07/14 at 4:00 pm: Step back into America’s golden era with acclaimed author, garden designer, and speaker Jana Milbocker as she presents her newest book, Gardens of the Gilded Age. A tea will be served after her presentation. In this richly illustrated talk Jana explores the breathtaking estates and legendary landscapes created for families such as the Vanderbilts, Rockefellers, and du Ponts—alongside the visionary architects and designers who brought their grandeur to life. Discover the stories behind these magnificent gardens and the people who shaped them.

07/21 at 4:00 pm: Author and college professor Sheila Myers will talk about how historical homes shape cultural memory. A tea will be served after her presentation. She will share the research behind her five historical novels, exploring how historic homes—both grand and unassuming—shape our cultural memory. From the Smoky Mountains to the Adirondacks and Upstate New York, her talk reveals why the stories held within places like Ventfort Hall still resonate today.

07/28 at 4:00 pm: Lifelong journalist and author Doug Most will tell the remarkable story of the building of the ships that took America to war. A tea will be served after his presentation. Launching Liberty tells the remarkable story of how FDR partnered with private businessmen to begin the production of cargo freighters longer than a football field—ships he affectionately dubbed ugly ducklings. These colossal Liberty Ships took over six months to build at the start of his $350 million emergency shipbuilding program, far too long. The government turned to Henry Kaiser, the man who had delivered the Boulder Dam ahead of schedule and under budget, but had never built a ship in his life. Kaiser established a network of shipyards from coast to coast and recruited tens of thousands of workers eager to contribute to the war effort. Many, particularly African Americans and women, traveled from some of the most downtrodden, rural parts of the nation to help their country and to find a better life of greater equality.

08/04: Jay Craven, American film director, screenwriter, and former film professor at Marlboro College, will present his talk New England Movies: How & Why
08/18: Local historian and author, Cornelia Brooke Gilder, will share the human element of Houses of the Berkshires here at the mansion
08/25: Join Executive Director Wendy Healey for a visually rich exploration of Ventfort Hall, the imposing 28,000-square-foot brick and brownstone “cottage” built in 1893 for Sarah and George Morgan. As the sister of industrialist J.P. Morgan, Sarah Morgan’s estate represented the height of Gilded Age society in Lenox. This presentation traces the mansion’s journey from its origins as a pinnacle of opulence to its heroic rescue from the brink of destruction. A tea will be served after her presentation.