Edith Wharton's Home

The Nature of Houses

"I have sometimes thought that a woman's nature is like a great house full of rooms: there is the hall, through which everyone passes; the drawing room, where one receives formal visits; the sitting room, where the members of the family come and go... but beyond that, there are other rooms, the handles of whose doors are never turned; no one knows the way to them, no one knows whither they lead; and in the innermost room, the holy of holies, the soul sits alone and waits for a footstep that never comes." Edith Wharton, The Fulness of Life, 1892

Edith Wharton's beloved house, The Mount, in Lenox, Mass, was built in 1902. We visited it today and we're touched by its story. Edith was born Edith Jones, from the wealthy New York family for whom the expression "keeping up with the Joneses" was coined. She spent her childhood touring Europe with her family, and grew up fluent in French, German, and Italian. She married Edward (Teddy) Robbins Wharton and seventeen years later designed and built her dream home. Here we see the front entrance....

...and the house from the back.

We took a tour of the home and learned about Edith's marriage (not very happy,) her divorce, her affairs, and her writing. She was a Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist and was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature three times. Amazing for a woman of her era. The house is lovely and we walked through her library which contains 26,000 of her personal books...

...the sitting room...

The dining room ( note how small the table was--Edith only entertained 4-6 guests at a time...)

...and Edith's boudoir, where she did much of her writing as well as entertain close friends.

In many of the rooms there were large informational posters describing life in the house. Have you ever wondered how much the wealthy people of that era actually made?  Here's a poster that discloses Edith's money situation (click to embiggen):

 The servants' areas were much simpler but still beautiful.

Edith only lived in her beloved home for 9 years before her marriage dissolved and she moved to Paris, right before World War I.  Unlike others who fled Paris to avoid the difficulties of war, she became very active in charitable organizations and was an ardent supporter of the French war effort. After the war she received an honorary doctorate from Yale University and the Cross of the Legion of Honour from the French government. Her most famous novels were The House of Mirth, The Age of Innocence, and Ethan Frome. I had read Ethan Frome and skimmed through her book The Decoration of Houses but now I want to read them again.

It was very interesting to see the way that Edith lived as compared to the Shakers, whom we learned about yesterday. History is so fascinating.

Tomorrow is moving day--heading to eastern Massachusetts for 11 days to see family. Can't wait!