For more than a century, they have captured our attention. Their doings gave birth to the first society columns in American newspapers. They set the standard everyone wanted to emulate in clothes, domestic architecture, entertainment, and socializing.
They were, undisputedly, our first celebrities. To this day, we know their names; we catalogue their excesses; we laugh heartily at their foibles but often forget their contributions to American growth and culture. They were the Cottagers.
The Gilded Age (1865–1917) created an American economic dynasty. As symbols of their economic power and social position, these princes of commerce and barons of industry built city palaces and country cottages. The towns where cottages were built became known as Gilded Age resorts.
The king of Gilded Age resorts was Newport, R.I., but Lenox and Stockbridge were chief among the resorts.
The Cottagers created careers for builders, architects, and landscape architects. They opened portions of their homes to the public as the first art galleries. They employed grounds men, poultry and dairy men, and servants; they created business for the purveyors of goods.
Wherever they went they built concert halls, churches, hospitals, and roads. They were the gold standard in food and fashion. The press followed their every move; they were adored but not always approved.
Some disdained the Cottagers: December 25, 1901, Letter to the Editor, “The reign of the summer visitor in Berkshire is already complete.