Butternut Cottage, Residence of Miss Kate Carey, Lenox, MA

HISTORY
The Garden Gables Inn originated as a home. It was built in 1780 by Susan and Eliza Williams, on the site now occupied by Realtor Beverly Sanders at 101 Main St, about ¼ mile to the south of its current location.

Aptly named “Butternut Cottage” for the abundance of butternut trees on the property, the Cottage features three steeply pitched cross-gables that may have been part of the original 1780 structure.The gables, steep gambrel roof line, room layout and side chimneys of the original Butternut Cottage blend elements of late 18th century American colonial architecture, with English and Dutch influences typical of Berkshire and Hudson Valley homes of the day. 

Mrs. Williams lived at the cottage until it was purchased by Mrs. Grace Marie Kuhn in 1873 for $1,600. Little is known of the property’s history until, in July 1905, Miss Caroline Katherine Carey, a niece of Mrs. Kuhn, and wealthy resident of New York City, purchased Butternut Cottage for $1,905. “Kate” Carey was a keen businesswoman who, with her mother, was an investor in real estate in New York City, California and England. Miss Carey moved the Butternut Cottage to its present location. One of her beloved butternut trees still remains in the Inn’s garden. The butternut tree is similar to the Black Walnut, Hickory or Japanese Walnut. The butternut itself has a husk like a plum. When this falls off, it reveals a one-half inch dark nut with a rugged pitted exterior.

Miss Carey extended the Butternut Cottage with two gambrel-roofed additions, creating an extensive new wing that contained servants’ quarters and storerooms. She named the new wing “Gusty Gables.”

Miss Carey’s bedroom was our present day Room One. An elevator ascended to her bedroom from the Sherry Room below, opening in the space in Room One that now houses a fireplace.  Miss Carey also built the first in-ground concrete pool in Berkshire County in 1911. A testament to its strong reinforced concrete structure, this pool remains in use today as the largest pool of its type in the Berkshires, measuring 72 feet long.  An avid horsewoman, Miss Carey showed her prize-wining stallions at horse shows in Lenox, Stockbridge, California and at her country estate in England. She built a pony ring at the south side of the house, along with a stable for her horses and carriages, which unfortunately were destroyed by fire in 1947.

Groom and coachman at the stables once part of The Garden Gables Inn  property		Kate Carey in current driveway of The Garden Gables Inn, 1932

In the book “Lenox,” by Olive Colton, she recalls… “Miss Carey was a horse and dog lover and every morning she emerged from her little cottage behind a pair of thoroughbreds or walked with her black poodles – their haircuts something to see.” Miss Carey died in 1945 and left her beloved “Gusty Gables” and “Butternut Cottage” to the Episcopal Church in Lenox. During her lifetime, she had given much money to the Visiting Nurses’ Association and had established the Old Ladies’ Home on 114 Main St. and the Berkshire County Home for Aged Women at Meadow Place.

In 1947, Mr. Joseph Reynolds and his family purchased the property from the Episcopal Church for $10,000. The family renamed it “Garden Gables” and ran it as a guesthouse during the next three and a half years.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Marie Veselik, a native of Czechoslovakia who had come to work in New York City following World War II, became a naturalized American citizen in 1948 and yearned to live in the country. In 1951, together with Mrs. Elizabeth Emmons Holmes, she purchased the Garden Gables from the Reynolds family. Mrs. Veselik renamed the property the “Garden Gables Inn.” The new Inn had nine guest rooms and the first gift shop in Lenox, housed in the present day dining room. During her ownership of over thirty years, Mrs. Veselik sent much of her income back to her sixteen family members who had remained living in Prague.

Mario and Lynn Mekinda expanded the Garden Gables Inn to a 17-room bed and breakfast inn during the seventeen years of their ownership, beginning in 1988. They added two new buildings, the Eladesor Cottage (named in honor of their former home in the Toronto suburb of Rosedale), and the easternmost building, housing the four Orchard Cottage rooms. They expanded the dining room and porch, adding Rooms 14 and 15 above, as well as completely updated the existing rooms, electrical and mechanical systems. 

The current chapter in the Inn’s long history began in 2005, when the Vittori family began their search to purchase a country inn to complement their existing orchard and winery businesses in the neighboring Town of Richmond.  They discovered that Mario and Lynn were ready to move to the next phase of their lives, and were honored to purchase the Inn from the Mekindas in early 2006. The Vittoris’ vision for The Garden Gables Inn is to create a gracious, full-service country inn that honors the legacy and traditions of the past, while being fully equipped to meet the needs of today’s sophisticated guest. They have already added a commercial kitchen, spa and wellness services, as well as newly decorated and upgraded furnishings throughout the Inn’s public and guest rooms. “We are not focused on becoming bigger,” said John Vittori, “Our emphasis is on expanding the range of accommodations and services we offer; providing personal attention for each one of our guests.”

We welcome you to relax and enjoy with us this wonderful historic property in the heart of the Berkshire Hills  -- The Garden Gables Inn.

NOTABLE GUESTS
Since the property became an Inn in 1947, it has had its fair share of notable guests. You may enjoy reading about some of them below. We hope you make plans to with stay with us and become part of the history that is The Garden Gables Inn.
Click here to see who stayed where.