Explore the real-world places that appear in The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall. Each location on the map shows what happens there in the novel, the real history of the place, and what's there today. Featured locations include Arundel Hall, The Penderwicks' Rented Cottage, The Gardens of Arundel, Arundel's Lawns and Meadows, The Berkshire Hills Overlook and 3 more.
Estate grounds near Lenox — Home of Mrs. Tifton and Jeffrey (modeled on The Mount)
Arundel Hall is the grand mansion owned by the formidable Mrs. Tifton, whose estate surrounds the cottage the Penderwicks rent. The sisters Rosalind, Skye, Jane, and Batty are warned to stay away from the main house and grounds, but they soon break the rule and meet Mrs. Tifton's son Jeffrey, the very interesting boy of the title. Inside the house Jeffrey lives a lonely life, while his mother plans to send him to military school, which pushes the girls to befriend and protect him.
Arundel Hall is fictional, but the Berkshires hold many Gilded Age summer mansions built by wealthy families around Lenox and Stockbridge. The Mount, built in 1902 for author Edith Wharton, is a good real-world equivalent of such an estate. Lenox earned the nickname 'Inland Newport' for its grand summer estates.
The Mount is a historic house museum and gardens open to the public, with tours, events, and walking paths. Visitors can see the grand terraces and gardens that evoke the atmosphere of an estate like Arundel.
Visit: The Mount (Edith Wharton's Home) (historic site)
Edge of the Arundel estate — The sisters' summer home
The Penderwick family rents this cottage on the grounds of Arundel Hall for a summer vacation. Rosalind, Skye, Jane, and Batty settle in with their father, Martin Penderwick, and their huge dog Hound. The cottage is the base for their adventures, including Jane's writing of the Sabrina Starr stories, Rosalind's crush on Cagney the gardener's assistant, and the sisters' schemes to help Jeffrey.
The cottage is fictional, but estates in the Berkshires often had gatehouses, caretaker cottages, and guest cottages rented to summer visitors. The area has long drawn vacationers seeking mountain air and quiet country life.
No single real building corresponds to the cottage, and the surrounding area is a mix of private properties and conserved land. The setting is best experienced by touring the region's historic estates and countryside.
Estate gardens — Mr. Geiger, Cagney, and the garden rabbits
The estate's gardens are tended by Mr. Geiger, the gardener, with the help of his assistant Cagney, on whom Rosalind develops a crush. The garden is forbidden territory, which makes it irresistible to the Penderwick sisters. Their adventures there turn up trouble, including the rabbits of the subtitle, and eventually help draw them into friendship with Jeffrey and the staff.
The Berkshires are famous for their Gilded Age gardens, many designed by leading landscape architects. Naumkeag in Stockbridge, with its terraces, was created over decades by the Choate family with landscape architect Fletcher Steele.
Naumkeag is now a Trustees of Reservations property with gardens, a historic house, and seasonal events. It is a good place to experience the kind of formal garden that inspired Arundel's grounds.
Visit: Naumkeag House & Gardens (historic site)
Open grounds — Where the sisters play and wander
The wide lawns and meadows of the estate are the sisters' playground. Skye, Jane, and Batty run through them chasing adventures, and Batty wanders with her butterfly wings. The open fields also host Jane's imaginary heroics, which feed the Sabrina Starr stories she is writing.
The landscape around Lenox features former farmland and estate parkland shaped by 19th-century owners. Much of it has been preserved through land trusts and public reserves.
Visitors can walk through nearby conserved lands such as Kennedy Park in Lenox, which offers trails through woods and fields once part of a large estate.
Visit: Kennedy Park (park)
Berkshire Mountains — The backdrop of the summer
The novel is set in the Berkshire Mountains of Massachusetts, whose hills, woods, and meadows frame the whole summer. The sisters spend their days outdoors, surrounded by the landscape, in an old-fashioned summer of freedom and mischief.
The Berkshires were a destination for writers and artists such as Hawthorne, Melville, and Wharton in the 19th century. Mount Greylock, the highest peak in Massachusetts, rises to the north.
The region is a draw for hiking, music festivals, museums, and fall foliage. Pleasant Valley and Lenox offer accessible trails and views.
Visit: Pleasant Valley Wildlife Sanctuary (park)
Estate working grounds — Gardener's domain
Mr. Geiger, the estate's gardener, keeps his tools and supplies on the working side of the Arundel grounds. The sisters encounter him as a gruff guardian of the gardens, and his and Cagney's presence adds consequences to their trespassing. The working grounds show another side of Arundel, away from Mrs. Tifton's polished mansion.
Large estates in the Berkshires employed gardeners, groundskeepers, and caretakers year-round, often in outbuildings and greenhouses behind the main house. The upkeep of these gardens was a significant local industry.
The estate working buildings of the era are fictional here, but outbuildings and greenhouses can still be seen at historic properties such as Naumkeag.
Inside Arundel Hall — Jeffrey's refuge
Jeffrey Tifton, a talented young musician, spends much of his time indoors at Arundel Hall under his mother's strict control. The sisters' friendship opens up his world, and he joins the Penderwicks' games and plans. The threat of military school hangs over his time with them throughout the summer.
The Berkshires have a long musical tradition, especially through Tanglewood, summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra since 1937. Many estates in the area included music rooms and hosted private concerts.
The nearby Tanglewood grounds host concerts each summer, and visitors can picnic on the lawn during performances.
Visit: Tanglewood (theater)
Boundary between cottage and estate — The sisters' secret way in
The boundary between the Penderwicks' cottage and the Arundel grounds is where the sisters first cross into forbidden territory. Their curiosity about the estate and its garden begins the chain of events that brings them to Jeffrey, the gardeners, and Mrs. Tifton's anger. It marks the start of the summer's adventures.
Estates in the region were typically bounded by hedges, stone walls, and fences marking private property from neighboring lands. Many of these stone walls still run through the Berkshire woods.
This is a fictional spot, though old stone walls and hedges mark the boundaries of historic properties throughout the Lenox area.
More by Jeanne Birdsall: All Jeanne Birdsall books
Other nearby maps: Ghost Story by Peter Straub locations map · Verity by Colleen Hoover locations map · The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson locations map · Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs locations map