Norman Rockwell Museum near Stockbridge is one of the Berkshires’ most popular visitor attractions.
The Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield brings together unique and diverse collections ranging from fine arts to natural history.
A dramatic wall drawing by noted American conceptual/ minimalist artist Sol LeWitt at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA) in North Adams.
Built for J.P. Morgan’s sister in 1893, Ventfort Hall Mansion in Lenox houses the Guided Age Museum.
Theater takes center stage in Lenox, where Shakespeare & Company has been performing works by the Bard and others for more than 30 years. Another excellent theater group, the Barrington Stage Company, presents a mix of classics and new works at three venues in downtown Pittsfield. And not to be overlooked up north is the Tony Award-winning Williamstown Theatre Festival, hosted on the campus of Williamstown College. Awarded a Tony for Outstanding Regional Theater in 2002, this company presents a summer series revisiting classic plays while also debuting bold new productions. Museums are another top visitor attraction in the Berkshires. There are so many, in fact, that it’s impossible to discuss them all in this article—but I’ll tell you a bit about the most popular ones. Art lovers won’t want to miss the fine collections at Williamstown College Museum of Art. Presenting more than 11,000 works from a variety of media, it is considered one of the country’s finest college art museums. Nearby in North Adams, the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA) is an extraordinary institution housed in a vast complex of more than two dozen 19th-century mill buildings. The 24-acre site,
once home to the world’s largest producer of printed textiles, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and its network of red brick buildings is something of a museum of early American industrial architecture. But the main attraction is found within several of the larger buildings—a series of 19 art galleries, exhibition halls and performing arts spaces—totaling more than 250,000 square feet. MASS MoCA presents a year-round schedule of contemporary art exhibitions, concerts, and educational programs. The Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield is another unique repository, bringing together diverse collections highlighting fine art and sculpture, natural science, and ancient artifacts. Notable too is the Gilded Age Museum at Ventfort Hall Mansion in Lenox. This imposing Jacobean Revival-style mansion was built in 1893 for Sarah Morgan, sister of J.P. Morgan. It is a fine example of the approximately 75 so-called “cottages” built in Lenox in the late 19th century when the village became a popular Gilded Age resort. Through exhibits, lectures, and theatrical performances, the museum interprets the great changes that occurred in American life, industry, and society during the late 19th century, a fascinating period of the nation’s history.
BERKSHIRES
COAST TO COAST SUMMER MAGAZINE 2018
15
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