Lincoln Historian To Speak at Ventfort Hall

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LENOX, Mass. — Louise Levy, local Chesterwood tour guide and a lifelong student of Abraham Lincoln history will talk about the life of Mary Todd Lincoln and how she went from western belle to frugal housewife to First Lady of the United States. 
 
A tea will be served after her presentation.
 
Mary Todd Lincoln went from western belle to frugal housewife to First Lady of the United States, enduring grief, war and illness along the way. She learned to manage her own household, consulting the latest ladies' magazines and cookbooks, while her husband was gone for months at a time riding the circuit as an aspiring lawyer and politician. As a girl she predicted she would someday marry the President of the United States, and she did everything she could to help get her husband elected.  
 
Learn the stories of people close to the Lincolns, including Elizabeth Keckly, a former slave who served as Mary Lincoln's dressmaker; Elmer Ellsworth, the first Union soldier killed during the Civil War; as well as the Todd Family, a clan as divided as the nation itself. Hear how their allegiances and actions affected the Lincolns in the White House. Our speaker will also touch upon the Spiritualist Movement that was gaining popularity at the time and how Mary Todd Lincoln sought comfort, reaching out to her loved ones through séances and mediums. And how Robert Todd Lincoln stepped in to navigate the family legacy through the Gilded Age, including having Mary briefly committed in a sanatorium for the insane, and how a female attorney/activist stepped in to help her regain her freedom.  
 
The tea will include recipes based on Miss Leslie's Instructions for Cookery as well as other Civil War era treats, including some of Abraham Lincoln's favorites.
 
Levy is a 1990 graduate of Syracuse University with a BA in art history. She grew up in New Jersey and has made the northwest corner of Connecticut her home for over 30 years. Levy has been a tour guide at Chesterwood for years and gives specialty talks there. Her talks range from cemetery symbolism to the civil rights movement. She has a lifelong fascination with Abraham Lincoln and loves to read anything she can on him and his life. She likes to spend her spare time either hiking in the woods or visiting museums and historic sites. 
 
Tickets are $30 for members and with advance reservation; $35 day of; $22 for students 22 and under. Reservations are strongly encouraged as seats are limited. Walk-ins accommodated as space allows. For reservations visit https://gildedage.org/events/ or call us at (413) 637-3206. Please note that all tickets are nonrefundable and non-exchangeable. The historical mansion is located at 104 Walker Street in Lenox.
 
The summer series of Tea & Talks is sponsored by the Dobbins Foundation.
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A Boutique Hotel is Bringing Guests a Luxury Stay in Lenox

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff

LENOX, Mass. — A new Inn is bringing a boutique-style stay for visitors and locals to enjoy.

Owners, Sullivan Capital LLC, purchased the property, located on 135 Main Street, in 2024. After a year or renovations, Garden Gables Inn is open for business. 

"Garden Gables started off as one of the many Berkshire cottages, 1790 was the date on that, and it's always operated as an inn," said Hospitality Manager Yvonne Walton. "It's just a great gathering place and relaxation spot for people to come and get the feel of Lenox, and just slow down and enjoy the nature and the surrounding area...get culture and art and see some great concerts. I think it'll be a wonderful place, definitely does more of the upper-scale hospitality." 

Owners Niko Giallouis and Eric Sullivan bought the property from the former owner. Sullivan had his eye on Lenox since attending a wedding almost 10 years ago.

"I came to a wedding in Lenox, probably six or seven years ago. Personally, just kind of fell in love with the area, and I guess that's kind of how it got on my radar. So you know from that perspective, as we got into the hotel business out towards an area, it was a place I was kind of monitoring and waiting for the right property to show up."

After purchasing the two underwent a full renovation, a project that cost around $1.5 million. The building, first built in 1780, required some TLC. Sullivan's wife, Jessica, who owns Jessica Sullivan Design, designed the inn.

Sullivan said they installed a new roof, repainted everything, renovated the bathrooms, installed new floors, a new HVAC system, and new plumbing.

"We really touched everything from the outside...I mean, all the aesthetics and layouts changed a bit," he said. "As I said, put about a million and a half into it. All new furniture, fixtures, everything. The design's completely different. It wasn't a full gut, but it was a heavy, heavy renovation."

The two like to collaborate with local businesses, and they make a point to direct visitors to local restaurants, businesses, and attractions.

"If guests are asking for recommendations, our customer service team, our guest services team, will relay that kind of information. Even if we can call and make a reservation for somebody, happy to do it," he said. "We aren't doing breakfast, but what we do is we have partnerships with a lot of the breakfast places downtown. We actually purchase a gift certificates for each person each day, so that they can use that to go downtown."

Sullivan hopes that guests don't see their inn as just a place to sleep and dump their bags, but make it an experience for anyone who stays.

"We really focus on kind of the experience side of things, so again, we want to give you the best experience you can have here...and we want that not just to be the place you put your bag and go do things. It's important to think of everything," he said.

Sullivan said partnerships are important to their business and are a way to connect with locals.

"The local partnerships, I can't stress that enough, because no matter how much and how great the room is, people are still going to want to go do other things," he said. "So, I think it just benefits everybody if we're all working together and so forth, and supporting the community, being neighborly too, because we are surrounded by residential homes...But we really try to put a lot of blood, sweat, and tears, a lot of love into the building, all the details, really care about the senses," Sullivan said.

The Inn's check-in and reservations are completely online. When guests arrive, all they have to do is check in online and receive their code that they will use to enter their room. Sullivan hopes this helps create less stress for guests and gets them to their room as fast as possible, especially after a long trip.

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