Ventfort Hall is decked out for the holidays
Ventfort Hall Mansion and Gilded Age Museum in Lenox, Mass., has been lavishly decked out for the holidays in the style of the 1890s, from glittering Christmas trees to rows of colorful wooden nutcrackers, festive garlands, and wreaths. Built in 1893 for Sarah Morgan (sister of financier J.P. Morgan) and her husband, George, the Jacobean Revival mansion has undergone significant restoration, and is open for tours and events year round. The elegant dining room has been festooned with evergreens and a wreath over the mantel and the table set with antique crystal, glassware, and porcelain, all on a white linen tablecloth, just as it would have been in the days of the Morgans.
One of the carved, painted,
and jeweled horses, handcrafted by the volunteers for the Berkshire Carousel organization, is on display as well.
and jeweled horses, handcrafted by the volunteers for the Berkshire Carousel organization, is on display as well.On stage in the great hall, Actress Anne Undeland returns in the delightfully bawdy comedy Paris 1890—Unlaced!, the original one-woman play by Juliane Hiam that was such a hit in 2009. Undeland is marvelous as five characters, from a famed courtesan to a wealthy wife to a milliner to a celebrated nightclub entertainer, changing accents and costumes to portray each one. Presented by Ventfort Hall in cooperation with Shakespeare & Company, performances are slated forChristmas week starting at 4 on December 26, 28, 31, January 1 and 2, and at 7:30 on December 27, 29 and 30. A champagne reception with the actress and playwright will take place after the December 31, New Years Eve, performance.
Puppeteer Carl Sprague will perform the classic fairy tale Rumpelstiltskin with his marionettes on Monday, December 27, and Wednesday, December 29, both at 3. A children’s Victorian tea will follow, when audience members will be able to meet the performer.
The exhibition Les Petites Dames de Mode, featuring sixty exquisite twenty-nine-inch 
mannequins dressed in period costume dating from 1855 to 1914, is on view, and the 2010 art exhibition Dreaming of the West—Reality and Romance continues through January 15. The show pairs the photographs of Evelyn Cameron, a British pioneer who settled with her husband in the remote badlands of eastern Montana Territory in 1889, with the oil paintings of artist Alfred G. Vetromile who honored the indigenous culture of the American Indians through his work.
mannequins dressed in period costume dating from 1855 to 1914, is on view, and the 2010 art exhibition Dreaming of the West—Reality and Romance continues through January 15. The show pairs the photographs of Evelyn Cameron, a British pioneer who settled with her husband in the remote badlands of eastern Montana Territory in 1889, with the oil paintings of artist Alfred G. Vetromile who honored the indigenous culture of the American Indians through his work.For information, contact Ventfort Hall at 413.637.3206 or visit www.gildedage.org. Ventfort Hall is located at 104 Walker Street in Lenox.
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