Retro Renovation

When I first moved to The Berkshires in 2001, I worked at The Mount, the house and gardens of novelist Edith Wharton. What a wonderful experience - to get so close to this amazing American woman.

I am no American lit major. But I came to love Edith Wharton, her story — and the 1902 estate that she created. Here are things that continue to amaze me:

• Edith Wharton was an extremely successful novelist - The House of Mirth, The Age of Innocence, Ethan Frome and many more. But this is just the surface of it.
• Her first book was actually The Decoration of Houses — the seminal book that launched interior design in America. It laid the path we are still all on, today!
• She was an avid gardener. An expert here, too. She called her flower garden at The Mount, “an oriental carpet floating in the sun.”
• She designed the house at The Mount. She poured herself into it.
• She was born wealthy, but not that wealthy. She spent the money she made on her very successful novels — on her houses! Now that’s a woman I can identify with.
• In fact, though born into a well-to-do family, she did not go to school. Circa 1864 that was not done. But her intellect, her curiosity in the world, was huge. So, she sequestered herself in her father’s library and read all his books. Her grasping mother did not approve.
• For quite a while, little Edith played along. She entered into an appropriate yet dreary marriage, she kept house in NYC and Newport. But then she moved her summer place to The Berkshires. She built her house, planted her garden, wrote a novel (the shame!) - The House of Mirth - which was wildly scandalous and equally successful, had a wild love affair with a jerk when she was 40. She ultimately pitched the jerk, divorced the husband and went to live in France. Where she wrote some more - and decorated and gardened … and in general, lived the way she damn well pleased. NB, I have made a personal pledge not to curse in this blog, but I am so impressed by this woman’s spirit that the extra emphasis is required. You go, girl.

Today, Edith Wharton’s estate — a National Historic Landmark and one of the very few dedicated to women — is struggling under a debt burden accumulated as the non-profit that now owns it has worked to revive it over the past 10 years. We all know how much it costs us to renovate our cozy little postwar gems? The task at The Mount is exponentially more challenging.

The non-profit’s campaign to raise enough to satisfy the bank and move forward ends in just a few days. So I am taking this moment to ask readers if they would like to make a donation. If you have the ability and the inclination, please consider a donation today. With just a few days in their campaign, the time is critical. Thank you.

To make a pledge: Click here.

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