The Maplewood in Pittsfield, Mass., has been both witness and participant to American history spanning two-hundred years. The property's saga of transformation started in 1812, when the site began to play host to a U.S. military base and later, a military prison. In the two centuries hence, The Maplewood has assumed a variety of identities including: boys' school, girls' school, resort hotel and currently, upscale condominiums. For a great timeline of The Maplewood history, check out the condo webpage: http://www.maplewoodcondos.com/history.html. 
The above photograph of the The Maplewood's stately columned entryway was taken sometime between 1900 and 1920. The Maplewood was a popular Berkshire resort at the time, proprietor Arthur W. Plumb placing an ad in the May 25, 1901, Boston Evening Transcript promising, "the largest and best equipped hotel in the County" and offering "special rates for June."
In this and the following two photographs of The Maplewood, snapped between 1900 and 1920, one can note the progression of the entryway on the left from simple porch and walk to sheltered carport straddling a horseshoe driveway.
Arthur W. Plumb oversaw improvements to the property for decades, beginning in 1887. A 1927 advertisement trumpets the resort hotel's "40th season" under his ownership and management.
After two centuries of expansion and contraction, buildings raised and buildings razed, The Maplewood land has retreated a bit now: bid farewell to a multitude of rooms of secrets, rolling lawns of respite, constructions of a gilded age lost to the stretching of days. The pace of an automobile world cold assassin to the concepts of rest and relaxation. Today, condominiums: another adaptive turning of a metamorphic plot.
As always, thanks for stopping by and take care.
Photographs are from the American Memory Collection (http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/index.html) of the Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Detroit Publishing Company Photograph Collection:
Digital ID photo 1: det 4a24512 http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/det.4a24512
Digital ID photo 2: det 4a17894 http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/det.4a17894
Digital ID photo 3: det 4a24538 http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/det.4a24538
Digital ID photo 4: det 4a23821 http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/det.4a23821
Welcome back, I have missed you this past year. Jim Boone
ReplyDeleteThanks Jim!
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