The Gilded Age Lives on at Wheatleigh in the Berkshires

Written by John Oseid
for Forbes
August 7, 2023
Photo credit: Peter Pierce

In the Gilded Age, Boston and New York grandees flocked to western Massachusetts. They built scores of homes called Berkshire Cottages that were, in fact, cottages in name only. Many of these impressive villas and grand estates are thankfully still there, some thriving under new guises.

Built more than a century ago on a rise outside of the towns of Lenox and Stockbridge, and with Berkshire peaks in the distance, the property of Wheatleigh is today a Leading Hotels of the World member. If the look and dimensions of the Wheatleigh landscape feel Olmsted-ish, that’s because it was indeed graced by the hand of the legendary Frederick Law Olmsted. As was the norm for grand estates of the day, what is today woodland seen beyond the great lawn was originally farmland. Some things haven’t changed though: A commanding marble fountain in the horseshoe entrance is still there.

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