I've had a house on my mind. I'm writing something requiring me to conjure the environment of a grand home, a mansion. I feel the need to walk through the expansive rooms of such a place and to roam the blooming, well-tended gardens of a glorious property. When I expressed this thought to my husband he said, "Wasn't there a writer somewhere around here with a house like that? Somebody with an E name like Eudora." I felt like I'd been pinched awake. "You mean Edith! Edith Wharton!" I said.

How could I forget? I once clipped an article from O, the Oprah Magazine about the restoration of The Mount, the home Edith Wharton designed for herself in the early 1900s. It's only 85 miles north of here in Lenox, Massachusetts. I wanted to shout "Road trip!"

But when I went to the home's website I learned it won't open to the public for the season until May 3. That's okay, I'll go then. For now I'm contenting myself with photos of The Mount--look at her gorgeous library!--and reading the book Edith Wharton at Home: Life at The Mount by Richard Guy Wilson.  In light of my recent post about creativity playdates and how I was in search of my next adventure, I wanted to let you know I've found it. I'm eager to see the place of which Wharton wrote so lovingly in her autobiography:

“On a slope overlooking the dark waters and densely wooded shores of Laurel Lake we built a spacious and dignified house, to which we gave the name of my great-grandfather’s place, The Mount…There for over ten years I lived and gardened and wrote contentedly, and should doubtless have ended my days there had not a grave change in my husband’s health made the burden of the property too heavy.

But meanwhile The Mount was to give me country cares and joys, long happy rides and drives through the wooded lanes of that loveliest region, the companionship of a few dear friends, and the freedom from trivial obligations which was necessary if I was to go on with my writing. The Mount was my first real home…its blessed influence still lives in me.”

I'll happily report back after my visit and let you know how it inspired me.