Shadow Brook Farm Historic District
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Shadow Brook Farm Historic District is located in
Stockbridge, Massachusetts Stockbridge is a town in Berkshire County in Western Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 2,018 at the 2020 census. A year-round resort area, Stockbridge is h ...
. It is a
historic district A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal protection from c ...
that includes six re-purposed farm buildings related to the former 'Shadowbrook' mansion destroyed by fire in 1956. Designed by architect H. Neill Wilson with landscaping by
Frederick Law Olmsted Frederick Law Olmsted (April 26, 1822August 28, 1903) was an American landscape architect, journalist, social critic, and public administrator. He is considered to be the father of landscape architecture in the USA. Olmsted was famous for co- ...
, the mansion and farm buildings were built for
Anson Phelps Stokes Anson Phelps Stokes (February 22, 1838 – June 28, 1913) was a wealthy American merchant, property developer, banker, genealogist and philanthropist. Born in New York City, he was the son of James Boulter and Caroline Stokes. His paternal gran ...
in 1893.
Andrew Carnegie Andrew Carnegie (, ; November 25, 1835August 11, 1919) was a Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist. Carnegie led the expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century and became one of the richest Americans i ...
acquired Shadowbrook in 1917 and died there in 1919. It served as a
Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...
novitiate The novitiate, also called the noviciate, is the period of training and preparation that a Christian ''novice'' (or ''prospective'') monastic, apostolic, or member of a religious order undergoes prior to taking vows in order to discern whether ...
from 1922 until 1970. Following the fire, a non-equivalent structure of the same name took its place and currently is home to the
Kripalu Center The Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health is a nonprofit organization that operates a health and yoga retreat in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. Its facility is a former Jesuit novitiate and juniorate seminary built in 1957. History Founder Amrit Desa ...
. Today the historic district primarily encompasses
Berkshire Country Day School Berkshire Country Day (BCD) is an independent school for pre-schoolers through eighth grade. It is located at 55 Interlaken Road/Route 183 in Berkshire County, Massachusetts near the town of Lenox. History BCD was founded in 1946 by a group ...
, which acquired its
campus A campus is traditionally the land on which a college or university and related institutional buildings are situated. Usually a college campus includes libraries, lecture halls, residence halls, student centers or dining halls, and park-like se ...
from the Stokes family in 1963. The historic district was added to the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
in 1988.


History

Nathaniel Hawthorne Nathaniel Hawthorne (July 4, 1804 – May 19, 1864) was an American novelist and short story writer. His works often focus on history, morality, and religion. He was born in 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts, from a family long associated with that t ...
originated the name "Shadow Brook" in reference to a small stream that lies to the west and south of the mansion site. Samuel Gray Ward in 1844 purchased land on the slopes of Baldhead and built a mansion near the site of what was to become Shadowbrook. Ward named his mansion Oakwood. Stokes bought the property in 1892 along with additional land to the south and north, assembling an estate of . The Oakwood building was demolished except for its east wing, and Stokes built his mansion on a ledge 100 yards (90 m) west and 30 feet (9 m) lower. The new structure, completed in 1893 at a cost of $500,000, was shaped like the letter 'L' with its point aimed south and comprised two dominant styles involving English Tudor timbering and stone. The vista from the main house included an impressive view to the south of
Stockbridge Bowl Stockbridge Bowl, also known as Lake Mahkeenac, is a artificially impounded body of water that is 4 km (2.5 mi) north of the village of Stockbridge, Massachusetts. Above the lake's north side with sweeping views to the south is Tangle ...
, West Stockbridge Mountain, Rattlesnake Hill, Monument Mountain and
Mount Everett Mount Everett at 2,608 ft - or 793.1 m - is the highest peak in the south Taconic Mountains. Everett rises nearly 2,000 feet in about a mile from its eastern footings around Sheffield, Mass., and is known for its expansive views; for scrubby ...
. Various timbered farm buildings were completed as part of the estate in the valley below, where members of the Stokes family continued to live at least until the 1950s. Anson Stokes crushed his leg in a riding accident on the property and, following its
amputation Amputation is the removal of a limb by trauma, medical illness, or surgery. As a surgical measure, it is used to control pain or a disease process in the affected limb, such as malignancy or gangrene. In some cases, it is carried out on indi ...
, left the mansion for
Darien, Connecticut Darien ( ) is a coastal town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. With a population of 21,499 and a land area of just under 13 square miles, it is the smallest town on Connecticut's Gold Coast. It has the youngest population of any n ...
, in 1898. The estate was mostly vacant until the fall of 1905, when it was sold to Spencer P. Shotter of
New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster.
; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...
, who departed in 1912. The wife of a
Vanderbilt family The Vanderbilt family is an American family who gained prominence during the Gilded Age. Their success began with the shipping and railroad empires of Cornelius Vanderbilt, and the family expanded into various other areas of industry and philanthr ...
member leased the property briefly in 1916 following her husband's death, and the mansion was sold in 1916 by Shotter's debtors to Andrew Carnegie for $300,000."Savannah Weighs Value of Art and History Amid COVID-19 Crisis"
- TheCurrentGA.org, September 12, 2020
Carnegie had purchased what was regarded at the time to be the second largest private residence in the United States. The estate was among the most prominent examples of the
gilded age In United States history, the Gilded Age was an era extending roughly from 1877 to 1900, which was sandwiched between the Reconstruction era and the Progressive Era. It was a time of rapid economic growth, especially in the Northern and Weste ...
in
the Berkshires The Berkshires () are a highland geologic region located in the western parts of Massachusetts and northwest Connecticut. The term "Berkshires" is normally used by locals in reference to the portion of the Vermont-based Green Mountains that ex ...
. Carnegie died at Shadowbrook in 1919, and the
Society of Jesus , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...
acquired the property three years later to serve as a novitiate for training Jesuit priests.


Fire and later history

Shadowbrook's main house was destroyed in a fire on March 9, 1956, that claimed the lives of four of its 150 residents. Two more residents subsequently died of injuries from the incident. Because of the building's high cost for upkeep and other practical difficulties, architectural plans for its replacement had already been made prior to the fire. These designs were criticized by a number of senior Jesuit residents at the time, one of whom described the new building as "a monumental mediocrity." The replacement building, west of Shadowbrook's ruins, was completed and in use by 1958 "with a nondescript brick and concrete exterior and much painted cinderblock inside" according to Shea. An editor's postscript to Shea's work notes that in 1970 the novitiate moved to the
Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
area. The building then stood empty until 1983 when it was sold to a
Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
ashram that established the
Kripalu Center The Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health is a nonprofit organization that operates a health and yoga retreat in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. Its facility is a former Jesuit novitiate and juniorate seminary built in 1957. History Founder Amrit Desa ...
, a
yoga Yoga (; sa, योग, lit=yoke' or 'union ) is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines which originated in ancient India and aim to control (yoke) and still the mind, recognizing a detached witness-consciou ...
, health and wellness retreat center on the property. In 1956
Francis X. Shea Francis Xavier "Frank" Shea (1926–July 9, 1977) was an American Jesuit priest and educator who served as president of the College of St. Scholastica and, after leaving the Jesuit order, as chancellor of Antioch College. Biography Francis X. She ...
, a priest who had trained at Shadowbrook, wrote an account of the Shadowbrook mansion's history and its destruction which was published posthumously in 2009 by the
Society of Jesus , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...
.F.X. Shea (2009), ''The Shadowbrook Fire'', Elephant Tree Press, Watertown, Mass

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See also

*
National Register of Historic Places listings in Berkshire County, Massachusetts __NOTOC__ This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in Berkshire County, Massachusetts. This is intended to be a complete list of the properties and districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Berkshire Co ...


References


External links


"Connections: The rise and fall of Shadow Brook"
- TheBerkshireEdge.com {{National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Stockbridge, Massachusetts National Register of Historic Places in Berkshire County, Massachusetts Gilded Age mansions