Great Barrington & the Berkshires

Does it matter that we live in a fiercely independent, wildly creative town that happens to have been the childhood home of W.E.B. Du Bois, a pioneering scholar, social critic, and civil right leader who happened to finish high school two years earlier than his peers? Or that this town is in the middle of a stretch of forested mountains known the world over for their natural beauty and their ridiculously high concentration of outstanding cultural resources? Or that despite its seeming remoteness, this town is, in fact, only two and a half hours by car to Boston or New York City? We think so.

Berkshire County offers a wide variety of cultural events throughout the year. In the summer, Tanglewood, Jacob’s Pillow, Shakespeare & Company, the Williamstown Theatre Festival, MASS MoCA, the Berkshire Theatre Festival, and other institutions draw thousands to the area. During the academic year, cultural opportunities include concerts and performances in the historic Mahaiwe Theatre; dance performances by a variety of local companies; plays at the Berkshire Community College in Pittsfield and at Mixed Company in Great Barrington; art exhibitions at the Norman Rockwell Museum and at galleries in Housatonic, Stockbridge, Lenox, and other nearby towns; poetry readings at Arrowhead, the historic home of Herman Melville; and lecture and film series in several surrounding towns. Williams College, located an hour away in Williamstown, also sponsors lectures, concerts, performances, and exhibitions that Simon’s Rock students attend.