we could walk through each one and glimpse different eras, social classes and ways of living. All of this is preserved within the walls that once echoed with daily routines, conversations, and quiet moments of creativity.
These places are where history lives outside of textbooks.
Read More From Nancy
Sagamore Hill – Oyster Bay, New York
Sagamore Hill National Historic Site is a remarkable home and a lasting testament to the giant of a man, Theodore Roosevelt. Much has been written about this extraordinary figure who rose to the presidency at the young age of 42. Often regarded as one of the most intelligent and dynamic presidents. Roosevelt left an indelible mark with […]
Mansion House – Oneida, New York
Last summer, on our return from a camping trip to the Finger Lakes, we took a few detours to explore historic sites along the way. Upstate New York was the heart of the Religious Awakening in the years before the Civil War, and it is dotted with places where people gathered in search of a […]
Old Manse – Concord, Massachusetts
One homeschooling morning, I took Emmy and Erin to visit the Old Manse in Concord. As was often the case with weekday explorations, the house was nearly empty. Museums and historic sites were a big part of our schooling. Built in 1770 for the Reverend William Emerson, the Old Manse stands just steps from the […]
