As I sit in front of this computer, the temperature outside has passed 80 degrees, which for May in the Berkshires, is early.    And probably temporary.   It will make our Memorial Day guests ask about our covered pool.    Two nights ago, it was 31, so that is not quite fair.    However, it is always our goal to  have it  open by now.

But this year, our pool operator is running behind getting peoples’ pools open.   There is a new federal law mandating a pump shutoff function on pool drains.    That caught  me by surprise, although I  do remember now that someone  in Congress had pushed this through when his granddaughter had been pinned under the water by a pool drain.    Fixing this potential problem is important, although it will cost us $1,000 for the new drain plus labor.   The larger issue is that installing these new drains caught us by surprise, and we would have made sure that we were higher in the queue with our pool guy.   Now he has to open the pool, wait for the chemicals to make the water safe, and for the pool heater to raise the temperature to a point where  he can go underwater to the drain, and make the change.    Then he has to wait for the health department to inspect the new system before they will issue the certificate for the pool to open  this year.    So this weekends’ guests will be disappointed.    Unless the temperature goes back down to 30.

Hampton Terrace is one of the few Berkshire or Lenox inns with an outdoor heated pool.   We typically keep it open through September.

After more than 60 years operating as an inn, Hampton Terrace’s guest rooms finally have names.   It is not that they needed names…King Suite 1 was pretty descriptive…but we decided that this was an opportunity to help tell the history of the property in a colorful way.   Our Main House Rooms have been named after pre-inn owners of the property.   Our Wynnstay Cottage Rooms are named after the famous race horses owned by the Bonner family, who lived here from 1917-1937 and gave us the name Hampton Terrace.  We have decided to name our king suites after strong women from our family.

The Pearl Davis Suite

Pearl Davis (Hill), Susan’s paternal great grandmother, whose portrait hangs in our living room, was born in 1881 in rural upper Mississippi. She was known as one of the most beautiful women in the state, but when she chose to marry Ed Hill, her parents said they would rather see her in a casket than marry that scoundrel. When Ed came to take Pearl away in a wagon, her father followed them with a shotgun to make sure that they indeed had a legal ceremony. Pearl and Ed had five children but she died in 1919 at age 38, five months after having Pearlie Lucille. During their marriage Ed was well-known for the quality of his moonshine and he was considered one of the two most notorious bootleggers in Texas, ultimately being turned in by his rival. It took six Texas Rangers to haul him in. We have a touching letter he wrote in 1920 from prison to his infant daughter, apologizing for having to leave her. In the letter, he describes Pearl as a "perfect lady." Our granddaughter has been named Emily Pearl Vining.

Our King Suites represent the best of Hampton Terrace. Private, spacious and beautifully appointed, they feature your own personal entrance and sitting porch next to our outdoor, heated pool. Relax in your living room area (not a separate room) with an overstuffed couch (can be converted into a bed), romantic gas fireplace, large 2-person corner Jacuzzi (the largest we could find!) wet bar and refrigerator.

You will have a hard time leaving your huge four-poster king bed each morning. The suite also features a television with built-in DVD and a beautiful, gold hand-ragged luxurious private bath.