Tours of the house are offered on the hour and we arrived in time to take the noon tour. Tour of the gardens are also offered as well as an evening ghost tour on Wednesdays. Parking is offered at the gate where you pay and it is a quarter mile walk to the house. However, if you have issue with the walk, there is parking up at the house which is what we did. Do take the time to enjoy all the sculpture in the grounds on the way to the house.
You meet in the courtyard outside to begin your tour. Our guide was Kelly, and I can't say enough good things about her, she was very knowledgeable and she made everything she told us about Edith and her world, seem totally fascinating.
To say I didn't know anything about Edith Wharton is an understatement but now I feel like I know her quite well. She grew up in an old New York family "the Jones" and it is thought that the phrase keeping up with the Jones refers to her family.
She spent 6 years of her life, from age 4-10 traveling around Europe with her parents and came home having learned three languages. She also developed a love a Europe that remained with her for the rest of her life and she eventually moved to France.
This is a unique tour in that you are encouraged to sit and enjoy the furniture but given the fact that it is not original to the house, this is more understandable.
You visit three floors of the house, if you can't do stairs there is an elevator. The first floor are the public rooms, then upstairs for the bedrooms and down two sets of stairs to the kitchen area.
The tour ends in the gift shop and you are encouraged to enjoy the gardens. You can also visit the cafe for a light bite to eat.
The tickets are a little pricey but they are good for 7 days so you can feel free to come back and enjoy more. When the tour is over you can walk around the house at your leisure. Check out their website for additional information.
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