Discover 11 hidden attractions, cool sights, and unusual things to do in Lenox (United States). Don't miss out on these must-see attractions: The Mount, Ventfort Hall Mansion and Gilded Age Museum, and Berkshire Scenic Railway Museum. Also, be sure to include Frelinghuysen Morris House and Studio in your itinerary.
Below, you can find the list of the most amazing places you should visit in Lenox (Massachusetts).
Table of Contents
The Mount
Cultural center in Lenox, Massachusetts. The Mount is a country house in Lenox, Massachusetts, the home of noted American author Edith Wharton, who designed the house and its grounds and considered it her "first real home." The estate, located in The Berkshires, is open to the public. The property was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1971.
Today, The Mount is a cultural center and historic house museum, welcoming over 50,000 visitors each year. Visitors can explore the property and learn about Edith Wharton by taking tours of the house and gardens and are invited to sit in and interact with the rooms without obstruction. Interpretive exhibits throughout the house explore Wharton and her servants’ lives, as well as her humanitarian efforts and literary legacy. The Mount also presents lectures, dramatic readings, theater, music, storytelling, workshops, outdoor sculptures, films, and literary panels with over 40 local partner organizations.[1]
Address: 2 Plunkett St, 01240-2704 Lenox
Ventfort Hall Mansion and Gilded Age Museum
Mansion in Lenox, Massachusetts. Ventfort Hall Mansion and Gilded Age Museum is a historic, Jacobean-style mansion and museum located at 104 Walker Street, Lenox, Massachusetts. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Visitors can tour the mansion and learn about the changes that occurred in American life, industry, and society during the late 19th-century period known as the Gilded Age.[2]
Address: 104 Walker St, 01240-2725 Lenox
Berkshire Scenic Railway Museum
Museum in Lenox, Massachusetts. The Berkshire Scenic Railway Museum is a railroad museum located in Lenox, Massachusetts, United States, that offers historical exhibits. The museum was founded in 1984 as a not-for-profit organization. During the 1980s and 2003-2011 it offered tourist train rides between Lenox and Stockbridge on the Housatonic Railroad right-of-way. In 2016 the museum began tourist train service in North Adams, Massachusetts.[3]
Frelinghuysen Morris House and Studio
Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. The Frelinghuysen Morris House and Studio is a historic house museum and former art studio in Lenox and Stockbridge, Massachusetts. The house and studio were home to American Abstract Artists George L.K. Morris and Suzy Frelinghuysen. The studio was built in Bauhaus style in 1930 by Morris and his friend George Sanderson. The house was added in 1941, designed by John Butler Swann. The house and studio were entered onto the National Register of Historic Places in 2016.
The house contains furnishings and decorations unchanged since the couple's lifetime. The art collection includes cubist frescoes and paintings by Morris and Frelinghuysen, as well as works by Pablo Picasso, Juan Gris, Georges Braque, Joan Miró and Henri Matisse.[4]
Address: 92 Hawthorne St, 01240-2403 Lenox
Lenox Library
Public library in Lenox, Massachusetts. The Lenox Library is the principal public library of Lenox, Massachusetts. It is managed by the non-profit Lenox Library Association, founded in 1856, and is located at 18 Main Street, in a former county courthouse that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.[5]
Address: 18 Main St, Lenox
Lenox Academy
Building in Lenox, Massachusetts. Lenox Academy is a historic school building at 65 Main Street in Lenox, Massachusetts. Built in 1802-03 as a private academy, it was the first secondary school to open in Berkshire County. It was subsequently used as the town's high school, and now houses offices. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.[6]
Church on the Hill
Church building in Lenox, Massachusetts. The Church on the Hill is a historic church building at 169 Main Street in Lenox, Massachusetts. Built in 1805, it is one of a small number of surviving Federal period churches in the region. Its congregation, gathered in 1769, belongs to the United Church of Christ, and its offices are located at 55 Main Street. The church building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.[7]
Address: 169 Main St, Lenox
Trinity Episcopal Church
Church building in Lenox, Massachusetts. Trinity Episcopal Church is an historic Episcopal church building at 88 Walker Street in Lenox, Massachusetts. Built in 1888 for a congregation organized in 1793, it is a prominent local example of Romanesque architecture, funded by Gilded Age summer congregants. The church was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1996.[8]
Address: 88 Walker St, 01240 Lenox
The Wit Gallery
Museum, Art gallery, Shopping
Address: 27 Church St, 01240-2646 Lenox
Elm Court
Mansion in Lenox, Massachusetts. Elm Court is a former Vanderbilt mansion located on Old Stockbridge Road, straddling the town line between Lenox and Stockbridge, Massachusetts. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and until July 2012 was owned and operated as a hotel by descendants of the original owners.
Elm Court was built as the Berkshire summer home of William Douglas Sloane and Emily Thorn Vanderbilt, a member of the wealthy American Vanderbilt family. Designed by premier architectural firm Peabody and Stearns, with gardens and landscape design by Frederick Law Olmsted, Elm Court is the largest Shingle style house in the United States, with 106 rooms.[9]
Boston University Tanglewood Institute
The Boston University Tanglewood Institute is a summer music training program for students age 10 to 20 in Lenox, Massachusetts, under the auspices of the Boston University College of Fine Arts.[10]