Ventfort Hall: Spiritualism in the Gilded Age

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LENOX, Mass. — Kathryn Sheehan, Executive Director of the Hart Cluett Museum and Troy City Historian returns to speak at Ventfort Hall this summer on Spiritualism in the Gilded Age. 
 
Her talk at Ventfort Hall is on Tuesday, June 25 at 4 pm. Tea will be served after her presentation.
 
Spiritualism was a religious movement postulating the belief that spirits of the dead residing in the spirit world have both the ability and the inclination to communicate with the living. The Spiritualist Movement began in the 19th century and persisted into the early 20th century. It was characterized by a pop culture fascination with mediums and séances, and patronized by a number of otherwise prominent individuals including Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
 
A native of Troy, Kathryn is Executive Director of the Hart Cluett Museum, formerly the Rensselaer County Historical Society. Her career began as an intern from the public history program at SUNY Albany in 1986.  She is also the Rensselaer County and Troy City Historian. Kathryn has researched and lectured on a number of Rensselaer County history topics and has presented her work on local radio and television as well as the History Channel, C-Span, Russian and Japanese Network television.  She resides in the historic district in downtown Troy. When not working on history tours and lectures Kathryn can be found exploring the many cemeteries in Rensselaer County or doing photography for her upcoming book, Architecture Worth Saving in Rensselaer County Revisited, 50 Years Later.
 
Tickets are $40 for members and with advance reservation; $45 day of; $22 for students 22 and under. Ticket pricing includes access to the mansion throughout the day of this event from 10 am to 4 pm. Reservations are strongly encouraged as seats are limited. Walk-ins accommodated as space allows. For reservations visit hyttps://gildedage.org/pages/calendar 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.

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Friday Front Porch Feature: A Lenox Farmhouse

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff

LENOX, Mass. —  Are you looking for a single family New England farmhouse? Then this is the house for you.

Our Friday Front Porch is a weekly feature spotlighting attractive homes for sale in Berkshire County. This week, we are showcasing 500 Walker St.

This three-bedroom and two-bath home was built in 1910 and is 1,720 square feet on less than an acre. 

The house features brick and wide-board pine floors, an updated kitchen with all major appliances, a first-floor office/bedroom with three-quarter bath, three bedrooms and full bath upstairs, and a bluestone patio and retaining wall installed in 2022.

It has natural gas heat and hot water, and includes a detached garage. 

The house is on the market for $449,000 and is listed by Matt Carlino with MACCARO Real Estate.

You can find out more about this house on its listing here

*Front Porch Feature brings you an exclusive to some of the houses listed on our real estate page every week. Here we take a bit of a deeper dive into a certain house for sale and ask questions so you don't have to.

 
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