Venfort Christmas

Gilded Age Traditions

Christmas, as modern Americans romanticize it, is firmly based in the traditions of the 19th-century. Once abhorred by Puritans as an amalgam of pagan and Papist traditions, the holiday was transformed by the Victorians into the cozy festival of lights it is today.

Bonnie Eastwood, a volunteer at the Ventfort Hall Gilded Age Mansion and Museum, will explore these Gilded Age traditions at a Tea & Talk Saturday, December 20th, at 3:30PM at the museum. A tea will follow her presentation.

She will talk about such traditions as decorating the house, the Christmas tree, Santa Claus, Christmas Eve festivities, gift giving, Christmas dinner, New Year’s Eve, Twelfth Night and more.

Ventfort Hall, built by George and Sarah Morgan as their summer home, is an imposing Jacobean Revival mansion that typifies the Gilded Age in Lenox. Sarah, the sister of J. Pierpont Morgan, purchased the property in 1891 and hired Rotch & Tilden, prominent Boston architects, to design the house once described as “one of the most beautiful places in Lenox.”

The house had 28 rooms, including 15 bedrooms, 13 bathrooms and 17 fireplaces and features a soaring three-story great hall and staircase with wood paneling detailing.

Bonnie Eastwood, a Berkshire native, is a docent at Ventfort Hall and assists with the Tea & Talks and other special events. Currently, she is researching Sarah Learned Mifflin Morgan, the “other Sarah,” who was George Hale Morgan’s second wife.

Tickets are $45 and include access to the mansion throughout the day of the event, 10AM to 4PM. Reservations are strongly encouraged as seats are limited. Walk-ins will be accommodated as space allows.

For reservations visit or call 413-637-3206. Tickets are nonrefundable and non-exchangeable. Ventfort Hall is located at 104 Walker Street in Lenox