The Mount (Edith Wharton's Mansion)

Edith Wharton and her husband Edward (Teddy) Wharton purchased the property in Lenox in 1901, seeking a peaceful retreat from New York society. Working with classical architects Ogden Codman Jr. and Francis L.V. Hoppin, Wharton designed the grand country residence based on principles outlined in her influential 1897 book The Decoration of Houses, blending Italian villa architecture with English country house elegance and formal French gardens. Declaring The Mount her 'first real home', Wharton lived and wrote at the estate until 1911, entertaining literary luminaries such as Henry James and Walter Berry.

After Wharton divorced her husband and permanently relocated to France in 1911, the estate was sold to private owners. During the mid-20th century, the grand home experienced varying uses, serving as a private estate, a dorm for Foxhollow School for girls, and eventually the summer performance headquarters for the Shakespeare & Company theater troupe. Decades of heavy institutional use took a toll on the structure and historic gardens, leading to significant deterioration.

In the late 1990s, the non-profit organization Edith Wharton Restoration launched a massive multi-million-dollar preservation campaign to restore the mansion and formal grounds to their original 1902 splendor. Designated a National Historic Landmark in 1971, The Mount now functions as a thriving cultural center, literary shrine, and historic house museum welcoming over 50,000 visitors annually.

The supernatural folklore of The Mount is deeply intertwined with Edith Wharton's own lifelong fascination with the paranormal. Although famous for her sharp social satires, Wharton was a devoted author of Gothic ghost stories and frequently expressed a lifelong dread of dark rooms and spectral presences. Local legend holds that Wharton's creative energy and deep affection for the home left an indelible psychic imprint upon the estate, binding her spirit and those of her beloved literary circle to the mansion.

One of the primary legends involves the spirit of Edith Wharton herself, reported lingering in her second-floor bedchamber and private library. According to estate docents and evening tour guides, a graceful female figure dressed in a high-collared turn-of-the-century gown is frequently seen seated at Wharton's writing desk or standing near the French doors overlooking the terrace gardens. When approached, the apparition reportedly dissolves into a faint cloud of lavender scent.

Another famous legend involves the spirit of Teddy Wharton, Edith's troubled husband who suffered from severe mental illness prior to their divorce. Visitors exploring the stable complex and ground-floor billiard room report seeing a tall, imposing man in vintage riding attire pacing back and forth, accompanied by the smell of rich pipe tobacco. Theater performers who stayed at The Mount during the Shakespeare & Company era recounted stories of ghostly servants tending to empty guest rooms and shadowy specters haunting the dark attic corridors.

Over decades of public preservation and formal investigation — including featured national television investigations on Sci-Fi Channel's Ghost Hunters — staff, visitors, and ghost tour participants at The Mount have documented extensive paranormal phenomena. The most frequent encounters occur inside Wharton's private library, the central gallery, and the second-floor bedroom suite, where visitors report sudden, dramatic temperature drops, cold drafts on warm summer days, and the distinct sound of a woman's footsteps pacing across original hardwood floors.

Night security guards, caretakers, and maintenance personnel working after hours have reported hearing faint classical piano melodies echoing through the main gallery when all musical instruments on the premises are locked and untouched. Electronic voice phenomena (EVP) recordings captured during nighttime ghost tours have picked up clear male and female whispers answering historical questions, while thermal imaging cameras have recorded distinct humanoid cold masses hovering in the library doorways, continually intriguing paranormal researchers across New England.

The Mount is a masterwork of turn-of-the-century Classical Revival architecture set upon 113 acres of scenic Berkshire landscape. The primary mansion is a grand, symmetrical three-story white stucco residence featuring a dark hip roof, formal balustrades, classical pilasters, decorative cupolas, and large multi-pane windows looking out across formal Italian and French sunken gardens.

The interior layout strictly follows classical European symmetry, featuring a grand stone-tiled entrance hall, formal dining room, gallery, drawing room, and panelled library on the main floor. The upper floor contains private bedrooms, including Wharton's bedchamber and writing suite, connected by wide sunlit hallways and elegant mahogany staircases.

The Mount is located at 2 Plunkett Street in Lenox, Massachusetts, situated in the heart of the Berkshire Mountains directly off U.S. Route 7. The estate, historic house, and formal gardens are open daily to the general public from May through October, offering guided house tours, self-guided garden walks, and engaging literary programs.

Special candlelit Ghost Tours of The Mount are conducted on select evening dates throughout September and October, taking visitors through the darkened rooms while sharing historic ghost encounters, local folklore, and paranormal evidence. Tickets for house tours and ghost walks should be reserved in advance online. On-site public parking and a cafe are readily available for guests.

The Mount earned its iconic global reputation as one of New England's most famous haunted mansions through Edith Wharton's celebrated literary legacy of Gothic ghost stories, decades of consistent spectral encounters reported by theater actors, museum guides, and visitors, television features on Ghost Hunters, and frequent firsthand accounts of phantom figures and disembodied footsteps in its historic library and gardens.