Chambery Inn Bed & Breakfast Lee, Massachusetts A One-of-a-Kind Bed & Breakfast in the Berkshires! Contact Info | Email this page to a Friend | Click to see a map  | Visit our Web Site Additional Pages... Introduction Guest Rooms/Rates How to Find Us Reservation Request Form   Availability Search: See which rooms are available during your stay. Check in: Check out: Powered by Webervations Clear search results Rooms Available from  to  Learn more about these rooms These are our base rates - certain discounts and/or charges may apply

The Chambéry Inn is the result of a monumental preservation effort completed in October of 1990. Once a financial nemesis to a local parish, the building's fate of demolition was imminent as reported in a Berkshire Eagle article entitled; "Old St. Mary's School in Lee is Candidate for Wreckers Ball ." Constructed in 1885, as the Berkshires first parochial school, its usefulness to the parish ended in 1957 when a replacement was built.

Knowing of its certain demise, Joseph M. Toole, a Lee businessman and lifelong resident, stepped in to narrowly snatch the landmark from the jaws of destruction. Agreeing to immediately relocate the 300 ton structure, Toole moved it one block to its final resting place at the corner of Main and Elm Streets in Lee. After months of pondering the best use for the imposing orphan, the idea of a European styled country hotel struck and Chambéry Inn was born.

Chambery, France (hence the Inn's name) is the native city of the teaching order Sisters of Saint Joseph. This small group of five nuns arrived at Lee's train station (across from the Inn) in the summer of 1885 to teach six grades of young students. Only two of the nuns could speak English at the time. Building of the school was made possible through the effort and generosity of Jane Sedgewick, of the politically and socially prominent Sedgewick Family of New York and Massachusetts, and a convert to the Catholic faith. Miss Sedgewick labored for many years to establish such a school without success. Only after an audience with Pope Leo XII in 1880 was permission granted. " This is the work of GOD daughter, and I say to you, persevere in spite of all obstacles" was his blessing to the persistent and courageous Sedgewick.

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