Charles Butler, a prestigious New York attorney, built Linwood House in 1859 as a graceful summer cottage for his family and named it for the home in Catherine Sedgwick’s book The Linwoods. His residence was among the first of the elegant summer homes that came to be known as Berkshire Cottages. Butler’s law partner, Joseph Hodges Choate, also summered in this area, and his Naumkeag, designed in 1885 by Stanford White, stands across the Housatonic River valley. Linwood House later passed down through the generations to Marguerite Butler Swann and her husband Percy Musgrave. During daily bicycle rides from his home in Stockbridge center, Norman Rockwell became acquainted with the Musgrave family and enjoyed the property’s beautiful vistas, not knowing it would one day provide the backdrop for a museum established in his honor. The structure remains as it was when Charles Butler lived there, though it now houses the museum’s administrative offices and is not open to the public.

Photo: Michael Herrick

Photo: Michael Herrick

Photo: Anonymous

Photo: Anonymous