There is plenty to do in the Berkshires in December.   But one of the iconic events, built around Norman Rockwell's famous painting of a 1967 streetscape is "Stockbridge Main Street at Christmas."   The Stockbridge weekend is a full calendar, but the central event is a recreation of the Main Street as it existed in the Rockwell painting…down to the correct automobiles frozen in time.   For a calendar of the events CLICK HERE.

The Berkshire Theatre Festival is again presenting A CHRISTMAS CAROL, from December 11 to December 30.

The Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield annually presents the FESTIVAL OF TREES from November 15th to January 4th, showcasing the amazing creativity of Berkshire residents and organizations as they decorate 200+ trees with this year's theme.

The Ventfort Hall Mansion and Gilded Age Museum, located across the street from Hampton Terrace has turned it up 12 notches this year for the holiday season, with seasonal decorations, special programming and events spanning from early November through New Years'.  Click to their website for descriptions and calendars…more than I can list here.

Frankly, there is so much going on EVERY weekend in December, that I cannot make an adequate list here.   Edith Wharton's "The Mount" will stay open on December weekends until Christmas.     All of the museums, The Clark, The Norman Rockwell, MassMoca are open.   For a listing of special programs and events, try www.berkshires.org/events, and type in a date range.

And then stay at Hampton Terrace.    We look forward to helping your plan your December stay.

Why is Lenox here?   Don't start me on that…..well okay, a little bit.  

At the turn of the century, Lenox, fueled in part by Edith Wharton's famous phrase "keeping up with the Joneses," became the "inland Newport," a concentration of Gilded Age homes and parties unrivaled in America.   Famous late-summer names included Vanderbilt, Morgan, Westinghouse, Carnegie, Proctor, Wharton, Sloane and scores of others.  They called their homes "cottages."   Our beloved Hampton Terrace was considered in that category.

And they called their beautiful horse-drawn carriages "tubs."   Both tongue-in-cheek characterizations were thin attempts to minimize their otherwise ostentatious life-styles.   We won't expound upon whose backs these fortunes were made….but now, 100-years later, it is fun to gawk at their great monuments to excess.   Which brings me to September 12-14, "A Weekend of the Gilded Age" in Lenox.

So let's start with the "tubs."   When these great estates were abandoned in the 1920s and 1930s, many of the original carriages were left hanging in their carriage houses.   Several decades ago, a local organization formed to rescue as many of these magnificent carriages as possible and find a way to use them in their former context.  That was not hard.   During the heyday of Lenox's Gilded Age, the 'famous" families of Lenox would venture into town for a month or so, have their parties, and then depart en-masse to their next destination (summer houses, fall houses, winter houses, city houses, etc).   Before leaving, they would cover their carriages with flowers, load up their families, and participate in Lenox's annual "Tub Parade," where they would wave good-bye to the locals until next year.   I think I used the word "ostentatious" before, and now I'll use "pretentious."

So how much fun would it be to reanimate that scene?   As it turns out, a LOT of fun.   Lenox's annual "Tub Parade" will be held Saturday afternoon, September 13, and it occurs just several hundred feet from Hampton Terrace's front door.   There will be hundreds of people attempting to find parking places before the parade.   Not our guests.   One of the many benefits of staying at Hampton Terrace, of course.   Another benefit:

The signature event during the Gilded Age Weekend is an actual Gilded Age Ball at Ventfort Hall on Saturday evening, the 13th.   Imagine you are an invited guest of the Morgan family, enjoying their Berkshire "cottage," smoking their cigars, drinking their wine….and here is the benefit of staying at Hampton Terrace….staggering across the street to fall into your bed.  I'll leave the light on.

And what is a Gilded Age weekend without the official chronicler of the Gilded Age, Edith Wharton, not weighing in.   "The Mount" grounds will be open on Sunday afternoon for picnics for just $10 with all proceeds supporting the mansion.   It is possible to also add a discounted tour of the house itself.

The GREAT NEWS is that Hampton Terrace considers September a "low season" month.   All rooms in the Main House and Carriage House are $189/night and we do STILL include the $30 Gift Certificate to Nejaimes, the wine shop with a 2-night stay.   How can I afford that, my banker asks?   By filling up, I answer.   So please make my banker happy.