About 90 percent of the following is true, but I have to admit that there is some embellishments in this writing. Staying strictly to the facts would not make it that interesting. Some words may be made into links to photo's sometime in the future. I have no ancestors from Berkshire County, it is just an area that I like and spend a lot of time in when not working in CT. The Berkshires of Ma. have a special charm that you will find in no other place. The terrain varies from rolling hills near the Housetonic River to high mountains, which makes it an excellent place for taking pictures. That is a long hobby of mine, but with the price of film and developing I tend not to take very many. For the most part the Berkshires are still like Norman Rockwell used to paint them with some newer things along the main roads. If you travel North along RT 8 as you head into North Adams you get a great view of the whole town as you drive in, unfortunately there is no place to stop and get a photo of that view. You have to be careful driving through some town's as they still have stoplights on the side of the street rather than over them. They can be easy to miss when you are not used to that. But it is easier when walking around as when there is a crosswalk cars do stop and let you cross. The laws on that are the same where I live, but people would rather run you down than let you cross the street. If you are driving around in the Berkshires and it is getting late you will find plenty of places to stay. The best one is the small B & B's that you find in almost every town. After your children have grown up and moved out there is nothing like being woken up to the sound of a parent saying keep you voice down we have visitors today. This can bring back a lot of memories. There are a lot of quaint country Inns to stay at also; a lot of these were built back in the 1800's and well keep up over time. Sure there are mountains in the Catskills and Adorandick's of New York, but they are different than the Berkshires. Their Mountains are higher and in a lot of cases you can see a lot further, but their charm is not the same as in the Berkshires. I do like those areas and do go there but they still are not like the Berkshires. One other advantage of the Berkshires is that you don't have as far to travel to get to a town from anyplace in the area. You may arrive in a small town with no store, gas station, Etc. but there is a town. You never know who you will run into when traveling through this area. One evening Karen (my wife) and I were driving back from Adams and stopped at Alice's Restraunt in Stockbridge for a bite to eat. To our surprise Arlo Guthre was there at the same time. We had a good conversation but never saw him again. Alice's restraunt is not owned by Alice now, but the food is still good. You just have to be used to not looking at a menu, just let them know what you want and if they can make it you have it. This gives some people a bit of a problem. Wherever you go in the Berkshires you will find many places that will meet your requirements for food, be it one of the fast food places on RT 7 or at one of the many expensive Inns or anything in between you will find it. The main roads going through the Berkshires tend to go around towns, but when you follow a sign into a town that you have not visited before you are bound to see some great sights. Most of the older buildings have been keep up over the years, which helps make the small towns breath taking as you travel through them. I find it best to find a place to park the car and walk around, there are so many things that you miss when you stay with the car. There is a lot of wildlife to see if you keep your eyes open, at times you don't have to look for it. Last fall I was driving down Rt. 7 from Pittsfield to Stockbridge and a wild turkey ran out in front of me. He was a big one, I hit the brakes and he just looked in the car at me with his head at eye level from me. Luckily I did not have to clean anything out of the car after that. He probably would have made a good meal, but I would not want a young one crying because I killed Big Bird. One thing that I have noticed different between CT and MA is that most of the early public buildings in MA were built out of brick instead of wood like in CT. This has helped them last over the years and they are great for taking pictures. I especially like the old Town Hall in Stockbridge, which is now a candle shop. How did they fit all their records into that building? Some towns have vaults larger than that. If you are reading this you are probably interested in Genealogy, rather than my rambling on. In that case you really want to visit the Berkshire Anthoniun in Pittsfield. They have the largest local history section West of Boston. The Berkshire Family History Association uses it as their library so it is well stocked with information. Most of the members will fill a gap when they see that some information is missing. Besides the books that you would expect there are transcriptions of Vital Records, Cemeteries, Etc. from all over the County and their collection is still growing. Yes you can find information for areas outside of the Berkshires like in other places but there is no better place for doing Berkshire research. Karen uses the library when we travel through Pittsfield and have time to stop, that time I will be using to find things good to add to this web site. After all of this you could be thinking that there is nothing new in the Berkshires? Not so, they have a Mall just North of Pittsfield in Lanesborourh. There is also indoor recreation like the Vietnam Veterans skating rink in North Adams. Yes the Berkshire's are keeping up with modern times, that is why more people stay there now than in the past. Ray

Return to [Berkshire County]