LENOX, Mass. (WGGB/WSHM) - As the United States moves closer to its 250th birthday on Saturday, we continue our “We the People” series. We’re highlighting a time in American history known for its immense wealth, and rigid class division: the Gilded Age.

It began right after the Civil War — and lasted through the turn of the 20th century.

A handful of the richest families in the world, who could choose to live anywhere they wanted, and for several months every year, what they wanted was to spend time in western Mass.

It’s the beginning of the Gilded Age — those 3 decades at the end of the 19th century marked by glittering displays of wealth like the one behind me. In fact, this was called playfully a cottage by the very rich looking to escape the heat of the city. No doubt you’ve heard of the mansions along the coast of Newport. But for those looking for a little more open space after their time at the beach, there was another playground for the privileged and it was right here in the Berkshires of western Mass.

This cottage, that is by any measure a mansion, is a 28,000 square foot Jacobean Revival called Ventfort Hall, located in the small town of Lenox. Though it was one of about 75 lavish estates built in the area during the Gilded Age, collectively known as the “Berkshire Cottages” it remains one of the most impressive, and expensive ever constructed.

“Well, Ventfort Hall was built in 1893 by Sara and George Morgan. Sara Morgan is JP Morgan’s Sister and when their father passed away, he left JP a huge financial empire and he left Sara and each of his daughters 3 million dollars – so Sarah spent a million of it to build Ventfort Hall,” said Wendy Healey of the Ventfort Hall Mansion & Gilded Age Museum.

Boasting 28 rooms, the elaborately decorated main house includes 15 bedrooms, 9 for family and guests, and 6 for servants, 17 fireplaces, a great hall with a soaring 3-story entrance, A wood paneled library, an expansive dining room, a salon for the woman, and billiard room for the men.

All of which was originally surrounded by 26 acres of gardens, stables and six greenhouses.

It was by any measure, as Executive Director Wendy Healey explained an estate built for having fun, “It was meant for entertaining. It was almost like a bed and breakfast that they were running where they would have their friends and they would entertain them and they would have dinners and dances and that kind of thing, but they’d stay for a couple of weeks not just a weekend.”

Those weeks spent in western Mass. ranged from early September through late October. A grand affair of pageantry and pleasure — with all the trappings of immense wealth and social standing.

And Yet, As Ventfort Hall Museum’s Chelsea Gaia told us, even though the Morgan’s and their friends kept up the airs of appearance, it was also a chance to let down their hair — so to speak, “Well the Berkshire season was coming off of high season in Newport so everybody was a little looser. The societal standards weren’t as high. Nobody can be on all the time.”

Still, Sarah and George we’re very much products of their time, and even though their Berkshire estate is now a work in progress, undergoing extensive restoration, it’s still clearly reflects the opulence it once displayed, “You know, it was the gilded age, more is more. This is a very stripped-down version but there was more elaborate wallpaper, there were beautiful lamps, there were antiques at that time, everywhere. You filled the house with plants and items that you value or cherish, It was a show of luxury and wealth but it was also a statement of who you were as a person and as a family,” Gaia said.

But all good things must come to an end. And so, as the autumn winds turned cold and the parties ended, the Morgans, along with other members of high society, would close up their mansions for the season, and head back to the city.

Not however, before one last flourish called ‘The Lenox Floral Parade’ where the women and children would leave town wearing their finest, in a caravan of horse drawn carriages covered in flowers cut from the gardens of their now shuttered estates.

While those gilded days of old are long gone, as well as many of the Berkshire ‘cottages’, the estate once described as “one of the most beautiful places in Lenox” remains. The great rooms that once rang with the sounds of music and laughter are once again very much alive. Imbued with that same festive spirit, a spirit that contues to live on because of the efforts of a local preservation group — The Ventfort Hall Association.

“Anybody that comes though this house is here to live their best life and enjoy the space. I always say the mission of the house in 1893 was to throw a party. Bring your friends in, hold your community and that’s still what we do today. We have weddings, we have birthday parties, we do our own public programming. We have a large community of people that find Ventfort hall to be home,” said Haley Barbieri of the Ventfort Hall Mansion and Gilded Age Museum.

A home that once hosted the very pinnacle of high society and is now open to anyone and everyone.

For more information about Ventfort Hall Gilded Age Mansion and Museum — just head to their website.

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