An elite retreat

Arts, culture, and luxury are surrounded by beauty of Berkshire

December 26, 2007|CLOSE-UP ON LENOX, Sacha Pfeiffer, Globe Staff

In the mid-19th century, Lenox became a summer haunt for the elite of Boston and New York, but it has since grown into a destination for the wealthy and cultured from around the world. Home of Tanglewood, Shakespeare & Company, the Museum of the Gilded Age, and novelist Edith Wharton's magnificent estate, the town offers a wealth of music, theater, dance, art, and history. It boasts several exclusive spas and retreats, including Kripalu and Canyon Ranch. Its small, stylish downtown is replete with boutique clothing stores, art galleries, and high-end restaurants. And well-to-do newcomers have restored many of its opulent "cottages" built more than a century ago by moneyed families like the Carnegie, Procter, and Westinghouse clans. For culture in the lap of luxury, chic Lenox is the place to go.

Do

If there's one destination tourists most associate with Lenox, it's Tanglewood. From June through August, the Tanglewood Music Center (297 West St., 617-266-1492, tanglewood.org) is the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Concerts are held in the barnlike Koussevitzky Music Shed, and visitors can enjoy the music while also picnicking on the rolling lawn. Operating year-round, Shakespeare & Company (70 Kemble St., 413-637-1199, shake speare.org) holds scores of performances, workshops, lectures, demonstrations, and classes honoring the Bard, as well as other playwrights and artists. Built in 1893, gorgeous Ventfort Hall (104 Walker St., 413-637-3206, gildedage.org) was one of Lenox's so-called cottages (read: mansions) and now houses the Museum of the Gilded Age, which chronicles the country's pockets of extravagant wealth in the late 19th century. Bordering Tanglewood, the Frelinghuysen Morris House & Studio (92 Hawthorne St., 413-637-0166, frelinghuysen.org) is the preserved former home of Suzy Frelinghuysen and George L.K. Morris, who helped pioneer abstract art in the 1930s and '40s. Guided tours of the house and its extensive art collection are available. Or take a self-guided tour of The Mount (2 Plunkett St., 413-551-5111, edithwharton.org), the sprawling 1902 estate and gardens of the novelist Edith Wharton. The Berkshire Scenic Railway Museum (10 Willow Creek Road, 413-637-2210, berkshirescenicrail road.org) celebrates railroading in the Berkshires, and offers leisurely train rides from Lenox to either Stockbridge or Lee.