Beginning this weekend, April 3rd and lasting through April 25th, Hancock Shaker Village is showcasing its new calves, piglets, lambs and chicks in their Round Stone Barn.    Also this month you will see their heirloom gardens come to life.

The Village is open daily from 10 until 4.    Beyond the obvious attraction of being able to hold and help feed the newborns, enjoy Hancock Shaker Village for what it is, a living anachronism.    This working, historic landmark demonstrates why the Shakers occupy an important place in American history.   They developed many of the innovative farming and construction techniques still used today.

For more information about their 8th Annual Barnyard Birthday Party, or about the Village in general, CLICK HERE.

Hampton Terrace Bed and Breakfast is located in Lenox, about a twenty minute drive from Hancock Shaker Village.   While staying here, also visit the Norman Rockwell Museum, Ventfort Hall, and the Clark Art Institute.

Hampton Terrace is one of the "Berkshire Cottages."   In general terms, around the turn of the century, if someone built a  home to participate in the Lenox/Stockbridge late summer social register scene, their home was a "Berkshire Cottage."  Some, however, are great estates, and Ventfort Hall is one of the best. 

Built by J. P.Morgan’s sister, Sarah, and her husband, George (his cousin), Ventfort Hall is such a good example of the genre that it has become "The Museum of the Gilded Age."   Ten years ago, it was slated to be torn down.

Thanks to some very strong supporters, especially Tjasa Sprague, who is still intimately involved, Ventfort Hall has not only been saved but predominantly restored.   There is much to do, but the exterior, the main downstairs rooms, and several of the upstairs rooms are now completely restored and open for tour.    More importantly, the facility hosts numerous events and productions throughout the year, adding significantly to the Lenox scene.

Hampton Terrace is very fortunate to be located just several hundred yards from Ventfort Hall and we gratefully share our Gilded Age heritage.    It is not possible to stay at Ventfort Hall, but Hampton Terrace has been a well-known inn since 1937.    We invite you to combine a stay at Hampton Terrace Bed and Breakast inn, visit Ventfort Hall either for a tour or an event, and then stroll into Lenox, a 2-square block village that embraces its Gilded Age past.

Planning on sticking close to home this summer and want to save up to 30% as well?   Stay multiple nights at Hampton Terrace Bed and Breakfast during the summer between Sunday through Thursday, and pay our off-season rate of $190/night per room.   We include full breakfast and we have an outdoor heated pool.     Hampton Terrace Inn is rated #1 by Trip Advisor, so a discounted stay does not mean a discounted experience.

During the week, you will have access to the same great attractions:   Berkshire Theatre Festival, Williamstown Theater Festival, Shakespeare & Company, Jacob’s Pillow, Barrington Stage Company, The Mount, Ventfort Hall, The Clark Art Institute, Norman Rockwell Museum, Tanglewood shows in Ozawa Hall, Hancock Shaker Village, summer activities at Jiminy Peak, the Berkshire Museum, Mass MoCA., and all of the Berkshires’ great restaurants and shops.   Call 800-203-0656 for availability.

After more than 60 years operating as an inn, Hampton Terrace’s guest rooms finally have names.   It is not that they needed names…Main House 4 was pretty descriptive…but we decided that this was an opportunity to help tell the history of the property in a colorful way.

Captain Robert Shaw Oliver of Albany, and his wife Marion, constructed their home on this site in 1873 (replaced in 1896 by the Struthers’ "Wynnstay"). This room overlooks the site of the former "Bel Air" mansion, the home where Mrs. Oliver grew up. Unfortunately, Bel Air was destroyed by fire a century later. She was the niece of the Haggertys, the original owners of Ventfort Hall, which was moved across the street and renamed Bel Air when the Morgans constructed the current Ventfort Hall. Marion was also the daughter of William Rathbone, who constructed the first Wyndhurst mansion, now Cranwell Resort.

Rich, deep and red. This dramatic room is a King, featuring a down comforter and vintage throw pillows. Television/VCR. There is also a CD player with romantic classical CDs. In the bathroom, you will find our largest antique claw-foot tub with shower. Air conditioning, iron and ironing board, hair dryer and bath amenity collection.

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.

Sure, how can you avoid the jaw-dropping vistas.   But what do you do when the roll of film is finished, or the sun goes down?    Let me count the ways:

THEATER:   Shakespeare & Company, walking distance from Hampton Terrace, is featuring "The Canterville Ghost" in its new Elayne Bernstein Theater.    Barrington Stage Company in Pittsfield is presenting "To Kill A Mockingbird."   The Berkshire Theater Festival has Eleanor, Her Secret Journey in October.   Can’t make it back so soon?   Come in December and enjoy their annual A Christmas Carol. 

 MUSIC:   Surprising number of things going on:   At the Mahaiwe in Great Barrington, there is a long list of September-October musical events, including The Indigo Girls, Dar WIlliams, the Metropolitan Opera LIVE Series, and a concert honoring Daniel Pearl, who spent much of his career at the Berkshire Eagle.  For a listing, Mahaiwe Schedule.  Also, the Colonial Theater in Pittsfield is matching the quantity, starting with a tribute to the "Rat Pack," music from Ireland and Africa and numerous classical options in a gloriously restored turn-of-the-century theater:  Colonial Schedule.    Most of the summer classical music presenters also have come up with something, so to see those choices, take a LOOK at the Berkshire Visitors Bureau music page.   For a more comprehensive look at music in the clubs, or at the mixed media venues like MASS MOCA, look at the entertainment links in the Berkshire Eagle and click on "Entertainment."

HISTORIC HOUSE TOURS:   They called us the "Inland Newport," but I am not sure even Newport had 80+ Gilded Age homes so large that they could cleverly be called "cottages."   All will still be open during October, including The Mount, Ventfort Hall, Naumkeag, Chesterwood, and Herman Melville’s Arrowhead.

 MUSEUMS:   All open:   The Clark Art Institute, Hancock Shaker Village, The Berkshire Museum, Mass Moca, and  the Norman Rockwell Museum.

 RESTAURANTS:  Just last week, we completely rewrote our restaurant recommendation list.   Yes, we have an ever-expanding database of guest experiences to consider, but mainly there are SO MANY new restaurant openings we are once again struck by the fact that the Berkshires is a rural version of New York City.   I mean, take the music, dance, theater, museums, art galleries, restaurants and interesting lodging….substitute mountains for skyscrapers…and you have us.   Back to food:   there are the old reliables where you will always get a great meal, like "The Old Mill" in Egremont, but now you have to add The Mission Bar and Grill and Jae’s Spice in Pittsfield, Allium, Napa (moved from Lenox) and Xicohtencatl Mexican (not that new, but new to our radar) in Great Barrington, Alta, Barrood’s, Jonathans, Chocolate Springs and Haven in Lenox, and Viva in Housatonic.   It is worth a stay at Hampton Terrace just to see our restaurant recommendation list!   Last, but not least, dine with the Shakers!   Six times from October 11/12  through December there are special Shaker dinners at the Hancock Shaker Village.

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.