Welcome to “The Berkshires”, where majestic mountain-tops meet silver streams, and lingering with every season is a unique beauty splashed with color and texture.
So fortunate are its residents enveloped not only in the splendor of its natural landscape but the Berkshire Hills have become a gala of culture and fun with its many music, theatre and art venues, renowned restaurants, museums and historical preservation estates.
Here our many rivers, lakes, forest and fields make it ideal for an abundance of fish and wildlife, and numerous outdoor sporting activities such as hiking, fishing, canoeing, horseback riding, mountain-biking, skiing, snowshoeing, and even cliff diving into one of our hidden quarries if that is something you fancy! Yes, there’s a little something to suit any taste.
Berkshire Attractions
Music Venues:
Spend an afternoon in Lenox picnicking on the lush grounds of Tanglewood home of the extraordinary Boston Symphony Orchestra and an evening with music under the stars. It’s here the most accomplished and award winning conductors and musicians come to showcase their works as the enchanting and sometimes haunting notes are carried across the skies, beyond the sway of trees into the ears and hearts of adoring fans.
The Colonial Theater of Pittsfield was built in 1903 originally designed by theater architects J.B McElfatrick and son. The theater was restored and reopened in 2006 to its original gilded age architecture hosting family entertainment, comedy, live music and more.
Museums:
Arrowhead – the home in Pittsfield of Herman Melville where he wrote Moby Dick now considered one of the greatest novels in the English language.
Norman Rockwell Museum – Housed within its walls in Stockbridge is the nostalgic artistry of Norman Rockwell’s depiction of life in a small town in a simpler era.
Mass MOCA (Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art) of North Adams since opening in 1999 has become one of the world’s premier centers for making and showing the best art of our time.
The Clark Art Museum of Williamstown features acclaimed exhibits from emerging and renowned artists.
Preservation Estates:
Ventfort Hall is The Museum of the Gilded Age in Lenox (built in 1893 by Sarah Morgan sister to financier J.P Morgan) Also one of the set locations for the Oscar winning film Cider House Rules, a 1985 novel by John Irving. Try one of their High Teas!
The Mount of Lenox is where you can visit Pulitzer Prize winning Author Edith Wharton’s country estate in Lenox.
Theaters:
Berkshire Theatre Festival now merged with the Colonial Theater offers another venue for the arts in Stockbridge and continues to present inspiring theatre, world premieres, classics & modern works.
Barrington Stage Company is an award winning theatre in downtown Pittsfield.
Shakespeare and Company of Lenox is in its 34th season and “aspires to create a theatre of unprecedented excellence rooted in the classical ideals of inquiry, balance, and harmony; a company that performs as the Elizabethans did in love with poetry, physical prowess and the mysteries of the Universe.”
The Williamstown Theatre Festival is often a star-studded destination to enjoy theatre at its best.
Lovers of all dance genres frequent Jacobs Pillow every season; one of the Berkshire’s veiled treasures tucked away off a winding road in the mountains of Becket.
And finally don’t forget about “The Red Lion Inn” of Stockbridge where in the height of summer it’s quite enjoyable to lounge about the front porch engaging in conversation and a cool beverage as passersby amble about on the historical street.
Again we welcome you and may you and your family share in wonderful memories that endure in your minds and hearts!
With our Berkshire Hills being so rich in all of life’s pleasures it’s no wonder you’re here.