The Berkshires

Unwind along winding roads with art, culture and scenic beauty at every turn

Story and photographs by KRIS GRANT

Along the western border of Massachusetts lies an area that is a haven for those who seek a blend of natural beauty, cultural richness and small-town charm. Known for its rolling hills and vibrant fall foliage, the Berkshires regularly pull residents of Boston, New York and other East Coast cities west to visit art museums, botanical gardens, and performing arts venues, or to simply decompress. But the Berkshires is such a special place that I recommend it as worthy of a one or two-week vacation for us West Coasters.

Culturally, the region is a treasure trove, home to renowned institutions like Tanglewood, the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. It was from the study at his Arrowhead farmhouse on the outskirts of Pittsfield that Herman Melville could see Mount Greylock, the highest point in Massachusetts. His description of the white whale in Moby Dick is said to have been inspired from seeing the mountain covered in snow.

In Lenox, Edith Wharton created the estate of her dreams and penned many of her novels therein, and in Stockbridge, Norman Rockwell often collared his neighbors as models for illustrations that graced the covers of The Saturday Evening Post.

The Berkshires also excel in farmto-table dining, quaint inns, wellness retreats, and for nature lovers, The Appalachian Trail passes through the entire length of the Berkshires with plenty of ridgeline vistas, lush river walks and shaded glens. Mount Greylock’s trails lead up to its peak of 3,491 feet.

There’s more hiking trails in Williamstown, home to the top-ranked liberal arts college in the nation, Williams College, and The Clark, an art institute par excellence. I can’t wait to tell you the story behind the founding of The Clark that includes a financial legacy whose threads stretch back to the Singer Sewing Machine Company, and a feud that drove two brothers apart.

I’ve traveled through the Berkshires four times now, most recently this past October, when I caught the final days of “leaf peeping” season. On each visit, I’ve explored new small towns. Well, they’re not really new; they’re more likely two and three centuries old, but they’re new to me.

One of them is North Adams, a once-thriving mill town. Like many communities reliant on riverside mill operations, the closure of these “company town” enterprises had devastating economic consequences. However, North Adams is a town that chose to seize the moment and transform its future. Read on…

Lenox: Home to The Mount, Tanglewood and a vibrant downtown

On my first visit to the Berkshires in 2021, I made my way to Lenox to visit acclaimed author and novelist Edith Wharton’s 17,000-square-foot “cottage” and surrounding 113-acre grounds, all of her own design.

What can I tell you about this remarkable woman? How ‘bout we start with this testimony:

“It is quite true that Edith Wharton has been a tremendous influence on me.

I decided, largely because of her work, that it was time I wrote something.”

– Julian Fellows Creator of Downton Abbey

Edith Wharton’s dining room, with its friendly round table, streaming natural light and access to the terrace, was one of my favorite rooms in her house.

Edith Wharton (1862-1937) was born into a tightly controlled society at a time when women were discouraged from achieving anything beyond a proper marriage.

Born Edith Jones into a wealthy New York family (from whence the phrase “Keeping up with the Joneses” is said to originate), Edith was able to tour much of Europe in her formative years. At age 17, she was introduced to society, making the rounds of dances and parties in Newport, Rhode Island and New York City. Her insider’s knowledge of New York aristocracy provided ample fodder about the privileged set that she would later delight in satirizing through her fiction.

Edith Wharton’s “cottage” was 17,000 square feet but it felt welcoming and human in scale. This was partly because of Wharton’s design principles of “proportion, harmony, simplicity and suitabililty.”

In fear of becoming an old maid, Wharton married, Edward “Teddy” Wharton at age 23 but it was not a happy marriage. Shortly after the marriage, Teddy began showing signs of depression and likely suffered from bipolar disease, a malady that had not yet been diagnosed in medical journals.

While living in Newport, Wharton honed her design skills, co-authoring her first major book, a surprisingly successful non-fiction work on design and architecture, The Decoration of Houses (1897).

Edith did much of her writing from her bedroom, often writing in bed.

In 1901 Edith and Teddy purchased land In Lenox and Edith set to work, first designing her home and estate grounds and concurrently writing, including two of her greatest works, The House of Mirth (1905) and Ethan Frome (1911). Although Wharton wrote more than 40 books in 40 years and was the first woman awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for her 1921 novel, The Age of Innocence, she considered The Mount her greatest achievement.

Teddy’s manic/depressive episodes escalated over the years and Wharton divorced him in 1913. She spent the remainder of her life in Paris, France. The Mount became a private residence, then a dormitory for a girl’s school, and the site for the Shakespeare & Company theatre troupe. It was purchased and saved from neglect by Edith Wharton Restoration, Inc., through a grant from the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Lenox itself is a vibrant town filled with interesting one-of-a-kind shops and excellent restaurants, not surprising since it is also the site of Tanglewood, the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Tours of the outdoor venue in the woods on the outskirts of Lenox are available throughout the summer season.

If you plan ahead, you might want to book tickets for the 4th of July at Tanglewood. Each year James Taylor and his All-Star Band celebrate the start of the Tanglewood season with two intimate and memorable performances on the 4th, with all proceeds donated by Kim and James Taylor to Tanglewood.

The steps down from the terrace, which is now a café, transition into a series of lawns that gradually lead to natural wooded areas.

Stockbridge: Norman Rockwell Museum and Red Lion Inn

The Norman Rockwell Museum features permanent works by the famous illustrator and changing exhibits featuring the works of American illustrators.

Heading north on Route 7 to Stockbridge, my next stop was the Norman Rockwell Museum.

Accredited by the American Association of Museums, the Norman Rockwell Museum is the most popular year-round attraction in The Berkshires. It houses the bulk of Rockwell’s work, including 998 original paintings and drawings, along with the Norman Rockwell Archives, a collection of more than 100,000 items, including working photographs, letters, personal calendars, fan mail and business documents. The first museum was located in the Old Corner House on Main Street in Stockbridge and opened in 1969; the current museum opened in 1993 and was designed by noted architect Robert A. M. Stern.

The Museum also hosts traveling exhibits pertaining to American illustration. The artist’s Stockbridge studio was also moved to the museum site and features original art materials, Rockwell’s library, furnishings and personal items.

Stockbridge was Rockwell’s home for the final 25 years of his life. The museum features originals of Rockwell’s most famous works, with 323 of his illustrations ending up on the cover of The Saturday Evening Post over the course of five decades. He also enjoyed a fivedecade relationship with the Boy Scouts.

Rockwell’s idealistic and sentimentalized portrayals of American life caused him to be dismissed by many of his contemporary painters and art critics who referred to him as an illustrator rather than a serious painter. But in his later years when he chose more serious subjects for ƒ magazine, the world took notice. One prime example, The Problem We All Live With, dealt with the problem of school racial integration. It depicts Ruby Bridges, flanked by white federal marshals, escorting the youngster to school past a wall defaced with graffiti. Among the originals on display at the museum are several studies of this final painting, with Rockwell choosing eightyear-old Stockbridge resident Lynda Gunn to depict Bridges. The original painting was displayed at the White House in 2011 when Bridges met with President Barack Obama.

For his Illustration, The Problem We All Live With, Rockwell commissioned this white dress and two others like it in different sizes from a local Stockbridge seamstress. He was not yet sure of the age or size of his model.

In this photograph, model Lynda Gunn gets assistance from her father, who helps her to steady herself on the boards propping her feet up. Rockwell frequently used this technique to simulate the appearance of walking.

Rockwell did “studies” of his models and paintings before beginning his final illustration.

His final illustration ran in 1964. It was the first of several by the artist for Look magazine.

One of my favorite hotels in all of America is the Red Lion Inn on Main Street in Stockbridge. It dates back some 250 years and has been owned and managed by the Fitzpatrick family since 1968.

The Red Lion Inn has been a pillar of Stockbridge for 250 years, welcoming guests including presidents, prominent actors and authors as tourists from around the world.

Although I’ve walked through the Inn on several visits, photographing its dining room, Lion’s den bar with original wide-planked creaking floors, warm and inviting lobby with its collection of antique plates lining the walls, and stepped into its excellent gift shop where two friendly cocker spaniels rose to greet me, I’ve yet to actually stay there. I picture myself swaying to and fro on one of the Inn’s front porch rocking chairs, watching people pass by as I enjoy a signature Bloody Mary.

The hotel’s lobby features antiques, including plates collected by Jane and Nancy Fitzpatrick.

Part of the charm of the Red Lion Inn is its wide front porch where guests can watch the world pass by from the rocking chairs.

The Red Lion’s Main Dining Room is a perfect gathering spot for special occasion dining.

Jack and Jane Fitzpatrick purchased the building from the Plumb family and moved their “Country Curtains” mail-order company into the building. Like Mrs. Plumb, Jane Fitzpatrick had a penchant and keen eye for collecting antique and vintage objects, adding several pieces to the Inn’s collection. Jane passed away in 2013 and her daughter, Nancy Fitzpatrick and granddaughter, Sarah Eustis, carry on the Inn’s tradition of warm hospitality. They seem to have inherited Jane’s talent for collecting and décor, which they have extended to two hotels in North Adams.

Presidents Grover Cleveland, William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, Calvin Coolidge, and Franklin Roosevelt have stayed at the Inn, along with authors Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Thornton Wilder. Moving into the modern era, guests of note have included Bob Dylan, two “Martins,” pals and stars of Only Murders in the Building, Steve Martin and Martin Short.

North Adams: A classic mill town reinvents itself

The former campus of the Arnold Print Works textile mill has been transformed into the largest contemporary art gallery in the country, the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, or MASS MoCa.

North Adams lies at the confluence of the two branches of the Hoosic River, making it an ideal location for manufacturing from the mid-1700s. By the year 1800s, small milling companies along the Hoosic included shoe manufacturers, a brick yard, a saw mill, an ironworks, marble works, wagon and sleigh makers and many more.

In 1860, the Arnold Print Works set up operations for the manufacture of textiles, including contracts to supply fabric for the Union Army. By 1905, Arnold Print Works employed 3,200 people working in a complex of 25 buildings, and was one of the world’s leading producers of printed textiles. But the Great Depression and falling textile prices caused Arnold to close its North Adams plant in 1942.

Fortunately, Sprague Electric Company quickly bought the site and converted the former textile mile into an electronics plant. During World War II, its physicists, chemists, engineers and technicians designed and manufactured components of high-tech weapons systems. After the war, Sprague products were used in the launch systems for Gemini moon missions and by 1966 the company employed 4,137 in a community of 18,000. Up until the mid1980s, the company produced electrical components for the consumer electronics market, but foreign competition led to declining sales. In 1985, the company closed its North Adams operation, leaving a town in shock and out of work. Seventy percent of its storefronts were shuttered. The hotel went bankrupt. It wasn’t long before North Adams was named the most impoverished town in America.

In 1986, business and political leaders of North Adams sought ideas on how to creatively re-use the vast abandoned complex. Just up the road, the staff of Williams College Museum of Art, led at the time by the museum’s director Thomas Krens, was seeking exhibit space for large works of contemporary art. A plan to build a contemporary art museum space began to come together fast, and then nearly fell apart. Krens left to join the Guggenheim and state funds dried up. Naysayers said the idea was crazy. Then Jacob’s Pillow International Dance Festival became a sponsor, adding dance and performing arts to the creative mix, and state funds once again became available. MASS MoCA (Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art) opened in 1999.

Now, 25 years since its opening, MASS MoCa has proven to be the new economic engine that North Adams sorely needed. The museum now sees some 245,000 visitors annually. Eight tenants

have moved into the complex, infusing capital into the museum’s budget and also evidence that the museum planted a seed of creativity into the community. Porches Inn, with Nancy Fitzpatrick of Stockbridge’s Red Lion Inn at the creative helm, opened in July 2001, completing rehabbing a block of ramshackle row houses that faced the museum into a hip boutique property. You know what I liked most about Porches? Nancy’s collection of vintage paint-by-number paintings, displayed in each guestroom, took me back to my childhood.

I stayed at Hotel Downstreet, which opened in 2021, replacing the former Holiday Inn on the site. The hotel features large -- 370 square foot -bedrooms, with a clean, uncluttered décor to best highlight the art on the walls. The hotel is also managed by Main Street Hospitality, which manages Porches, with Sarah Eustis, Nancy Fitzpatrick’s daughter, serving as CEO.

Three artist studios and galleries are just off the hotel lobby, one of which is in affiliation with MASS MoCa. Currently one of the studios is featuring the whimsical work of North Adams resident Jarvis Rockwell, the oldest child of Norman and Mary Rockwell. Rockwell has created a collection of toy figures that has grown to include hundreds of thousands of pieces, among them classic action figures, carved wooden animals, mythical monsters, Happy Meal prizes, Troll dolls, Looney Tunes characters, and figurines of politicians, celebrities, and artists.

In Road to Hybridabad, artist Osman Khan revisits the magical elements of folktales and lore, including Magic Carpet rides. Here he employs drone-operated “magic carpets” that never quite leave the ground, and if they did, how far could they get, as they are caged. Like most MASS MoCa installations, this one makes you think. On exhibit through April 2025.

MoCa’s exhibits are constantly changing; there are no permanent exhibits. This installation of glowing amber boxes scattered about is by Los Angeles-based Iranian artist Gelare Khoshgozaran. Entitled “U.S. Customs Demands to Know,” it is his aesthetic complaint against the invasive security of mail entering the U.S. from Iran.

Foresighted developers of Porches Inn, located just across the street from Mass MoCa, took a rundown block of rowhouses and transformed them into an inviting boutique hotel.

Williamstown: home to Williams College and The Clark

Williams College flanks both sides of Route 7 and is a handsome mix of red-brick Georgian, Victorian and Gothic architecture. The Thompson Memorial Chapel was completed in 1906.

On my trip to the Berkshires last October, I flew into Albany, New York and headed southeast. In about an hour and a half, I crossed into Massachusetts at the northern tip of the Berkshires and came upon the charming city of Williamstown. Set amid rolling hills, the town is bedecked with stately Georgian and Colonial Revival brick buildings, many of them making up the Williams College campus that flanks both sides of Route 7, the main artery that travels the entire Berkshires region north to south.

Ephraim Williams, a British army colonel killed during the French and Indian War, specified in his will that he would fund a free school if the town was incorporated and named after him. The locals wisely complied and Williamstown was incorporated in 1791, with its free school opening the same year. However, its life as a free school was short-lived. In its stead, Williams College was established in 1793. Today, Williams College holds the top spot among liberal arts colleges in the nation, according to U.S. News & World Report.

I toured The Clark Art Institute on the Williams campus and was astounded by its collection of masterpieces of European and American painting, silver, sculpture, porcelain, works on paper, and decorative arts from the Renaissance to the early twentieth century. There were works by Renoir, Degas, Monet and Manet. Winslow Homer, Frederic Remington, John Singer Sargent and George Inness are also well represented. How did it come to pass that these works were bestowed to a museum that had not yet been built in the out-of-the-way hamlet of Williamstown, Massachusetts?

To answer that question, let’s back up a couple of hundred years. Meet Isaac Merritt Singer, an American actor, inventor, and businessman. He was the founder of what became one of America’s first multi-national businesses, the Singer Sewing Machine Co. Elias Howe and Walter Hunt had earlier invented sewing machines, but it was Singer who made them practical and affordable for home use via mass production techniques.

Now let me introduce you to Edward Cabot Clark, an American lawyer, businessman and investor who graduated from Williams College in 1831. He began studying law under the tutelage of Ambrose Jordan, who later became a U.S. Senator. In 1834, Clark passed the New York State bar and set up a solo law practice in Poughkeepsie, New York. In 1935, Clark married Jordan’s daughter, Caroline. In 1938, he and Jordan set up a law practice in Manhattan, which became the most prestigious in the city.

Isaac Merritt Singer, portrait by Edward Harrison May, oil on canvas, 1869, hangs in the portrait gallery of the Smithsonian Institution, a gift from the Singer Company

In 1849, a penniless Singer called upon Clark to advise him on patenting and naming his sewing machine. Singer paid his bill by giving Clark a three-eighths share in the business. Clark also defended Singer in a patent infringement suit brought by Elias Howe, who had created the lockstitch sewing machine. Two years later, 1851, Clark and Singer established the Singer Sewing Machine Company and in 1856 Clark created an innovative installment purchase plan.

Also in 1856, Clark bought an estate in Cooperstown, New York on the shore of Lake Oswego where he built a large stone country house, and purchased significant amounts of land in the community. He built the Hotel Fenimore, Pioneer Mills and several cottages and farmhouses.

Singer, meanwhile, fled to London in 1863 when a woman he had lived with for 25 years and whom he called his wife, although he was married to another, charged him with bigamy. Singer died in 1875, leaving behind a $13 million fortune to be divided unequally among his 20 living children by two wives, his live-in long-term partner and various other mistresses. Altogether, Singer fathered 26 children (that we know of).

Still, money talks, I guess. Singer had an elaborate funeral with 2,000 attendees, eighty horse-drawn carriages and a cedar coffin lined with satin, which was encased in lead, with an outer shell of English oak, all of which was set into a marble tomb.

After Singer’s death, Clark took the helm of the Singer Company, leading it to far greater success. Clark also invested in New York real estate, and built luxury apartment buildings including the famed Dakota overlooking Central Park. Clark died in 1882, leaving an estate of some $50 million, excluding his sizeable real estate portfolio, which he left to his grandsons. Two of those grandsons, Robert Sterling Clark, who went by Sterling, and Stephen Carlton Clark, also inherited their grandfather’s love of art.

Sterling Clark, at age 32, was an Army veteran who had traveled to Manila, Peking and the West Indies when he chose to move to Paris, the undisputed cultural capital of the world in 1910. There he began an extensive collection of European art. His mother had died the year before and Clark’s fortune had greatly increased.

In Paris he met Francine Clary, an actress of the Comédie Francaise. Clary was her adopted stage name, but she was born Francine Juliette Modzelewska, the illegitimate daughter of a French dressmaker of Polish descent. Not only that, but Francine too, had a daughter, Viviane, conceived out of wedlock in 1901.

Meanwhile, Sterling’s brother, Stephen, had stayed in Cooperstown, managing the family holdings there and collecting art as well. He likely had feelings of resentment toward his brother, thinking Sterling had turned his back on his family, choosing to live in France, and marrying an actress of questionable lineage and repute and who spoke little English.

Trouble arose with a series of trusts set up by the brothers’ father and exacerbated with the death of their mother. Sterling’s deed of trust provided that his principal be turned over to his own children, of which he had none, and otherwise to his brothers or nieces and nephews. By this scheme, the lion’s share of Singer stock would always stay within the family. After his marriage in 1919, Sterling realized that the Singer trusts, created when he was a bachelor, excluded his new wife and stepdaughter from inheriting stock. Further, if he should die, a significant portion of his interest in the Singer Company would be turned over to his brothers. But in the event of his brothers’ death, Francine and Viviane would inherit nothing from them.

In 1923, a fight – which began with verbal assaults and turned physical –broke out between the brothers. They never spoke to each other again, relying on attorneys and third parties to relay messages.

Stephen went on to create the Baseball Hall of Fame, the Fenimore Art Institute and the Farmer’s Museum, all in Cooperstown. He served as a trustee of New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art and New York’s Museum of Modern Art, where he served as chairman from 1939 through 1945.

In 1949, Sterling and Francine moved to New York, bringing their extensive art collection with them. After World War II ended and the Cold War began, Sterling became anxious about the disposition of his art upon his death. He favored a museum setting outside of New York City or any metropolitan area, fearing it would be a likely target if World War III ever broke out. He also feared the dropping of another atomic bomb.

Word soon reached trustees at Williams College, which had been his grandfather Edward Clark’s alma mater; Edward had financed Clark Hall, a Georgian building that is today home to the college’s geosciences department and he served on the college’s board of trustees from 1878 up until his death in 1882. The college contacted Sterling Clark and sent representatives to view his art collection. They were blown away by what they saw.

In 1950, the Clarks chartered the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute as a home for their extensive art collection. Opened to the public in 1955, the Clark has built upon its extraordinary group of works to become one of the most beloved and respected art museums in the world, known for its intimate galleries and stunning natural environment. It is one of the few institutions in the country that combines a public art museum with research and academic programs, including a major art history library.

Dancers in the Classroom, Edgar Degas, 1880, oil on canvas. In this long horizontal image, Degas showed ballerinas stretching and resting in place, capturing their grace, concentration and physical exhaustion. Degas composed the painting with great care – the position of the outstretched leg of the girl adjusting her stocking, for example, was changed nine times.

Carullos-Duran, 1879, oil on canvas John Singer Sargent. Sargent studied with Carolus-Duran, launching his own career by exhibiting this portrait to great acclaim. Carolus-Duran was among the most celebrated portrait painters working in Paris in the 1870s. With his casual pose and elegant clothing he is presented as a fashionable man-about-town. On his lapel he wear the red pin of the French Legion of Honour, awarded for his contribution to the arts.

Woman Crocheting, 1875, oil on canvas, was the first work of Pierre-Auguste Renoir to enter the collection of Sterling Clark, who purchased it in 1916. He went on to amass a collection of more than 30 Renoirs.

The Clark continues to expand its collection including the 1997 acquisition of this Steinway piano designed by Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema. When the elaborate case of the piano was displayed in London in 1885, the press called it “splendid,” “remarkable,” and “superb.” Alma-Tadema designed it as the centerpiece of a “Greco-Roman” music room in the Manhattan mansion of financier Henry Marquand. With its lavish materials and decorative flourishes—including the names of Apollo and the Muses inlaid on the lid—it remains one of the grandest grand pianos ever made.

WHEN YOU GO…

1 BerkshireThe official Regional Economic Development Organization and Regional Tourism Council of Berkshire County www.1berkshire.com

Lodging

The Porches Inn2 blocks from MASS MoCaNorth Adamswww.porches.com

Hotel Downstreet90 spacious rooms, 1 block from MASS MoCaNorth Adamswww.hoteldownstreet.com

TOURISTSHotel and riverside retreatNorth Adamswww.touristswelcome.com

Maple Terrace MotelPretty budget-friendly motor courtWilliamstownwww.mapleterrace.com

The Williams Inn64 rooms, signature Barn Kitchen, well located in town centerWilliamstownwww.williamsinn.com

Canyon RanchAward-winning lodging and spa, wellness workshops.Lenoxwww.canyonranch.com

The Red Lion InnProviding hospitality since 1773.Stockbridgewww.redlioninn.com

Performing Arts

TanglewoodSummer home of the Boston Symphony OrchestraLenoxwww.tanglewood.org

Shakespeare & CompanyPerforming plays by Shakespeare as well as new plays of “social and political significance.”Lenoxwww.shakespeare.org

Jacob’s PillowAmerica’s first and longest-running dance festival.Becketwww.jacobspillow.orgRestaurantsAlta Restaurant & Wine BarSpecializing in Mediterranean cuisine; global wine list.Lenoxwww.altawinebar.com

The Barn Kitchen & BarnSignature restaurant of The Williams Inn serves seasonally inspired, locally sourced New England classics.Williamstownwww.thebarnwilliamstown.com

Common TableBerkshire natives Cj Garner, a CIA alum and partner Marcus Lyon work with local farms and businesses to create delicious farm-to-table dishes.Cheshirewww.common-table.com

The Freight Yard PubYou gotta go with one of their eight choices of sirloin burgers.North Adamswww.freightyardpub.com

Trail House Kitchen & BarExcellent farm-to-table American fare; welcoming dining room/bar and delightful outdoor patio with fireplace and twinkle lights.North Adamswww.trailhousekitchen.com

Red Lion InnThe Inn’s Main Dining Room with crystal chandeliers, antique china and colonial pewter is the place to mark a special occasion. Traditional favorites and classic New England fare.Stockbridgewww.redlioninn.com

Hot Plate Brewing CompanySarah Real and Mike Dell’Aquilla’s Brooklyn condo had its gas turned off for several years due to their landlord’s code violations. Rather than giving up on their dream of creating craft beers, Sarah started brewing on a hot plate, writing and revising her own recipes. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the couple crafted a business plan that became the 7-barrel brewhouse and taproom that they opened in 2023.Pittsfieldwww.hotplatebeer.com

Art Museums and Botanical Gardens

MASS MoCANorth Adamswww.massmoca.org

Arrowhead, Herman Melville’s Home Melville’s home and farm, where he wrote Moby-Dick.Pittsfieldwww.moby-dick.org

ChesterwoodSummer home, workshop and gardens of American public sculptor, Daniel Chester French.Stockbridgewww.chesterwood.org

The ClarkWilliamstownwww.clarkart.edu

The MountLenoxwww.edithwharton.org

Norman Rockwell MuseumStockbridgewww.nrm.org

Berkshire Botanical GardenOpen seasonally.Stockbridgewww.berkshirebotanical.org

Mount Greylock State ReservationVast trail network; Visitor Center open year-round.www.mass.gov

Hancock Shaker Village A highlight of this living history museum is the “Round Barn,” which illustrates theShaker’s practical approach to construction with entrances on three levels. Did you know the Shakers invented the flat-style broom?Pittsfieldwww.hancockshakervillage.com