Community Spotlight

Wendy Healey

When it comes to the subject of ghosts at Ventfort Hall, Wendy Healey is … well, decidedly “neutral.”

Roughly translated, that means that she’s never seen or otherwise encountered one. But she acknowledges that other people have experienced “something,” and she further acknowledges that ghosts are just one of the many intriguing storylines involving the cottage built by Sarah Spencer Morgan, J.P. Morgan’s sister, and her husband (and seventh cousin), George Hale Morgan, in 1893, and now home to the Gilded Age museum.

“We have what I would call friendly spirits in this house,” said Healey, the facility’s executive director, as she talked with BusinessWest in the billiard room, to which male guests would retire for cigars and brandy after one of the lavish dinners hosted by the Morgans.

The far bigger story, and the one she’d certainly prefer to talk about, is the comprehensive restoration of the landmark, now the site of a wide array of events, from weddings and teas to concerts and ghost tours. It has been ongoing for decades now, and at least another 20 years of work lies ahead, according to the most recent master plan.

“We are a restoration in progress — we are far from done,” said Healey, who assumed her role at the landmark two years ago. “We have millions and millions of dollars of work ahead of us.”

Ventfort Hall is a “restoration in progress.”

Ventfort Hall, its restorations and its ghosts, comprise one of the many storylines in Lenox, which has become a tourist destination and center of arts, culture, and healthcare, with many of the destinations located on the grounds of other Gilded Age cottages.

That list includes Tanglewood, summer home to the Boston Pops; Shakespeare & Company; the Mount, Edith Wharton’s home; and the resort spas Canyon Ranch and Miraval.

It is winter, which means most of these facilities are planning for the busier seasons to come, but some are busy year-round.

At Shakespeare & Company, an intriguing slate of shows is taking shape, said Jaclyn Stevenson, director of Marketing and Communications, noting that performances of Macbeth (with an all-female cast and a comedic touch) start in March, with most other shows taking place in the summer.

They will include a “Shakespeare Cabaret,” performances of Romeo and Juliet and The Taming of the Shrew, as well as August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson, with a few other performances still to be finalized.

“We have what I would call friendly spirits in this house.”

Equally busy these days is Gilbert Santana, general manager at the Miraval resort spa, which features the mansion known as Wyndhurst as its centerpiece. He the facility, which has been under the Miraval name since the fall of 2020, the height of COVID, has been improving overall visitation each year since, with that trend expected to continue in 2025.

Continually growing confidence among the guest population, which now includes virtually all age groups, is a big reason, he said, noting that there are now frequent bookings six months or more out, unusual in the spa universe. Meanwhile, new initiatives, such as so-called Family Connect weeks, where children can join their parents at the spa, have also helped.

The most recent Family Connect week came during the recent February school vacation week, said Santana, adding that it piggybacked a strong Valentine’s weekend to get this year off to a strong start.

“We wanted young people to start their well-being journey early, and it’s made an incredible impact; we’ve doubled the amount of guests this go-around than we had last year,” he said of the program, adding that Miraval is a true four-season resort spa that boasts more than 180 different kinds of programs — from meditation to a ropes course to yoga — and at all levels, beginner to expert.

A scene from The Comedy of Errors, performed in 2024 at Shakespeare & Company.
(Photo courtesy of Katie McKellick)

For this latest installment of its Community Spotlight series, we focus on Lenox and all that it has to offer.

In the Right Spirit

“This house was built for big parties.”

With that, Healey summed up the design philosophy behind the Elizabethan-style Ventfort Hall, as well as one of the enduring characteristics of the Gilded Age — large, lengthy gatherings.

Indeed, when guests came to a party at this home on Walker Street, they didn’t stay for a few hours and reach for their coats. Instead, they stayed for several days in one of the 14 guest rooms, said Healey, noting that, sadly, Sarah Morgan didn’t get to host many of these soirees: she died in 1896, only three years after Ventfort Hall was completed.

Slicing through the next 129 years in a concise yet effective manor, Healey said there was a succession of owners — and uses.

After being a private residence for a few decades, it later served as everything from a dormitory for Tanglewood students to a summer hotel known as Festival House; from a ballet camp to the home of Bible Speaks, a religious community that used the mansion for housing.

During this last chapter, the home fell into a serious state of disrepair, and was eventually slated for demolition for the construction of a nursing home.

“It was in such bad condition … no one wanted it, no one wanted to do anything with it, and it was, in the opinion of this developer, worth more flattened and to build a nursing home than to try to save it,” said Healey. “In the dining room, you could see daylight — you could see down to the basement, and you could see up through the roof.”

But in 1997, it was purchased by the Ventfort Hall Assoc., formed by Lenox residents dedicated to its restoration, which began soon thereafter.

Indeed, the building took a star turn in the movie The Cider House Rules, filmed in 1998, serving as the orphanage known as St. Cloud’s — its exterior, anyway (the interior shots were filmed at Northampton State Hospital), with its weathered condition being just what the film’s producers were looking for.

Gilbert Santana says Miraval celebrates its ability to promote wellness during all four seasons, and in many different ways.

The movie — and there would be others to follow — provided both capital and momentum, said Healey, adding that restoration has a been a slow, very expensive undertaking over the past 28 years, with perhaps that many more still to come as the association works to ensure that the home will remain part of the fabric of Lenox for decades to come.

Phase 1A of a master plan launched in 2016 has been completed, said Healey, noting that it addressed critical building envelope and life-safety issues. Phase 1B is now underway, focusing on restoring the exterior masonry and roofing to ensure the long-term stability of the mansion.

One focal point of recent efforts has been shoring up of the east-end wall as well as the rebuilding and restoration of the mansion’s four chimneys, said Healey, noting that three have been painstakingly restored, and the fourth will be addressed this spring.

And in the years to come, many of the rooms on the upper floors, the massive basement, the carriage house, and other areas will be restored. That work, projected to cost more than $20 million, is to be funded through a combination of revenue from events, admission to the museum, and other programs, as well as donations and grants from organizations including the Massachusetts Cultural Council Facilities Fund, the Town of Lenox Community Preservation Committee, and others.

While the restoration work continues, the mansion hosts a growing number of events each year, welcoming guests who wouldn’t have been on the invite lists for the Gilded Age parties, said Healey, adding that there are several weddings each year, as well as concerts, tea-and-talks, a spring fashion fundraiser called Berkshique, and more.

There are also very popular ghost tours, at least once a month, led by Robert Oakes, author of Ghosts of the Berkshires. He provides a full tour of the house, by flashlight, while also relating both its history and the tales of those who say they’ve encountered a spirit on the property. And he’s heard many, from staff members and guests alike, Healey said.

Frame of Mind

It’s called ‘mindful golf.’

It’s … well, let’s call it golf with the edge taken off.

“We have a golf pro who walks you through the process of how you think when you swing and your intentions behind playing golf, which many times are jaded around winning and doing better,” Santana explained. “This helps you understand the purpose of playing your sport; it’s very well-defined and built around the person playing.”

Actually, the team at Miraval could put that word ‘mindful’ in front of almost everything they do, and that’s a long list, from activities such as kayaking and cross-country skiing to the weddings it hosts to the overall spa experience, which guests enjoy on visits lasting a day or several weeks.

Summing it all up, Santana said it’s about meeting people where they are.

Miraval, which also has resorts in Arizona and Texas, is coming up on five years in the Berkshires, although Santana said it’s more like three, with the first two greatly disrupted by COVID.

He said Miraval is continually looking at ways to bring wellness to more people across a wider age group. A good example is the two annual Family Connect weeks, which the facility test-drove last year to solid reviews that translated into bigger numbers this winter.

“We’re the only Miraval that does a Family Connection week where we allow kids to join their parents and other family members and experience it at a very young age,” he told BusinessWest. “One thing we do is make sure that everything we do has an educational purpose. Everything is defined here on growing your mindset — not necessarily redefining you, but giving an understanding of something that’s more than recreational.”

Education is a huge part of the mission at Shakespeare and Company as well, said Stevenson, adding that, in addition to the performances slated each year, the institution also schedules several actor-training programs as well as initiatives for young people and professional-development workshops.

These include Shakespeare in the Courts, a program staged in conjunction with the Berkshire Juvenile Court system, whereby adolescent offenders work with Shakespeare and Company artists and participate in classes, rehearsals, and performances of scenes from the Bard’s plays. During the six-week project, participants explore Shakespeare’s text and prepare their own performance pieces as part of their term of probation.

There’s also “Riotous Youth,” one-, two-, and three-week summer theater programs that introduce students (ages 7 to 17) to Shakespeare’s language, stories, characters, and themes using imaginative and playful methods.

As for actor-training programs, they take place in the spring and summer and are geared for those with different experience levels, from the novice to mid-career professionals, said Stevenson, adding that there are also several in-person workshops and online classes and workshops focused on everything from wit to movement and dance to public speaking.

Stevenson said Shakespeare and Company enjoyed a solid 2024, actually exceeding overall projections, continuing, as other venues in this community have, to build back from the COVID years, which took a serious toll on Lenox.

“We’re still working our way back a little bit, but we’ve come a long way,” she said of the COVID recovery. “It feels more in the rear-view mirror than ever before.”