Becket's Boulder Grange: From Mansion to Monastery to Macrobiotics
.jpg) Boulder Grange in Becket began is life as a pricey Berkshire 'cottage,' later becoming a monastery and then the Kushi Institute, a center for followers of macrobiotic diets. |
BECKET, Mass. — December saw the passing of Michio Kushi, who founded the Becket-based Kushi Institute, and was largely responsible for bringing concepts of macrobiotic diet to the United States over the past half century.
"He lived a long and fulfilling life and dedicated himself to the realization of one healthy, peaceful world," said Alex Jack, general manager of the Kushi Institute, in a statement following Kushi's Dec. 28 death.
Since 1983, the nonprofit educational center has been headquartered on the grounds of this small-town Berkshire estate, which though rarely examined among the stories of local mansions, has accumulated an interesting history of occupants over its 125 years.
Originally known as Boulder Grange, the gambrel-roofed, shingle-style country lodge was originally built for Boston banker George A. Armstrong at an estimated cost of $125,000, making it the small hilltown's most expensive contribution to the "Berkshire Cottage" period.
"In the days before the automobile, people came by train and were delighted by the peace and natural beauty they found in Becket and its surrounding area," reads Cathaline Alford Archer and Mitchell J. Mulholland's "Bicentennial History of Becket." "Most elaborate of the new summer residences was the estate of George E. Armstrong ... built high on a bluff at the extreme north edge of the town ... the house was set off by manicured grounds and commanded a spectacular view of the valley below."
The estate also included 610 acres of surrounding land, most of it still part of the current property. Armstrong enjoyed it as his summer estate until he was stricken with typhoid fever, passing away there in June 1902.
His widow put the home up for sale in 1904, and it was bought by Col. Francis Leland, president of the New York County National Bank, described by colleagues as a "unfailing courtesy and cheerful optimism that endeared him to all who were associated with him."
An avid art lover, in 1912 he bequeathed $1 million to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Leland was also well liked in Becket, where he was a large contributor to North Becket Church, in addition to being the town's largest taxpayer. The Leland family also helped Becket maintain at least some presence in the social pages alongside its more prominent Berkshire cousins. One item in The New York Times describes a particular October "husking bee" (a kind of late autumn party celebrated in old New England prior to the rise of Halloween) where some 170 well-heeled socialites gathered, with some 16,000 ears of corn husked, followed by a festive barn dance.
The estate passed to his sister following his 1916 death, and was widely advertised on the market from 1918 to 1920, when it was purchased by Louis Hollingsworth, who had just disposed of his controlling interest in the booming W.E. Tillotson Manufacturing Co. in Pittsfield.
Vacating quarters previously kept at the Wendell Hotel, Hollingsworth left the nearby city and his commercial affairs behind to devote himself more fully to the failing health of his wife.
Jennie Potter Hollingsworth was a prominent local philanthropist who had already left a significant charitable mark on the city; a regular volunteer of the Red Cross and financier of the Salvation Army, Mrs. Hollingsworth was also a major supporter of the early Pittsfield Day Nursery and founded a free dental clinic at the local House of Mercy Hospital in 1921.
As his wife declined from a heart problem, Louis did all he could to beautify the Boulder Grange she so loved, undertaking much renovation of the house and landscaping during this time. It was there that she perished in 1924, at the age of 60, with the funeral held on the premises according to her wishes.
Louis lived another 16 years after that, but sold Boulder Grange at auction just a few months after her death to a trust of investors who incorporated as Becket Estate Inc. In 1930, it was again auctioned and acquired by the Maltese Holding Co. for $30,000.
Maltese sold it a year later to Holyoke mill owner J. Lewis Perkins, who while described at one time as "one of the region's most prominent industrialists," seems to have left little of noteworthiness on the historic record other than a 1910 manslaughter charge for the death of Holyoke bakery owner Max Otto Dreikorn in an automobile crash.
Twelve years after his retirement as owner of B.F. Perkins & Sons, he embarked on a relatively quiet eight-year period at the Becket estate before selling it to the Catholic Church's Franciscan Order, its longest tenants to date.
When the minister provincial of Chicopee's Franciscan St. Anthony of Padua Province, the Rev. Lawrence Cyman, purchased Boulder Grange for $22,500 in 1939, he'd originally intended it for use as a rest home for aged and sick friars of the order, but the outbreak of World War II prompted an emergency change of plans. At that time, American clerics who'd been pursuing their studies in European countries such as Italy and Poland were forced to return home, leaving the order with a need for additional convent space as other monastic spaces were pressed into service to accommodate this overflow.
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The Rev. John Kaplinski was appointed first superior of the new St. Lawrence Convent and Novitiate (also known as St. Lawrence Friary), and needed renovations began almost immediately. Roof and exterior repairs were made and a new heating system added, while the horse barn was remodeled to accommodate annual retreats.
"When the friars would recall these retreats, they remembered the peaceful and spiritual atmosphere," recalls an obituary for the former superior. "They also came to recognize Fr. John as a gourmet cook, noted for his cordial hospitality and joyful disposition."
Temporary quarters for a time were in the existing buildings of the Boulder Grange estate, but wartime shortages of building materials postponed until 1946 the construction of a new dormitory building, which now serves as Kushi's North Hall. Outside, a stone Shrine of the Assumption was installed, ailing remnants of which can still be seen to this day.
One curious footnote to the monastery's history came in 1951, when two aging Franciscans passed away mere hours apart. On Feb. 10, Kaplinski's 12-year supervision of St. Lawrence ended after a gradual decline in health lead to his death at age 68. Just hours after hearing of this, the Rev. Francis Barszczak, 69, also passed away, early on Feb. 11.
"Fr. Francis' last years were spent in St. Lawrence Friary, Becket, [Mass.], where he enjoyed the joyful companionship and hospitality of his Guardian, Fr. John Kaplinski," reads an obituary. "The joint funeral of Fr. John and Fr. Francis was celebrated at Mater Dolorosa Church, Holyoke, [Mass.], on February 13, 1951."
Another notable resident was the Rev. Cornelian Dende, later known as Father Justin, who served as master of novices there in the 1950s before rising to fame as "the Apostle of the Airwaves" as the host of "Father Justin's Rosary Hour." This primarily Polish-language show broadcast his weekly messages on 150 stations for some 37 years, eventually earning him the prestigious Pro Ecclesiae et Pontifice award from Pope John Paul II.
After more than 40 years at the rustic hilltop site, the friary was closed in 1982, consolidating its monastic inhabitants to the St. Joseph Cupertino Convent in Ellicott City, Md.
Enter Michio and Aveline Kushi, who'd outgrown the Brookline home of the Kushi Institute they'd founded in 1978, and bought the 600-acre Becket estate for $400,000.
Michio had studied under macrobiotics forerunner George Ohsawa in Japan after World War II, continuing to pursue this interest after coming to the United States in 1949. Together with his wife, Aveline, he first founded the Erewhon Natural Foods company, and later the Kushi Institute, along with authoring some 70 books.
At the time of beginning this work, the concepts involved in macrobiotics were utterly alien to American culture, but after famed figures such as John Lennon and Yoko Ono studied under Kushi, these ideas began to gain ground.
For Kushi, originally a student of law and international relations, such changes in diet were a means not only to improved health, but to greater world peace, a subject which preoccupied the Japanese immigrant throughout his life.
"Human nature is made by two factors," said Kushi in an 2008 interview with Boston.com. "One is environment—natural environment and social environment. Second is what we take. We take of course oxygen and sunshine, but also food we choose every day by our own freedom. If we choose different food and different cooking, a different nature come out. So I could understand at that time why Ohsawa was saying diet is an important factor for world peace."
According to one source close to the organization, following a slump in the last few years, the Kushi Institute has seen an uptick recently, with greater visibility, increased registration, and a well-attended 2014 Summer Conference complete with its own macrobiotic food truck.
The macrobiotic diet and lifestyle has seemed to see significant gains in popularity, in part because of exposure from celebrities like Madonna, Tom Cruise and Gwyneth Paltrow, suggesting that despite the death of its founder the institute may enjoy an enduring life in Becket, becoming the longest lasting occupant of the Boulder Grange estate.
This column is born out of an attempt to break new ground, or at least break out of a certain habitual mold of local history storytelling. While the Berkshires have enjoyed many great historians and much outstanding historical writing, it is my belief that there is a great deal that may have fallen by the wayside in its attempt to hammer out a unified narrative in its vision (and marketing) of itself.
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