Table of Contents
Acknowledgements 9
Introduction 11
1 French Periodicals and Fine Points of Punctuation and Perennials 17
2 The Whartons Before Edith 21
3 The Whartons and Edith Newbold Jones 28
4 Angel al the Grave and Innovator in the Garden: Miss Georgiana Sargent 38
5 Showing Off The Mount 49
6 The Whartons, the Vanderbilts and the Sloanes 54
7 Yuki Morgan 61
8 The Lenox Sporting Life: Pages from the Ambassador's Album and Diary 66
9 Hot House Nectarines from Baby Giraud 73
10 Mrs. Chapin's View 78
11 "Two Months' Agony": Ethel Gram 82
12 Picnics with Edith Wharton 89
13 The Ingleside Story 92
14 Godman's "Blue Room" in Lenox: Miss Knceland 101
15 The Court House Hill Coasting Accident, Kate Spencer and Ethan Frome 107
16 The Perils of the Pétrolette or the Lenox "Motor Wars" 115
17 First Motor-Flights into the Country: The Nortons at Ashfield 127
18 A Sympathetic Editor: Richard Watson Gilder in Tyringham 132
19 The Folsom Library at Sunnyridge 137
20 Pity for Poor "Inarticulate" Animals: The Whartons and the Sturgises 141
21 Grace Kuhn: The "Gallant" Invalid on the Hill 149
22 Lily Bart's Final Prescription: Dr. Kinnicutt 154
23 Nannie Wharton: The Village Improver 160
24 Teddy's Last Years 169
Appendix A New Public Buildings in Edith Wharton's Decade in Lenox 173
Appendix B The Local Architectural Influence of The Mount 177
Appendix C Cast of Lenox Cottages and Cottagers in Edith Wharton's Day 181
Chronology: Edith Wharton's Lenox Years 187
Notes 189
Bibliography 209
Index 215
About the Author 223
