Roberta Harold, Author of Portrait of an Unseen Woman: A Novel of Annie Shaw, discusses her novel, set in 1892, that imagines Annie’s independent life in Belle Époque Paris, and her struggle to reach a belated coming of age. A tea will be served after her presentation.

Annie Haggerty spent her honeymoon with Colonel Robert Gould Shaw in May 1863 at her family’s summer home, Vent Fort (predecessor to Ventfort Hall), just before Shaw led the Union’s first Black regiment on a doomed mission at Fort Wagner, SC. Annie’s subsequent life as a widow is largely a mystery. Roberta Harold’s novel Portrait of an Unseen Woman: A Novel of Annie Shaw, set in 1892, imagines Annie’s independent life in Belle Époque Paris, and her struggle to reach a belated coming-of-age as an artist and full participant in the creative and intellectual circles of the “real” Paris.    

Roberta Harold is the author of Portrait of an Unseen Woman and two historical mysteries, Heron Island and Murdered Sleep, as well as numerous articles, reviews, short stories, and poems. A native of Scotland and 2001 graduate of the Bread Loaf School of English, where she won its 1999 Poetry Prize, she lives with her husband and cats in Montpelier, Vermont.

Tickets are $45. Members receive a discount code for $5 off all ticket prices. Students 22 and under are $22. Ticket pricing includes access to the mansion throughout the day of this event from 10 am to 4 pm. Reservations are strongly encouraged as seats are limited. Walk-ins accommodated as space allows. For reservations visit https://gildedage.org/pages/calendar or call us at (413) 637-3206. Please note that all tickets are nonrefundable and non-exchangeable. The historical mansion is located at 104 Walker St. in Lenox.

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places and designated by the Massachusetts Cultural Council as an important partner of the Lenox Cultural District, one of the five such Berkshire County districts, Ventfort Hall Gilded Age Mansion & Museum was built in 1893 for George and Sarah Morgan, the sister of legendary financier J. Pierpont Morgan.

Self-guided tours of the historic mansion are offered daily, as well as Tea & Talks, such exhibitions as the Bellefontaine Collection, concerts, theater, ghost tours and hunts as well as other programs. This elegant Jacobean-Revival Berkshire “cottage” is open to the public year-round and is available for private rental.  Ventfort Hall, also an Official Project of Save America’s Treasures program sponsored by The White House, has undergone substantial restoration, which continues.

Type of Event: Tea & Talk

Date of Event: Tuesday, July 8, 2025

Time: 4:00 pm

Location: Ventfort Hall Mansion and Gilded Age Museum, 104 WAlker Street, Lenox, MA 01240

Admission: $45, members receive a discount code for $5 off, $22 for students 22 and under.

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