America's Gilded Age

Gilded Age

In United States history, the Gilded Age refers to the era of rapid economic and population growth in the United States during the post–Civil War and post-Reconstruction eras of the late 19th century. The term "Gilded Age" was coined by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner in their book The Gilded...

, the post-Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

 and post-Reconstruction era, from 1865 to 1901 saw unprecedented economic and industrial prosperity. As a result of this prosperity, the nation's wealthiest families were able to construct monumental estates in Newport, Rhode Island

Newport, Rhode Island

Newport is a city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States, about south of Providence. Known as a New England summer resort and for the famous Newport Mansions, it is the home of Salve Regina University and Naval Station Newport which houses the United States Naval War...

, Bar Harbor, Maine

Bar Harbor, Maine

Bar Harbor is a town on Mount Desert Island in Hancock County, Maine, United States. As of the 2010 census, its population is 5,235. Bar Harbor is a famous summer colony in the Down East region of Maine. It is home to the College of the Atlantic, Jackson Laboratory and Mount Desert Island...

 and The Berkshires in Massachusetts

Massachusetts

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...

.

Approximately seventy-five estates were built in Lenox

Lenox, Massachusetts

Lenox is a town in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. Set in Western Massachusetts, it is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 5,077 at the 2000 census. Where the town has a border with Stockbridge is the site of Tanglewood, summer...

 and Stockbridge

Stockbridge, Massachusetts

Stockbridge is a town in Berkshire County in Western Massachusetts. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,947 at the 2010 census...

, Massachusetts

Massachusetts

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...

.

• Allen Winden
• Ashintully
• Bellefontaine
• Belvoir Terrace
• Blantyre
• Bonnie Brae
• Brookhurst
• Chesterwood
  Chesterwood (Massachusetts)
  Chesterwood was the summer estate and studio of American sculptor Daniel Chester French in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.The estate covers of forest and field in the Berkshires, with French's summer home, studio, and garden dating from the 1920s...
  
  
• Coldbrook
• Deepdene
• Eastover
• Elm Court
• Erskine Park
• Groton Place
• Gusty Gables
• High Lawn
• Kellogg Terrace
• Lakeside
• Merrywood
• Naumkeag
  Naumkeag
  Naumkeag is a 44 room, shingle-style country house located at 5 Prospect Hill Road, Stockbridge, Massachusetts, USA in the Berkshires. It is now operated by The Trustees of Reservations as a nonprofit museum....
  
  
• Oakwood
• Overlee
• Pine Needles
• Shadowbrook
  Anson Phelps Stokes
  For other men with the same name, see Anson Phelps Stokes Anson Phelps Stokes was a merchant, banker, publicist, philanthropist, and became a multimillionaire. Born in New York City, he was the son of James Boulter and Caroline Stokes; brother of William Earl Dodge Stokes and Olivia Eggleston...
  
  
• Spring Lawn
  Spring Lawn
  Spring Lawn is a historic home on Kemble Street in Lenox, Massachusetts. Built in 1904 for John Alexandre, the mansion is considered a unique blend of Beaux-Arts and Classical Revival styles. Spring Lawn was designed by Guy Lowell who was also the architect of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and...
  
  
• Stonover
• Sunnyridge
• Tanglewood
  Tanglewood
  Tanglewood is an estate and music venue in Lenox and Stockbridge, Massachusetts. It is the home of the annual summer Tanglewood Music Festival and the Tanglewood Jazz Festival, and has been the Boston Symphony Orchestra's summer home since 1937. It was the venue of the Berkshire Festival.- History...
  
  
• The Homestead
• The Mount
  The Mount (Lenox, Massachusetts)
  The Mount is a country house in Lenox, Massachusetts, the home of noted American author Edith Wharton, who designed the house and its grounds and considered it her "first real home." The estate, located in the Berkshires, is open to the public from May to October...
  
  
• Valleyhead
• Ventfort Hall
  Ventfort Hall
  Ventfort Hall Mansion and Gilded Age Museum is a historic, Jacobean-style mansion and museum located at 104 Walker Street, Lenox, Massachusetts. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places...
  
  
• Villa Virginia
  Villa Virginia
  Villa Virginia is a historic site on Ice Glen Road in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, one of the Berkshire Cottages.Villa Virginia is located at the foot of a hill behind which lies the Ice Glen. In the nineteenth century this was the site of an estate owned by John and Isabella Wyman Winthrop. Under...
  
  
• Wheatleigh
  Wheatleigh
  Wheatleigh, one of many Berkshire Cottages, is located on Hawthorne Road in Lenox, Massachusetts, United States. It was built by Henry H. Cook and given to his daughter, Georgie, as a wedding gift when she married Count Carlos de Heredia. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places....
  
  
• Windyside
• Wyndhurst

External links

• The Museum of the Gilded Age at Ventfort Hall
• Bob Vila tour of Berkshire cottages