Bernard Drew will present a slide lecture, at Ventfort Hall

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Berkshire mountaintops were enormously attractive in the eyes of four millionaires who aspired to go beyond the ordinary in establishing rural domains. Two men set out to create huge game preserves. Two others rambled about their extensive wooded acres by horseback, carriage or foot.

Berkshire historian, author and columnist Bernard Drew will present a slide lecture on “Four Millionaires and Their Berkshire Mountains” at Ventfort Hall Mansion and Gilded Age Museum on Saturday, March 28 at 4:00 pm. The event will include an opportunity to enjoy a Victorian Tea with the speaker.

The program “Four Millionaires and Their Berkshire Mountains” will look at the activities of David Dudley Field Jr. of Stockbridge (owner of Ice Glen and the northern face of Monument Mountain), William C. Whitney of Lenox/Washington (October Mountain), Fred Pearson of Great Barrington (Bear Mountain and Austerlitz Ridge) and Arthur D. Budd of Windsor (Judge’s Hill and Notchview).

Drew will offer fascinating details on how these men accumulated defunct farmsteads and pieced together their airy tracts. He will offer a number of anecdotes that he has dug up from the records and will tell the intriguing stories of what came of those holdings — most of which have become public lands.

Drew, a Great Barrington resident, grew up on Notchview, now a property of The Trustees of Reservations. He has written extensively on local history including numerous books such as Faded Tracks on Monument Mountain. In progress is Gibson’s Grove & Turner’s Landing: Lake Buel’s Century as a Summer Resort. He writes a regular “Our Berkshires” column for The Berkshire Eagle on outdoor and historical subjects. He also writes reference books about popular fiction authors. He is a member of the board of directors of the Great Barrington Historical Society.

Admission tickets for the lecture and tea are $15 for nonmembers and $12 for members. For reservations, call Ventfort Hall at 413-637-3206. This historic mansion is located at 104 Walker Street in Lenox.
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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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